The Board of Corrections shall superintend the management of the convicts and all subordinate officers, persons or guards. It shall be its duty to see that the laws in relation to convicts and the rules of the board are enforced; and its orders shall be obeyed by all officers, guards and convicts. It has the general oversight of all of the officers and convicts and of the lands and other property belonging to the several prisons.

The Board of Corrections shall have general superintendence and control of all the officers, agents and employees of the board and of all matters relating to convicts, and it shall see that they perform their duties. There shall be made to it, as often as it may require, a report of the condition of the convicts and of the work done by each officer.

It shall be the duty of the Board of Corrections to transmit to the Legislature, immediately upon its assembling, full and complete printed reports made to it and such other and further information as it may deem proper.

Chaplains shall be appointed by the Board of Corrections, which chaplains shall in turn appoint assistant chaplains with the approval of the board. The chaplains shall devote their entire time to moral improvement and religious instruction of the convicts. The term of office shall be at the will of the board.

Every officer and guard shall, before entering on the duties of his office, take and subscribe before some officer authorized to administer oaths, the following oath:

"I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be) that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Alabama, so long as I remain a citizen thereof; that I will faithfully execute and discharge all the duties required of me as _____ (designating the office), and observe all the rules and regulations prescribed for the government of convicts, so far as concerns my office; and will, in no case, ill treat or abuse any convict under my charge or control, nor inflict upon him any other or greater punishment than may be prescribed by said rules and regulations. So help me God."

Every officer and guard at any prison has the power of a policeman and may arrest any person who intrudes upon the premises or makes a disturbance near the prison and take him before any magistrate of the county, by whom he may be fined $10.00 and the costs.

Every officer and guard, regularly sworn, shall have power to pursue and arrest any escaped convict in any county of this state without a warrant. He may use such force or means as may be required under the circumstances to prevent the convict's escape by flight or to overcome his resistance. He shall have the same authority as a sheriff to summon persons to assist in making such arrest or to protect such convict from any violence after arrest.

Any person who violates any provisions of this chapter shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be fined not less than $25.00 nor more than $500.00 and may also be imprisoned in the county jail or sentenced to hard labor for a term not exceeding six months, in the discretion of the judge trying the case.

(a) The Board of Corrections may sell any, or all, of the lands now used by the state in working convicts for cash or on credit, as may seem best, and purchase lands superior in quality to be used by the board in working convicts.

(b) So much of the funds earned by the board as may be necessary is appropriated and authorized to be paid for such lands as may be purchased under subsection (a) of this section, and the Comptroller, upon the application of the board, shall draw his warrant for such sum, or sums, as may be necessary for such purchase of such lands and the payment thereof.

The Board of Corrections may cause to be made such improvement on any of the land owned by the state as may tend to the benefit of the prison system and enable it to work such convicts as it may think proper at farming or other employments.

(a) When any convict is sentenced to the penitentiary, the judge of the court in which the sentence is rendered shall order the inmate to be confined in the nearest secure jail. The clerk of the court shall at once notify the Department of Corrections as to the jail where the inmate is confined, forward to the department a copy of the judgment entry and sentence in the case, and inform the department if any special care is necessary to guard the inmate. Thereupon, the department shall direct where the inmate shall be taken for confinement or hard labor.

(b) When an inmate sentenced to the custody of the department and the department is in receipt of a transcript of such sentence, is being housed in a county jail, and the inmate develops a medical condition which requires immediate treatment at a medical-care facility outside the county jail, the department shall be financially responsible for the cost of the treatment of the inmate. The department shall receive any contractual discounts the medical-care facility has agreed to grant for the treatment of inmates housed in state correctional facilities. When an inmate sentenced to the custody of the department and the department is in receipt of a transcript of such sentence, is housed in a county jail, and the inmate develops a medical condition or has been diagnosed as having a medical condition which, in the opinion of a physician licensed in Alabama, would require treatment or a medical procedure or both, involving a cost of more than two thousand dollars ($2,000), the inmate shall be transferred within three days to a state owned or operated correctional facility or to the physical custody of the department as determined by the Commissioner of the Department of Corrections. The inmate shall receive treatment in the same manner as other state inmates. Nothing in this subsection shall be interpreted to relieve the department of its responsibility for the maintenance and upkeep, including the payment of medical costs, of an inmate sentenced to the custody of the department, nor shall this subsection be interpreted as conferring any additional responsibility upon a county for the maintenance and upkeep, or the payment of medical costs, of any inmate sentenced to the custody of the department.

The Board of Corrections must receive into the penitentiary, on the written order of the Governor, any convict whose sentence has been commuted, according to law, to imprisonment in the penitentiary, and must confine such person according to the terms of the commutation and the rules and regulations established by law; and, if the Governor shall so direct, the cost of conviction in such case must be paid as in case of sentence to imprisonment in the penitentiary.

The Board of Corrections must receive into the penitentiary all convicts sentenced to imprisonment therein by any court of the United States held in this state, and must safely keep and employ them according to the rules and regulations of the institution until the expiration of the term for which they are sentenced or until they are otherwise discharged by law; and it must account to the Department of Finance for all moneys received for the support of such prisoners.

The sheriff having in his custody any person sentenced to the penitentiary shall deliver such convict to the person who presents the written order of the Board of Corrections and shall take from such person duplicate receipts upon blanks to be furnished by the board, containing a descriptive list of such convict, one of which he shall retain and the other he shall forward to the board.

It is the duty of all jailers, on demand of the officer in charge of any convict being conveyed to the penitentiary, to receive and safely keep such convict for the legal charge of feeding prisoners whenever such officer may deem it necessary to have him secured for the night or for any longer time they may be necessarily detained.

It is the duty of the Board of Corrections, upon the reception of any convict into the penitentiary, to take his height, name, age, complexion, color of his hair and eyes, fingerprints, photograph, the place of his birth, the county in which he was convicted, the nature of the crime and the period of imprisonment, all of which, together with the statement of the time when such convict was received, must be entered upon a permanent record. The baggage and person of every convict must be carefully searched, and every instrument by which he may effect his escape shall be taken therefrom.

The officer in charge of any prison or camp must take in charge any property, money or other thing of value in the possession of any convict at the time of the delivery of such convict to him and shall pay or deliver the same to such person as the convict may in writing direct, to the convict on his discharge or to his personal representative in case of his death previous thereto, and should no personal representative be appointed within six months after his death, then into the State Treasury.

When any judgment of conviction is reversed and the case remanded after the convict has been conveyed to the penitentiary, he may be removed to the county in which he was tried by the sheriff of that county, or his deputy, in the same manner in which he was conveyed to the penitentiary; and all the provisions of this code in respect to authority, duty and compensation of officers and escapes, or attempts to escape, by convicts are applicable to such removal.

(a) When a convict is sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary on two or more convictions, unless it is specifically ordered in the judgment entry that such sentences be served concurrently, such sentences shall be cumulative and shall be served consecutively, the first term thereof beginning to run from the date on which such prisoner is received at the penitentiary, reformatory or jail for service of the sentence or at some place of detention to await transportation to the place where his sentences are to be served and his second and subsequent terms, each, beginning on the expiration of the preceding term. When the judgment sentence contains a fixed order that the term shall run concurrently, such sentences shall run concurrently from the date on which such convict is received for serving of the sentences as prescribed above.

(b) In case the prison record of a convict serving two or more sentences consecutively is good, he shall be discharged at the expiration of the last term of imprisonment to which he was sentenced, less any deduction from the sentences accorded him pursuant to Sections 14-9-1 through 14-9-3.

(c) In case the prison record of a convict serving two or more sentences concurrently is good, he shall be discharged at the expiration of the longest term of imprisonment to which he was sentenced, less any deduction therefrom accorded him pursuant to Sections 14-9-1 through 14-9-3.

(d) In case the record of a prisoner during his term shall not have been good, the director, at his discretion, may revoke any or all of the deductions given under Sections 14-9-1 through 14-9-3, whether such convict is serving his terms of imprisonment concurrently or consecutively.

The Board of Corrections shall provide female guards for female convicts.

Such of the lands owned by the state as are not needed for the use of the prison system may be rented out by the Board of Corrections.

It shall be unlawful to chain together or to confine together in the same room or compartment male and female convicts.

(a) The Board of Corrections shall establish a separate camp or place for all convicts in this state suffering from tuberculosis, to which all such convicts, whether state or county, shall be sent and kept at such labor as they may be able to perform.

(b) The board shall prescribe such rules and regulations as may be necessary to ascertain what convicts are suffering from tuberculosis and to provide for the removal of the same to the camp or place provided for such patients in subsection (a) of this section.

The names of all convicts who, in the opinion of the physician, have become insane must be forthwith reported by him to the Board of Corrections, which shall immediately cause such convict to be removed to the hospital, and must also report their names to the Governor, in order that proper steps may at once be taken for their removal.

The Board of Corrections may cause the convicts to be removed to such place of security within the state as they may deem expedient whenever the prevalence of any epidemic, infectious or contagious disease or any other urgent necessity may render such removal proper, taking all necessary precautions to insure the safekeeping of the convicts and to prevent escape when removed.

All convicts must be clothed during the term of their imprisonment in a comfortable manner in coarse and cheap clothing made in a uniform and peculiar style so as to distinguish them from other persons.

The diet of convicts in quantity and quality must be such as may be directed by the Board of Corrections, and shall be sound and wholesome.

The Board of Corrections must procure a sufficient number of Bibles and other religious and improving reading matter for the convicts, not to exceed in cost $500.00 in any one year, and it shall be the duty of the chaplain to distribute the same among the convicts.

(a) State inmates shall be employed at such labor, in such places and under such regulations within the state as may be determined by the Department of Corrections. The Department of Corrections is expressly authorized to establish posts, camps or stations in conjunction with labor, discipline or rehabilitation programs. The Department of Corrections is authorized to direct inmates to work at any labor and at any site except as provided otherwise by law. The Department of Corrections is further authorized to direct inmates to participate in programs designed to improve their physical or mental or psychological well-being; or programs designed to instill discipline and a sense of responsibility in state inmates and the Department of Corrections is expressly authorized to establish posts, camps or stations to implement such programs.

(b) The Department of Corrections is expressly authorized to adopt rules and regulations to expend funds, to enter contracts and to do any other activity reasonably necessary to establish, regulate and control the programs as outlined in subsection (a) above.

(c) The Department of Corrections shall establish rules and regulations for the operation of these programs as outlined in subsection (a) above to ensure that all reasonable steps are taken to protect the public; and in no case shall an inmate convicted of capital murder; rape in the first degree; sodomy in the first degree be placed in a program as outlined in subsection (a) above.

(d) Participation in the programs as outlined in subsection (a) above shall not create any legal cause of action or theory of recovery except as expressly provided for by the constitution of the United States or of Alabama; or by the statutes of the United States or of Alabama.

No convict shall be required to perform any labor or task for which he has been declared unfit or incapable by a physician employed by the Board of Corrections. Convicts sentenced to the penitentiary, or to hard labor for the county, shall not be required to work on Sunday, Christmas Day, the Fourth of July or on Thanksgiving Day; provided, however, that convicts may be required to work and perform any labor or task necessary to the health and welfare of the convicts confined in the prisons of Alabama, and such convicts so required shall be given a holiday for every such Sunday, Christmas Day, the Fourth of July or Thanksgiving Day upon which they are required to work.

Convicts may be allowed to work for themselves after the performance of their daily tasks, in such manner as may be prescribed by the rules of the Board of Corrections, and the proceeds of such labor shall be disposed of as the board shall provide by rule.

Any part of the net income from the labor of state convicts may, with the approval of the Board of Corrections, be applied to permanent improvements or manufacturing at the prisons, looking to the more permanent employment of the convicts of different classes.

No convict shall be confined in barracks, cells or compartments pronounced by the Board of Corrections to be unhealthy or unfit for his accommodation.

No convict must be punished in any other way than is provided by the Board of Corrections.

No cruel or excessive punishment shall be inflicted on any convict, no corporal punishment of any kind shall be inflicted except as it shall have been previously prescribed by the rules of the Board of Corrections and of which the convict shall have been notified and such punishment shall be inflicted only by the party authorized by the board to inflict it. The person authorized to inflict punishment shall keep a well-bound book, to be known as the "record of punishments," in which he shall record all punishments, of whatever character, inflicted on convicts, giving the name of the convict punished, the offense and the date, character and exact extent or quantity of punishment; and it shall be the duty of the board to carefully examine this record at least once in each month. Any false entry in such record or any failure to make entry therein, as required by this section, is a misdemeanor.

Shackles and chains shall be placed on and worn by convicts only by consent of the Board of Corrections.

The Board of Corrections shall have authority to summon, swear and examine witnesses as to any matter concerning the management and treatment of convicts; and the board may administer the oath of office to guards and employees and may administer oaths as to the correctness of any account or statement in regard to the prison system.

No officer or person holding any appointment, the duties of which are discharged in connection with the prison system, must say anything in relation to the management of any prison in the presence of any convict except to direct him in his duty or to admonish him for delinquency.

Any convict who commits any public offense during his confinement in the penitentiary must be confined therein like other convicts until his trial takes place, but after the expiration of his former term of confinement, if the subsequent offense is bailable, he may be discharged from confinement on giving sufficient bail for his appearance.

On the trial of any convict for any offense committed within the penitentiary or other convict prison or convict camp, the fact of confinement in the penitentiary shall be presumptive evidence of a legal conviction and sentence of imprisonment, and a copy of the transcript of the conviction and sentence filed with the Board of Corrections and certified by it to be correct shall be received as evidence of such conviction.

Whenever any convict escapes, it shall be the duty of the Board of Corrections to take all proper measures for his apprehension, and for that purpose, it must forthwith communicate to the Governor the fact of such escape, the time when and the circumstances under which it was effected, together with a particular description of the convict, in what county convicted and for what offense and when; and the board shall offer a reward, not exceeding $400.00, for the apprehension of such state convict, to be paid out of the proceeds of the labor of convicts in the State Treasury. But no warrant shall be issued for the payment of any such reward unless there is filed in the office of the Department of Finance the certificate of the board that such convict has been recaptured and restored to custody.

Such of the regulations as are provided by this title, with all others hereafter adopted by the Legislature or by the Board of Corrections, as it may be necessary that convicts should know, and the sections of this code relative to escapes by convicts, must be printed so as to be conveniently read and set up in each workshop and cell in a conspicuous place.

The Board of Corrections shall cause to be preserved copies of all its official correspondence with the Governor and other public officers, which, together with all books, vouchers and documents shall be considered as public documents and kept on file.

No spirituous or intoxicating liquors must, under any pretense, be introduced into the penitentiary or into any convict prison or camp, except such as may be necessary for the hospital department.

In the office of the Board of Corrections shall be kept a book or books in which shall be kept a record of all state and county convicts, showing the date of conviction, crime, sentence, county and court in which convicted and such other information as the board may prescribe. There shall also be kept such other books as the board may deem proper.

It is the intent of the Legislature to authorize the Department of Corrections to install high voltage electrified security fence systems at any medium or maximum security prison facility.

The Department of Corrections may design and install high voltage electrified security fence systems at any medium or maximum security prison. At the time of installation, there shall be posted universal danger signs on all sides of the system, clearly visible to inmates and the public, displaying the warning, "deadly voltage."

The installation of an electrified security fence shall be between double security fences, with the exception of those locations where a building or wall constitutes a part of the security perimeter.

A provider of electricity for the electric fence system authorized by this article or the providers of parts for construction of the system shall not be liable for any accident, injury, or death which may occur as a result of the construction or operation of the system.

The Board of Corrections shall furnish each convict, within a month after his confinement, a card on which shall be written or printed, or partly written and partly printed, the date of such convict's conviction and the term and expiration of his sentence.

(a) It shall be the duty of all employees of the Department of Corrections to report all violations of the law relating to prisons, correctional facilities and employees and inmates of the Department of Corrections, that may come to their knowledge to the investigation and inspection division of the Department of Corrections. Correctional investigative services officers of the investigation and inspection division will investigate all such reported violations and those violations otherwise discovered and, where applicable, refer such violations to the proper district attorney. All indictments for such violations shall be tried in the circuit court of the county where the offense was committed.

(b) Employees of the Department of Corrections classified as "correctional investigative services officers" and their supervisors are hereby constituted peace officers of the State of Alabama with full and unlimited police powers and jurisdiction as any other state police officers in this state to investigate violations of the law relating to prisons, correctional facilities and employees and inmates of the Department of Corrections and to enforce said law; excepting that such employees shall not have the power and authority to execute search warrants. Whenever these "correctional investigative services officers" are effecting an arrest, they shall prominently display a badge either on their lapel or breast pocket.

The powers vested in correctional investigative services officers under this section will be limited to investigation and/or arrests involving inmates or employees of the Department of Corrections only.

(c) All correctional investigative services officers and their supervisors given police power by this section shall be required to comply with the minimum standards now in effect relating to state law enforcement officers.