Ex parte Dig

Citations

• 86 Miss. 597

Syllabus

<p>1. Impbisonment for Debt. CotisHtubion 1890, sec. 30. Fines. Costs. Penalties.</p> <p>Constitution 1890, sec. 30, prohibiting imprisonment for debt, does not extend to nor embrace any pecuniary obligation imposed by the state as a punishment for crime, whether the money demanded be for fines, costs, or penalties of a monetary nature which may be lawfully inflicted by a court in criminal or quasi criminal proceedings.</p> <p>2. Same. Laws 1894, eh. 76, p. 67 ; Amended Laws 1896, ch. 133, p. 146. Clothing furnished convict. Conditional pardon.</p> <p>Under Laws 1894, ch. 76, p. 67, as amended, Laws 1896, ch. 133, p. 146, providing that a convict sentenced to imprisonment in the county jail and to pay a fine shall remain committed after the expiration of the term until the fine, costs, and jail fees are paid, unless discharged by due course of law, and if the fine, costs, and jail fees are not promptly paid the convict shall work out the amount for the county contractor, who is required to furnish him with proper clothing, and (sec. 22, p. 72) declaring that a convict in custody of a contractor who has served out his imprisonment sentence may pay at any time to the contractor the amount unearned by him and the reasonable value of all clothing furnished him, the section authorizing a prior release on payment of the amount not worked out, with the value of clothing furnished, is a mere matter of grace in- the nature of a conditional pardon, which' the convict is not required to accept, and hence the section is not unconstitutional as authorizing imprisonment for debt.</p>