Chap. 217.—An ACT to provide for the administration, control and supervision of
the penal system of the Commonwealth and of the political subdivisions thereof,
to that end to establish a Department of Corrections to consist of a State Board
of Corrections, a Commissionér of Corrections, and the officers, agents and
employees of the Board and the Commissioner, and to prescribe the functions,
powers and duties thereof and of certain other officers and of the subdivisions
of the State with reference to the foregoing matters.. [H B 11]

Approved March 13, 1942

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, as follows:

Section 1. Department of Corrections established.—There is here-
by established a Department of Corrections, hereinafter called the De-
partment, which shall consist of a State Board of Corrections, hereinafter
called the Board, a Commissioner of Corrections, hereinafter called the
Commissioner, and the officers, agents and employees of the Board and of
the Commissioner.

Section 2.. State Board of Corrections ; appointment, term, organi-
zation, compensation, quorum and meetings.—(a) The Board shall con-
sist of five members who shall be appointed by the Governor, subject to
confirmation by the General Assembly, if in session when such appoint-
ment is made, and if not in session, then at its next succeeding session.
The members of the Board first appointed under the provisions of this
act shall be appointed one for a term of one year, one for a term of two
years, one for a term of three years, one for a term of four years and one
for a term of five years. Subsequent appointments shall be for terms of
five years each, except appointments to fill vacancies which shall be made
for the unexpired terms.

(b) The members of the Board may be suspended or removed by
the Governor at his pleasure.

(c) The Governor shall designate one of the members of the
Board as chairman, and some other member of the Board as Commis-
sioner of Corrections. The Board may elect one of its members as vice-
chairman. — — a ,

(d) The members of the Board, other than the Commissioner,
shall as such receive no salaries, but shall be paid their necessary traveling
and other expenses incurred in attendance upon meetings and while other-
wise engaged in the discharge of their duties. Each such member shall
also be paid the sum of ten dollars a day for each day or portion thereof
during which he is engaged in the performance of his duties as a member
of the Board.

(e) Before entering upon the discharge of his duties, each mem-
ber of the Board shall take the prescribed oath of office and, if required
by the Governor, each member of the Board shall give bond, with cor-
porate surety, in such penalty as may be fixed by the Governor, con-
ditioned upon the faithful discharge of his duties. The premiums on such
bonds shall be paid as other expenses of the Board are paid.

(f) The Board shall meet at least once every month, and on call of
the chairman when in his opinion additional meetings are necessary. Three
members of the Board shall constitute a quorum.

(g) The main office of the Board shall be in the city of Richmond.

Section 3. Commissioner of Corrections—The Commissioner of
Corrections, appointed and designated by the Governor as aforesaid, shall
devote his full time to the performance of his duties and shall receive as
compensation therefor a salary in an amount to be fixed by the Governor,
not to exceed seven thousand, five hundred dollars a year.

Section 4. Functions, duties and powers of the Board.—The Board
shall—

(1) See that the provisions of this act are properly administered ;

(2) Make such rules and regulations, not in conflict with this act,
as may be necessary or desirable to provide for the proper administra-
tion of this act and to carry out its true purpose and intent ;

(3) Establish minimum standards, based upon training, experience
and general ability, for the personnel employed by the Commissioner ; _

(4) Submit to the Governor, not later than four months after the
close of each fiscal year, an annual report showing the activities and
operations of the Board during such year, and such other information as
the Board shall deem desirable ; and :

(5) Perform all other functions and duties imposed upon it by this
act and by other applicable provisions of law.

Section 5. Functions, duties and powers of the Commissioner.—
The Commissioner shall— ,

(1) Be the chief executive officer of the Board;

(2) Be, ex-officio, secretary to the Board and have custody, and be
charged with the safekeeping, of all records of the Board and of the De-
partment ;

(3) Perform the functions and duties imposed upon him by this act
and by other applicable provisions of law ; and

(4) Perform such other duties and exercise such other powers as
required by the Board.

Section 6. Agents and employees of Board and Commissioner.—
The Commissioner may engage, or authorize the engagement of, suck
agents and employees as may be needed by the Board and by the Com:
missioner in the exercise of the functions, duties and powers conferrec
and imposed by law upon them. The functions, duties, powers and title:
of such agents and employees, and their compensation, not in excess of the
amount provided therefor by law, shall be determined by the Commis-
sioner, under rules and regulations adopted by the Board. All such agents
and employees shall be removable by the Commissioner. The employ-
ment and removal of all such agents and employees who shall receive
eighteen hundred dollars or more per annum shall be subject to the ap-
proval of the Board. All compensation at rates in excess of twelve hun-
dred dollars per annum shall first be approved by the Governor. Proper
bonds shall be required of all agents and employees who shall handle any
funds, and the premiums on said bonds shall be paid from funds appro-
priated for the administration of this act.

Section 7. Transfer of certain powers, duties, rights, and obliga-
tions to Board.—(a) All powers vested in, and all functions and duties
imposed upon, the State Prison Board, the Superintendent of the Peni-
tentiary, and the Superintendent of the State Prison Farm, and any other
officer, institution or agency under the State Prison Board, by statutes
in effect on the day immediately preceding the day upon which this act
takes effect, are hereby transferred to, vested in, and imposed upon the
Board.

(b) All right, title and interest in and to any real property, or any
tangible or intangible personal property, vested in the State Prison Board
or in the Superintendent of the Penitentiary, or in any other officer, in-
stitution or agency under the State Prison Board, on the day immediately
preceding the day upon which this act takes effect, are hereby trans-
ferred to and vested in the Board. oe

(c) All files and records of the State Prison Board, of the Super-
intendent of the Penitentiary and of the Superintendent of the State
Prison Farm, and of any other officer, agent, institution or agency under
the State Prison Board, on the day immediately preceding the day upon
which this act takes effect, are hereby transferred to the Board. td

(d) All claims against, debts and obligations of, and actions, suits
and proceedings pending against, the State Prison Board, the Superin-
tendent of the Penitentiary and the Superintendent of the State Prison
Farm, and any other officer, institution or agency under the State Prison
Board on the effective date of this act, are hereby continued as claims
against, debts and obligations of, and actions, suits and proceedings
against the Board.

(e) All officers, agents and employees of the State Prison Board,
of the Superintendent of the Penitentiary, of the Superintendent of the
State Prison Farm, and of any other officer, institution or agency under
the State Prison Board, on the day immediately prior to the day on which
this act takes effect, are hereby continued as officers, agents and em-
ployees of the Board and of the Commissioner, with like functions,
powers, duties and compensation, subject however to all provisions of
this act applicable to officers, agents and employees of the Board and of
the Commissioner. ,

Section 8. Regional farms—(a) Within the limits of funds
available therefor, the Board is hereby authorized and directed to acquire,
construct, equip, maintain and operate such prison farms, in addition to
those heretofore established, as shall be required for the detention and
proper care of all persons convicted of offenses against the Common-
wealth and sentenced to confinement for more than thirty days. All real
estate so acquired shall be held in the name of the Commonwealth.

(b) Such prison farms shall be so located, with reference to prison
farms and jail farms heretofore established and to the several counties and
cities of the State, as to make either a prison farm or jail farm as acces-
sible as possible to each of the said counties and cities.

(c) All buildings, other than temporary buildings and buildings
heretofore constructed, used as dormitories at such prison farms shall
be of fireproof or fire-resisting construction.

(d) In the construction of all buildings and other structures at
such prison farms, and in the development and equipment of such prison
farms, the Board shall, insofar as possible, make use of prison labor and
of products manufactured, processed or produced at institutions under
the supervision and control of the Board.

Section 9. Use of local jail farms—(a) The Board is authorized
to enter into contracts for the care and custody of prisoners convicted and
sentenced to confinement in jail for violations of the laws of the Com-
monwealth, with any one or more counties or cities thereof which main-
tain and operate one or more jail farms which, as to buildings, equipment,
maintenance and operation, conform to standards fixed by the Board.

(b) Each such contract shall specify the responsibility of the au-
thorities of the county or city for the care and custody of such prisoners
and shall prescribe the compensation therefor to be paid such county or
city. Such compensation shall be based on the cost of providing for the
care and custody of such prisoners at the respective jail farms, including
therein the reasonable cost of guarding and providing necessary housing,
maintenance, food, clothing, medicine, medical attention for such pris-
oners, and administrative expenses.

Section 10. Control of prisoners—(a) The Board is authorized
to transfer, or to require to be transferred, any person accused or con-
victed of an offense against the laws of the Commonwealth or of any other
state or country, or any witness held in any case to which the Common-
wealth is a party, if confined in any penal institution within the Com-
monwealth, from any penal institution in which such person is confined
to such other penal institution in the State as is designated by the Board.

— (b) The term “penal institution” as used herein means and in-
cludes every prison, prison camp or prison farm heretofore or hereafter
established with funds appropriated from the State treasury, and every
jail, jail farm, lock-up or other place of detention owned, maintained or
operated by any political subdivision of the Commonwealth, but shall not
be taken to include any industrial school or other institution established
solely for the detention of juvenile delinquents.

Section 11. Regulation of local jails, jail farms and lock-ups.—(a)
The Board is authorized and directed to prescribe minimum standards
for the construction and equipment of local jails, jail farms and lock-ups,
herein referred to as local penal institutions, whether heretofore or here-
after established, and minimum requirements for the feeding, clothing,
medical attention, attendance, care, segregation and treatment of all pris-
oners confined in such jails and lock-ups and at such jail farms.

(b) The Board is authorized to prohibit, by its order, the confine-
ment of prisoners in any jail or lock-up, or at any jail farm, which is not
constructed, equipped, maintained and operated so as to comply with
minimum standards prescribed by the Board in accordance with the pro-
visions of this section, and to designate some other jail, jail farm, lock-up,
or place of detention in or at which shall be confined all persons who
otherwise would have been confined in the jail, jail farm, or lock-up thus
ordered closed by the Board. Copies of each such order shall, upon being
issued, be sent to the officer in charge of the jail, jail farm, or lock-up
affected, to the governing bodies of the counties, cities and towns, affected,
and to the judge of the circuit court of each county and the judge of the
corporation or hustings court of each city in which is located the jail, jail
farm or lock-up affected. In case any prisoner so transferred is serving a
sentence for violation of a municipal or county ordinance, the cost of the
care and feeding of said prisoner in the jail to which said prisoner 1s
transferred shall be paid by the county or municipality for the violation
of the ordinance of which he was sentenced.

(c) Any court of record having general chancery jurisdiction in
any county or city which maintains and operates any such jail, jail farm
or lock-up, or in any county in which is situated any town which maintains
and operates any such jail, jail farm or lock-up, affected by any such
order of the Board, shall have jurisdiction to enforce such order by an
injunction or other appropriate remedy at the suit of the Board. In the
city of Richmond such jurisdiction shall be vested in the Hustings Court,
Part One, of the city. Such proceeding shall be commenced by a petition
of the Board at the relation of the Commonwealth and shall, insofar as
possible, conform to rules of procedure applicable to chancery practice.
The governing body of each county, city or town, which maintains and
operates any jail, jail farm or lock-up affected by the order of the Board,
and the officer in charge of each such jail, jail farm or lock-up affected,
shall be made parties defendant. In every such proceeding the court shall
hear all relevant evidence, including evidence with regard to the con-
dition of the jail and any other evidence bearing upon the propriety of the
Board’s action, and may, in its sound discretion, refuse to grant the in-
junction if it appears that the action of the Board was not warranted.

Section 12. Maintenance of jails—(a) In any instance in which
a penal institution of a county, city or town is designated by the Board as
the place where prisoners committed by the courts or other authorities of
any other county, city or town shall be confined, any capital outlays in-
curred for necessary repairs, improvements or additions to such penal
institution, and all costs of maintenance of said jail chargeable to the locali-
ties, shall be borne ratably by the several counties, cities or towns using it.

(b) The share of each respective county, city or town involved in
such costs shall be such proportion of the total cost of such repairs, 1m-
provements, additions and other such costs as the total aggregate number
of days spent in local penal institutions by prisoners committed by the
courts or other authorities of such county, city or town, for the five year
period next preceding the year in which such repairs, improvements or
additions are begun, or other costs incurred, bears to the total aggregate
number of days spent in local penal institutions by the prisoners com-
mitted by the courts or other authorities of both or all of the counties,
cities and towns using the penal institution to which such repairs, im-
provements or additions are made, or in which such other costs are in-
curred. The amount to be paid by each county, city or town involved shall
be determined by the Board on the basis herein set forth.

(c) The Board shall furnish a statement of the several shares of the
cost so determined to the board of supervisors, council or other govern-
ing body of each county, city and town involved, and the respective shares
shall be paid within thirty days from the date upon which such statement
is furnished. If the costs of any such repairs, improvements or additions
will not exceed five hundred dollars they may be authorized by the board
of supervisors, council or other governing body of the county, city or town
to whose penal institution such repairs, improvements or additions are to
be made; but if the costs will exceed five hundred dollars, such repairs,
improvements or additions shall be recommended by the Board and
agreed on in advance by the governing bodies of both or all of the coun-
ties, cities and towns involved.

(d) In case of disagreement the matter of the extent of the re-
pairs, improvements or additions and the proportionate cost to the re-
spective localities involved shall be determined by the circuit or corpora-
tion court of the locality which owns or maintains the penal institution
proposed to be repaired, improved or added to, upon the petition of the

oard.

(e) “Local penal institution,” as used herein, means a jail, jail
farm, or lock-up, maintained and operated by a county, city or town, or
by two or more such political subdivisions of this State.

Section 13. Consolidated jails and jail farms—(a) Any two or
more counties, any two or more cities, or any one or more counties and
any one or more cities, acting through their respective governing bodies,
are hereby authorized to effect an agreement for the joint use, main-
tenance and operation of the jail or jail farm of any one of them, or for
the construction, maintenance and operation of a consolidated jail or jail
ulitid Every such agreement shall be made subject to the approval of the

oard. ,

- (b) The use, construction, maintenance and operation of each such
jail and of each such jail farm shall conform to such standards as shall
be prescribed by the Board.

(c) Except insofar as the same are inconsistent with the provisions
of this act, other provisions of law in relation to the construction, inspec-
tion and maintenance of jails and jail farms shall apply to each jail and
to each jail farm used, constructed, maintained or operated pursuant to
the provisions of this section.

Section 14. The Board or the Commissioner shall-release, or cause
to be released, into the custody of the Parole Board or any of its probation
and parole officers or the Director of Parole, any prisoner subject to
parole under the laws of this State whenever directed so to do by said
Parole Board or by the Director of Parole.

2. Be it further enacted, That all acts or parts of acts inconsistent
with this act are hereby repealed to the extent of such inconsistency.

3. Be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect on July first,
nineteen hundred and forty-two.