The Mayor of the District of Columbia shall provide suitable accommodations within the District for the detention of witnesses who are unable to furnish security for their appearance in criminal proceedings, and such accommodations shall be in premises other than those employed for the confinement of persons charged with crime, fraud, or disorderly conduct; and it shall be the duty of all judges in committing witnesses to have regard to the rules and regulations of the Council of the District of Columbia in reference to their detention.

(R.S., D.C., § 401; June 11, 1878, 20 Stat. 107, ch. 180, § 6.)

1981 Ed., § 4-144.

1973 Ed., § 4-144.

Witnesses, material, detention and release, see § 23-1326.

This section originated at a time when local government powers were delegated to a Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia (see Acts Relating to the Establishment of the District of Columbia and its Various Forms of Governmental Organization in Volume 1). Section 402(101) of Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1967 (see Reorganization Plans in Volume 1) transferred all of the functions of the Board of Commissioners under this section to the District of Columbia Council, subject to the right of the Commissioner as provided in § 406 of the Plan. The District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act, 87 Stat. 818, § 711 ( D.C. Code, § 1-207.11), abolished the District of Columbia Council and the Office of Commissioner of the District of Columbia. These branches of government were replaced by the Council of the District of Columbia and the Office of Mayor of the District of Columbia, respectively. Accordingly, and also pursuant to § 714(a) of such Act ( D.C. Code, § 1-207.14(a)), appropriate changes in terminology were made in this section.