Chap. 218.—An ACT to provide for and make effective a system of probation and
parole in Virginia; to that end to provide for a Parole Board, Director of
Parole, probation and parole officers, and officers, agents and employees to carry
into effect the provisions of this act, and to prescribe and provide for the ap-
pointment, suspension, removal, compensation, functions, powers, and duties of
the said Board, of the said Director, of the said probation and parole officers, and
of the other said officers, agents and employees; and to prescribe the powers,
and duties of certain other boards and officers with reference to the ree

matters. B 12
Approved March 13, 1942

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

Section 1. Parole Board; creation, appointment, terms, compen-
sation, quorum and meetings—(a) There _is hereby created in the
Executive Department of the State a Parole Board, to be known as the
Virginia Parole Board. The Parole Board shall consist of three members
appoitited by the Governor subject to confirmation by the General As-
sembly, if in session when such appointment is made, and if not in session,
then at its next succeeding session.

(b) Of the members first appointed one shall be appointed for a
term of two years, one for a term of four years and one for a term of six
years. Thereafter all appointments to the Parole Board shall be for terms
of six years, except appointments to fill vacancies which shall be made for
the unexpired terms. The members of the Parole Board shall be subject
to suspension or removal by the Governor in his discretion.

(c) The Governor shall designate one of the members so appointed
as Director of Parole. Of the members first appointed, the one appointed
for the term of six years shall be so designated. The Director of Parole
shall devote his full time to the performance of his duties as such, and
shall serve as chairman of the Parole Board. The Board may elect one of
its members or some other person to act as secretary of the Board.

d) The Director of Parole shall receive a salary of six thousand
dollars ($6,000.00) a year, and the necessary travelling and other ex-
penses incurred by him in the performance of his duties. The other mem-
bers of the Parole Board shall as such receive no salaries, but shall be
paid their necessary traveling and other expenses incurred in attendance
upon meetings and while otherwise engaged in the discharge of their du-
ties, and in addition thereto each member shall be entitled to the sum of
fifteen dollars a day for each day or portion thereot during which he is
engaged in the performance of his duties as a member of the Parole
Board, subject to the condition, however, that no member of the Parole
Board shall be paid such per diem for more than two hundred days in
the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and forty-three
and for not more than one hundred days in any fiscal year thereafter.

Section 2. Functions, powers and duties of the Parole Board ; duties
of prison officials—(a) In addition to other functions, powers and du-
ties conferred and imposed upon the Parole Board by this act, the Parole
Board shall, subject to other provisions of this act:

(1) Adopt, subject to approval by the Governor, general rules
governing the granting of parole and the investigation, conduct and super-
vision of persons placed upon parole;

(2) Release on parole, subject to the general rules adopted pur-
suant to paragraph (1) of this subsection, for such time and upon such
terms and conditions as the Parole Board shall prescribe, persons con-
victed of felonies and confined under the laws of the Commonwealth in
any penal institution in the Commonwealth when such persons become
eligible, and are found suitable, for parole;

(3) Revoke parole and order the reincarceration of any person on
parole when in the judgment of the Board the parolee has violated the
conditions of his parole or is otherwise unfit further to be at liberty upon

arole;
7. (4) Issue final discharges to persons released by the Parole Board
on parole when the Parole Board is of the opinion that such persons are
reliable and trustworthy and will remain at liberty without violating the
law and that the discharge of such person will not be incompatible with
the welfare of such person or of society.

(b) The Parole Board is authorized to hold and conduct hearings,
to issue subpoenas requiring the attendance of witnesses and the produc-
tion of records, memoranda, papers and other documents before the Pa-
role Board or any representative of the said Board, and to administer
oaths and to take testimony thereunder. In its discretion the Parole Board
may authorize any member of the said Board to hold and conduct hear-
ings, issue subpoenas, and administer oaths and take testimony there-
under. If any person shall fail or refuse to obey any such subpoena issued
by the Parole Board or any member thereof, or shall hinder the orderly
conduct and decorum of any hearing held and conducted by the Parole
Board or any member thereof, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and
upon conviction shall be punished accordingly.

(c) It shall be the duty of all prison officials to grant to the mem-
bers of the Parole Board, or its properly accredited representatives, ac-
cess at all reasonable times to any prisoner whom the Parole Board has
power to parole, to provide for the Parole Board, or such representatives,
facilities for communicating with and observing such prisoner, and to fur-
nish to the Parole Board such reports as the said Board or the Director
shall request concerning the conduct and character of any prisoner in
their custody, and other facts deemed by the Parole Board pertinent in
determining whether such prisoner shall be paroled.

Section 3. Functions, powers and duties of the Director of Parole.
—In addition to his other functions, powers and duties prescribed by law,

the Director of Parole, sometimes in this act referred to as the Director,
shall
cH. 218] | ACTS OF ASSEMBLY 305

(1) Preside at all meetings of the Parole Board and cause to be
kept by the Secretary the minutes of its proceedings and all other records
required by law or by the Board to be kept incident to its functions, powers
and duties ; |

(2) Carry or cause to be carried into effect all orders of the Board
and all rules and regulations adopted by it pursuant to the provisions of
this act;

(3) With respect to parole and parolees, direct and supervise the
work of all probation and parole officers appointed pursuant to the pro-
visions of this act;

(4) Prepare and submit to the several circuit and corporation
courts of the Commonwealth, authorized to appoint probation and parole
officers pursuant to the provisions of this act, lists of persons suitable and
qualified, in his opinion, for appointment as such officers ;

(5) Make such use of agents and employees of the Department of
Corrections as may be made available by the Commissioner of Corrections
in the administration of this act. The Director is also authorized, within
the limit of funds available for such purpose, to employ, such additional
agents and employees as may be needed in the administration of this act.
The employment and removal of all such agents and employees who are
compensated at a rate of eighteen hundred dollars or more per annum
shall be subject to the approval of the Parole Board.

Section 4. Probation and parole officers ; appointment, terms of of-
fice, compensation and removal—(a) The Parole Board shall divide the
State into as many separate parole districts as it deems necessary or desir-
able effectually to carry out the purposes of this act, and may change,
from time to time, the area embraced in any such district to conform to
circumstances, conditions, needs, and demands as they arise or develop.
There shall be at least one probation and parole officer for each parole
district. When the area of any parole district lies solely in counties and
cities comprising a single judicial circuit, said officer or officers shall be
appointed by the judge of said circuit. When the area of a parole district
‘lies in counties located partly in two or more judicial circuits, said proba-
tion and parole officers shall be appointed by the joint action of the judges
of the several circuits. If there are more than two such judges, a majority
vote shall control the appointment. When the area of a parole district lies
partly in counties comprising part of a judicial circuit and partly ina city
having a corporation or hustings court, the appointment shall be made
by the joint action of the circuit and corporation or hustings court judges,
with a majority vote controlling. When a parole district lies wholly with-
in a city, the appointment shall be made by the judge or judges of the
corporation or hustings court or courts, a majority of the judges controll-
ing the appointment. Whenever the appointment is to be made by two
judges and they fail to agree upon an appointee, or fail to notify the Di-
rector of Parole that any list of eligible persons submitted by him is un-
satisfactory, after the expiration of sixty days from the time such list was
submitted the Board shall appoint the probation and parole officer for the
district involved. _ , Oo a .
(b) Such appointments shall be made from lists of eligible persons
submitted by the Director of Parole, but if any list submitted is unsatis-
factory to the judge or judges, or a majority of them having the appoint-
ing power, the Director of Parole shall, at his or their request, submit
additional lists containing the names of additional eligible persons until
an appointment satisfactory to the said judge or judges may be made.
At least two of the names contained in each such list shall be names of
persons resident in the district for which the appointment is to be made.

(c) Each such probation and parole officer shall be appointed for
a term of four years, unless the appointment be to fill a vacancy, in which
case the appointment shall be for the unexpired term. Each such officer
may be suspended or removed at the pleasure of the judge or judges hav-
ing the appointing power.

(d) Each probation and parole officer appointed pursuant to the
provisions of this section shall devote his full time to the performance of
his duties as such officer and shall receive as compensation for his services
a salary which shall not exceed two thousand dollars per annum; the
exact amount of the salary of each such officer shall be fixed within such
limit by the Director. Each probation and parole officer shall also be paid
all necessary traveling and other expenses incurred by him in the dis-
charge of his duties hereunder, not to exceed, however, one thousand dol-
lars during any fiscal, year. The salary and expenses herein provided for
shall be paid by the State and no part shall be paid by or chargeable to
any county or city, except as hereinafter provided.

(e) Nothing in this act shall be taken to limit the powers of any
court to appoint probation officers pursuant to the provisions of chapter
three hundred and forty-nine of the acts of nineteen hundred and eighteen,
as amended, nor to limit the powers or duties of such courts under the said
act or those of the probation officers appointed thereunder. |

(f) Upon request of the governing body of a county, city or town
the probation and parole officer shall perform the same duties and have
the same powers as to persons convicted for violations of ordinances of
such county, city or town as he has as to persons violating laws of the
State, but the county, city or town so using the services of such proba-
tion and parole officer shall pay a pro rata part of his expenses to be ar-
rived at by mutual agreement between such local governing body and the
Parole Board.

Section 5. Functions, powers and duties of probation and parole
officers.—In addition to other functions, powers and duties prescribed by
this act, each probation and parole officer shall

(1) Investigate and report on any case pending in any court or be-
fore any justice in his jurisdiction referred to him by such court or justice;

(Z) Supervise and assist all persons within his territory placed on
probation, and furnish every such person with a written statement of the
conditions of his probation and instruct him therein ;

(3) Supervise and assist all persons within his territory released
on parole;

(4) Investigate the prison and criminal record, the physical and
mental condition, and the social background and environment of every
cH. 218] ACTS OF ASSEMBLY 30/7.

person convicted of a misdemeanor and sentenced for a term of more than
thirty days, and recommend to the court the release of any such prisoner
whose release, as shown by the said investigation, will be for the best in-
terests of such person, his family and the Commonwealth ;

(5) Arrest, and recommit to the place of confinement from which
he was released, or in which he would have been confined but for the
suspension of his sentence or of its imposition, for violation of the terms
of probation or parole, any probationer or parolee under his supervision,
or as directed by the Director of Parole, or the court, pending a hearing
by the Parole Board or the court, as the case may be;

(6) Keep such records, make such reports, and perform such other
duties as may be required of him by the Director and by the rules and
regulations prescribed by the Parole Board, and such as are required of
him by the court or judge by whom he was appointed.

Section 6. Eligibility for Parole—(a) Except as herein other-
wise provided, every person convicted, either heretofore or hereafter, of
a felony, and sentenced and committed under the laws of this Common-
wealth to any penal institution in the Commonwealth, shall be eligible for
parole after serving one-third of the term of imprisonment imposed. In
the case of terms of imprisonment to be served consecutively, the total
time imposed shall constitute the term of imprisonment; in the case of
terms of imprisonment to be served concurrently, the longest term im-
posed shall be the term of imprisonment.

(b) Persons sentenced to die or to life imprisonment shall not be
eligible for parole.

Section 7. Abolition of time off for good behavior.—No person
convicted, on or after October first, nineteen hundred and forty-two, of
a felony and sentenced to confinement in any penal institution shall be en-
titled to a deduction of any time for good behavior from the term of such
sentence.

Section 8. Release procedure-—(a) The Parole Board shall re-
view the case of each prisoner as he becomes eligible for parole and at
least annually thereafter until he is released on parole. The Parole Board
may in addition thereto review the case of any prisoner eligible for parole
at any other time when it is of the opinion that such should be done.

(b) No person shall be released on parole by the Parole Board un-
til it has made, or catised' to be made, a thorough investigation as to the
history, the physical and mental condition, and the character of the pris-
oner and his conduct, employment and attitude while in prison, nor until
the Parole Board has determined that his release on parole will be com-
patible with the interests of the prisoner and of society.

(c) Hearings by the Parole Board may be either public or private.

(d) The period of parole which shall be fixed by the Board may be
greater than the unserved portion of the sentence actually imposed upon
the paroled prisoner by the court or jury which fixed his sentence, but
it shall not exceed the difference between the time served in confinement
by the paroled prisoner and the maximum term established by law as
punishment for the offense or offenses of which the prisoner was con-
victed. | 3 .
(e) The time during which a parolee is at large on parole shall not
be counted as service of any part of the term of imprisonment for which
he was sentenced upon his conviction.

Section 9. Conduct of parolees; return of parole violators.—(a)
Each parolee while on parole shall comply with such terms and conditions
as may be prescribed by the Parole Board. When any prisoner is released
on parole, the Director shall furnish such parolee, and the probation and
parole officer having supervision of such parolee, a copy of the terms and
conditions of the parole and any changes which may from time to time
be made therein.

(b) The Parole Board may at any time, in its discretion, upon in-
formation or a showing of a violation or a probable violation by any
parolee of any of the terms or conditions upon which he was released on
parole, issue, or cause to be issued, a warrant for the arrest and return of
such parolee to the institution from which he was paroled, or to any other
penal institution which may be designated by the said Board. The Director
may also at any time, in his discretion, upon information or a showing of
a violation or probable violation by any parolee of any of the terms or
conditions upon which such parolee was released on parole, issue, or cause
to be issued, a warrant for the arrest and return of such parolee to the in-
stitution from which he was paroled, or to any other penal institution
which may be designated by the Director. Each such warrant shall au-
thorize all officers named therein to arrest and return such parolee to
actual custody in the penal institution from which he was paroled, or to
any other institution designated by the Parole Board or the Director, as
the case may be.

(c) Any probation and parole officer may arrest a parolee without
a warrant, or may deputize any other officer with power of arrest to do so,
by a written statement setting forth that the parolee has, in the judgment
of the said probation and parole officer, violated one or more of the terms
or conditions upon which such parolee was released on parole. Such a
written statement by a probation and parole officer delivered to the officer
in charge of any State or local penal institution shall be sufficient warrant
for the detention of the said parolee.

(d) Any parolee for whose arrest a warrant has been issued by the
Parole Board or by the Director shall, after the issuance of such warrant,
be treated as an escaped prisoner, and the time from the issuing of such
warrant to the date of his arrest shall not be counted as any part of the
time to be served under his sentence. When any parolee is returned or
delivered to any institution in accordance with the provisions of this sec-
tion, he shall be held in accordance with rules of the Parole Board and
subject to further action of the said Board. The officer in charge of such
institution shall see that the Parole Board is notified promptly of each
such return or delivery.

Section 10. Revocation of parole ; extension of terms and conditions
of parole; further confinement——Whenever any parolee is arrested and
recommitted as hereinbefore provided, the Parole Board shall consider the
case and act with reference thereto as soon as it may be conveniently pos-
sible. The Board, in its discretion, may revoke the parole and order the
cus. 218, 219] ACTS OF ASSEMBLY JOD

reincarceration of the prisoner for the unserved portion of the term of im-
prisonment originally imposed upon him, or it may reinstate the parole
either upon such terms and conditions as were originally prescribed or as
may be prescribed in addition thereto or in lieu thereof.

Section 11. Discharge of parolee—-When any paroled prisoner
has faithfully performed all of the conditions and obligations imposed
upon him by the terms of his parole for such time as shall satisfy the
Parole Board that his final release is not incompatible with his welfare or
that of society, the Parole Board may enter a final order of discharge
and issue to the paroled prisoner a certificate of discharge.

Section 12. Cases of executive clemency; investigations and re-
ports; supervision of prisoners given conditional pardons——(a) The
provisions of this act shall not be construed as limiting or abridging in
any respect the powers of the Governor with respect to executive par-
dons, commutations of sentences, reprieves, or remissions of fines and
penalties. The Director and the Parole Board shall make such investiga-
tions and reports with respect to any pardon, commutation of sentence,
reprieve, or remission of fine or penalty, applied for, sought or contem-
plated, as the Governor may request.

(b) The Director, through the probation and parole officers, shall
further exercise such supervision over prisoners released on conditional
pardon as the Governor may require.

2. Be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect on, and be
in force and effect on and after, October first, nineteen hundred and
forty-two.