Chap. 320.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 1682 of the Code of Vir-
ginia, in relation to the admission to the State hospitals of insane per-
sons charged with or indicted for crime; and insane convicts in the peni-
tentiary and other penal institutions of the State.

Approved March 17, 1910.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
sixteen hundred and eighty-two of the Code of Virginia be amended and
re-enacted so as to read as follows:

§1682. If any person who is charged with, or indicted for, any crime
be found, in the court in which he is so charged or indicted, to be insane
at the time appointed for trial of such indictment, the court shall order
him to be committed to the department for the criminal insane at the
proper hospital, where he shall be kept in custody and cared for until he
has been restored to sanity. If, prior to the time for trial of any persons
under complaint or indictment for any crime, either the court or the
attorney for the Commonwealth has reason to believe that such person is
in such mental condition that his confinement in a hospital for the in-
sane is necessary for proper care and observation, the said court may
commit such person to the department for the criminal insane under
such limitations as it may order pending the determination of his mental
condition ; and in such case the court, in its discretion, may appoint one
or more experts in insanity, or other qualified physicians, not to exceed
three, to examine the defendant before such commitment is ordered, and
make such investigation of the case as they may deem necssary, and re-
port to the court the condition of the defendant at the time of their ex
amination. Fees commensurate with the professional service rendered,
and to be fixed by the court, together with necessary expenses, shall be
audited and paid the experts or physicians, as in the case of other court
expenses. A copy of the complaint or indictment, attested by the clerk,
together with the medical report, shall be delivered with such person to
the superintendent of the hospital to which he shall have been committed
under the provisions of this act. If any such person so removed to the
department for the criminal insane at the proper State hospital is, in the
opinion of the superintendent, not insane, or when such person, if insane,
has been restored to sanity, he shall forthwith be brought back to the
jail or custody from which he was removed, where he shall be held in
accordance with the terms of the process by which he was originally com-
mitted or confined.

The superintendent shall, from time to time, or as often as the court
may require, inform the court of the condition of the said person while
confined in the hospital.

If any person, after conviction of any crime, or while serving sentence
in the State penitentiary, or in any other penal institution, or in any
reformatory or elsewhere, is declared by a jury to be insane, he shall be
committed by the court to the department for the criminal insane at the
proper hospital, and there kept until he is restored to sanity; and the
time such person is confined in the department for the criminal insane
at the proper hospital shall be deducted from the term for which he was
sentenced to such penal institution, reformatory, or elsewhere.

The sheriff or sergeant of the court by which any of the foregoing
orders, as herein provided, shall have been made, or the proper officer of
the penitentiary or reformatory, shall immediatly proceed in the manner
directed by section sixteen hundred and seventy-two to ascertain whether
a vacancy exists in the department for the criminal insane at the proper
hospital, and until it is ascertained that there is a vacancy, such person
shall be kept in the jail of such county or corporation, or in such custody
as the court may order, or in the penitentiary, or in the reformatory in
which he is confined, until there is room in the department for the crimi-
nal insane at the said hospital. Any person whose care and custody are
herein provided for shall be taken to and from the hospital to which he
was committed by an officer of the penal institution having custody of
him, or by the sheriff or sergeant of the county or corporation whose court
issued the order of commitment, and the expenses incurred in such re-
movals shall be paid by such penal institution, county or corporation.

2. All other acts and parts of acts inconsistent or in conflict with
this act are hereby repealed.