Chap. 343.-An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 1020 of the Code of Vir-
ginia in relation to committing incompetent persons to State institutions, so as

to allow incompetent veterans to be committed to a Veterans’ Administration
Facility. [H B 320]

Approved March 27, 1936

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That section
one thousand and twenty of the Code of Virginia, be amended and re-
enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 1020. What the judge or justice to do if person be insane,
or, et cetera.—If the commission decides that the person be insane,
epileptic or inebriate and ought to be confined in a hospital or colony,
and ascertain that he is a citizen of this State, then the judge or jus-
tice shall order such insane, epileptic or inebriate person to be delivered
to the care and custody of the sheriff of the county or sergeant of the
city, to be safely kept and cared for in jail or other institution by him
until he is conveyed to a hospital or colony, or otherwise discharged
from custody. If some responsible person will give bond, with suff-
cient surety, to be approved by the judge or justice, payable to the
Commonwealth, with condition to restrain and take proper care of
such insane, epileptic or inebriate person without cost to the Common-
wealth, until conveyed to a hospital or colony or otherwise discharged
from custody, then said judge or justice may, in his discretion, commit
such insane, epileptic or inebriate person to the custody of such person.
If the justices find that the patient is an insane, epileptic or inebriate
person and ought to be confined, they may, upon request of the pa-
tient’s friends, commit said patient to a private sanitarium, there to be
confined until removed by his or her friends or discharged by the
physician in charge of such institution; but in no event shall such pa-
tient be kept in any such institution for a period exceeding four months.
Neither the State nor any county, city, or town thereof shall be liable
in any event for any costs or charges of sending a patient to a private
sanitarium, or connected with or arising out of his being sent there.
The sheriff shall be responsible for the safe-keeping and proper care of
any person committed as insane, epileptic or inebriate to any State hos-
pital or colony for the care of such person until delivered to the proper
institution or its authorized agent. Whenever it appears that the per-
son so adjudged to be insane, epileptic or inebriate is a veteran eligible
for treatment in a Veterans’ Administration Facility, the judge or
justice may, upon receipt of a certificate of eligibility from the Vet-
erans’ Administration Facility concerned, commit such person to such
Facility regardless of whether such person is or is not a citizen of this
State. Any veteran who has been heretofore, or may hereafter be
committed to a State hospital, or colony, or otherwise, who is eligible
for treatment in a Veterans’ Administration Facility may, with the
written consent of the manager of such facility, be transferred to
such facility by order of the superintendent of the State hospital, colony
or otherwise, or by order of the judge or justice who committed such
person. Any such veteran, after admission to such Veterans’ Adminis-
tration Facility, either upon commitment or transfer, shall be subject
to the rules and regulations of such facility, and the manager of the
facility at which such veteran is committed or transferred shall be
vested with the same powers authorized by law to be exercised by the
superintendent of the State hospital, colony or otherwise, in this State
with reference to retention or custody or discharge of the veteran so
committed or transferred, and any discharge rendered by such manager
upon a certificate of sanity shall be of the same effect as that granted
by the superintendent of a hospital or colony, and such manager is
hereby vested with the same authority to parole or otherwise discharge
a veteran so committed or transferred as is now vested in the superin-
tendent of a hospital or colony in this State.