Chap. 242.—A JOINT RESOLUTION providing for a c mmission to investi-
gate certain matters in relation to the penitentiary.

Approved February 15, 1901.

Resolved by the house of delegates of Virginia (the senate concurring),
That a commission be appointed, to be composed of five members, two of
whom shall be appointed by the president of the senate, and three by the
speaker of the house of delegates, who shall be, and are, hereby authorized
and directed to investigate as to the alleged overcrowded condition of
the penitentiary; to suggest the best and most available means for reme-
dying the same, and to estimate, as near as may be, the appropriation
necessary therefor; and said commission is authorized to sit during the
recess of the general assembly, and shall report to the next regular session
of the general assembly, with such recommendations as they may deem
necessary and proper; and the said committee is directed to investigate
and embody in their said report the probable effect upon the condition
obtaining at the penitentiary of bills pending before the federal congress,
prohibiting the shipment from state to state of prison-made shoes and
other articles of commerce; and in the event that same bills shall become
laws before the next regular meeting of the general assembly, the same
committee is further directed to investigate and report the best and most
available means of making the convicts in the penitentiary useful to the
state of Virginia, without bringing them into competition with the
honest labor of the state. A sum of money sufficient to pay the actual
expenses of the members of the commission and the costs of the necessary
stationery and clerical assistance is hereby appropriated out of any funds
in the state treasury, not otherwise appropriated, on the warrant of the
chairman of said commission on the order of the committee.