§ 12-397. Prisoner as witness or complaining or defending party - Release for examination - Notice - Attorney fee award prohibited - Writ of habeas corpus.

A.  A person confined in any prison in this state may by order of any court of record, be required to be produced for oral examination as a witness by the court in the county where he is imprisoned, but in all other cases his examination must be by deposition.

B.  Any person or a prisoner confined in any prison or jail in this state who is the complaining party or defending party in any form of a civil action may apply for a Writ of Habeas Corpus for the purpose of having the prisoner appear before the court for an evidentiary hearing in which the court shall take testimony from the prisoner.  The custodian of the prisoner shall be given prior notice of the application and fifteen (15) days to respond prior to the decision of the court.  If the court issues such writ, it shall be issued and delivered to the custodian of the prisoner at least fifteen (15) days prior to the date the prisoner is to appear, shall order the custodian to be paid for all costs of transportation and shall order the prisoner to be delivered to the court named in the writ.  The court shall not consider a writ of habeas corpus ad testificandum except for a hearing on the merits of the civil action.  The court shall not award attorney fees and costs to the prevailing party in this matter.  All pretrial hearings for the civil action that involve a prisoner shall be conducted by telephone, deposition or video conference.

C.  If upon application, the court issues a Writ of Habeas Corpus as provided in subsection B of this section, it shall order the person applying for such writ or other appropriate party to pay to the custodian executing the writ all costs of transporting the prisoner to and from the court.  No court shall waive the requirement to pay the costs of transportation to the custodian.  The writ shall also serve as a judgment against the prisoner, if the prisoner is the party ordered to pay transportation costs or was the party seeking the writ, and may be enforced by the detaining governmental unit without further order of any court for a period of five (5) years after the date of the writ.  The custodian executing the release shall notify the prisoner and the court, at the time of delivery, of the costs of transportation.

D.  Any writ that fails to comply with all of the requirements of this section shall be void and unenforceable and no officer or employee of the custodian shall be liable for failing to execute said writ.

R.L. 1910, § 5062.  Amended by Laws 1993, c. 174, § 1, emerg. eff. May 10, 1993; Laws 2002, c. 402, § 2, eff. July 1, 2002; Laws 2004, c. 168, § 2, emerg. eff. April 27, 2004; Laws 2005, c. 159, § 2, emerg. eff. May 10, 2005.

Note

NOTE:  Laws 2004, c. 168, § 18, providing for an effective date of Nov. 1, 2004, was repealed by Laws 2004, c. 382, § 4, emerg. eff. June 3, 2004.