Chap. 41.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 5017 of the Code of Virginia,
as amended, relating to the record to be kept of conduct of convicts and the
credit to be allowed convicts for good conduct. [H B 16}

Approved February 22, 1946

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That section fifty hundred seventeen of the Code of Virginia, as
amended, be amended and re-enacted, as follows:

Section 5017. The State Board of Corrections shall keep a record
of the conduct of each felon and misdemeanant confined in the peni-
tentiary or other part of the State prison system. Every person convicted
of a felony before October first, nineteen hundred forty-two, except those
mentioned in the second paragraph of this section, shall, for every month
that he is held in confinement after the effective date of the Acts of As-
sembly of nineteen hundred forty-four, in any part of the State prison
system, without violating any prison rule or regulation, be allowed a
credit of thirty days upon the total term of confinement to which he has
been sentenced, in addition to the time he actually serves.

Every person convicted of a felony before October first, nineteen
hundred forty-two, who had once before been convicted of a felony and
regularly discharged from the State prison system, or who, prior to the
effective date of the Acts of Assembly of nineteen hundred forty-four,
had been returned to the State prison system for violating the terms of a
conditional pardon or who had been convicted of a crime while serving
his sentence in the State prison system, or who had escaped or attempted
to escape from the State prison system or from jail while awaiting trial or
removal to the state prison system, shall, for every month he is held in
confinement after the effective date of the Acts of Assembly of nineteen
hundred forty-four, in any part of the State prison system, without vio-
lating any prison rule or regulation, be allowed a credit of fifteen days
upon the total term of confinement to which he has been sentenced, in
addition to the time he actually serves. Every person convicted of a
felony before October first, nineteen hundred forty-two, who, after the
effective date of the Acts of Assembly of nineteen hundred forty-four, 1s
returned to the State prison system for violating the terms of a conditional
pardon, or who commits a crime while serving his sentence in the State
prison system, or who escapes df attempts to escape from the State prison
system, shall, for every twenty days he is held in confinement after his
return to the State prison system or after the commission of such crime
r after such escape or attempted escape, without violating any prison
ule or regulation, be allowed a credit of only ten days upon the total
erm of confinement to which he has been sentenced, in addition to the
ime he actually serves.

Such credit as any person mentioned in the first or second paragraph
of this section may have earned and not forfeited prior to the effective
date of the Acts of Assembly of nineteen hundred forty-four shall, unless
forfeited as hereinafter provided, remain to his credit.

Every person who on or after October first, nineteen hundred forty-
two has been or is convicted of a felony and sentenced to confinement
for a period of one year or more and every person convicted of a mis-
demeanor and confined in any part of the State prison system shall, for
every twenty days he is or has been held in confinement after sentence,
either in jail awaiting removal to the State prison system or in any part
of the State prison system to which he has been or is sent to serve the
sentence imposed upon him, without violating any jail or prison rule or
regulation, be allowed a credit of ten days upon his total term of confine-
ment to which he has been or is sentenced in addition to the time he ac-
tually serves or has served. So much of the credit allowed to misdemean-
ants by this paragraph as applies to time served prior to the effective
date of the Acts of Assembly of nineteen hundred forty-four, shall be in
lieu of, and not in addition to, any credit they may have earned under the
law as it existed prior to the effective date of the Acts of Assembly of
nineteen hundred forty-four.

Any jail prisoner or convict under the control of the State Board of
Corrections who violates or who has violated any jail or prison rule or
regulation shall forfeit such portion of his accumulated credit for good
conduct as may be deemed proper by the State Board of Corrections.
The board may, however, whenever it finds that the conduct of the pris-
oner justifies such action, restore such portion of the prisoner’s forfeited
credit as it deems proper. Every time any such jail prisoner or convict
1s punished, the name of the offender, the offense, a full and detailed
description of the punishment, the time when the offense was committed,
and when punishment was inflicted, shall be recorded in a register or
registers provided for that purpose.

No credit allowed under the provisions of this section shall have the
effect of reducing the period of time any prisoner must serve before be-
coming eligible for parole.