Virginia Law

Article 2. Prisoners As Witnesses or Charged with Other Crimes.

Prisoners may be surrendered as witnesses if a judge of any court of record of the United States or of the District of Columbia, or of any state certifies under the seal of such court that:

1. There is a criminal prosecution pending in such court or that a grand jury investigation has commenced or is about to commence;

2. A person confined in any state correctional facility in Virginia is a material witness in such prosecution or grand jury investigation, and his presence will be required at a time stated;

3. The officer presenting the certificate is authorized to receive custody of such prisoner and will retain him in his custody until his return to this Commonwealth; and

4. The prisoner will be safely returned to the custody of the Director at such state correctional facility, as the Director may direct.

Upon presentation of such certificate to the Director, if he is of the opinion that the ends of justice will be promoted thereby, the Director may, with the approval of the Governor, surrender the prisoner into the custody of the officer named in the certificate.

Code 1950, § 53-301; 1970, c. 648; 1982, c. 636.

All transportation and other costs incident thereto shall be paid by the authority requesting the prisoner.

Code 1950, § 53-302; 1982, c. 636.

If a similar certificate, similarly executed, shall state that a prisoner has been indicted or stands legally charged with a crime outside Virginia, the Director may, with the approval of the Governor, likewise deliver the prisoner to the officer presenting the certificate. Such delivery may be conditioned upon the return of the prisoner under such circumstances as the Governor may prescribe.

Any officer of the United States, the District of Columbia, or any other state to whom custody of any such prisoner has been surrendered, is hereby clothed with the authority and powers of a sheriff or a state correctional officer with respect to the custody of the prisoner in this Commonwealth.

Any duly authorized officer of the United States, the District of Columbia, or any other state, while engaged in transporting through Virginia to any other state any prisoner of the United States, the District of Columbia, or any other state, lawfully taken or surrendered into his custody either within or without Virginia in any manner, shall while transporting such prisoner into or through Virginia, be clothed with all of the authority and powers of a sheriff or of a state correctional officer with respect to the custody of the prisoner in this Commonwealth.

Code 1950, § 53-303; 1982, c. 636.

Pursuant to the order or request of the Governor, of any court, attorney for the Commonwealth of Virginia, or any other authorized officer, if any prisoner of the United States, District of Columbia or of any other state be tendered to the custody of the Director or any duly authorized officer of a state correctional facility, either within this Commonwealth or to be transported to this Commonwealth to be held for trial for crime in Virginia or as a witness in any criminal proceeding in Virginia, the Director or officer is hereby authorized to receive the prisoner into custody. The Director or officer is hereby clothed with the same powers with respect to custody as is possessed over prisoners held after conviction of a crime and sentencing to a state correctional facility by a court of this Commonwealth.

Code 1950, § 53-304; 1982, c. 636.