§ 24–201.02. Imprisonment for more than 1 year; jurisdiction over Reformatory prisoners; transfer from penitentiary to Reformatory.

Whenever any person has been convicted of crime in any court in the District of Columbia and sentenced to imprisonment for more than 1 year by the court, the imprisonment during the term for which he may have been sentenced or during the residue of said term may be in some suitable jail, or penitentiary, or in the Reformatory of the District of Columbia; and it shall be sufficient for the court to sentence the defendant to imprisonment in the penitentiary without specifying the particular prison or the Reformatory of the District of Columbia and the imprisonment shall be in such penitentiary, jail, or the Reformatory of the District of Columbia as the Attorney General shall from time to time designate; provided, that the Mayor of the District of Columbia is vested with jurisdiction over such male and female prisoners as may be designated by the Attorney General for confinement in the Reformatory of the District of Columbia from the time they are delivered into his custody or into the custody of his authorized Superintendent, deputy, or deputies, and until such prisoners are released or discharged under due process of law; and provided further, that the residue of the term of imprisonment of any person who has prior to July 1, 1916, been convicted of crime in any court in the District of Columbia and sentenced to imprisonment for more than 1 year by the court may be in the Reformatory of the District of Columbia instead of the penitentiary where such persons may be confined on July 1, 1916, and the Attorney General, when so requested by the Mayor of the District of Columbia, is authorized to, and he shall, deliver into the custody of the Superintendent of said Reformatory or his deputy or deputies any such person confined in any penitentiary in pursuance of any judgment of conviction in and sentence by any court in the District of Columbia, and the Mayor of the District of Columbia is vested with jurisdiction over such prisoners from the time they are delivered into the custody of said Superintendent or his duly authorized deputy or deputies, including the time when they are in transit between such penitentiary and the Reformatory of the District of Columbia, and during the period they are in such Reformatory or until they are released or discharged under due process of law. The Attorney General shall pay the cost of the maintenance of said prisoners so transferred, said payment to be from appropriations for support of convicts, District of Columbia, in like manner as payments are made for the support of District convicts in federal penitentiaries. Nothing herein contained shall be construed as applying to the National Training School for Boys or the National Training School for Girls.

(Sept. 1, 1916, 39 Stat. 711, ch. 433.)

Prior Codifications

1981 Ed., § 24-402.

1973 Ed., § 24-402.

References in Text

The National Training School for Boys, referred to in the last sentence of this section, was closed pursuant to an order of the Attorney General, dated May 15, 1968.

The National Training School for Girls, referred to in the last sentence of this section, was terminated by the Act of August 3, 1951, 65 Stat. 154, ch. 291, § 1, which provided that no new commitments to the School should be made after August 3, 1951.

Change in Government

This section originated at a time when local government powers were delegated to a Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia (see Acts Relating to the Establishment of the District of Columbia and its Various Forms of Governmental Organization in Volume 1). Section 401 of Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1967 (see Reorganization Plans in Volume 1) transferred all of the functions of the Board of Commissioners under this section to a single Commissioner. The District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act, 87 Stat. 818, § 711 ( D.C. Code, § 1-207.11), abolished the District of Columbia Council and the Office of Commissioner of the District of Columbia. These branches of government were replaced by the Council of the District of Columbia and the Office of Mayor of the District of Columbia, respectively. Accordingly, and also pursuant to § 714(a) of such Act ( D.C. Code, § 1-207.14(a)), appropriate changes in terminology were made in this section.