PART V
CUSTODY AND REMOVAL OF PRISONERS
Prisoners deemed in legal custody
33.—(1)  Every prisoner confined in any prison shall be deemed to be in the legal custody of the Superintendent thereof.
(2)  Every prisoner shall be subject to the prison discipline and regulations during the whole time of his imprisonment, whether or not he is within the precincts of any prison.
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Employment of auxiliary police officers as escorts and guards
34.—(1)  For the purpose of assisting him in the discharge of his duties under this Act, the Director may employ such numbers of auxiliary police officers as he considers fit as escorts or guards to ensure the safe custody of the prisoners who are under his custody while the prisoners are transported to, or from, any prison and while the prisoners are at any place outside a prison.
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(2)  A prisoner who is delivered into the custody of an auxiliary police officer under this section shall be deemed to be in lawful custody.
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(3)  Every auxiliary police officer who is employed as an escort or a guard under subsection (1) shall, in the course of carrying out his duties as an escort or a guard —
(a)have the powers of a prison officer conferred under section 31;
(b)be deemed to be a prison officer for the purpose of section 69; and
(c)be deemed to be an officer for the purposes of sections 72 and 73.
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(4)  Every auxiliary police officer employed under subsection (1) shall be deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of the Penal Code (Cap. 224).
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(5)  For the purpose of this section, “auxiliary police officer” means a member of the Auxiliary Police Force established under section 12 of the Commercial and Industrial Security Corporation Act (Cap. 47) or a member of an auxiliary police force established under any other written law.
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Superintendent to detain persons committed
35.  The Superintendents are authorised and required to keep and detain all persons duly committed to their custody by any court, Judge, Magistrate, Justice of the Peace, Coroner, or other public officer lawfully exercising civil or criminal jurisdiction, according to the exigency of any writ, warrant or order by which such persons have been committed, or until such persons are discharged by due course of law.
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Delivery of persons on remand
36.—(1)  Every person remanded to any prison by any court, Judge, Magistrate, Justice of the Peace or Coroner, charged with any crime or offence, shall be delivered to the Superintendent of such prison as the Minister appoints for the custody of such persons, together with a warrant of commitment.
(2)  The Superintendent shall detain a person referred to in subsection (1) according to the terms of the warrant, and shall cause that person to be delivered to such court, Judge, Magistrate, Justice of the Peace or Coroner, or shall discharge that person at the time named in and according to the terms of the warrant.
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Delivery of persons arrested on warrant
37.—(1)  Every person arrested in pursuance of any writ, warrant or order of any court having civil jurisdiction shall be brought without delay before the court by which the writ, warrant or order was issued, awarded or made.
(2)  If the court is not then sitting, the person shall be delivered to the Superintendent for intermediate custody, and the Superintendent shall cause the person to be brought before that court at its next sitting in order that the person may be dealt with according to law.
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Production of persons before court
38.—(1)  Whenever the presence of any person confined in a prison is required in any court of civil or criminal jurisdiction, the court may issue an order in writing addressed to the Superintendent requiring the production before the court of the person in proper custody at the time and place to be named in the order.
(2)  The Superintendent shall cause the person named in the order to be brought up as directed, and shall provide for his safe custody during his absence from prison.
(3)  Every court may by endorsement on the order require the person named therein to be again brought up at any time to which the matter wherein the person is required may be adjourned.
(4)  Every such order issued by the Supreme Court may be signed by the Registrar of the Court, and if issued by a District Court, may be signed by the Judge or Registrar thereof, and if issued by any other court, shall be signed by the Magistrate or Coroner, as the case may be.
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Powers of Minister for production of prisoner in certain cases
39.—(1)  The Minister may, on proof to his satisfaction that the presence of any prisoner at any place is required in the interests of justice, or for the purpose of any public inquiry, by writing under his hand order that the prisoner be taken to that place.
(2)  A prisoner taken from a prison in pursuance of an order made under this section shall, while outside that prison, be kept in such custody as the Minister may by writing under his hand so direct, and while in that custody shall be deemed to be in legal custody.
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Powers of Superintendent for production of prisoner in interest of prisoner
40.—(1)  The Superintendent of any prison may, on proof to his satisfaction that the presence of a prisoner at any place is required in the interest of the prisoner, by writing under his hand order that the prisoner be taken to that place.
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(2)  A prisoner taken from a prison under an order made under subsection (1) shall, while outside that prison, be kept in such custody as the Superintendent may by writing under his hand so direct, and while in that custody shall be deemed to be in lawful custody.
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Discharge of prisoners
41.  The Superintendent shall be responsible for the due discharge of all prisoners immediately upon their becoming entitled to release, whether by the expiration of their terms of sentence, or by pardon, or by commutation, or by remission of sentence.
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Occurrence of infectious disease
42.—(1)  In case of a contagious or infectious disease occurring in any prison, it shall be lawful to remove any of the prisoners from the prison to another place although that place may not be a prison under this Act.
(2)  The removal under subsection (1) may be made in pursuance of an order under the hand of the Minister, or, in a case of emergency, of the Superintendent or of any of the Visiting Justices of the prison.
(3)  Any such place shall be deemed during the continuance of any prisoner therein to be a part of the prison from which the prisoner was so removed.
(4)  When the disease shall have ceased, any prisoner so removed from any prison shall be taken back to the prison from where he was removed, if still liable to be confined therein.
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Prisoners of unsound mind
43.—(1)  Whenever a prisoner undergoing a sentence of imprisonment appears to the Minister on the certificate of a registered medical practitioner to be of unsound mind, the Minister may, by order in writing, setting forth the grounds of belief that the prisoner is of unsound mind, direct his removal from any prison to any mental hospital or other fit place of safe custody within Singapore, there to be kept and treated as the Minister directs —
(a)until the expiration of the term of imprisonment ordered by the sentence; or
(b)if it is certified by a medical officer that it is necessary for the safety of the prisoner or of others that he should be detained under medical care and treatment, until he is discharged according to law.
(2)  When it appears to the Minister on the certificate of a registered medical practitioner that such prisoner has again become of sound mind, the Minister shall, by an order in writing, return him to the prison from where he was removed if his term of imprisonment has not expired, but if the term has expired, shall direct him to be discharged.
(3)  Section 40 of the Mental Disorders and Treatment Act (Cap. 178) shall apply to every person confined in a mental hospital under this section after the expiration of the term of imprisonment to which he has been sentenced, and the time during which he is so confined shall be reckoned as part of such term.
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Removal of prisoners
44.—(1)  The Director may, by order in writing, remove all or any prisoners confined in any prison to another prison within Singapore.
(2)  It shall not be necessary in the order under subsection (1) to designate any prisoner by name, but it shall be sufficient to describe the prisoner or prisoners by reference to their nationality or sentence, or by some other like general description.
(3)  If the Minister is satisfied that a person serving a sentence of imprisonment is under 21 years of age and might with advantage be detained in a reformative training centre, the Minister may, after consultation where practicable with the Judge or District Judge of the court which passed the sentence, authorise the Director to transfer him to a reformative training centre; and section 13(7) of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cap. 68) shall thereupon apply to him as if he had on the date of the transfer been sentenced to reformative training.
(4)  If on the date of the transfer under subsection (3), the unexpired term of his sentence is less than 3 years, that subsection shall apply to him as if he had been sentenced to reformative training 3 years before the expiration of that term.
(5)  If a person detained in a reformative training centre is reported to the Minister by the Director to be incorrigible, or to be exercising a bad influence on the other inmates of the institution, the Minister may commute the unexpired part of the term for which that person is then liable to be detained in a reformative training centre to such term of imprisonment as the Minister may determine, not exceeding the said unexpired part; and for the purpose of this Act that person shall be treated as if he had been sentenced to imprisonment for that term.
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Illness of prisoner
45.—(1)  In case of serious illness of a prisoner (other than a prisoner referred to in subsection (2)) confined in a prison in which there is no suitable accommodation for the prisoner, any Superintendent may, on the certificate of a medical officer, make an order for his removal to a Government hospital.
(2)  Where a prisoner confined in a prison appears to the Minister on the certificate of a registered medical practitioner to be suffering from leprosy, the Minister may, by order in writing, direct his removal to any hospital or place specified by the Director of Medical Services under section 8(2) of the Infectious Diseases Act (Cap. 137), there to be kept and treated until cured of his leprosy.
(3)  So long as any prisoner who has been removed to any hospital or place under subsection (2) shall remain therein, the medical officer thereof shall, at the end of every month, transmit to the Superintendent of the prison a certificate signed by him that it is in his opinion necessary that the prisoner should remain in the hospital or place.
(4)  In this section, “Government hospital” includes any hospital which the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, declare to be a hospital for the purposes of this section.
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Return to prison
46.—(1)  So soon as, in the opinion of the medical officer in charge of any hospital or place specified by the Director of Medical Services under section 8(2) of the Infectious Diseases Act (Cap. 137), it is no longer necessary that any prisoner who has been removed to the hospital or place should remain therein, the medical officer shall transmit to the Superintendent a certificate, stating that such necessity has ceased.
(2)  Thereupon the Superintendent shall forthwith cause the prisoner to be brought back to the prison if he is still liable to be confined therein.
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Liability for escape
47.  If any prisoner escapes during such time as he is in any hospital, mental hospital or place as aforesaid, no prison officer shall be held answerable therefor, unless the prisoner has been in the personal custody of that officer.
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Duty to prevent escape
48.—(1)  Every precaution shall be taken by the medical officers and other officers of any hospital, mental hospital or place to prevent the escape of prisoners who may at any time be under treatment therein.
(2)  The officers referred to in subsection (1) may take such measures for preventing the escape of any prisoner as shall be necessary.
(3)  Nothing shall be done under the authority under this section which in the opinion of the medical officers is likely to be prejudicial to the health of those prisoners.
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Special custody in hospital
49.—(1)  Where in any case, from the gravity of the offence for which any prisoner may be in custody or for any other reason, the Superintendent considers it to be desirable to take special measures for the security of the prisoner while under treatment in a hospital, mental hospital or place, the Superintendent may give the prisoner into the charge of fit and proper persons not being less than 2 in number, one of whom at the least shall always be with the prisoner day and night.
(2)  Such persons shall be vested with full power and authority to do all things necessary to prevent the prisoner from escaping, and shall be answerable for his safe custody until such time as he is handed over to a prison officer on his discharge from the hospital, mental hospital or place or until such time as his sentence expires, whichever may first occur.
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Saving of powers of High Court
50.  Nothing in this Act contained shall be held to lessen or affect the power of the High Court to direct persons confined in Singapore to be brought before the Court by writ of habeas corpus.
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