Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 16 of chapter 125 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1988 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding the following paragraph:-

The department shall maintain at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Framingham, a separate awaiting trial unit for females, to which female prisoners held for trial in accordance with section forty-two of chapter two hundred and seventy-six, may be transferred by the sheriff upon approval of the commissioner of correction if suitable facilities are not available in the county jail of the court of jurisdiction.

SECTION 2. Chapter 276 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 42, as so appearing, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 42. If it appears that a crime has been committed and that there is probable cause to believe the prisoner guilty, the court or justice shall, if final jurisdiction is not exercised, admit the prisoner to bail, if the crime is bailable and sufficient bail is offered; otherwise, except as provided for in section sixteen of chapter one hundred and twenty-five, such prisoner shall be committed to jail for trial.