Chap. 397.—An ACT to amend the Code of Virginia by adding thereto a new
section, designated Section 511l-a, providing that the court may commit persons
against whom orders or decrees for support and maintenance are entered to
workhouses, city farms, or work squads, under certain conditions. [S B 258]

Approved April 3, 1942

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That the
Code of Virginia be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated
section fifty-one hundred and eleven-a, as follows :

Section 511l-a. Upon the entry, or thereafter, of any order or
decree for support, maintenance or alimony in a pending or concluded
divorce suit, a mensa et thoro or a vinculo matrimonii or suit for separate
maintenance, the court in its discretion may require the giving of a recog-
nizance, with or without surety, for compliance therewith, by the party
against whom such order or decree is entered, and upon failure or refusal
to give the same or upon conviction of any party for contempt of court
in failing or refusing to comply with any order or decree for support,
maintenance or alimony, the court may commit and sentence such party
to a workhouse, city farm or work squad, or the State convict road force,
at hard labor, as provided for in section nineteen hundred and thirty-six
of the Code of Virginia, as amended, for a fixed or indeterminate period
or until the further order of the Court, in no event however for more than
twelve months, and the sum or sums as provided for in section nineteen
hundred and thirty-six, shall be paid as therein set forth, to be used for
the support and maintenance of the party or parties for whose benefit such
order or decree provided.