Title 53.1, Title 53.1. Prisons and Other Methods of Correction

When any parolee is returned to any facility in accordance with the provisions of § 53.1-161, he shall be held in accordance with rules of the Director and subject to further action of the Board. The officer in charge of the facility shall see that the Board is notified promptly …

A. Whenever any parolee is arrested and recommitted as provided herein, a preliminary hearing to determine probable cause that such parolee has violated one or more of the terms or conditions upon which he was released on parole shall be held by any hearing officer who has been d…

A. The provisions of this article, except §§ 53.1-160 and 53.1-160.1, shall not apply to any sentence imposed or to any prisoner incarcerated upon a conviction for a felony offense committed on or after January 1, 1995. Any person sentenced to a term of incarceration for a felony…

The Director is authorized to establish and maintain a system of halfway houses for the temporary care of adults who are placed on probation or released on parole and are determined to be eligible for this service. Such community facility may, in the discretion of the Director, b…

The Director shall establish minimum standards for the operation of the facilities authorized by § 53.1-177. The Director shall maintain a list of approved halfway houses.

The Director may purchase temporary room and board and training, counseling and rehabilitation services for probationers and parolees whom the Director deems to be in need of and eligible for such benefits and services. Implementation of this provision shall conform with the requ…

The term of confinement in a local or state correctional facility for the commission of a crime shall commence and be computed from the date of the final judgment, which, in case of an appeal, shall be that of the refusal of a writ of error or the affirmance of the judgment. When…

A. Any person who is sentenced to a term of confinement in a correctional facility shall have deducted from any such term all time actually spent by the person in a state hospital for examination purposes or treatment prior to trial, in a state or local correctional facility awai…

The Director shall keep a record of the conduct of each person confined in a state correctional facility. Each time any prisoner in a state correctional facility is punished, the name of the offender, the offense, the time when the offense was committed, and when and what discipl…

A. Except for credits allowed under § 53.1-191, all or any part of a person's accrued good conduct allowance and earned sentence credits earned after admission to a state correctional facility on any sentence or combination of sentences being served may be forfeited in accordance…

The Director, upon the release of a prisoner who has served at least eight months, shall give the prisoner all funds accumulated to his credit pursuant to §§ 53.1-42 and 53.1-43 and not withdrawn by him. In the event such funds do not total twenty-five dollars, the Director may a…

The Director, with the consent of the Governor, may allow to any prisoner confined in a state correctional facility a credit toward his term of confinement if he (i) renders assistance in preventing the escape of another prisoner or in the apprehension of an escaped prisoner; (ii…

The provisions of this article shall be applicable only to those persons who were convicted, sentenced and committed to the Department prior to July 1, 1981, and who, in accordance with § 53.1-198, are not governed by the system of good conduct allowances established in Article 3…

Every person convicted of a felony before October 1, 1942, except those referenced in § 53.1-194, shall, for every month that he is held in confinement after June 24, 1944, in any state correctional facility, without violating any prison rule or regulation, be allowed a credit of…

Every person convicted of a felony before October 1, 1942, who had once before been convicted of a felony and regularly discharged from the state corrections system, or who, prior to June 24, 1944, had been returned to a state correctional facility for violating the terms of a co…

Such credit as any person may have earned pursuant to § 53.1-193 or § 53.1-194 and not forfeited prior to June 24, 1944, shall remain to his credit, unless forfeited as hereinafter provided.

Every person convicted of a felony on or after October 1, 1942 and every person convicted of a misdemeanor and confined in any state correctional facility shall, for every twenty days of confinement after sentence, either in a local correctional facility awaiting transfer to the …

Every person sentenced to the Department, while in a local or state correctional facility, who participates in career and technical education or other training while confined, or who shows such interest and application in his work assignment as to exhibit unusual progress toward …

The provisions of this article shall not apply to any sentence imposed upon a conviction of a felony offense committed on or after January 1, 1995. 1994, 2nd Sp. Sess., cc. 1, 2.

Every person who, on or before June 30, 1981, was convicted of a felony and every person convicted of a misdemeanor, and to whom the provisions of §§ 53.1-151, 53.1-152 or § 53.1-153 apply, may choose the system of good conduct allowances established in §§ 53.1-199 through 53.1-2…

Every person who, on or after July 1, 1981, has been convicted of a felony and every person convicted of a misdemeanor and to whom the provisions of §§ 53.1-151, 53.1-152 or § 53.1-153 apply, and every person who, in accordance with § 53.1-198, chooses the system of good conduct …

Regulations approved by the Director shall govern the earning of good conduct allowance. The regulations shall require, as a condition for earning the allowance, that a prisoner participate in an appropriate educational, training, work, counseling or substance abuse program or ot…

Good conduct allowances shall be based upon a four-level classification system. Such system shall be established as follows: 1. Class I at a rate of thirty days credit for each thirty days served. Class I shall be reserved for persons whose initiative, conduct and performance in …

Upon receipt by the Department, persons who have been confined while awaiting transfer to a state correctional facility shall be credited with such time as is certified to the Department in accordance with §§ 53.1-116 and 53.1-129 and as is otherwise provided by law. Certified go…

The provisions of this article shall not apply to any sentence imposed upon a conviction of a felony offense committed on or after January 1, 1995. 1994, 2nd Sp. Sess., cc. 1, 2.

A. Every person who is convicted of a felony offense committed on or after January 1, 1995, and who is sentenced to serve a term of incarceration in a state or local correctional facility shall be eligible to earn sentence credits in the manner prescribed by this article. Such el…

A. A maximum of 4.5 sentence credits may be earned for each 30 days served on a sentence for a conviction for any offense of: 1. A Class 1 felony; 2. Solicitation to commit murder under § 18.2-29 or any violation of § 18.2-32, 18.2-32.1, 18.2-32.2, or 18.2-33; 3. Any violation of…

The Director shall: 1. Establish the criteria upon which a person shall be deemed to have earned sentence credits; 2. Establish the bases upon which earned sentence credits may be forfeited; 3. Establish the number of earned sentence credits which will be forfeited for violations…

The Department shall ensure that educational, vocational, counseling, and substance abuse programs for earning sentence credits are available at all state correctional facilities.

It shall be unlawful for a prisoner in a state, local or community correctional facility or in the custody of an employee thereof to: 1. Escape from a correctional facility or from any person in charge of such prisoner; 2. Willfully break, cut or damage any building, furniture, f…

If a prisoner in a state, local or community correctional facility or in the custody of an employee thereof commits any felony other than those specified in §§ 18.2-31, 18.2-55 and 53.1-203, which is punishable by confinement in a state correctional facility, such prisoner shall …

Subject to the provisions of §§ 53.1-203 and 53.1-204, the jurisdiction, proceedings, trial and judgment in a criminal proceeding against a person confined in a state correctional facility shall be as is provided for in other cases of criminal prosecution.

Prisoners may be surrendered as witnesses if a judge of any court of record of the United States or of the District of Columbia, or of any state certifies under the seal of such court that: 1. There is a criminal prosecution pending in such court or that a grand jury investigatio…

All transportation and other costs incident thereto shall be paid by the authority requesting the prisoner.

If a similar certificate, similarly executed, shall state that a prisoner has been indicted or stands legally charged with a crime outside Virginia, the Director may, with the approval of the Governor, likewise deliver the prisoner to the officer presenting the certificate. Such …

Pursuant to the order or request of the Governor, of any court, attorney for the Commonwealth of Virginia, or any other authorized officer, if any prisoner of the United States, District of Columbia or of any other state be tendered to the custody of the Director or any duly auth…

Whenever any person is committed to a correctional facility for the commission of a felony, the director, sheriff or other officer in charge of such facility shall inquire as to whether the person (i) was born in a country other than the United States and (ii) is a citizen of a c…

Upon the official request of the United States immigration officer in charge of the territory or district in which is located any court committing any alien to any correctional facility for the commission of a felony, it shall be the duty of the clerk of such court to furnish wit…

When a treaty between the United States and a foreign country provides for the transfer to such foreign country, with the consent of the appropriate state authorities, of convicted offenders in state correctional systems who are citizens or nationals of such foreign country, the …

With the consent of the appropriate state authorities, the Immigration and Naturalization Service may, following notification under § 19.2-294.2, take physical custody of and responsibility for any alien convicted of any (i) felony offense involving murder, rape, robbery, burglar…

The Director, sheriff, or other official in charge of the facility in which an alien is incarcerated may, upon receipt of a detainer from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, transfer custody of the alien to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement no more than five days pri…

A. When a person is convicted of a felony and sentenced to confinement in a state correctional facility, his estate, both real and personal, may, on motion of any party interested, be committed by the circuit court of the county or city in which his estate, or some part thereof i…

A committee appointed pursuant to § 53.1-221 may sue and be sued in respect to all claims or demands of every nature in favor of or against such prisoner and against any of the prisoner's estate. All actions or suits to which the prisoner is a party at the time of his conviction …

No action or suit on any claim or demand, except suits for divorce, actions to establish a parent and child relationship between a child and a prisoner and actions to establish a prisoner's child support obligation, shall be maintained against a prisoner after judgment of convict…

The committee shall allow, subject to the claims of creditors, a sufficient maintenance out of the prisoner's estate for the prisoner's spouse and family, if any. The spouse shall be entitled, so long as the prisoner is confined, to the profits of such portion of the prisoner's e…

Within ten days from the date of a prisoner's release from confinement, his committee shall file with the circuit court a statement of accounts of all real or personal property or both which the committee received, disbursed or was chargeable with on behalf of the prisoner. Such …