Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force, Mar.[March] 2, 1839.

AN ACT to regulate the compensation of sheriffs for conveying convicts to the Penitentiary.
1

Duty of sheriff.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That hereafter, whenever any person shall be convicted and sentenced to confinement in the penitentiary for any criminal offence, it shall be the duty of the sheriff of the county where such conviction

<Page 2>
was had to employ a sufficient force to guard all such convicts to the penitentiary; and the said sheriff shall be responsible for the safe delivery of such convicts; a failure to deliver the same shall be a breach of duty in the official conduct of such sheriff, for which he may be indicted as in other cases of malconduct in office.

Pay of sheriff.

Sec. 2. The said sheriff shall be allowed thirty cents for each mile necessarily travelled in going to the penitentiary with each convict; and each guard by him employed shall be allowed the sum of two dollars per day for each day’s travel in going to the penitentiary with such convict; and the number of the guard shall be fixed by the circuit court. The said compensation to the sheriff and guard shall be paid out of the State treasury, on the warrant of the Auditor, and shall be in full of all charges and expenses whatsoever.

Part of act repealed.

Sec. 3. The seventeenth section of “An act to amend an act, entitled ‘An act relative to criminal jurisprudence,’ approved January 6, 1827, and to provide for the regulation and government of the penitentiary,” approved February 15, 1831, is hereby, repealed.2

Approved, March 2, 1839.

1On February 1, 1839, Richard B. Servant introduced SB 166 in the Senate. On March 2, the Senate passed the bill without amendment, and referred it to the House. That same day, the House passed the bill without amendment, theCouncil of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess., 591-92, 594; Illinois Senate Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess., 257, 295, 317, 471-72, 499, 502, 510, 512.

2Section 17 of the 1831 act included many of the same provisions as this law includes. In the previous legislation, the Sheriff was required to pay any additional guards out of his $2-per-day salary. Language here allowing the circuit court to set the number of guards for each case is also new.
“An Act to Amend an Act Entitled, “An Act relative to Criminal Jurisprudence,’ Approved January 6, 1827, and to Provide for the Regulation and Government of the Penitentiary,” 15 February 1831, Laws of Illinois (1831), 103-13.