18 U.S.C. § 436 | Convict labor contracts

1 See 1994 Amendment note below.

Whoever, being an officer, employee, or agent of the United States or any department or agency thereof, contracts with any person or corporation, or permits any warden, agent, or official of any penal or correctional institution, to hire out the labor of any prisoners confined for violation of any laws of the United States, shall be fined under this title  or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

June 25, 1948, ch. 645 62 Stat. 703 Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(K)Sept. 13, 1994108 Stat. 2147(, ; , , .)

Historical and Revision Notes

Feb. 23, 1887, ch. 213 24 Stat. 411Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §§ 708, 709 (, §§ 1, 2, ).

This section consolidates sections 708 and 709 of title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., as the offense and penalty provisions, respectively.

section 6 of this titleWords “department or agency thereof” were inserted to clarify scope of section. See definition of department and agency in .

section 1 of this titleTo retain uniformity words “shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and,” were omitted. The reference to misdemeanor is now covered by the definition in .

Words “on conviction thereof” were omitted as unnecessary since punishment can follow only upon conviction.

section 203 of this titleThe minimum punishment provisions “less than one year nor” and “less than $500 nor” were deleted to conform to the policy followed by codifiers of 1909 Criminal Code. (See reviser’s note under .)

Changes were also made in phraseology.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

Pub. L. 103–3221994—, which directed the amendment of this section by substituting “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $5,000”, was executed by making the substitution for “fined not more than $1,000”, to reflect the probable intent of Congress.