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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>66213</law_id><section_number>53.1-116</section_number><catch_line>What records and policy jailer shall keep; how time deducted or added for felons and misdemeanants; payment of fine and costs by person committed to jail until he pays</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><referred_to_by><reference>53.1-132</reference><reference>53.1-187</reference><reference>53.1-202</reference><reference>53.1-37</reference></referred_to_by><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="53.1">Prisons and Other Methods of Correction</unit><unit label="chapter" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="3">Local Correctional Facilities</unit><unit label="article" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="6">Duties of Sheriffs</unit></structure><text>
						<section id="A"><p><span class="prefix-number">A.</span> The jailer shall keep a (i) record describing each person committed to jail, the terms of confinement, for what <span class="dictionary">offense</span> or cause he was committed, and when received into jail; (ii) record of each prisoner; and (iii) written policy stating the criteria for and conditions of earned credit in the facility and the <span class="dictionary">revocation</span> of such credit.
			Unless he is serving a mandatory minimum sentence of confinement, each prisoner sentenced to 12 months or less for a <span class="dictionary">misdemeanor</span> or any combination of <span class="dictionary">misdemeanors</span> shall earn good conduct credit at the rate of one day for each one day served, including all days served while confined in jail prior to <span class="dictionary">conviction</span> and sentencing, in which the prisoner has not violated the written rules and regulations of the jail.
			Prisoners eligible for <span class="dictionary">parole</span> under &#xA7; <a class="law" title="Eligibility for parole" href="/53.1-151/">53.1-151</a>, <a class="law" title="Eligibility of persons sentenced for combinations of felony and misdemeanor offenses" href="/53.1-152/">53.1-152</a> or <a class="law" title="Eligibility of persons sentenced to jails for more than twelve months" href="/53.1-153/">53.1-153</a> shall earn good conduct credit at a rate of 15 days for each 30 days served with satisfactory conduct.
			The jailer may grant the prisoner additional credits for performance of institutional work assignments, participation in classes, or participation in local work force programs, if available at the facility, at the rate of five days for every 30 days served. The time so deducted shall be allowed to each prisoner for such time as he is confined in jail. It shall be the responsibility of the jailer in each facility to determine the manner in which these additional credits may be awarded and to include this information in the written policy mandated by clause (iii) of this subsection.
			For each violation of the rules prescribed herein, the time so deducted shall be added until it equals the full sentence imposed upon the prisoner by the <span class="dictionary">court</span>.
			However, any prisoner committed to jail upon a <span class="dictionary">felony</span> <span class="dictionary">offense</span> committed on or after January 1, 1995, shall not earn good conduct credit, sentence credit, earned sentence credit, other credit, or a combination of any credits in excess of that permissible under Article 4 (&#xA7; <a class="law" title="Eligibility for earned sentence credits" href="/53.1-202.2/">53.1-202.2</a> et seq.) of Chapter 6 of this title. So much of an <span class="dictionary">order</span> of any <span class="dictionary">court</span> contrary to the provisions of this section shall be deemed null and void. <a id="paragraph-240492" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/53.1-116/#A"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="B"><p><span class="prefix-number">B.</span> Notwithstanding the provisions of &#xA7; <a class="law" title="When sheriff not to receive fines" href="/19.2-350/">19.2-350</a>, in the event a person who was committed to jail to be therein confined until he pays a fine imposed on him by the <span class="dictionary">court</span> in which he was tried should desire to pay such fine and costs, he may pay the same to the person in charge of the jail. The person receiving such moneys shall execute and deliver an official receipt therefor and shall promptly transmit the amount so paid to the clerk of the <span class="dictionary">court</span> which imposed the fine and costs. Such clerk shall give him an official receipt therefor and shall properly record the receipt of such moneys. <a id="paragraph-240493" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/53.1-116/#B"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="C"><p><span class="prefix-number">C.</span> The administrator of a local or regional jail shall not assign a person to a home/electronic incarceration program pursuant to subsection C of &#xA7; <a class="law" title="Assignment to a home/electronic incarceration program; payment to defray costs; escape; penalty" href="/53.1-131.2/">53.1-131.2</a> in a locality which has a jail operated by a sheriff, without the consent of the sheriff. <a id="paragraph-240494" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/53.1-116/#C"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section></text><history>Code 1950, &#xA7; 53-151; 1952, c. 218; 1972, c. 293; 1981, c. 278; 1982, c. 636; 1983, c. 561; 1984, c. 643; 1990, c. 934; 1994, 2nd Sp. Sess., cc. 1, 2; 1996, c. 556; 1998, c. 776; 1999, cc. 951, 1007; 2003, cc. 818, 820; 2004, cc. 400, 461; 2011, c. 491.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
