Chap. 74.—An ACT to create the State convict road force; to authorize the
working of certain prisoners on the public roads of this State; providing
for the guarding, transportation, lodging, feeding, clothing and medical
attention of the State convict road force; providing for an increase of the
penitentiary guard not to exceed forty-five men; providing how a county
may have the benefit of the labor of the State convict road force; and
appropriating money from the public treasury to carry the provisions of
this act into effect. .

Approved March 6, 1906.

Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, as follows:

1. All prisoners convicted of crime and sentenced either to hard
labor on the public roads or to imprisonment in jail, and all persons
imprisoned in jail for the non-payment of a fine or costs, shall, when
<lelivered upon the order of the superintendent of the penitentiary for
such purpose, constitute the State convict road force.

2. It shall be lawful for the superintendent of the penitentiary, and
it shall be his duty when in his judgment there is, or there is not, need
of members of the State convict road force, to inform in writing any
or all of the judges of the courts of this State, having original jurisdic-
tion of felony trials, of such need or sufficiency.

3. Upon the written request of the superintendent of the peniten-
tiary, the judge of the circuit court of any county, or the judge of the
<orporation court of any city, may in his discretion, in term or vaca-
tion, order any person confined in jail in his county, or city, and liable
to work in chain-gangs or on the public roads of the State, to be de-
livered by the jailer of such city or county, upon the order of the super-
intendent of the penitentiary, to work in the nearest State convict road
force needing said convicts—the said convicts to be transported as pro-
vided by section four of this act, and the cost thereof to be paid out of
the appropriation herein provided. ‘The jailer shall take a receipt for
every person delivered by him under such order, which shall discharge
said jailer from all liability for the escape of such prisoner, and he
shall deliver to the superintendent of the penitentiary, to the auditor
of public accounts, to the clerk of the circuit or corporation court, and
to the clerk of the councils of the city, if of a city, and to the clerk
of the council of the town, if of a town, if any such prisoner is com-
mitted for violation of such city’s or town’s ordinances, a report, set-
ting forth the name of his jail, the name of each prisoner delivered by
him to the superintendent of the penitentiary, with the date of such
delivery, the length of sentence for which such prisoner was committed
to his jail, the time such prisoner has served on his sentence and the
number of days he would have to serve to complete his term, and
whether convicted for violation of a city or town ordinance or under
State law. The superintendent of the penitentiary shall keep upon
books he shall provide for the purpose an account of each of such
prisoners so delivered to him for the State convict road force, and he
shall be allowed for keeping and supporting such prisoners the fees now
allowed by section three thousand five hundred and thirty-two of the
Code of Virginia of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven, to
jailer: for similar service, except that no fee shall be allowed him for re-
ceiving a prisoner, and for the purpose of computation each gang or
camp of the State convict road force shall be separately charged, and he
shall render a monthly account to the auditor of public accounts for
keeping and supporting such prisoners in the State convict road force
ax were convicted for violations of the laws of the Commonwealth, and
to the auditors or clerks of councils of such cities or towns from which
he has received prisoners committed to jail for a violation of the ordi-
nances of any such city or town, or who were in jail under a capias pro
fine issued for a failure to pay a fine imposed for a violation of such
ordinances. When such accounts shall be certified as provided by sec-
tion four thousand and eighty-four of the Code of Virginia of one
thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven, except that the circuit court
of the city of Richmond shall be the court from which such certificate
shall be issued, and the auditor of public accounts shall draw his war-
rant upon the treasurer for such certified account and settle with said
superintendent of the penitentiary; and the several cities and towns
properly chargeable therewith shall remit to the superintendent of the
penitentiary such sums for keeping and supporting such prisoners
taken from jail as were committed for the violation of their ordinances
as would have been paid under their respective ordinances, or in the
absence of such special ordinance the same sums as are allowed jailers
under section three thousand five hundred and thirty-two of the Code
of Virginia of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven. No
jailer shall receive any pay for keeping and supporting any prisoner de-
livered under this section to the superintendent of the penitentiary
while not in his jail. Said convicts shall be returned by the superin-
tendent of the penitentiary to the jails from which they were taken
when not needed in the State convict road force to work on the roads,
or in making road materials.

4. All the provisions of chapter two hundred and two of the Code
of Virginia of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven as they
stood on the day before this act govs into effect and also an act approved
January thirtieth, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-six (acts
one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five, one thousand eight hun-
dred and ninety-six, chapter two hundred and four, entitled “an act to
provide for the transportation of convicts to the penitentiary, etc.”),
and also an act, entitled “an act to require the superintendent of the
penitentiary to keep account of all expenses incurred in delivering con-
victs to the penitentiary,” approved March fourth, one thousand eight
hundred and ninety-six (acts one thousand eight hundred and ninety-
five, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-six, chapter seven hun-
dred and eighty-two), shall be applicable to the State convict road force
and to the prisoners comprising the same, unless manifestly incon-
sistent therewith, except sections four thousand one hundred and twen-
ty-five. four thousand one hundred and twenty-six, four thousand one
hundred and thirty-three, four thousand one hundred and thirty-four.
four thousand one hundred and thirty-five, and four thousand one hun-
dred and seventy-two: provided, however, that all jail convicts shall,
when not at work on the roads, or engaged in making road material. be
returned to the jails from which they were taken, and that all felons
sentenced and committed to hard labor on the roads, when not at work
thereon or engaged in making material therefor, shall be kept in the
penitentiary until the expiration of their respective terms, but such
prisoners shall not be subject to any contract of hire, heretofore entered
into by the State or by any of its officers or agents for prisoners con-
fined in the penitentiary, but in all other respects, while in the peniten-
tiary, they shall be treated as other convicts therein.

5. The superintendent of the penitentiary shall hold all monevs re-
ceived by him under this act as the State convict road force fund, and
the same shall be paid out on the order of the superintendent, ap-
proved by the board.

6. The superintendent of the penitentiary shall have power to dis-
charge any of said prisoners, wherever they may be in this State, when
his term shall have expired, and section four thousand one hundred and
forty-seven of the Code of Virginia of one thousand eight hundred and
eighty-seven shall apply to convicts in the State convict road force on
jail sentences as well as to the felons committed to hard labor on the
roads and to convicts in the penitentiary.

%. The State convict road force shall be guarded when at work on
the roads of the State, and in making road material therefor, by guards
furnished by the superintendent of the penitentiary, who shall detail
from his regular guard sufficient officers and men for this purpose.
The prison guard is hereby authorized to be increased not to exceed
forty-five (45) men for this purpose, who shall in all respects be a part
of the regular penitentiary guard. The expense of said additional
guard shall be borne out of the moneys hereinafter appropriated in this
act, and the superintendent is hereby authorized to employ them at such
wages as may seem to him fair, irrespective of the wages now paid
guards in the penitentiary.

8. The superintendent of the penitentiary shall provide suitable and
movable quarters, said quarters to be built, as far as can be, with con-
victs’ labor, and shall supply all necessary cooking utensils, beds and
bedding, and wagons for transporting convicts and camp fixtures for
the camps or stations of the State convict road force.

9. All convicts forming the State convict road force shall be trans-
ported to and from the jails or the penitentiary in which confined, in
the same manner, the costs thereof to be paid in the same way as is now
provided by law for transporting convicts to the penitentiary, except
that prisoners of the State convict road force may be transported any-
where in this State upon the direction of the superintendent of the
penitentiary.

10. Whenever the State highway commissioner shall make requisi-
tion upon the superintendent of the penitentiary for a designated num-
ber of the State convict road force to be employed upon the roads of any
county of this State, which requisition shall state the number of con-
victs wanted and the point in the State at which they are to be deliv-
ered, the superintendent of the penitentiary shall send to such county
such number of the State convict road force so required under proper
guard and officers and with all necessary paraphernalia for a movable
camp for such road force. And said State convict road force shall be
under the direction of an engineer, appointed for the purpose by the
State highway commissioner, who shall be a civil engineer, or person
well versed in road building, and said road force shall do all proper and
necessary work upon such roads as the engineer may direct, for its
proper construction and improvement. Should there arise a doubt as to
what work is included in road building and improvement and should be
done and performed by such State convict road force, such doubt shall
be decided by the State highway commissioner, upon petition of either
the local road authorities of the county or the superintendent of the
penitentiary.

11. The superintendent of the penitentiary shall provide, in the same
manner he provides for convicts in the penitentiary, all clothing, food,
quarters and guards for the State convict road force when at work on
the roads of any county in this State.

12. An engineer, appointed by the State highway commissioner, and
whose salary, which is not to exceed the rate of twelve hundred dollars
per year, shall be paid by the county having the benefit of his services,
shall have charge and supervision of such improved road construction
or repair under this act; he shall construct or repair all such roads
under, and by the plans and specifications furnished by, the State high-
way commissioner, and shall from time to time render such reports to
the State highway commissioner as to the cost of material, or labor, and
the time of labor, ete., expended on the roads under his supervision, and
any other information deemed important by said commissioner as he
may direct.

13. Whenever any person held to labor in the State convict road force
shall become sick he shall be attended by the physician for the jail of
such county on whose road he is working at the time, or if there is no
jail physician, then by the physician for the poor of such county, whose
fees shall be paid by the county at such sum as may be agreed upon by
the physician and the board of supervisors.

14. The sum of twenty-five thousand dollars annually, or so much
thereof as may be needed, is hereby appropriated out of money not
otherwise appropriated, which, in addition to the fees allowed for keep-
ing and supporting prisoners by the third section of this act to be paid
out of the regular appropriation for criminal expenses, shall be held by
the superintendent of the penitentiary as the State convict road force
fund, and shall be paid out as provided by section five of this act.

15. If the local road authorities of a county, proposing to improve
permanently any main traveled road, or part thereof, and desiring to
avail of the services of the State highway commission under the terms
of the act creating that commission, and to have the benefit of this act
creating the State convict road force, shall prefer to make such improve-
ments hy contract, then the State highway commissioner may, upon
request, furnish such local road authorities, in advance of the letting of
the contract, an estimate of the number of convicts available for use
upon such proposed permanent road improvements, provided that such
number of convicts to be so supplied by the State highway commissioner
shal] not exceed such a number as that estimating their labor at one
dollar per day per convict, exclusive of Sundays, will amount to a con-
tribution on the part of the State of more than forty per centum of the
total contract price of such proposed improvement.

The convicts so employed upon contract work shall be and remain
under the direction, supervision and care of the superintendent of the
penitentiary and of the State highway commissioner, and may be worked
only for such hours and under such humane and reasonable rules, regu-
lations, and conditions as may be jointly prescribed and enforced by the
superintendent of the penitentiary and the State highway commissioner,
which said hours, rules, regulations, and conditions shall be stated and
promulgated in advance of the letting of the contract.