Whenever the public welfare or the safe custody of a prisoner shall require, any district judge in the state of New Mexico in his discretion may order any person charged with the commission of a crime, or any person in the custody of the sheriff of any county in the district of the said judge, to be removed to another county jail, or to the state penitentiary, or to any other place of safety, when, in the opinion of the said district judge, it is advisable that such person or persons shall be removed for any purpose whatsoever.

Where a person, on the order of any district judge has been placed in the state penitentiary or a county jail for safekeeping, the expense incurred by said penitentiary or the sheriff of any county for the maintenance of said prisoner, shall be borne by the county from which said prisoner has been ordered, and said bill of expense shall be made a preferential bill of expense and shall be paid in full before any bill, fees or salaries of such county are paid; provided, however, that the said state penitentiary or sheriff shall only charge for the maintenance of said prisoner the legal rate now allowed by law. This section shall not authorize a charge against a county for expenses relating to any prisoner committed to the penitentiary as a result of a criminal conviction.

History: Laws 1919, ch. 92, § 1; C.S. 1929, § 75-118; 1941 Comp., § 45-213; 1953 Comp., § 42-2-13; Laws 1955, ch. 105, § 1.

Person in penitentiary deemed county prisoner until sentencing. — Person received at state penitentiary for safekeeping, under an order of the district judge made pursuant to this section, was a county prisoner from the time he was admitted to the time he was sentenced to the penitentiary, the sentence having been made retroactive to the date he was originally received at the penitentiary. State v. Board of Cnty. Comm'rs, 1935-NMSC-048, 39 N.M. 310, 46 P.2d 669.

County liable for maintenance pending appeal even where inadvertently committed. — County was liable for maintenance of one confined in penitentiary pending appeal from felony conviction, although district court inadvertently committed him to the penitentiary instead of ordering his confinement therein for safekeeping, and although he was required to labor as a convict. State v. Board of Cnty. Comm'rs, 1928-NMSC-026, 33 N.M. 340, 267 P. 72.

Cost of keeping in penitentiary pending appeal chargeable to county. — The cost of keeping a prisoner in the state penitentiary while his appeal is pending in the supreme court is chargeable to the county when the district court has not entered order transferring the prisoner to the penitentiary for safekeeping. 1947 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 47-5094.

Law reviews. — For article, "Prisoners Are People," see 10 Nat. Resources J. 869 (1970).

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 60 Am. Jur. 2d Penal and Correctional Institutions § 218.

72 C.J.S. Prisons and Rights of Prisoners §§ 21, 130.