                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

POWER OF CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS AND DESIGNATED NONCUSTODIAL EMPLOYEES TO DETAIN
(§ 19.2-81.2)

A. A correctional officer, as defined in &#xA7; 53.1-1, who has completed the
minimum training standards established by the Department of Criminal Justice
Services, or other noncustodial employee of the Department of Corrections who
has been designated to carry a weapon by the Director of the Department of
Corrections pursuant to &#xA7; 53.1-29 of the Code and who has completed the
basic course in detention training as approved by the Department of Criminal
Justice Services, may, while on duty in or on the grounds of a correctional
institution, or with custody of prisoners without the confines of a correctional
institution, detain any person whom he has reasonable suspicion to believe has
committed a violation of &#xA7;&#xA7; 18.2-473 through 18.2-475, or of aiding or
abetting a prisoner in violating the provisions of &#xA7; 53.1-203. Such
detention shall be for the purpose of summoning a law-enforcement officer in
order that the law-enforcement officer can arrest the person who is alleged to
have violated any of the above sections.

B. Any employee of the Department of Corrections having the authority to detain
any person pursuant to subsection A hereof shall not be held civilly liable for
unlawful detention, slander, malicious prosecution, false imprisonment, false
arrest, or assault and battery of the person so detained, whether such detention
takes place within or without the grounds of a correctional institution,
provided that, in causing the detention of such person, the employee had at the
time of the detention reasonable suspicion to believe that the person committed
a violation for which the detention was undertaken.

C. It is the purpose and intent of this section to ensure that the safety,
stability, welfare and security of correctional institutions be preserved
insofar as possible.

HISTORY: 1976, c. 740; 1979, c. 642; 1984, cc. 720, 779.