PART 4 | TREATMENT AND REHABILITATION |
| Supervision, treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts |
| 34.—(1) The Director may order any person whom the Director reasonably suspects to be a drug addict to be committed, for a period not exceeding 7 days, to any place specified by the Director for the purpose of any medical examination or observation. [1/2019] (2) If, as a result of such medical examination or observation under subsection (1) or both the urine tests conducted under section 31(4)(b) or the hair test conducted under section 31A, it appears to the Director that it is necessary for any person examined or observed, or who supplied the urine specimen for the urine tests, or who supplied the hair specimens for the hair test —| (a) | to be subject to supervision, the Director may make a supervision order requiring that person to be subject to the supervision of an officer of the Bureau for a period not exceeding 5 years; or | | (b) | to undergo treatment or rehabilitation or both at an approved institution, the Director may make an order in writing requiring that person to be admitted for that purpose to an approved institution. [1/2019] |
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| (2A) [Deleted by Act 1 of 2019] |
| (3) Every person who is admitted to an approved institution under this section is to be detained in the institution for a period of 12 months unless he or she is discharged earlier by the Director or the Review Committee of the institution. [1/2019] |
| (3A) Where a person who is admitted to an approved institution under this section is transferred from that approved institution to one or more other approved institutions or to one or more community rehabilitation centres, the combined period of his or her detention in all the approved institutions and community rehabilitation centres must not be less than 12 months unless he or she is discharged earlier by the Director or the Review Committee of the approved institution or community rehabilitation centre. [30/2012; 1/2019] |
| (4) If the Review Committee of an approved institution or a community rehabilitation centre is of the opinion that an inmate of that institution or centre whose period of detention therein is about to expire requires further treatment or rehabilitation or both, the Committee may, by order in writing, direct that the inmate be detained in the institution or centre for a further period or periods not exceeding 12 months at any one time. [30/2012; 1/2019] |
| (4A) [Deleted by Act 1 of 2019] |
| (5) No person in respect of whom an order has been made under subsection (2)(b) is to be detained in an approved institution or institutions or a community rehabilitation centre or centres for a period of more than 4 years after his or her admission to any approved institution pursuant to that order. [30/2012; 1/2019] |
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| Parents or guardians to attend counselling with supervisees |
| 34A.—(1) If the Director, on or after 1 August 2019, makes a supervision order under section 34(2)(a) against a supervisee who is below 21 years of age, the Director may require the parent or guardian of the supervisee to attend any counselling session (whether or not together with the supervisee) at such place and time as the Director, or any person authorised by the Director, determines. [1/2019] | (2) Any parent or guardian of a supervisee who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with the requirement under subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000. [1/2019] |
| (3) A court may, in lieu of imposing a fine, order a parent or guardian of a supervisee to attend any counselling session at such place and time as the Director, or any person authorised by the Director, determines. [1/2019] |
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| Approved institutions and community rehabilitation centres |
| 35. The Minister may, from time to time, by notification in the Gazette, declare any institution or place to be an approved institution or a community rehabilitation centre for the purpose of the treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts and other persons under this Act, and may at any time in like manner revoke or amend any such notification. [30/2012] |
| Administration of approved institutions |
36.—(1) Subject to the Minister’s directions, the general charge and administration of —| (a) | approved institutions, except those designated under paragraph (b), is under the Commissioner of Prisons; and | | (b) | such approved institutions as the Minister may designate, is under such person as the Minister may appoint. [1/2014] |
| (2) The Commissioner of Prisons or the person appointed under subsection (1)(b) (as the case may be) may appoint a person to be the superintendent of an approved institution and such person is responsible for the supervision and administration of that approved institution. [1/2014] |
| (3) Subject to such modifications as may be made by the Commissioner of Prisons, the standing orders issued under the Prisons Act 1933 apply to an approved institution under the charge of the Commissioner of Prisons as they apply to a prison. [1/2014] |
| (4) The person appointed under subsection (1)(b) may in writing issue orders, to be called standing orders, for the approved institutions designated under his or her charge. |
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| Administration of community rehabilitation centres |
| 36A.—(1) Subject to the Minister’s directions, the general charge and administration of a community rehabilitation centre is under the Commissioner of Prisons. [30/2012] (2) The Commissioner of Prisons may —| (a) | appoint a person to be the superintendent of a community rehabilitation centre; and | | (b) | appoint a person to be the manager of a community rehabilitation centre. [Act 12 of 2023 wef 01/06/2023] |
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| (3) The superintendent of a community rehabilitation centre is responsible for assisting the Commissioner of Prisons with the charge and administration of the community rehabilitation centre. [Act 12 of 2023 wef 01/06/2023] |
(4) The manager of a community rehabilitation centre —| (a) | is responsible for the supervision and administration of the community rehabilitation centre; and | | (b) | reports to the superintendent of the community rehabilitation centre. [Act 12 of 2023 wef 01/06/2023] |
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| Review Committees for approved institutions and community rehabilitation centres |
| 37.—(1) The Minister must appoint for any approved institution or institutions, or any community rehabilitation centre or centres, a Review Committee which has such functions as are conferred upon it by this Act. [30/2012] | (2) Every Review Committee consists of a Chairperson, who must be a person registered under the Medical Registration Act 1997, and such other members, being at least 3, as the Minister may determine. |
(3) The Chairperson and members of a Review Committee are appointed by the Minister for a term not exceeding 3 years, but may —| (a) | from time to time be re-appointed; | | (b) | at any time be removed from office by the Minister; or | | (c) | at any time resign from their office in writing addressed to the Minister. |
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| (4) At any meeting of the Review Committee, 3 members of the Committee constitute a quorum. |
| (5) The Chairperson presides at every meeting of the Review Committee at which he or she is present and in his or her absence the members present must elect one of their number to preside at the meeting. |
| (6) Every question before the Review Committee is to be determined by a majority of the votes of the members present and voting thereon, and in the event of an equality of votes the Chairperson or the member presiding at the meeting has a casting vote in addition to his or her original vote. |
| (7) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Review Committee may determine its own procedure. |
| (8) Any order of the Review Committee may be signed by the Chairperson or a member of the Committee. |
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| Review, discharge and transfer of inmates |
| 38.—(1) The Review Committee of an approved institution or a community rehabilitation centre must keep the case of every inmate under review and must, as often as practicable, consider whether he or she should be discharged. [30/2012] (2) The Director or the Review Committee of an approved institution or a community rehabilitation centre may at any time by order in writing —| (a) | discharge any inmate; or | | (b) | transfer any inmate from one approved institution or community rehabilitation centre to another approved institution or community rehabilitation centre. [30/2012] |
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| (3) The superintendent of an approved institution or a community rehabilitation centre may enter into an arrangement with the superintendent of another approved institution or community rehabilitation centre for the transfer of any inmate to that other institution or community rehabilitation centre and may, subject to any direction given by the Director or the Review Committee, carry out any transfer in accordance with that arrangement. [30/2012] [Act 12 of 2023 wef 01/06/2023] |
| (4) On proof to his or her satisfaction that the presence at any place of an inmate is required in the interests of justice, or for the purpose of any inquiry, or in the public interest or in the interest of the inmate, the superintendent of an approved institution or a community rehabilitation centre may order that the inmate be taken to that place. [30/2012] [Act 12 of 2023 wef 01/06/2023] |
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| Power to obtain information |
38A.—(1) Where an inmate of an approved institution or a community rehabilitation centre has been granted leave for the purposes of the inmate’s employment, treatment or rehabilitation or to return to the inmate’s residence or other designated places, a prison officer of or above the rank of sergeant may, for any of the purposes in subsection (2), by written notice require any person to provide, within a reasonable period specified in the notice, and in such form and manner as may be specified in the notice, all documents and information which —| (a) | relate to any matter specified by the prison officer; and | | (b) | are —| (i) | within the knowledge of that person; or | | (ii) | in the custody or under the control of that person. |
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(2) The purposes mentioned in subsection (1) are as follows:| (a) | in respect of an approved institution mentioned in section 36(1)(a) — to assist the Commissioner of Prisons, or the person appointed under section 36(2) to be the superintendent of the approved institution, to ascertain if there has been any contravention or failure to comply with any condition imposed on an inmate who is granted leave from that approved institution for the purpose of the inmate’s employment, treatment or rehabilitation outside that approved institution or to return to the inmate’s residence or other designated places; | | (b) | in respect of a community rehabilitation centre — to assist the Commissioner of Prisons, or the person appointed under section 36A(2)(a) or (b) to be the superintendent or manager of the community rehabilitation centre, to ascertain if there has been any contravention or failure to comply with any condition imposed on an inmate who is granted leave from that community rehabilitation centre for the purpose of the inmate’s employment, treatment or rehabilitation outside that community rehabilitation centre or to return to the inmate’s residence or other designated places. [Act 12 of 2023 wef 01/06/2023] |
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(3) The power to require a person to provide any document or information under subsection (1) includes the power —| (a) | to require that person to provide an explanation of the document or information; | | (b) | if the document or information is not provided, to require that person to state, to the best of the knowledge and belief of that person, where it is; and | | (c) | if the information is recorded otherwise than in legible form, to require the information to be authenticated and made available to the prison officer concerned in legible form. |
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| (4) The prison officer is entitled without payment to keep for the purposes in subsection (2) any document or information, or any copy or extract thereof, provided to him or her under that subsection. |
| (5) A person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to do anything required of the person by a notice under subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,500. |
| (6) To avoid doubt, for the purposes of subsection (5), it is a reasonable excuse for a person to refuse or fail to provide any information, produce any document or answer any question if doing so might tend to incriminate that person. |
| (7) In this section, “document” means anything in which information of any description is recorded. [Act 6 of 2022 wef 02/09/2022] |
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| Power of Magistrate to inquire into complaint of misconduct or breach of duty |
39.—(1) Where a complaint is made on oath to a Magistrate that any person is improperly detained in an approved institution or a community rehabilitation centre by reason of any misconduct or breach of duty on the part of any officer in the discharge of his or her functions pursuant to this Act, the Magistrate may —| (a) | inquire into the complaint himself or herself; or | | (b) | direct a police officer to make an inquiry for the purpose of ascertaining the truth or falsehood of the complaint and report to the Magistrate the result of the inquiry. [30/2012] |
| (2) Every inquiry under subsection (1) is to be conducted in private, except that the procedure for conducting any inquiry is to be such as the Magistrate considers appropriate in the circumstances of the case. |
| (3) A Magistrate or a police officer conducting any inquiry under subsection (1) has all the powers conferred on him or her by the Criminal Procedure Code 2010 in relation to the attendance and examination of witnesses, the taking of evidence and the production of documents. |
| (4) If, after considering the result of any such inquiry, the Magistrate is satisfied that any person who is detained in an approved institution or a community rehabilitation centre ought not to be so detained, the Magistrate may make an order for the discharge of that person from the approved institution or community rehabilitation centre and that person must be discharged accordingly. [30/2012] |
| (5) Any order or decision of the Magistrate made under this section is final. |
| (6) No evidence taken for the purpose of any such inquiry is admissible in any civil or criminal proceedings, except where the person who gave that evidence is charged with giving or fabricating false evidence. |
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| Inmates deemed to be in legal custody |
| 40.—(1) Every inmate is deemed to be in the legal custody of the approved institution or community rehabilitation centre in which he or she is for the time being detained. [30/2012] (2) An inmate is deemed to be in legal custody —| (a) | while he or she is confined in, or is being taken to or from, an approved institution or a community rehabilitation centre; | | (b) | while he or she is for any other reason outside an approved institution or a community rehabilitation centre and in the custody or under the control of an officer of the approved institution or community rehabilitation centre; or | | (c) | while he or she is being taken to any place to which he or she is required or authorised under this Act to be taken, or is kept in custody pursuant to any such requirement or authorisation. [30/2012] |
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