On September 1, 1961, the Commission to Study the State Government of Virginia, established by executive authorization on July 18, 1960, unanimously made the following recommendation to Governor J. Lindsay Almond, Jr.:

"Legislation be enacted to remove the Divisions of Corrections and Parole from the Department of Welfare and Institutions and to establish them as a separate Department of Corrections and Parole with a five-member advisory board. The functions of the Board of Pardons, Reprieves and Parole should be transferred to the new department. The Department of Welfare and Institutions should be redesignated as the Department of Welfare."

At its 1962 Session, the General Assembly, by House Joint Resolution No. 20, directed the Virginia Advisory Legislative Council to study the advisability of separating the Parole Board and the Division of Corrections from the Department of Welfare and Institutions.

Charles K. Hutchens, of Newport News, member of the House of Delegates and member of the Council, was selected as Chairman of a Committee to make the preliminary study and report to the Council. The following persons were named to serve as members of the Committee with Mr. Hutchens: W. R. Broaddus, Jr., Attorney at Law, and former member of the House of Delegates, Martinsville; Russell M. Carneal, member of the House of Delegates, Williamsburg; Hale Collins, member of the Senate of Virginia, Covington; John W. Garber, Director, State Division of Personnel, Richmond; Robert R. Gwathmey, III, member, House of Delegates, Hanover; Allen H. Harrison, Jr., Attorney at Law, Arlington; W. L. Painter, Director, Department of Welfare and Institutions, Richmond.

The Committee organized and elected Mr. Gwathmey as Vice-Chairman. John B. Boatwright, Jr. and Wildman S. Kincheloe, Jr. served as Secretary and Recording Secretary, respectively, to the Committee.