Chap. 404.—An ACT to authorize the superintendent ot the state penitentiary,
upon certain conditions and in his discretion, to deliver to the custody of
officers of other States, of the United States and of the District of Columbia,
prisoners in his custody, for transportation to such other States or the
District of Columbia for trial or as witnesses in criminal cases in the courts
thereof; and to authorize said superintendent and his deputies to. receive
and retain in custody for trial or as witnesses in criminal cases in Vir-
ginia prisoners of said District, of other States, or of the United States,
delivered to him by the officers thereof; and to provide for the custody of
all such or similar prisoners while in transit in or through Virginia. ;

222]

Approved April 1, 1938

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That if a
judge of any court of record of the United States, or of the District
of Columbia, or of any State, certifies under the seal of such court
that there is a criminal prosecution pending in such court, or that a
erand jury investigation has commenced, or is about to commence,
that a person confined in the Virginia State penitentiary, or at a con-
vict road camp, or at the State farm, or any other prison under the
jurisdiction of the superintendent of the penitentiary is a material
witness in such prosecution, or grand jury investigation, and that his
presence will be required at a time stated, and further likewise certi-
fies that the officer presenting said certificate is authorized to receive
custody of said prisoner and will retain him in his custody until his
return to this State, and that said prisoner will be safely returned
to the custody of the superintendent of the State penitentiary at the
penitentiary in Richmond, at such road camp, or at the prison from
which he was removed, as said superintendent may direct, upon presen-
tation of said certificate to the superintendent of the State penitentiary,
at the penitentiary, said superintendent may, in his discretion, if he
is of opinion that the ends of justice will be promoted thereby, sur-
render any such prisoner into the custody of any such officer named
in such certificate. All transportation and other costs incident thereto
shall be paid by the authority requesting said prisoner.

2. If a similar certificate, similarly executed, shall state that any
such prisoner has been indicted or stands legally charged with crime
outside this State, the said superintendent, in his discretion, but only
with the approval of the Governor, may likewise deliver said prisoner
to the officer presenting said certificate, upon such conditions as to the
return of the prisoner as may seem best adapted to meet the ends of
justice.

3. Any such officer of the United States, of the District of Col-
umbia, or of any other State to whom custody of any such prisoner
has been surrendered, is hereby clothed with all of the authority and
powers of a sheriff or a guard of the State penitentiary with respect
to the custody of such prisoner in the State of Virginia.

4. Any duly authorized officer of the United States or the District
of Columbia, or of any other State, while engaged in transporting
through this State to any other State any prisoner of the United
States or of said District, or of any other State, lawfully taken or
surrendered into his custody either within or without this State in any
manner, shall while transporting said prisoner into or through this
State be clothed with all of the authority and powers of a sheriff or
of a guard of the State penitentiary with respect to the custody of
such prisoner in the State of Virginia.

5. If, pursuant to the order or request of the Governor, or of
any court or Commonwealth’s Attorney of this State, or any other
authorized officer, any prisoner of the United States or the District
of Columbia, or of any other State, be tendered to the custody of the
superintendent of the State penitentiary, or any duly authorized officer
or guard of the penitentiary, either within this State, or to be trans-
ported to this State, to be held for trial for crime in Virginia, or as
a witness in any criminal proceeding in Virginia, the said superfn-
tendent, officer or guard, or either of them, are hereby authorized to
receive said prisoner into custody, and they, and each of them, are
hereby clothed with the same powers with respect to such custody as
are possessed by them or any of them over prisoners held by them or
any of them after conviction of crime and sentence to the State peni-
tentiary by the courts of this State.