Pennsylvania Act 1931-90 — JAILS AND WORKHOUSES, AUTHORIZED IN FIRST CLASS CITIES

Act text

JAILS AND WORKHOUSES, AUTHORIZED IN FIRST CLASS CITIES
                  Act of May 13, 1931, P.L. 121, No. 90               Cl. 11
                                  AN ACT

     Providing for the acquisiton of land, and the erection,
        construction and maintenance of jails and/or workhouses by
        cities of the first class; providing for their management and
        control of same by the inspectors of existing jails or
        prisons, and the transfer of prisoners by such inspectors.

        Compiler's Note:  Section 1 of Act 68 of 1981 provided that
            Act 90 is act repealed insofar as it requires
            that persons committed to county jails and prisons shall
     be confined separate and apart from other persons committed
     thereto.
        Section 1.  Be it enacted, &c., That hereafter cities of the
     first class have power to acquire ground for, and to erect,
     construct and maintain, jails and/or workhouses, to which jails
     and/or workhouses prisoners may be committed by the several
     courts of the county wherein such cities are situate, or by
     other legal process, in the manner now provided by law for such
     commitments to county jails and/or workhouses.
        Section 2.  The city council of any such city is authorized
     to use any suitable lands already held for city purposes, or to
     acquire any quantity of lands within the county or in any
     adjacent county, or partly within and partly in an adjacent
     county, not exceeding five hundred acres, either with or without
     buildings thereon erected, and to repair existing buildings, or
     erect or construct such new buildings and structures and make
     such improvements thereon as may be deemed necessary and
     convenient for a jail and/or workhouse. The title to said
     property shall be taken in the name of the city.
        No lands shall be acquired without the limits of the county
     of such city unless the corporate authorities of the county and
     of any city, borough, or township, in which such lands are
     located, have, by resolution duly adopted, consented to such
     acquisition.
        Section 3.  In case the ground so selected by the council for
     such purposes cannot be obtained by agreement with the owner or
     owners at a price reasonable in the estimation of said council,
     or when, by reason of the absence or legal incapacity of any
     such owner or owners, no such price or value can be agreed upon,
     the city council may proceed to acquire the same by the exercise
     of the right of eminent domain, and the proceedings for the
     ascertainment of damages for such property, land or materials
     taken, injured or destroyed shall be in the manner and subject
     to the restrictions and procedure provided by the act, approved
     the sixteenth day of May, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-
     one (Pamphlet Laws, seventy-five), entitled "An act in relation
     to the laying out, opening, widening, straightening, extending
     or vacating streets and alleys, and the construction of bridges
     in the several municipalities of this Commonwealth, the grading,
     paving, macadamizing or otherwise improving streets and alleys,
     providing for ascertaining the damages to private property
     resulting therefrom, the assessment of the damages, costs and
     expenses thereof upon the property benefited, and the
     construction of sewers and payment of the damages, costs and
     expenses thereof, including damages to private property
     resulting therefrom," and the amendments and supplements
     thereto.
        Section 4.  Every jail, which shall be erected and
     constructed under the provisions of this act, shall be so
     constructed that every person committed thereto, whether upon
     conviction or otherwise, may be confined separate and apart from
     every other person committed thereto, due regard being had in
     the plan of construction to the health of the persons to be so
     confined.  The plans for any such jail and/or workhouse shall be
     approved by the Department of Welfare before the erection and
     construction is commenced.
        Section 5.  Every jail and/or workhouse, erected under the
     provisions of this act, shall be erected under the supervision,
     direction and control of the inspectors then in charge of the
     other jails or prisons which have been established and exist in
     the county wherein such city is located; and, so soon as any
     jail and/or workhouse is erected and prepared for the reception
     of prisoners, it shall be the duty of said inspectors to take
     charge of same, and, if they deem it advisable, they may remove
     or cause to be removed thereto any or all persons who may then
     be confined in any prison or jail under their control, there to
     be kept, treated and governed according to such rules and
     regulations as the said inspectors, with the approbation of the
     proper court or courts of said county, may, from time to time,
     ordain and establish: Provided, always, That the same be not
     inconsistent with or contrary to the constitution and laws of
     this Commonwealth and the provisions of this act.
        Section 6.  Said inspectors shall exercise all the functions,
     perform all the duties, and have all the powers over any jail
     and/or workhouse erected under the provisions of this act and
     over all the inmates and employes therein and thereof as they
     now exercise, perform, and have over the present jails and
     prisons, inmates, and employes under their charge. They shall
     appoint superintendents, matrons, wardens, physicians, keepers,
     clerks and other employes, and fix their salaries and
     compensation.

        Compiler's Note:  Section 9(b) of Act 173 of 1978 provided
            that section 6 is repealed insofar as it is inconsistent
            with 1 Pa.C.S. § 2301(d) (relating to equality of rights
            based on sex)..