SOERING v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT 18 primary duty is the prosecution of all criminal cases within his locality (see Virginia Code, section 15.1-18.1). He has discretion as to what degree of murder to present for indictment, but that discretion is limited by considerations of prosecutorial ethics and his legal duty under the general law and to the public to present the indictment for the crime which is best supported by the evidence. He is independent in the discharge of his duty, not being subject to direction in any relevant way, whether as to charging offences, seeking sentences or giving related assurances, by the Attorney General of Virginia (see Virginia Code, section 2.1-124), the Governor of Virginia or anyone else. It is open to the Commonwealth’s Attorney to engage in plea negotiations, but the court is not bound to accept any resultant agreement (Rule 3A.8 of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia). 59. Judges of the district and higher courts of the State of Virginia are not elected but are appointed to the bench. Their conduct is governed by published Canons of Judicial Conduct, which have been adopted by the Supreme Court of Virginia as Rules of the Supreme Court. Observance of high standards of conduct so as to preserve the integrity and independence of the judiciary is included as part of the first Canon. 60. The Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia has an unrestricted power "to commute capital punishment" (Article V, section 12, of the Constitution of Virginia). As a matter of policy, the Governor does not promise, before a conviction and sentence, that he will later exercise his commutation power. Since 1977 there has been no case in which the Governor has commuted a death sentence. G. Prison conditions in Mecklenburg Correctional Center 61. There are currently 40 people under sentence of death in Virginia. The majority are detained in Mecklenburg Correctional Center, which is a modern maximum-security institution with a total capacity of 335 inmates. Institutional Operating Procedures (IOP 821.1) establish uniform operating procedures for the administration, security, control and delivery of necessary services to death row inmates in Mecklenburg. In addition conditions of confinement are governed by a comprehensive consent decree handed down by the United States District Court in Richmond in the case of Alan Brown et al. v. Allyn R. Sielaff et al. (5 April 1985). Both the Virginia Department of Corrections and the American Civil Liberties Union monitor compliance with the terms of the consent decree. The United States District Court also retains jurisdiction to enforce compliance with the decree. 62. The channels by which grievances may be ventilated and, if wellfounded, remedied include (1) the use of a Federal Court approved Inmate Grievance Procedure of the Virginia Department of Corrections, involving the Warden, the Regional Administrator and the Director of Prisons, and the