ARTICLE 2. Joint County Road Camp Act [4200. - 4227.]

Cal. Penal Code - PEN 2.
in effect

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4201. Section 4201.

Any two or more counties may form a district for the purpose of requiring all persons confined in the county jails of such counties, under a final judgment of imprisonment rendered in a criminal action or proceeding, to perform labor on the public works or public highways in all or any of such counties, and to maintain for that purpose one or more joint county road camps in which such jail prisoners of any or all of said counties may work together.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4202. Section 4202.

Any district organized under this article shall have and exercise the powers expressly granted in this article, together with such other powers as are reasonably implied therefrom and necessary and proper to carry out the objects and purposes of this article.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4203. Section 4203.

The board of supervisors of any county may initiate proceedings proposing the creation of a joint district for the purpose of maintaining a joint county road camp or camps under the provisions of this article to be composed of two or more counties having a combined population of not less than 50,000 persons, according to the official census next preceding the formation of such district, by the adoption of a resolution reciting the following: (1) That it will be beneficial to the public interest to create a joint district wherein persons confined in any county jail within such district under a final judgment of imprisonment rendered in a criminal action or proceeding may be required to perform labor on the public works or ways within said district, and that a joint county road camp or camps be established and maintained for that purpose. (2) The names of the counties proposed to be included in the proposed district which will be benefited by the formation thereof. (3) That it is proposed to create a joint district for the establishment and maintenance of a joint county road camp under the provisions of this article composed of the counties so named.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4204. Section 4204.

When adopted certified copies of the resolution provided for in Section 4203, shall be transmitted to the several clerks of the boards of supervisors in each of the counties named in the resolution other than that in which the proceedings are initiated. Upon the adoption of the resolution provided for in Section 4203, the board of supervisors of the county adopting the same shall name and appoint a member of the board to represent the county upon the board of directors of the joint district proposed to be organized.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4205. Section 4205.

Upon receipt of the resolution adopted under Section 4203, the boards of supervisors of the counties affected and to whom the same may be directed shall consider the advisability of creating and organizing a joint district as proposed in said resolution and, upon determining the facts involved therein, shall severally adopt resolutions either rejecting or approving the proposal to create such joint district. Each resolution of approval shall, in addition to the matter otherwise required therein, also name and appoint the member of the board of supervisors of the county adopting the resolution qualified to represent such county upon the board of directors of the proposed joint district. A certified copy of the resolution of approval shall be forthwith transmitted to the clerk of the board of supervisors initiating the proceedings.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4206. Section 4206.

The board of supervisors of any county initiating proceedings for the creation of a joint district under this article shall, after the receipt of a copy of the resolution approving the proposal to form such district as provided in Section 4205 from the board of supervisors of each county proposed to be included within any such joint district, adopt a resolution declaring the creation and organization of said joint district and setting forth the names of the counties composing said district. A certified copy of the resolution shall be transmitted to and filed with the Secretary of State, whereupon the joint district shall be deemed created and organized and shall exercise all the powers granted in this article and shall bear the name and designation of “Joint County Road Camp District No. ________ of the State of California.”

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4207. Section 4207.

All districts organized under this article shall be numbered in the order of their creation, the number to be assigned to said district forthwith upon the organization thereof by the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of State shall keep and maintain in his office a list and register showing the joint county road camp districts organized under this article.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4208. Section 4208.

The Secretary of State shall furnish and transmit to the clerk of the board of supervisors of the county adopting the initial resolution for the organization of any district under this article a certificate of the organization of the same. Upon receipt of the certificate the clerk shall within 10 days send a certified copy of the certificate to each of the clerks of the several boards of supervisors of the counties constituting the district, and shall also within the time specified in this section notify each supervisor appointed as a member of the board of directors of the district of such fact and of the time and place of the first meeting of the board of directors of the district. The time and place of the meeting shall be fixed and determined by the clerk of the board adopting the initial resolution, but said time of meeting shall be within 30 days after the date of mailing notices thereof. The necessary expense incurred by supervisors in attending and in going to and coming from any meeting of the board of directors of the district shall constitute a county charge of their respective counties.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4210. Section 4210.

The delegates from each county may enter into an agreement with the other counties for and on behalf of the county appointing them, binding said counties to the joint enterprise provided for in this article and apportioning the cost of establishing and maintaining a road camp or camps, such cost to be apportioned on the basis of the population of the respective counties as determined by the official declaration of the State Legislature determining the population of counties next preceding such apportionment.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4211. Section 4211.

All sums found due from any county according to the provisions of this article are a debt against said county, and may be collected in the manner provided by law by the said board of directors of a district formed under this article, or, in its behalf, by the board of supervisors of any county in the district by an action instituted and tried in any county in the district in which the same may be first filed.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4212. Section 4212.

The board of directors may establish the road camp or camps provided for in this article, and may furnish such camp or camps with the necessary personnel and equipment to transport, feed, clothe, shelter and lodge the prisoners who shall work therein and with the necessary hand tools and appliances for their work, and may employ one or more persons to supervise the camp and the work of the prisoners.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4213. Section 4213.

Each county in a district formed under this article shall pay from its general fund its proportionate share to the board of directors of such amount as the board may designate to constitute a cash revolving fund to carry on the work and expense of maintaining such camp or camps. Each month a statement of the expense of the camp shall be sent to the board of supervisors of each county in the district, together with a claim for its proportionate share of expenses. Amounts when received shall be paid into the cash revolving fund.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4214. Section 4214.

Within 15 days after any person is confined in the county jail of any county within a district under a final judgment of imprisonment rendered in a criminal action or proceeding, the county parole commissioners of such county shall meet and determine whether he should be paroled to work in the joint county road camps established under this article. If it appears to the commissioners that a prisoner is a fit subject for parole to a camp formed under this article, they shall forthwith parole him with the requirement that he perform labor in such joint county road camp wherever it may then be situated, or may thereafter be moved to during his term of imprisonment, and he shall forthwith be transferred by the sheriff of the county in which he is confined to said road camp at the expense of the county in which he was sentenced to imprisonment.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4215. Section 4215.

The boards of directors of joint county road camp districts may contract with the State Department of Public Works for the employment of jail prisoners in the construction, improvement, or maintenance of any portion of any state highway now existing, to be constructed, or under construction within said district and may also contract with any board of supervisors or with any supervisor of any road district, within said district, for the employment of jail prisoners on any county road or county public work within any county or road district lying within any district created under this article.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4216. Section 4216.

When the prisoners of a road camp are engaged in the construction or maintenance of any portion of the state highway the expense of maintaining them together with the compensation of such prisoners fixed by the board of directors as provided in this article, and the expense of supervision and maintenance of the road camp and the prisoners thereof, shall be paid for by the district and the State Department of Public Works upon such terms and in such proportions as may be agreed upon by the Department of Public Works and the district.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4217. Section 4217.

Any money expended by the Department of Public Works under the provisions of this article shall be taken from any funds available for the construction or maintenance of the highway upon which the prisoners of the district labor.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4218. Section 4218.

The State Department of Public Works may contract with the boards of directors of the joint districts created under this article for all the purposes stated in this article.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4219. Section 4219.

When a joint road camp, and the prisoners thereof, are employed in the construction or maintenance of any county way, road or public work, the total expense of maintenance, operation and supervision, of said camp, and the compensation of the prisoners thereof shall be paid for from any funds which may be available for the construction or maintenance of such road, highway or other public works on which said prisoners are employed, or from the county general fund upon a four-fifths vote of the board of supervisors of said county.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4220. Section 4220.

All payments provided for in Section 4219 shall be made by warrants drawn on the proper fund in favor of “Joint County Road Camp District No. ________” (inserting the number assigned by the Secretary of State), and shall become a portion of the revolving fund provided for in this article.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4221. Section 4221.

Whenever the revolving fund provided for in this article after payment of all bills due against a district exceeds twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) or exceeds such lesser sum as the board of directors shall determine to be a sufficient working fund for the purposes of this article, the board shall apportion such surplus to be repaid to the counties forming the district, in the same proportion in which they are required to contribute to the revolving fund in the first instance, the payments to go into the county general funds of such counties.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4222. Section 4222.

The board of directors may make such rules as it deems proper for the government of camps and the conduct of prisoners therein and may fix a reasonable compensation, not to exceed seventy-five cents ($0.75) per day, for each prisoner performing labor in a camp.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4223. Section 4223.

Each prisoner shall be charged with the cost of all tools and appliances for the performance of labor which are furnished to him, and upon his release or discharge from a camp, he shall deliver to the superintendent thereof all tools and appliances for which he is charged and shall thereupon be entitled to full credit for the cost of the tools and appliances so returned. The cost of any appliances and tools not returned as provided in this section shall be deducted from the compensation due the prisoner.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4224. Section 4224.

All sums earned by any prisoner may be retained until he has completed his sentence, or until he is released or discharged, and shall thereupon be paid to him. If any prisoner has dependents, his compensation shall be paid to such dependents monthly as earned.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4225. Section 4225.

The board of supervisors of any county not included within any joint county road camp district, and having a population of 150,000 or more persons, may establish and maintain a county road camp as provided in this article, and may provide a board of directors thereof, by passing the resolution and receiving the certificate of organization provided for in this article.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4226. Section 4226.

The board of supervisors of any county covered by Section 4225 shall nominate three of its members to serve as directors of the district formed thereunder, and such directors shall have and exercise all the powers and perform all the duties granted to and imposed by this article upon boards of directors of joint county road camp districts, and such county shall constitute, and be recognized and dealt with in all respects as a joint county road camp district within the meaning of this article.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4227. Section 4227.

A joint county road camp district formed under this article may be dissolved in the following manner: 1. The board or boards of supervisors of a county or counties containing more than fifty percent (50%) of the population of the entire district shall by a unanimous vote adopt a resolution stating that the existence of a county road camp is no longer desirable for the public welfare and announcing the intention to withdraw therefrom and to dissolve said district. 2. The resolution or resolutions so adopted shall be communicated to the clerks of the boards of supervisors of all the counties comprising the district and also to the Secretary of State. 3. If it appears that the resolution was unanimously adopted by the board or boards of supervisors in the counties desiring to withdraw, and that such county or counties contain more than fifty percent (50%) of the entire population in the district, the Secretary of State shall thereupon certify to the clerks of the boards of supervisors of the counties composing the district that the district is dissolved. 4. Thereupon the board of directors of the district shall within 90 days: (a) Abolish the road camp or camps; (b) Return all prisoners therein to their respective county jails; (c) Dispose of all equipment belonging to said camp or camps and the district; (d) Render an accounting to the clerks of the boards of supervisors of the counties composing such district of all sums of money received and paid out since their last previous accounting, including the balance of revolving fund on hand at said last previous accounting; (e) Apportion and repay to said counties all sums of money then remaining in their hands, and they shall thereupon be relieved of further responsibility in said matter.
Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026

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