CHAPTER 226 - JAILS
AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE APPOINTMENT OF A WARDEN FOR SUSSEX COUNTY JAIL, DEFINING HIS POWERS AND DUTIES, AND PROVIDING FOR THE FORMULATION OF RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR SAID JAIL.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:
Section 1. The Levy Court of Sussex County is hereby empowered and authorized to appoint a Warden for Sussex County Jail. The person so appointed shall be of good moral character and experienced in the detention and handling of prisoners. He shall occupy the office of Warden of the Sussex County Jail at the pleasure of the Levy Court of Sussex County, and the said Levy Court shall provide him with board and living quarters at the Sussex County Home. The said Warden shall receive as his salary the sum of Sixteen Hundred Dollars (1600.00), annually, payable at such times and in such sums as the Levy Court shall determine. The Levy Court of Sussex County shall require the Warden, so appointed, to enter into bond, with sufficient surety to the Levy Court of Sussex County in the sum of Ten Thousand Dollars 010,000.00), conditioned for the faithful discharge of his duties as such Warden of Sussex County Jail.
Section 2. In order that he may better carry out the duties and requirements of his office, the said Warden, so to be appointed, is hereby authorized and empowered to appoint a Deputy or Assistant Warden, subject to the approval of the Levy Court of Sussex County, and a sufficient number of keepers, not, however to exceed eight in number. The Warden shall be responsible for the conduct of the Deputy or Assistant Warden and keepers so appointed.
The Deputy Warden so appointed, shall be provided by the Levy Court with board and living quarters at the Sussex County Home, and shall receive for his services the sum of Eleven Hundred Dollars 01100.00) annually, payable as the Levy Court shall determine, and he shall hold office at the pleasure of the Warden and the Levy Court of Sussex County.
The keepers shall likewise be appointed by the Warden, subject to the approval of the Levy Court of Sussex County for such terms as the Warden and the Levy Court of Sussex County shall see fit and they shall receive for their services each the sum of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), annually, payable as the Levy Court shall determine.
Section 3. The Levy Court of Sussex County together with the Judges of the Court of General Sessions of the State of Delaware resident in Sussex County, shall formulate rules and regulations for the proper operation and maintenance of said jail. Copies of such rules and regulations shall be posted at convenient places in the jail. Any person charged with violating any rule or regulation shall, after five days' notice, be given a hearing before the Levy Court together with the Judges of the Court of General Sessions of the State of Delaware resident in Sussex County. If it be found at such hearing that the party charged is guilty of violating a rule or regulation, he shall be punished in such manner as the said Levy Court together with the said Judges, shall determine.
Section 4. The Levy Court of Sussex County shall provide the Warden with a proper and suitable vehicle with which to convey prisoners to and from the County Court House at Georgetown for trial and other appearances before the Court, and for the transportation of any prisoner or prisoners to the New Castle County Work House when such prisoner or prisoners are committed by the Court thereto. The vehicle to be furnished shall be used for no purpose or purposes other than those herein specified, except as the Judges of the Court of General Sessions resident in Sussex County shall direct. The said vehicle shall be operated by one of the keepers of said jail and the said Warden shall be responsible for the safe transportation of prisoners to and from said County Court House, and for the safe delivery to the New Castle County Work House of prisoners sentenced thereto.
Section 5. All prisoners that may be sentenced or committed by a magistrate in Sussex County shall be delivered by the officers having them in charge, to the Warden of the Sussex County Jail, and all prisoners, that may be sentenced or committed by the Court of General Sessions in and for Sussex County and the Court of Oyer and Terminer held in Sussex County, shall, except as by law otherwise provided, be committed to the custody of the Warden of the Sussex County Jail, for carrying into effect sentences imposed.
The said Warden shall have exclusive charge, control, and custody of all prisoners in the Sussex County Jail, and shall safely keep them for the residue of their terms of imprisonment, respectively, or until they be duly discharged.
All judgments or sentences considered and imposed by any court sitting in and for Sussex County, upon every person convicted of any crime, which judgments or sentences shall include, in whole or in part, either the corporal punishment of such convict or the hanging of such convict, shall be carried out and executed by the Warden of the Sussex County Jail.
Section 6. On and after the first day of January, A. D. 1936, the Warden of the Sussex County Jail shall have exclusive supervision and control over the farm upon which the jail is located. He shall have the power to employ prisoners upon the farm, and the produce thereof shall be used in feeding the prisoners in said jail and the livestock maintained upon said farm. The Levy Court of Sussex County is empowered to fix the compensation of such prisoners for the labor performed by them upon said farm, if, in the opinion of the Levy Court, it shall be deemed wise to pay prisoners for labor performed by them, and such compensation, if any shall be paid, shall either be held by the Levy Court until the expiration of the term of imprisonment of the prisoners so employed, or may be paid from time to time to the dependent families of such prisoners, as the Levy Court may decide.
The Warden shall have the power, by and with the approval of the Levy Court of Sussex County, to determine the crops to be grown upon the farm and the amount of each, in each and every year.
The said Warden is hereby empowered and authorized to employ, subject to the approval of the Levy Court of Sussex County, a person, experienced in farming, as tenant farmer upon said farm. The person so appointed shall be employed at the pleasure of the said Levy Court and Warden. He shall have as his duties such as shall be prescribed by the said Warden and said Levy Court. He shall receive as his salary the sum of One Thousand Dollars ($1000.00), annually, payable at such time and in such sums as the Levy Court shall determine. The Levy Court shall provide him with board and living quarters at the Sussex County Home.
Section 7. On and after the first day of January, A. D. 1937, the board of prisoners shall be furnished by the Warden under the direction and control of the Levy Court of Sussex County. The produce of the farm upon which the jail is located shall be used, so far as possible, to feed the prisoners in said Jail. Other food stuffs necessary to properly feed the prisoners shall be purchased by the Warden, by and with the approval of the Levy Court of Sussex County, and all charges therefor shall be paid by the Levy Court of Sussex County.
Section 8. From and after the passage of this Act, all Acts or Sections of the Revised Statutes, together with any amendments to the same, are hereby repealed, in so far as they may be inconsistent with the provisions thereof.
Approved March 20, 1935.