ARTICLE 1. County Industrial Farms [4100. - 4137.]

Cal. Penal Code - PEN 1.

in effect

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4100. Section 4100.

It is the purpose of this article to make possible the substitution of constructive labor for profitless prison confinement in order that those who are charged with or convicted of public offenses and deprived of their liberty may become better citizens because of their disciplinary experience.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4101. Section 4101.

In each county an industrial farm or industrial road camp may be established under the provisions of this article.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4102. Section 4102.

Before establishing an industrial farm or industrial road camp in any county the board of supervisors thereof shall adopt a resolution of its intention so to do. The resolution shall state an amount per person per day for which persons from incorporated cities will be maintained on an industrial farm. Certified copies of the resolution shall be forwarded by the clerk of the board of supervisors to the clerks of all incorporated cities within the county.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4103. Section 4103.

Upon receipt of the resolution as provided in Section 4102, the legislative body of any incorporated city wishing to avail itself of the use of a proposed industrial farm shall adopt a resolution setting forth the following matters: 1. The number of persons sentenced to imprisonment in the jail of such city during the fiscal year last preceding the adoption of the resolution of intention by the board of supervisors; 2. The total number of days for which all such persons were imprisoned in the jail of the city during such fiscal year; 3. A declaration of the desire of the city adopting the resolution to have the prisoners of the city cared for by the county on the industrial farm or industrial road camp and of the agreement of the city to pay the county quarterly for the care of the prisoners of the city at the rate set forth in the resolution of intention. A certified copy of the resolution provided for in this section shall be forwarded to the clerk of the board of supervisors.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4104. Section 4104.

Any board of supervisors having adopted a resolution of intention to establish an industrial farm or industrial road camp shall ascertain and enter in its minutes the following facts: (a) The number of persons sentenced to imprisonment in the county jail during the fiscal year last preceding the adoption of the resolution of intention. (b) The total number of days for which all persons were imprisoned in the county jail during that fiscal year. (c) The number of persons sentenced from the superior court of the county to any state prison upon conviction of a violation of Section 270 or Section 270a during that fiscal year. (d) The total number of days for which all persons so sentenced to state prisons were therein imprisoned during that fiscal year.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4105. Section 4105.

Upon ascertaining the facts provided for in Sections 4102 to 4104, inclusive, the board of supervisors may proceed to establish an industrial farm or industrial road camp.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4106. Section 4106.

For the purpose of establishing an industrial farm the board of supervisors may acquire by condemnation, purchase, lease or donation as many acres of land suitable for agriculture as may be necessary for the purposes of the farm. Such land may be situate within or without the county and may consist of separate parcels. If the land is without the county no industrial farm may be established thereon without the consent of the board of supervisors of the county in which the land is located. The board of supervisors shall erect on such land such buildings and structures and make such improvements and institute such industries as are necessary or convenient to carry out the purposes of this article.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4107. Section 4107.

The board of supervisors shall secure by purchase or otherwise personal property convenient or necessary to carry out the purposes of this article. Stock, machinery, or any other property belonging to the county and in use on the county farm or elsewhere may be used on an industrial farm.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4108. Section 4108.

The board of supervisors shall employ a superintendent of an industrial farm or camp and such other subordinate persons as may be necessary for the proper administration thereof and the keeping of the prisoners imprisoned thereon. As part of the compensation to be agreed upon for such superintendent and other persons board and lodging may be furnished.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4109. Section 4109.

The board shall also adopt rules governing the administration of a farm or camp formed under the provisions of this article and discipline thereon in furtherance of the purposes of this article, which rules shall be enforced by the superintendent and those subordinate to him.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4110. Section 4110.

If women are to be sentenced to an industrial farm, the board of supervisors establishing it shall provide thereon separate quarters for women prisoners, or may establish a separate industrial farm for women prisoners. Nothing in the section shall be construed to impose any requirement upon a county to confine male and female prisoners in the same or an adjoining facility or impose any duty upon a county to establish or maintain programs which involve the joint participation of male and female prisoners.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4111. Section 4111.

If a separate farm for women prisoners is established it shall be considered as a part of the industrial farm of the county within the meaning of all provisions of this article, except that none but women prisoners shall be admitted to it. A woman assistant to the superintendent of an industrial farm shall be in immediate charge of any farm established for women prisoners only.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4112. Section 4112.

When land has been acquired and such buildings and structures erected and improvements made as may be immediately necessary for the carrying out of the purposes of this article or arrangements have been made for an industrial road camp or camps, the board of supervisors shall adopt a resolution proclaiming that an industrial farm or road camp has been established in the county and designating a day on and after which persons will be admitted to such farm or camp. Certified copies of the resolution shall be forwarded by the clerk of the board of supervisors to each superior court judge in the county.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4114. Section 4114.

Each county which establishes an industrial farm or camp shall provide a county classification committee, which shall function as follows: (1) The sheriff shall appoint the members of this committee, which may include members of his staff and qualified citizens of the county. If there is a county jail physician, he shall be an ex officio member of this committee. All committee members shall serve without remuneration. (2) The committee shall meet at least once weekly for the purpose of assigning each person who has been sentenced to the county jail to the proper degree of custody and treatment within one of the available adult detention facilities operated by the county. Any person assigned to medical treatment may decline such treatment and provide other care or treatment for himself at his own expense. (3) Each county prisoner serving a jail sentence of over 30 days shall appear before the committee during the first third of his sentence. (4) City prisoners who have been recommended to the committee by the chief of police may be transferred to the county industrial farm or camp at the option of the committee.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4115. Section 4115.

The county jail shall serve as the initial place of detention for all adult persons committed to the custody of the sheriff, except city prisoners who are transferred to a farm or camp by the county classification committee.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4115.5. Section 4115.5.

(a) The board of supervisors of a county where adequate facilities are not available for prisoners who would otherwise be confined in its county adult detention facilities may enter into an agreement with the board or boards of supervisors of one or more nearby counties whose county adult detention facilities are adequate and are readily accessible from the first county to permit commitment of misdemeanants, and any persons required to serve a term of imprisonment in county adult detention facilities as a condition of probation, to a jail in a county having adequate facilities that is a party to the agreement. That agreement shall make provision for the support of a person so committed or transferred by the county from which he or she is committed. When that agreement is in effect, commitments may be made by the court and support of a person so committed shall be a charge upon the county from which he or she is committed. (b) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2021.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4115.55. Section 4115.55.

(a) Upon agreement with the sheriff or director of the county department of corrections, a board of supervisors may enter into a contract with other public agencies to provide housing for inmates sentenced to a county jail in community correctional facilities created pursuant to Article 1.5 (commencing with Section 2910) of Chapter 7 of Title 1 or Chapter 9.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Title 7. (b) Facilities operated pursuant to agreements entered into under subdivision (a) shall comply with the minimum standards for local detention facilities as provided by Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 3000) of Division 3 of Title 15 of the California Code of Regulations.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4115.56. Section 4115.56.

(a) Upon agreement with the sheriff or director of the county department of corrections, a board of supervisors may enter into a contract with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to house inmates who are within 60 days or less of release from the state prison to a county jail facility for the purpose of reentry and community transition purposes. (b) When housed in county facilities, inmates shall be under the legal custody and jurisdiction of local county facilities and not under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4116. Section 4116.

No person shall be committed directly by any court to a county industrial farm or camp except as provided in the Welfare and Institutions Code. All other commitments shall be made to the sheriff for placement in such county adult detention facility as the county classification committee may designate.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4117. Section 4117.

No person shall be transferred to an industrial farm or camp unless he has appeared before the county classification committee and has been assigned to that facility.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4118. Section 4118.

The legislative body of any incorporated city located in a county which has established an industrial farm or industrial road camp may adopt and forward to the board of supervisors a certified copy of a resolution stating that the city desires to have its prisoners cared for on the industrial farm or camp and agrees to pay therefor quarterly at a rate per prisoner per day, which rate shall be set forth in the resolution.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4119. Section 4119.

At its option the board of supervisors may adopt a resolution stating that the county will care for the prisoners of the city on its industrial farm or camp at the rate set forth in the city’s resolution specified in Section 4118. A certified copy of the resolution provided for in this section shall be forwarded to the clerk of the city named therein, who shall immediately notify the chief of police of the city. Thereafter, the chief of police of the city, or his representative, shall meet regularly with the county classification committee for the purpose of determining the eligibility of certain city prisoners for transfer to a county industrial farm or camp. The committee shall consider for transfer only those city prisoners who have been selected and recommended for transfer by the chief of police. In each case, the committee may transfer or reject such prisoners as it sees fit.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4120. Section 4120.

Upon the expiration of the sentence of any person imprisoned in any industrial farm or camp, he shall be discharged, and either furnished with transportation to the place where he was convicted or given a sum of money sufficient to pay his fare to such place.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4121. Section 4121.

The cost of establishing and maintaining an industrial farm or industrial road camp formed under this article shall be paid out of the county general fund. Any revenue derived from such farm or camp, including that received from any city for the care of its prisoners on said farm, shall be paid into the county general fund.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4122. Section 4122.

The cost of transporting city prisoners to an industrial farm or camp shall be borne by the city from whose courts they were committed. All other transportation charges shall be borne by the county and paid out of the general fund.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4123. Section 4123.

Any person transferred from an industrial farm or camp to the county jail shall be maintained at the jail at the expense of the county as are other prisoners in such jail.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4124. Section 4124.

Each county board of supervisors may specify a rate to be charged for the care of city prisoners, which rate shall not exceed the average cost to the county of caring for one prisoner per day. In calculating this average cost, the value of the farm products used in other county institutions and in supplying the needs of paupers, incompetents, poor and indigent persons and persons incapacitated by age, disease or accident shall be deducted from the cost of maintenance, and the cost of the original investment in establishing an industrial farm shall not be included. The reasonable value of services rendered by city prisoners to the extent that such services inure to the benefit of the county shall be deducted from the average cost of caring for city prisoners. Cities may, under terms and conditions suitable to the board of supervisors, be assigned prisoners for the purposes authorized by Section 36904 of the Government Code. By mutual agreement between cities and the county, the rate may be changed from time to time.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4125. Section 4125.

Each person in custody on any industrial farm or industrial road camp who is found to have any person or persons dependent on him for support, as provided in Section 4127, shall be credited with a sum not to exceed two dollars ($2) for each day of eight hours work done by him on such farm or camp. Every other person in custody on an industrial farm or camp shall be credited with a sum not to exceed one dollar ($1) for each day of eight hours work done by him on such farm or camp.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4125.1. Section 4125.1.

The board of supervisors may contract with the United States or the State of California, or any department or agency thereof, for the performance of work and labor by any person in custody on any county industrial farm or industrial road camp or confined in the county jail or branch thereof under a final judgment of imprisonment rendered in a criminal action or proceeding or as a condition of probation in the suppression of fires within and upon the national forests, state parks, or other lands of the United States or the State of California, or within and upon such other lands, of whatever ownership, contiguous to, or adjacent to said state or federal lands, the suppression of fires upon which other lands affords fire protection to said state or federal lands. Such payments as may be so contracted for and to be paid by the United States or by the State of California for the work and labor so performed by any person so in custody may, by order of the board of supervisors, be credited in full or in part, and upon such terms and conditions as the board shall determine, to any such person so in custody and performing such work and labor, and all in addition to those credits hereinbefore provided in Section 4125 of this code. Whenever any such person so in custody shall perform the services herein specified he shall be subject to workmen’s compensation benefits to the same extent as a county employee, and the board of supervisors shall provide and cover any such person so in custody, while performing such services, with accident, death and compensation insurance as is otherwise regularly provided for employees of the county. The term “suppression of fires” as herein used shall include the construction of firebreaks and other works of improvement for the prevention and suppression of fire whether or not constructed in the actual course of suppression of existing fires.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4126. Section 4126.

The maximum amount per day to be credited to a person in custody on an industrial farm or camp shall be fixed from time to time by the board of supervisors and shall be as large as is justified by the production on the farm or camp but shall not exceed the sums mentioned in this article. The superintendent of an industrial farm may by order cause an amount less than the maximum per day to be credited to any person because of lack of effort on the part of the person, the amount credited to be in proportion to the effort. The sum to the credit of each person employed upon an industrial farm upon his discharge shall be paid him in addition to any transportation charge otherwise paid under this article. Any person may, by written order, direct the payment of any sums credited to him under this article to any person dependent upon him or to whom he is indebted.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4127. Section 4127.

The court by whom any person was sentenced may at any time by written order direct payment of all or any part of the sums to be credited to any such person under this article to any person or persons dependent for support on the prisoner. At the time of sentencing the court shall by making inquiry or taking evidence find whether or not any person or persons are dependent upon the defendant for support. A copy of the finding of the court shall be transmitted to the county classification committee.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4128. Section 4128.

Payments authorized under this article to be made to any person other than the prisoner may be made weekly on any day designated by the superintendent of the farm or camp.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4129. Section 4129.

For the purpose of making the payments designated in this article the board of supervisors shall by order provide the superintendent with a revolving fund. Upon order of the board of supervisors the county auditor shall draw a warrant in favor of the superintendent of an industrial farm or camp and the county treasurer shall cash it. Thereafter the superintendent shall receive from the county general fund upon demands supported by receipts all sums paid out by him under the provisions of this section and shall return all sums so received to the revolving fund. The provisions of Section 29323 of the Government Code are applicable to a revolving fund established pursuant to this section.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4130. Section 4130.

So far as practicable those in custody on an industrial farm shall be employed in productive labor. The products of an industrial farm shall be used: first, to maintain the prisoners and employees on such farm; second, to supply other county institutions having need of the same with the farm’s products; third, to supply the needs of paupers, incompetents, poor and indigent persons and those incapacitated by age, disease or accident with whose relief and support the county is charged.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4131. Section 4131.

Subject to regulations adopted by the board of supervisors the superintendent shall maintain discipline on an industrial farm. Whenever the superintendent reports to the county classification committee which assigned any prisoner to an industrial farm or camp that the prisoner refuses to abide by the rules of the farm or camp or refuses to work thereon, the committee may make an order transferring the prisoner to the county jail or city jail for the unexpired term of his sentence, and all sums credited to the prisoner shall be forfeited by him unless they have been ordered paid to some person dependent upon him. Thereafter the committee may reassign the person to the industrial farm or industrial road camp upon recommendation of the superintendent of the farm or camp.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4133. Section 4133.

The boundary of every industrial farm established under the provisions of this article shall be marked by a fence, hedge or by some other visible line. Every person confined on any industrial farm who escapes therefrom or attempts to escape therefrom shall upon conviction thereof be imprisoned in a state prison, or in the county jail or industrial farm for not to exceed one year. Any such imprisonment shall begin at the expiration of the imprisonment in effect at the time of the escape.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4134. Section 4134.

Any board of supervisors which has established or desires to establish an industrial farm or industrial road camp may at any time appoint an advisory board to consist of not less than three nor more than five persons, one member of which shall be a penologist and one member a physician.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4135. Section 4135.

The advisory board shall acquaint itself with the conduct of the jails in the county, keep itself informed about the administration of the industrial farm or industrial road camp, and report its recommendations and suggestions to the board of supervisors. It may visit any jail within the county, examine the records thereof, and ascertain whether or not there are any persons illegally committed to or detained at any jail. The advisory board shall encourage recreational and educational activities on the industrial farm.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4136. Section 4136.

Sections 4011, 4011.5, 4011.6 and 4011.7 are applicable to county industrial farms, county industrial road camps, and joint county road camps established pursuant to this chapter.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4137. Section 4137.

The board of supervisors of any county in which a county industrial farm, industrial road camp, or honor camp has been established may, by ordinance, authorize the sheriff or any such person responsible to the board for the care, treatment, and custody of prisoners assigned to him as sentenced misdemeanants or felons, serving time as a condition of probation, to remove such prisoners from the facility to which they have been assigned under custody, without court order, for purposes such as: private medical, vision, or dental care, psychological care, vocational services, educational services, and funerals.

Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026