Chap. 685.—An ACT to authorize the governor to grant a conditional pardon to
persons confined in the penitentiary upon recommendation of the buard of di-
rectors of said institution.

Approved March 3, 1898.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That whenever
any person is confined in the penitentiary for any offence, and shall have
served out half of his term of imprisonment, he shall be allowed to file
a petition with the board of directors of the said institution, setting forth
that he has served half of his term, that he has kept the prison rules in
every respect, and asking the said board to recommend him to the gov-
ernor as a proper person to receive a conditional pardon.

2. The said board of directors, or any two of them, upon receipt of
sald petition, shall inquire into the statements made therein, and if they
find them to be true, and that the convict is a person fit to receive a con-
ditional pardon, they may recommend him to the governor for that pur-
pose.

3.° The governor, after examining the petition and the proof filed to
sustain it and the recommendation of the board of directors, may grant
a conditional pardon to the convict upon such conditions and with such
restrictions and under such limitations as he may deem proper; and he
may issue his warrant to the superintendent of the penitentiary to carry
such pardon into effect.

4. There shall be attached tu the warrant issued by the governor to
the superintendent of the penitentiary mentioned in the next preceding
section the conditions and restrictions under which the pardon is
granted, and the said superintendent shall cause a copy thereof to be
certified to the clerk of the court in which the offender was convicted, to
be preserved by the said clerk as other records are.

5. When a convict is pardoned on conditions to be observed and per-
formed by him, and such conditions are violated, he shall, upon com-
plaint being made before a justice of the peace orany other officer
authorized by law to issue warrants of arrest, be forthwith apprehended
and brought before the judge of the court in which he was convicted;
and the said judge is directed to investigate the charges, either in term
time or in vacation, and if the said person is found guilty of violating the
conditions of his pardon he shall be returned to the penitentiary, there
to serve out the unexpired term of his sentence; and in computing the
time of his confinement the time between the conditional pardon and his
subsequent arrest shall not be taken to be a part of the term of his im-
prisonment.

6. This act is not to be construed as in any way interfering with or
abridging the authority now conferred on the governor by law with ref-
erence to granting absolute pardons.

7. This act shall be in force from its passage.