Chap. 346.—An ACT to establish on the land of the Central State hospital, in
the county of Dinwiddie, Virginia, the Central State colony for the
feeble-minded, and to provide for the commitment of feeble-minded
persons to such colony, and for the examination and furloughing of such
persons. (S. B. 270.)

Approved March 27, 1914.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
there shall be, and is hereby, created and established the central
State colony for the feeble-minded, which shall be located on the
land of the central State hospital, in the county of Dinwiddie, near
the city of Petersburg, Virginia.

2. The central State colony for the feeble-minded shall be
managed by the special board of directors of the central State
hospital, and the superintendent and the other officers and the em-

. ployees thereof shall be selected and appointed in the manner pro-
vided by section sixteen hundred and sixty-three of the Code of
- Virginia, as amended, but the general board of directors shall have
the same control and management of the said central State colony
‘ for the feeble-minded as it now has, under the Constitution and
laws of Virginia, over the State hospitals for the insane. And
the said special board of directors is hereby authorized and directed
to proceed as soon as practical to erect on a site, to be selected by
them and the commissioner of State hospitals and the secretary of
the State bcard of charities and corrections, which site shall be
upon the land of the said central State hospital, but separate from
the present buildings occupied by said hospital, suitable buildings
with the proper appurtenances and equipment for the care, custody,
control, training and employment of such feeble-minded colored
persons as may be committed to the said colony in the manner
hereinafter provided.

3. When the buildings to be erected at said colony shall be
ready for the reception and care of patients, and as rapidly as the
proper accommodations for them can be provided, the said special
board of directors shall proceed to receive and care for such feeble-
minded colored persons who are citizens of Virginia. as under the
provisions of this act, are to be admitted to the said colony; pro-
vided, however, that no congenial idiot shall be admitted to the
said colony, and that no persons shall be received therein unless
it appears that he or she is uncontrollable or a menace to and
burden upcn the community in which he or she lives, and provided
further, that in committing patients to the said colony and in
receiving them therein those indigent colored persons who would
be most likely to receive benefit from colony care and training,
women of child-bearing age, from twelve to forty-five years of
age, and children not under eight years of age, to whom such train-
ing, would be of most benefit shall, as far as practical, be first re-
ceived and admitted. And in order to promote the objects for
which said colony is established, the superintendent thereof and
the said special board of directors shall, as far as practical, pro-
vide suitable employment for such patients, and such training as
may be adapted to their capacities, and to that end shall as soon
as practical provide such buildings and employ such teachers as
may be necessary for these purposes.

4. Upon written information of any respectable citizen of this
State made to the judge of the circuit court of any county, or to
the corporation court of any city or to any justice of the peace of
iy county or city, that any person within any county or corporation
within the jurisdiction of such judge or justice is feeble-minded and
a proper person to be admitted to the said colony for the feeble-
minded, the said judge or justice shall forthwith issue his warrant
ordering such person to be brought before him, and he shall at the
same time summon two licensed and reputable physicians, one of
whom shal!, when practicable, be the physician of such person, and
such witnesses as may be necessary. The said judge or justice and
the said physicians, none of whom shall in any manner be related,
either by blood or marriage, to such person to be examined, or have
any interest in his or her estate, shall constitute a commission to
inquire whether such person be feeble-minded within the meaning
of this act and a suitable subject for care and treatment at the in-
stitution herein provided for, and to that end they shall examine
such person, and shall also examine such witnesses as may be
before them and make such inquiries as may be pertinent, and
determine, as far as practicable, the mental and physical condition
of such person under examination And the depositions of all
witnesses, including those of the said physicians, shall be made
upon oath and in writing, and the certificate of the said judge or
justice stating that they were so made, and stating as well the time
and place of the taking of the same shall be annexed thereto.

5. The report of the said. commission, which shall be signed
by each member thereof, shall consist of the answers given to such
interrogatories as are hereinafter provided for, the depositions
aforesaid and such other information as may bear upon the cane.
to which shall be added a statement of the result of their inquiry.
And if the said commission shall be satisfied that the person under
examination is feeble-minded, which term shall include all grades
of mental defectives who have never reached the normal state of
mental development consistent with his or her age, except middle and
low grade idiots, and that such person is a suitable person for care
and treatment at the institution herein provided for, the report of
the same, together with the warrant of commitment, shall be made
in duplicate, one copy which shall be delivered or sent by the said
judge or justice to the superintendent of the said central State
colony for the feeble-minded and shall be regarded as an application
made to such superintendent for the admission of such feeble-
minded person to such colony without the necessity for any other
application, which shall be dispensed with, and the other copy
shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the circuit or corporation
court of the said county or corporation.

But the person so adjudged to be feeble-minded shall not be
confined in any jail, but shall, until he or she shall be delivered
to the proper officer of the said colony, be placed in the custody of
the superintendent of the poor of the said county or corporation
to be safely kept until he or she shall be conveyed to said colony
or discharged from custody, provided, however, that if some re-
sponsible person shall give bond with sufficient surety, to be ap-
proved by the said judge or justice, payable to the Commonwealth
of Virginia, with condition to restrain and take proper care of such
feeble-minded person without cost to the Commonwealth until he
or she shall be delivered to such officer of said colony, or discharged
from custody, the said judge or justice may, in his discretion, commit
such feeble-minded person to the care and custody of the person
giving such bond, or where such feeble-minded person gives: evi-
dence of no erotic or dangerous tendencies, he may so commit such
person without bond. And the said judge or justice shall by his
certificate, to be annexed to the report of the said commission, show
what disposition has been made of such feeble-minded person. And
should such feeble-minded person be placed in the custody of such
superintendent of the poor, the said judge or justice shall cause to
be delivered to such superintendent of the poor a proper mittimus
commanding him to safely keep and provide for such feeble-minded
person until he or she shall be conveyed to said colony, or discharged
from custody.

Should the said commission be satisfied that the person under
examination is not feeble-minded or not a suitable subject for care
and treatment at the colony herein provided for, but one copy of
their report shall be made, which copy shall be filed in the office
of the clerk of the circuit or corporation court of said county or
corporation.

The superintendent of the said colony and the superintendent of
any other colony for the feeble-minded within this State and under
its control and management, the secretary of the State board of
charities and corrections and the commissioner of State hospitals
for the insane shall constitute a committee whose duty it shall be
to prepare suitable and proper forms of interrogatories, mittimi
and other papers necessary to carry out the purposes of this act and
to provide for the examination of such persons as may be brought
before the said commission, and the commitment of such persons as
shall be adjudged feeble-minded under the provisions of this act.
And all forms prepared by the said committee shall, after the same
shall have been printed, be distributed under the supervision of
the secretary of the State board of charities and corrections.

6. All the provisions of chapter seventy-five of the Code of
Virginia, Pollard, and the acts amendatory thereof and supple-
mentary thereto in the relation to the admission of patients to the
hospitals for the insane of this State, not in conflict with the pro-
visions of this act, and all the provisions of said Code and acts,
amendatory thereof, in relation to the government and operation
of the hospitals for the insane and the duties of the commissioner
and the boards of directors of State hospitals, shall so far as prac-
ticable, and so far as the same are not in conflict with the provi-
sions of this act, apply in construction, organization, maintenance,
control and operation of the colony hereby created and established,
and all the powers and duties now conferred or devolved by law
upon circuit and corporation judges and the justices of the peace
and other officers and examining physicians of this State, in rela-
tion to the examination, judicial inquiries, orders and judgments
applicable to commitment of colored persons committed to hos-
pitals for the insane in this State shall, as far as practicable, and so
far as the same are not in conflict with the provisions of this act,
apply to the persons committed to or to be examined for commit-
ment to the colony hereby established, except that no feeble-minded
person shall be committed to any jail.

7. Within two months after such person shall have been re-
ceived into said colony, he or she shall be subjected to the Binet-
Simon measuring scale of intelligence, or some other approved test
of mentality or feeble-mindedness, to be applied by the superinten-
dent of the said colony and by an expert designated by the State
board of charities and corrections, and if, in their opinion, such per-
son is not feeble-minded, within the meaning of this act, or is not a
suitable subject for care and treatment at said colony, he or she
shall be returned to the city, county or institution from which he
or she was committed, at the expense of such city, county or
corporation.

8. The superintendent of the said colony shall, in suitable
cases, issue furloughs for such length of time as may be proper,
to those feeble-minded patients who would be benefited or improved
by being so furloughed and whom it would be safe to furlough,
provided that all costs and charges for such removal from the said
colony and for their return thereto shall be paid by such patients
or by the friends or relatives of such patient, if they shall be able
to do so.

9. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of
this act are hereby repealed.