680                              LAWS OF MARYLAND                      [CH. 386

CHAPTER 386
(House Bill 6)

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact, with amendments, Sections 76 and 78
of Article 27 of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1957 Edition),
title and subtitle "Crimes and Punishments," subheading "Death
Penalty," to remove from the law relating to delivery to and con-
finement of prisoners in the Maryland Penitentiary under sentence
of death specified requirements for the manner of imprisonment
of these prisoners and the persons who may visit them without an
order of court, for the purpose of conforming these laws to actual
practice observed in the imprisonment of these prisoners.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That Sections 76 and 78 of Article 27 of the Annotated Code of
Maryland (1957 Edition), title and subtitle "Crimes and Punish-
ments," subheading "Death Penalty," be and they are hereby repealed
and re-enacted, with amendments, to read as follows:

76.

Immediately upon sentence of death being pronounced upon any
convict by any court of this State, the convict shall be taken into
custody by the sheriff of the county or city wherein he was indicted,
and held by him under such guard or guards as the sheriff shall
determine to be necessary, and as soon thereafter as possible, said
convict shall be, by the said sheriff delivered to the warden of the
Maryland Penitentiary, [where he shall be placed in solitary con-
finement under such guard or guards as might be necessary,] to
await the execution of his sentence by the said warden as aforesaid.
No expense incident to the detention of the said convict in the
Maryland Penitentiary, including the expense of guarding, lodging,
feeding, clothing and caring for such convict, shall be assessed
against, billed to or paid by the county commissioners of the county
where said convict was indicted, or the mayor and city council of
Baltimore, if indicted in Baltimore City.

No expense incident to the guarding, lodging, feeding, clothing
and caring for any person sentenced to any State institution shall
be assessed against, billed to or paid by the county commissioners
of the county where such person was indicted, or the mayor and
city council of Baltimore, if indicted in Baltimore City, irrespectively
of whether or not the judgment, upon which such sentence is imposed,
is thereafter reversed.

78.

Upon application of the relatives of the person convicted, the
body after execution shall be returned to their address and at their
cost, otherwise burial shall be provided for as said warden shall
arrange and determine. [From the time of such delivery until the
infliction of the punishment of death upon him, unless he shall be
lawfully discharged from such sentence, the person so sentenced shall
be kept in solitary confinement, and no person shall be allowed ac-
cess to him without an order of some court of competent jurisdiction,
except the officers of the prison, his counsel, his physician, a priest or