[CHAPTER 254-3D SESSION]

[H. R. 9210]

AN ACT

To amend an Act entitled "An Act to establish a Board of Indeterminate Sentence and Parole for the District of Columbia and to determine its functions, and for other purposes", approved July 15, 1932, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 2 of the Act entitled "An Act to establish a Board of Indeterminate Sentence and Parole for the District of Columbia and to determine its functions, and for other purposes", approved July 15, 1932, be, and the same is hereby, amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 2. The Board of Indeterminate Sentence and Parole shall, subject to the approval of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, appoint an executive secretary, and parole officers, one of whom may be designated as the chief parole officer, and other employees, in such number as shall be appropriated therefor by Congress from time to time. It shall be the duty of such officers, subject to the discretion and control of said Board, to perform such duties and exercise such authority as the Board may direct. The salaries of said executive secretary, parole officers, and other employees shall be fixed in accordance with the Personnel Classification Act of 1923, as amended. Appropriations are hereby authorized for the payment of the salaries of said executive secretary, said parole officers, and other employees, the actual and necessary traveling expenses of the members of the Board, said executive secretary, and said parole officers, and all other necessary expenses incurred in the administration of this Act. Until appropriations as herein authorized are made therefor, all said salaries and expenses shall continue to be paid out of the appropriations for the penal institutions as now authorized by law."

SEC. 2. (a) Section 3 of said Act, approved July 15, 1932, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 3. That hereafter, in imposing sentence on a person convicted in the District of Columbia of a felony, the justice or judge of the court imposing such sentence shall sentence the person for a maximum period not exceeding the maximum fixed by law and for a minimum period not exceeding one-third of the maximum sentence imposed, and any person so convicted and sentenced may be released on parole as herein provided at any time after having served the minimum sentence. Where the maximum sentence imposed is life imprisonment, a minimum sentence shall be imposed which shall not exceed fifteen years' imprisonment. Nothing in this Act shall abrogate the power of the justice or judge to sentence a convicted prisoner to the death penalty as now or hereafter may be provided by law."

(b) For any felony committed before this amendatory Act takes effect, the penalty, sentence, or forfeiture provided by law for such

felony at the time such felony was committed shall remain in full force and effect and shall be imposed, notwithstanding this Act.

SEC. 3. Section 4 of said Act, approved July 15, 1932, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 4. That whenever, within the limitations of section 3 of this Act, it shall appear to the Board of Indeterminate Sentence and Parole, from the reports of the prisoner's work and conduct which may be received in accordance with the rules and regulations prescribed, and from the study and examination made by the Board itself, that any prisoner serving an indeterminate sentence is fitted by his training for release, that there is a reasonable probability that such a prisoner will live and remain at liberty without violating the law, and that in the opinion of the Board such release is not incompatible with the welfare of society, said Board of Indeterminate Sentence and Parole may, in its discretion, authorize the release of such prisoner on parole, and he shall be allowed to go on parole, outside of said prison, and in the discretion of the Board to return to his home, or to such other place as the Board may indicate, upon such terms and conditions, including personal reports from said paroled prisoner, as said Board of Indeterminate Sentence and Parole shall prescribe, and to remain, while on parole, in the legal custody and under the control of the Attorney General of the United States or his authorized representative until the expiration of the maximum of the term or terms specified in his sentence, without regard to good-time allowance, and the said Board shall in every parole fix the limits of the residence of such person paroled: Provided, however, That the conditions prescribed and the residential limits may be thereafter changed or modified as the Board in its judgment may determine."

SEC. 4. Section 5 of said Act, approved July 15, 1932, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 5. If said Board of Indeterminate Sentence and Parole, or any member thereof, shall have reliable information that a prisoner has violated his parole, said Board or any member thereof, at any time within the term or terms of the prisoner's sentence, may issue a warrant to any officer hereinafter authorized to execute the same for the retaking of such prisoner. Any officer of the District of Columbia penal institutions, any officer of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, or any Federal officer authorized to serve criminal process within the United States to whom such warrant shall be delivered is authorized and required to execute such warrant by taking such prisoner and returning or removing him to the penal institution of the District of Columbia from which he was paroled. or to such penal or correctional institution as may be designated by the Attorney General of the United States."

SEC. 5. Section 6 of said Act, approved July 15, 1932, is hereby amended by adding at the end thereof the following:

"In the event said prisoner is removed to a penal or correctional institution designated by the Attorney General, the Board of Parole, created by the Act of Congress entitled 'An Act to amend an Act providing for the parole of United States prisoners, approved June 25, 1910, as amended', approved May 13, 1930, shall have and exercise the same power and authority over such prisoner as the Board

been returned to a penal institution of the District of Columbia, including the power to revoke his parole."

SEC. 6. (a) Section 8 of said Act, approved July 15, 1932, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 8. Any person committed to a penal institution of the District of Columbia who escapes or attempts to escape therefrom or from the custody of any officer thereof or any other officer or employee of the District of Columbia, or any person who procures, advises, connives at, aids, or assists in such escape or conceals any such prisoner after such escape, shall be guilty of an offense and upon conviction thereof in any court of the United States shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than five years, said sentence to begin, if the convicted person be an escaped prisoner, upon the expiration of the original sentence."

(b) This amendment of section 8 of said Act approved July 15, 1932, shall not have the effect to release or extinguish any punishment, penalty, or liability incurred under such section, and such section as originally enacted shall be treated as still remaining in force for the purpose of sustaining any proper prosecution for the violation of such section committed prior to the passage of this amendatory Act.

SEC. 7. (a) The proviso to section 9 of said Act approved July 15, 1932, is hereby amended to read as follows: "Provided, however, That in the case of any prisoner convicted of two or more crimes other than a felony, including violations of municipal regulations and ordinances and Acts of Congress in the nature of municipal regulations and ordinances, when the aggregate of the sentences imposed is in excess of one year, said Board of Indeterminate Sentence and Parole may parole said prisoner, under the provisions of this Act, after said prisoner has served one-third of the aggregate sentence imposed."

(b) In the case of a prisoner convicted of misdemeanors committed prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act, when the aggregate sentence imposed is in excess of one year, and in the case of a prisoner convicted of felony committed prior to the effective date of said Act approved July 15, 1932, said Board of Indeterminate Sentence and Parole may parole said prisoner under the provisions of said Act approved July 15, 1932, as amended, after said prisoner has served one-fifth of the sentence imposed.

SEC. 8. Said Act approved July 15, 1932, is further amended by adding at the end thereof a new section to be numbered 11 and to read as follows:

"SEC. 11. All prisoners convicted in the District of Columbia for any offense, including violations of municipal regulations and ordinances and Acts of Congress in the nature of municipal regulations. and ordinances, shall be committed, for their terms of imprisonment, and to such types of institutions as the court may direct, to the custody of the Attorney General of the United States or his authorized representative, who shall designate the places of confinements where the sentences of all such persons shall be served. The Attorney General may designate any available, suitable, and appropriate institutions, whether maintained by the District of Columbia Government, the Federal Government, or otherwise, or whether within or without

to order the transfer of any such person from one institution to another if, in his judgment, it shall be for the well-being of the prisoner or relieve overcrowding or unhealthful conditions in the institution where such prisoner is confined, or for other reasons."

SEC. 9. (a) Where a justice or a judge of the District Court of the United States for the District of Columbia has imposed or shall impose a life sentence on a prisoner convicted of a felony committed before this amendatory Act takes effect such prisoner shall be eligible to parole under the provisions of said Act approved July 15, 1932, as amended, after having served fifteen years of his life sentence.

(b) Where a justice or judge of the district court of the United States has imposed or shall impose a sentence for a definite term of imprisonment on a prisoner convicted of a felony committed before this amendatory Act takes effect, such prisoner shall be eligible to parole under the provisions of said Act approved July 15, 1932, as amended, after having served one-third of the sentence imposed.

SEC. 10. Section 937 of the Act entitled "An Act to establish a code of law for the District of Columbia", approved March 3, 1901, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 937. DEDUCTION FOR GOOD CONDUCT.-All persons sentenced to and imprisoned in the jail or in the workhouse of the District of Columbia and confined there for a term of one month or longer who conduct themselves so that no charge of misconduct shall be sustained against them shall have a deduction upon a sentence of not more than one year of five days for each month; upon a sentence of more than one year and less than three years, six days for each month; upon a sentence of not less than three years and less than five years, seven days for each month; upon a sentence of not less than five years and less than ten years, eight days for each month; and upon a sentence of ten years or more, ten days for each month, and shall be entitled to their discharge so much the earlier upon the certificate of the superintendent of the Washington Asylum and Jail for those confined in the jail, and upon the certificate of the superintendent of the workhouse for those confined in the workhouse, of their good conduct during their imprisonment. When a prisoner has two or more sentences the aggregate of his several sentences shall be the basis upon which his deduction shall be estimated."

CHAPTER 256-35 SESSION,

H. R. 8085

AN ACT

To make it a crime to wreck or attempt to wreck & train engaged in interstate

commerce.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Trated States of America in Congress assembled, That whoever shall willfully derail, disable, or wreck any train, engine, motor unit, or car used, operated, or employed in interstate or foreign commerce by any raliroad, or whoever shall willfully set fire to, or place any explosive substance on or near, or undermine any tunnel, bridge, viaduct, trestle, track, signal, station, depot, warehouse, terminal, or any other way, structure, property, or appurtenance used in the operation of any such railroad in interstate or foreign commerce, or otherwise make any such tunnel, bridge, viaduct, trestle, track, signal, station, depot, warehouse, terminal, or any other way, structure, property, or appurtenance unworkable or unusable or hazardous to work or use, with the intent to derail, disable, or wreck a train, engine, motor unit, or car used, operated, or employed in interstate or foreign commerce or whoever shall willfully attempt to do any of the aforesaid acts or things, shall be deemed guilty of a crime, and on conviction thereof shall be subject to a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court: Provided, That whoever shall be convicted of any such crime, which has resulted in the death of any person, shall be subject also to the death penalty or to imprisonment for life, if the jury shall in its discretion so direct, or, in the case of a plea of guilty, if the court in its discretion shall so order.

Nothing in this Act shall be held to take away or impair the jurisdiction of the courts of the several States under the laws thereof; and a judgment of conviction or acquittal on the merits under the laws of any State shall be a bar to any prosecution hereunder for the same act or acts.

Approved, June 8, 1940.