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§7-9-1. Establishment.
The commissioners of any county may unite with any city, located in said county, in the erection, management and maintenance of a workhouse for the joint use of such county and city; and the commissioners are authorized to levy and collect the necessary funds therefor from the taxable property of the county: Provided, That the commissioners shall not collect and expend a greater amount than shall be collected and expended by such city for the same purpose: Provided further, That the question of erecting such workhouse shall first be submitted to a vote of the people of the city and county desiring the same, and shall be ratified by three fifths of all votes for and against the question, at an election to be held for that purpose: And provided further, That the aggregate of all indebtedness including the amount for such workhouse shall not exceed five per cent of the assessed valuation of the real estate of the city and county erecting the same.

§7-9-2. Board of directors.
The direction, management and control of any such joint workhouse, and the maintenance and care of the convicts therein, shall be vested in a board of five directors, who shall be called "the board of joint city and county workhouse directors," and such directors shall be freehold electors of such county, and shall serve without compensation, and not more than three members of the board of joint city and county workhouse directors shall be of the same political party faith.

§7-9-3. Appointment of directors.
The directors shall be appointed by the mayor, and the county court or other tribunal acting in lieu thereof, of such city and county having such joint workhouse, with the approval of the council of such city and county commissioners, and shall hold their office for five years, except that at the first appointment one director shall be appointed for one year, one for two years, and one for three years, one for four years, and one for five years, and thereafter one shall be appointed annually, but all appointments shall be made in conformity with section two.

§7-9-4. Officers.
The board of such joint city and county workhouse directors shall elect annually, at its first regular meeting in May, one of its members as president and at the same meeting appoint a secretary and clerk, who shall make a complete record of all its proceedings, and the board may appoint such other officers as may be necessary, and fix the compensation of all officers for their services.

§7-9-5. Contracts.
Contracts may be made by or on behalf of the board, but it shall be essential to the validity of every such contract that the same shall be assented to at a regular meeting by a majority of all members, and a minute thereof entered on the journal of its proceedings.

§7-9-6. Employees.
The board shall have power to appoint a superintendent, deputy superintendent, and such subordinate officers, guards and employees as may be necessary, fix their compensation and prescribe their duties, and to make all such regulations for their management and government as it may deem expedient.

§7-9-7. Regulations.
The board shall have power to make, establish and enforce rules and regulations for its own government, and the government and control of the institution, its officers and inmates, and make contracts for supplies and the labor of its inmates either within the corporate limits of such municipality or within the limits of the county in which such workhouse is located, as the board shall direct.

§7-9-8. Records.
The books of the institution shall be so kept as to clearly exhibit the time, state and condition of the inmates, the number received and discharged, by what court and for what cause committed, the length of the time of commitment of each person, the number of days' labor performed by each convict, and the nature and value of such labor to such institution, and the relative costs and expenses incurred by the institution in managing and taking care of each convict, and the number employed in each branch of industry carried on, and the receipts from and expenditures for and on account of each department of business.

§7-9-9. Quarterly financial statements.
The board shall cause quarterly statements to be made, specifying minutely all receipts and expenditures, from whom and for what purpose received, and to whom and for what purpose paid, with proper voucher for each item, and submit such statement properly certified to the council of such city and the commissioners of such county, for their examination and approval.

§7-9-10. Accounts and reports.
The accounts of the institutions shall be annually closed and balanced on the first Monday of January in each year. And full reports of the preceding year shall then be made and submitted to the city council and county commissioners, which shall be published as a Class I legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code, and the publication area for such publication shall be the county; and the city council and county commissioners, or either of such bodies, may require such other reports and exhibits of the condition and management of such institution as they may deem proper.

§7-9-11. Superintendent.
The superintendent of such workhouse shall have the control and management of its affairs, subject to the laws of the state and the ordinance of the corporation and the rules and regulations adopted by the board for its government. And it shall be his duty to obey all written orders and instructions of the board not inconsistent with the laws, rules and regulations relating to the government of the institution.

§7-9-12. Inspection and supervision.
The superintendent shall be responsible for the manner in which the institution is managed and conducted, shall reside at the same, devote his time and attention to the proper business thereof, and visit and examine into the condition of every department thereof, and of each person confined therein, daily, or as often as good order or necessity may require, and he shall exercise a general supervision and direction in regard to all matters of discipline, police regulation and business of the institution.

§7-9-13. Deputy superintendent.
In the absence or inability of the superintendent, the deputy superintendent of the institution shall, so far as relates to the discipline thereof, perform the duties of the superintendent.

§7-9-14. Removal of officers.
The board, for misconduct or willful neglect of duty, and upon sufficient proof thereof, may remove any officer or employee of the institution, except the superintendent thereof, who shall be removed for cause and in the manner provided for the removal of city officers; and any employee of the superintendent may be discharged at his discretion, but no officer shall be removed by the board until he has had an opportunity to be heard in his defense.

§7-9-15. Costs of maintenance.
The costs of maintaining such joint city and county workhouse, over and above the proceeds arising from the sale of the products thereof, shall be borne by such city and county jointly, and such expenses shall be paid quarterly by such city and county out of the respective treasuries thereof, upon the certificate of such secretary of such joint city and county workhouse, on the approval of the council of such city and the commissioners of such county. And the county court of any county having such joint city and county workhouse is hereby authorized and required to levy upon all the real and personal property, outside of the corporate limits of such city, such sum as may be necessary, and the city council of such city is hereby authorized and required to levy upon all the real and personal property, inside of the corporate limits of such city, such sum as may be necessary for the maintenance aforesaid; and the board of such joint city and county workhouse directors, the city council of such city, and the county commissioners of such county, in ascertaining and determining at the end of each quarter the amount to be paid to such board to meet any deficiency in the products of such joint workhouse to maintain the same, shall take into account and be governed by the number of convicts furnished by such city and county, the number of days' labor performed by the convicts from each, the value of such labor, and the relative costs and expenses of taking care of, managing and disciplining the convicts of each, and give to such city and county each full credit for the value of the products of such workhouse produced by the labor, skill and diligence of the convicts from each, and charge to the account of each (city and county) the cost to such institution of working, managing, maintaining, taking care of, and disciplining its convicts, and make assessments upon such city and county for the maintenance of such institution accordingly.

§7-9-16. Commitments.
When a person over sixteen years of age is convicted of an offense, under the law of the state or an ordinance of a municipal corporation, and the tribunal before which the conviction is had is directed by law to commit the offender to the county jail, or corporation prison, the court, mayor or justice of the peace, as the case may be, shall sentence the offender to the workhouse, if there is such house in the county: Provided, That when a commitment is made from a city, village or township in the county, other than in the municipality containing such workhouse, the council of such city or village, or the trustees of such township, shall transmit with the mittimus a sum of money equal to forty cents per day for the time of such commitment, to be placed in the hands of the superintendent of such workhouse, for the care and maintenance of such prisoner.

§7-9-17. Inmates from other counties and cities.
Any city and county or county having or that may hereafter erect a joint city and county workhouse, or county workhouse, may receive as inmates of such joint city and county workhouse, or county workhouse, persons sentenced thereto as provided by law, from counties and municipal corporations having no workhouse, upon such terms and for such length of time as may be agreed upon by the commissioners of such county or the council of such municipal corporation, and the board of such joint city and county workhouse directors, or county workhouse directors: Provided, That such convicts so received shall, in all respects, be and remain under control of the directors of such workhouse, and subject to the rules, regulations and discipline of such workhouse the same as other convicts therein detained.

§7-9-18. Inmates from cities.
The commissioners of any county, or the council of any municipal corporation, wherein there is no workhouse, may agree with the council of any municipal corporation or other authority having control of the workhouse of any other city, or with the directors of any district or joint city and county workhouse, or county workhouse, upon terms and conditions upon which persons convicted of misdemeanors or of the violation of any ordinance of such municipal corporation by any court or magistrate of such county or municipal corporation, having no workhouse, may be received into such workhouse under sentence of such court or magistrate; and the county commissioners of such county, and the council of any such municipal corporation, are authorized to pay the expenses incurred under such agreement out of the general fund of such county, or of the municipal corporation, upon the certificate of the proper officer of such workhouse; and the sheriff or other officer transporting any person to such workhouse shall have the following fees therefor: Six cents per mile for himself, going and returning, and five cents per mile for transporting such convict, and five cents per mile going and coming for the service of each guard, to be allowed as in penitentiary cases; the number of miles to be computed by the usual route of travel, to be paid in state cases out of the general fund of the county, on the allowance of the county commissioners, and in cases for the violation of the ordinances of any municipal corporation by such municipal corporation on the order of the council thereof.

§7-9-19. Sentence to workhouse.
When any person has been convicted of a misdemeanor or of the violation of any ordinance of a municipal corporation, by any court or magistrate of the state, or of such municipal corporation, in a county or municipal corporation having no workhouse, and the commissioners of such county or council of such municipal corporation have made provisions as allowed by law for receiving persons so convicted into the workhouse of a city in any other county or district, or a joint city and county workhouse, or county workhouse in this state, it shall be competent for such court or magistrate, in its discretion, where imprisonment in the county or municipal jail may by law or ordinance be imposed in punishment of such offense, to sentence such person to such workhouse for a period not exceeding the maximum period of confinement in the county or municipal jail allowed by statute or ordinance for such offense; and in all such cases such court or magistrate may further order that such person stand committed to such workhouse until the costs of prosecution are paid, or he be discharged, as herein provided; and in all cases where a fine may be imposed in whole or in part punishment of an offense, or for violation of an ordinance of any municipal corporation, and such court or magistrate could order that such person stand committed to the jail of the county or municipal corporation until such fine and costs of prosecution are paid, such court or magistrate may order that such person stand committed to such workhouse until such fine and costs of prosecution are paid, or until he be discharged therefrom by allowing a credit of sixty cents per day on such fine and costs for each day of confinement in such workhouse, or be otherwise legally discharged.

§7-9-20. Procedure after sentence.
When a person is sentenced to such workhouse by the circuit or criminal courts, the clerk thereof shall make and deliver to the sheriff a certified copy of the docket and journal entries, showing the crime charged and the sentence of the court, which shall be delivered by the sheriff to the proper officer in charge of such workhouse, which shall be his warrant for detaining such person in custody therein. In case of such convictions by any court or magistrate, such court or magistrate shall make a certified transcript of the docket in such case, which shall in like manner be delivered to the marshal or constable or sheriff by such court or magistrate, which shall be delivered by such officer to the proper officer in charge of such workhouse, which shall be his warrant for detaining such person in custody therein. In all cases of sentences to a workhouse, the person so sentenced may be confined in the jail of the county or corporation prison for such period as may be reasonably necessary for the officer to procure the papers and make arrangements to transport him to such workhouse.

§7-9-21. Payment of fine.
When a person is committed to such workhouse under sentence that he stand committed to such workhouse until the fine and costs of prosecution assessed against him are paid, as provided in section eighteen, such person may pay in money, in whole or in part, to the board of workhouse directors, such fine and costs assessed against him, and such board shall receive and turn the same, quarterly, into the treasury of the county from which such person was committed: Provided, That such person was so committed for the violation of any law of the state; and when any person so committed for the violation of an ordinance of a municipal corporation shall make such payment to such board, it shall be its duty to receive and quarterly turn the same into the treasury of the municipal corporation from which such person was committed.

§7-9-22. Enlargement of buildings.
The board of joint city and county workshop directors, or county workhouse directors, may enlarge or improve the buildings, shops or grounds from any surplus that may arise from the income of such workhouse, or from the levy from such maintenance made by such county and city, or county; but no levy for maintenance shall be made when it has not been necessary to use more than one half of the avails of the levy for the year preceding; and any surplus arising from the carrying on of such joint workhouse shall be returned to the general fund of such city and county in the proportion that such surplus may have been produced by the labor of the convicts of each, and any surplus arising from the carrying on of such county workhouse shall be returned to the general fund of the county.

§7-9-23. Fees of officers.
In all cases of sentence and commitment to such joint city and county workhouse all officers shall be paid the same fees therefor allowed by law for similar services in other cases; such fees, in cases of misdemeanor, shall be paid out of the county treasury of the county from which such commitment was made, and when such sentence is for violation of an ordinance, such fees shall be paid out of the treasury of the municipal corporation from which commitment was made: Provided, That such fees shall only be paid out of the costs paid by convicted persons sentenced under the provisions of this article.

§7-9-24. Parole.
The foregoing board of joint city and county workhouse directors shall have power to establish rules and regulations under which, and specify the conditions on which, any prisoner may be allowed to go upon parole outside of the buildings and inclosures, but to remain while on parole in the legal custody and under the control of the board and subject at any time to be taken back within the inclosure of said institution; and full power to enforce such rules and regulations and conditions, and to retake and reimprison any convict so upon parole, is hereby conferred upon such board, whose written order, certified by its secretary, shall be a sufficient warrant, for all officers named therein, to authorize such officer to return to actual custody any conditionally released or paroled prisoner; and it is hereby made the duty of all officers to execute such order the same as ordinary criminal process; and the board may employ or authorize any person or persons to see that the conditions of such paroles are not violated, and in case of such violation to return any such prisoner so violating such parole to said workhouse, and the time between the violation of the conditions of such parole or conditional release (by whatever name), as entered by order of the board in the record of its meetings, and the reimprisonment or return of such prisoner shall not be counted as any part or portion of time served under any sentence; and any prisoner at large upon such parole who fails to return to the custody of said workhouse as may be specified as one of the conditions of his parole, or commits a fresh crime and is convicted thereof, shall be, on the order of such board, treated as an escaped prisoner and subject to the penalties concerning escapes from prison.

Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2012 1st Special Session