Chap. 84.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 3, 4, and 7 of an act entitled
an act to create the State convict road force, etc., which became a law on
the 6th day of March, 1906.

Approved February 25, 1908.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
three, four, and seven, of an act entitled, “an act to create the State
convict road force; to authorize the working of certain prisoners on the
public roads of this State; providing for the guarding, transportation,
lodging, feeding, clothing and medical attention of the State convict
road force; providing for an increase of the penitentiary guards not to
exceed forty-five men; providing how a county may have the benefit
of the labor of the State convict road force; and appropriating money
from the public treasury to carry the provisions of this act into effect,”
approved March sixth, nineteen hundred and six, be amended and re-
enacted so as to read as follows:

§3. Upon the written request of the superintendent of the peniten-
tiary, the judge of the circuit court of any county, or the judge of the
corporation or hustings court of any city shall in term or vacation,
unless any such prisoner shows to said judge good cause to the contrary,
order any male person convicted of a misdemeanor, or of any- offence
deemed infamous in law, and sentenced to confinement in jail as a pun-
ishment, or part punishment for such offence, or who is imprisoned for

failure to pay any fine or penalty imposed upon or assessed against him
upon such conviction, or upon conviction for any violation of an ordi-
nance of any city or town which by said ordinance is punishable by
confinement in jail or fine, to be delivered by the jailer of such county
or city, to or upon the order of the superintendent of the penitentiary,
to work in the State convict road force, the said convict to be transported
as provided by section four of this act, and the cost to be paid cut of
the appropriation for carrying out the provisions of this act, provided
that no one so confined who is under the age of sixteen years shall be
so delivered, and the delivery of any such one over the age of sixteen
and under the age of twenty-one years shall be discretionary with the
court or judge to whom application is made, and provided further,
that prisoners convicted for violations of city or town ordinances shall
be liable primarily to work on chain gang or public works within such
cities or towns at the request of the proper authorities thereof. The
jailer shall take a receipt for every person delivered by him under such
order, which shall discharge said jailer from all liability for the escape
of such prisoner, and he shall deliver to the superintendent of the
penitentiary, to the auditor of public accounts, to the clerk of the circuit
or corporation court, and to the clerk of the councils of the city, if of
a city, and to the clerk of the council of the town, if of a town, if any
such prisoner is committed for violation of such city’s or town’s ordi-
nances, a report setting forth the name of his jail, the name of each
prisoner delivered by him to the superintendent of the penitentiary,
with the date of such delivery, the length of sentence for which such
prisoner was committed to his jail, the time such prisoner has served
on his sentence and the number of days he would have to serve to com-
plete his term, and whether convicted for violation of a city or town
ordinance or under State law. The superintendent of the penitentiary
shall keep upon books, he shall provide for the purpose, an account of
each of such prisoners so delivered to him for the State convict road
force, and he shall be allowed for keeping and supporting such prisoners
the fees now allowed by section three thousand, five hundred and thirty-
two of the Code of Virginia of one thousand, eight hundred and eighty-
seven, to jailers for similar service, except that no fee shall be allowed
him for receiving a prisoner, and for the purpose of computation each
gang or camp of the State convict road force shall be-separately charged,
and he shall render a monthly account to the auditor of public accounts
for keeping and supporting such prisoners in the State convict road
force as were convicted for violations of the laws of the Commonwealth,
and to the auditors or clerks of councils of such cities or towns from
which he has received prisoners committed to jail for a violation of the
ordinances of any such city or town, or who were in jail under a capias
pro fine issued for a failure to pay a fine imposed for a violation of
such ordinances. When such accounts shall be certified as provided by
section four thousand and eighty-four of the Code of Virginia, of one
thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven, except that the circuit court
of the city of Richmond shall be the court from which such certificate
shall be issued, the auditor of public accounts shall draw his warrant
upon the treasurer for such certified account and settle with said super-
intendent of the penitentiary, and the several cities and towns properly
chargeable therewith shall remit to the superintendent of the peniten-
tiary such sums for keeping and supporting such prisoners taken from
jail as were committed for the violation of their ordinances as would
have been paid under their respective ordinances, or in the absence of
such special ordinance the same sums as are allowed jailers under sec-
tion three thousand five hundred and thirty-two, of the Code of Vir-
ginia, of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven. No jailer shall
receive any pay for keeping and supporting any prisoner delivered
under this section to the superintendent of the penitentiary while not
in his jail. Said convicts shall be returned by the superintendent of the
penitentiary to the jails from which they were taken when not needed
in the State convict road force to work on the roads, or in making road
materials.

§4. All the provisions of chapter two hundred and two of the Code
of Virginia of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven, as they
stood on the day before this act goes into effect and also an act ap-
proved January thirtieth, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-six
(acts one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five and one thousand
eight hundred and ninety-six, chapter two hundred and four, entitled
“an act to provide for the transportation of convicts to the penitentiary,
and so fourth”) and also an act entitled “an act to require the superin-
tendent of the penitentiary to keep account of all expenses incurred in
delivering convicts to the penitentiary,” approved March fourth, one
thousand and eight hundred and ninety-six (acts one thousand eight
hundred and ninety-five and one thousand eight hundred and ninety-
six, chapter seven hundred and eighty-two), also an act entitled “an
act to authorize the governor to grant conditional pardons to persons
confined in the penitentiary upon recommendation of the board of
directors of said institution,’ approved March third, eighteen hundred
and ninety-eight, as amended by an act approved February third, nine-
teen hundred, as amended by an act approved May first, nineteen hun-
dred and three, as amended by an act approved March seventh, nine-
teen hundred and four, as further amended by an act approved March
fifteenth, nineteen hundred and six, and also all of the rules and regu-
lations made by the board of directors of the penitentiary, governing the
prisoners in the penitentiary, shall be applicable to the State convict
road force and to the prisoners comprising the same, unless manifestly
inconsistent therewith, except sections four thousand one hundred and
twenty-five, four thousand one hundred and twenty-six, four thousand
one hundred and thirty-three, four thousand one hundred and thirty-
four; four thousand and one hundred and thirty-five, and four thousand
one hundred and seventy-two: provided, however, that all jail convicts
shall when not at work on the roads, or engaged in making road ma-
terial, be returned to the jails from which they were taken, and that
all felons sentenced and committed to hard labor on the roads, when
not at work thereon or engaged in making material therefor, shall be
kept in the penitentiary until the expiration of their respective terms,
but such prisoners shall not be subject to any contract of hire, heretofore
entered into by the State or by any of its officers or agents for prisoners
confined in the penitentiary, but in all other respects, while in the
penitentiary, they shall be treated as other convicts therein.

Whenever any jail prisoner shall escape from a convict road force
gang and be re-captured, he shall be taken by the officer having him
in custody before some magistrate in the county where such escape was
made, who shall, after a trial and upon conviction of such escape, sentence
him to the State convict road force for a term not less than thirty days
nor more than six months and, in addition thereto, sentence him to
hard labor in the State convict road force for such time, calculated at
the rate of fifty cents per day, as shall be sufficient to cover the expense
of his re-capture, such additional time, however, not to exceed one year
im any case.

§v. The State convict road force shall be guarded when at work on
the roads of the State and in making road material by guards detailed
by the superintendent of the penitentiary from the regular guards of
the institution, but if a sufficient number of guards for such purpose
cannot be supplied from such regular guards, then the superintendent
may, with the consent and approval of the State highway commissioner,
appoint such additional guards as may be necessary, not to exceed two
hundred in number: provided, the guards so appointed shall not exceed
one guard to every eight convicts so employed on the roads, and in
making such appointments, men shall be selected who are competent
to supervise the work under construction, and as far as may be practicable
such appointees shall be required to supervise such work as well as guard
the convict force. The wages of such additional guards shall be fixed
by the superintendent, with the consent and approval of the State high-
way commissioner, but shall not exceed for guards thirty-five dollars per
month and for sergeants seventy-five dollars per month and board, but
may be less, and shall be paid out of the money appropriated to carry
out the provisions of this act. The superintendent of the penitentiary,
with the consent and approval of the State highway commissioner, may
appoint such clerks as may be necessary, not exceeding three, whose
salaries shall be fixed by said superintendent and said highway com-
missioner, one of whom shall receive not more than one hundred dollars
per menth, one of whom shall not receive more than eighty-five dollars
per month, and one of whom shall not receive more than sixty-five dollars
per month, who shall be paid from moneys appropriated to carry out
the provisions of this act.
. Whenever any county has entered upon.a system of road improve-
ment by use of convict labor independent of work under the provisions
of this act, the superintendent of the penitentiary shall continue to
supply such county with convicts to continue such work in accordance
with the existing law, the number of convicts so furnished to be not less
than the number heretofore furnished. If for any reason the super-
intendent of the penitentiary shall fail or refuse to supply a sufficient
number of convicts to meet the requirements of such county, then the
governor, on application being made to him, may require said super-
intendent to furnish such convicts.

Whenever any county maintains and works a chain-gang upon its
roads, it shall have the first right to retain its jail convicts in said
chain-gang.