The United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Superior Court of the District of Columbia, the Attorney General, and the Superintendent of the Washington Asylum and Jail, when so requested by the Mayor of the District of Columbia, shall deliver into the custody of the Superintendent or the authorized deputy or deputies of said Superintendent of the Workhouse, male and female prisoners sentenced to confinement in said Jail for offenses against the common law or against statutes or ordinances relating to the District of Columbia, and, in the discretion of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Superior Court of the District of Columbia, and the Attorney General, male and female prisoners serving sentence in said Jail for offenses against the United States, for such work or services as may be necessary, in the discretion of the Mayor of said District, in connection with the construction, maintenance, and operation of said Workhouse, or the prosecution of any other public work at said institution or in the District of Columbia; provided, that, on the direction of said Mayor, male and female prisoners confined in any existing workhouse existing on March 2, 1911, or in the Washington Asylum and Jail of the District of Columbia shall be delivered into the custody of said Superintendent or the authorized deputy or deputies of said Superintendent aforesaid, to perform similar work or services to those hereinbefore required of male and female prisoners serving sentences in the District of Columbia Jail; provided further, that, the Mayor of the District of Columbia is hereby vested with jurisdiction over such male and female prisoners from the time they are so delivered into the custody of said Superintendent or the duly authorized deputy or deputies of said Superintendent, including the time when such prisoners are in transit between the District of Columbia and the site acquired for such Workhouse, and during the period such prisoners are on such site or in the District of Columbia until they are released or discharged under due process of law.
CREDIT(S)
(Mar. 2, 1911, 36 Stat. 1002, ch. 192; June 25, 1936, 49 Stat. 1921, ch. 804; June 25, 1948, 62 Stat. 991, ch. 646, § 32(b); May 24, 1949, 63 Stat. 107, ch. 139, § 127; July 29, 1970, 84 Stat. 590, Pub. L. 91-358, title I, § 171.)
HISTORICAL AND STATUTORY NOTES
Prior Codifications
1981 Ed., § 24-403.
1973 Ed., § 24-403.
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.