Prisons (Amendment) Act 2004 - Singapore Statutes Online

REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE

GOVERNMENT GAZETTE

ACTS SUPPLEMENT

Published by Authority

NO. 33]

Friday, October 1

[2004

The following Act was passed by Parliament on 1st September 2004 and assented to by the President on 8th September 2004:—

Prisons (Amendment) Act 2004

(No. 33 of 2004)

I assent.

S R NATHAN,

President.

8th September 2004.

Date of Commencement: 4th October 2004

An Act to amend the Prisons Act (Chapter 247 of the 2000 Revised Edition).

Be it enacted by the President with the advice and consent of the Parliament of Singapore, as follows:

Short title and commencement

1. This Act may be cited as the Prisons (Amendment) Act 2004 and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

Amendment of section 2

2. Section 2 of the Prisons Act is amended —

(a)

by inserting, immediately after the definition of “Corporation”, the following definition:

“ “Deputy Director” means the Deputy Director of Prisons appointed under section 20;”;

(b)

by inserting, immediately after the definition of “juvenile”, the following definition:

“ “medical officer” means a medical officer appointed under section 25;”;

(c)

by deleting the definition of “prison officer” and substituting the following definition:

“ “prison officer” means any prison officer appointed under section 20 and includes the Director, Deputy Director and any Superintendent;”; and

(d)

by inserting, immediately after the definition of “prisoner”, the following definition:

“ “registered medical practitioner” means a person registered under the Medical Registration Act (Cap. 174);”.

Amendment of section 17

3. Section 17(1) of the Prisons Act is amended by deleting the words “the Director, any Superintendent,” and substituting the word “any”.

Amendment of section 20

4. Section 20 of the Prisons Act is amended —

(a)

by inserting, immediately after the words “Director of Prisons,” in subsection (1), the words “a Deputy Director of Prisons”;

(b)

by inserting, immediately after the word “Director” in subsection (2), the words “, Deputy Director”;

(c)

by inserting, immediately after subsection (2), the following subsection:

“(3) The Deputy Director may, subject to such direction as may be given by the Director, exercise and perform all or any of the powers, duties and functions of the Director under this Act.”; and

(d)

by deleting the section heading and substituting the following section heading:

“Appointment of Director, Deputy Director, Superintendents and other officers”.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 25

5. Section 25 of the Prisons Act is repealed and the following section substituted therefor:

“Medical officers for prisons

25. The Director shall appoint one or more registered medical practitioners as may be necessary to be medical officers for the prisons.”.

Amendment of section 28

6. Section 28 of the Prisons Act is amended by deleting the words “Superintendent and every”.

Amendment of section 29

7. Section 29 of the Prisons Act is amended by deleting the words “Superintendent and every”.

Amendment of section 30

8. Section 30 of the Prisons Act is amended —

(a)	by deleting the words “The Director and all Superintendents, medical officers and prison officers” and substituting the words “All prison officers and medical officers”; and
(b)	by inserting, immediately after the words “Prison officers” in the section heading, the words “and medical officers”.

Amendment of section 31

9. Section 31 of the Prisons Act is amended —

(a)	by deleting the words “Superintendent or” in subsections (1) to (5); and
(b)	by deleting the words “Superintendent and every” in subsection (3).

Amendment of section 32

10. Section 32 of the Prisons Act is amended —

(a)	by deleting the words “Superintendent and every”; and
(b)	by deleting the words “Superintendent and prison officer” in the section heading and substituting the words “Prison officer”.

Amendment of section 39

11. Section 39 of the Prisons Act is amended by deleting the word “Minister” in subsections (1) and (2) and in the section heading and substituting in each case the word “Director”.

Amendment of section 42

12. Section 42 of the Prisons Act is amended by deleting subsections (1) and (2) and substituting the following subsections:

“(1) If the Director is satisfied that a case of a contagious or infectious disease has occurred or is likely to occur in any prison, the Director may order the removal of any of the prisoners from the prison to another place although that place may not be a prison under this Act.

(2) In a case of emergency and where the Director is absent or unable to make the order for removal under subsection (1), the order may be made by the Superintendent of the prison concerned or any of the Visiting Justices of the prison.”.

Amendment of section 43

13. Section 43 of the Prisons Act is amended by deleting the word “Minister” wherever it appears in subsections (1) and (2) and substituting in each case the word “Director”.

Amendment of section 45

14. Section 45 of the Prisons Act is amended —

(a)	by deleting the word “serious” in subsection (1); and
(b)	by deleting the words “section 8(2)” in subsection (2) and substituting the words “section 8(1)”.

Amendment of section 46

15. Section 46(1) of the Prisons Act is amended by deleting the words “section 8 (2)” and substituting the words “section 8 (1)”.

Amendment of section 52

16. Section 52 of the Prisons Act is amended by deleting the words “6 months” and substituting the words “12 months or such other period as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, prescribe in substitution thereof”.

Amendment of section 53

17. Section 53 of the Prisons Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting paragraph (a) of subsection (1) and substituting the following paragraphs:

“(a)	he is serving a sentence of imprisonment for a term of not less than 4 weeks or such other period as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, prescribe in substitution thereof;
(aa)	he has served not less than 14 days of his sentence of imprisonment or such other period as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, prescribe in substitution thereof; and”; and

(b)

by inserting, immediately after subsection (1), the following subsection:

“(1A) The disqualification of a prisoner under subsection (1)(b) may be removed by the Minister if he considers that the prisoner is deserving of home detention, having regard to the circumstances of the case, including the following factors:

(a)	the prisoner’s progress and response to rehabilitation in prison;
(b)	the prisoner’s family support; and
(c)	the risk of recidivism by the prisoner.”.

Amendment of section 60

18. Section 60 of the Prisons Act is amended —

(a)	by deleting the words “The Director, any Superintendent, prison officer, medical officer, member or employee of the Corporation or any other person working in a prison shall not” in subsection (1) and substituting the words “No prison officer, medical officer, member or employee of the Corporation or any other person working in a prison shall”; and
(b)	by inserting, immediately after the word “Director” in subsection (2), the words “, Deputy Director”.

Amendment of section 63

19. Section 63 of the Prisons Act is amended by deleting subsection (1) and substituting the following subsection:

“(1) Every prison officer shall, before leaving the Singapore Prison Service (whether by resignation, dismissal, discharge or otherwise), deliver up in good order (fair wear and tear excepted only) any arms, ammunition, accoutrement, uniform or other article supplied to him as a prison officer and any other property belonging to the Government which may be in his possession.”.

Amendment of section 64

20. Section 64 of the Prisons Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting subsection (1) and substituting the following subsections:

“(1) Any prison officer who threatens or insults another prison officer of senior or equal rank —

(a)	when that other officer is on duty; or
(b)	when the threat or insult is related to or is consequent upon the discharge of duty by the officer so threatened or insulted,

shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

(1A) Any prison officer who assaults another prison officer —

(a)	when that other officer is on duty; or
(b)	when the assault is related to or is consequent upon the discharge of duty by the officer so assaulted,

shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years.”; and

(b)

by deleting the section heading and substituting the following section heading:

“Threatening, insulting or assaulting another prison officer”.

Repeal of section 65

21. Section 65 of the Prisons Act is repealed.

Amendment of section 71

22. Section 71(3) of the Prisons Act is amended by deleting the words “7 days” and substituting the words “14 days, or such longer period as may be required in exceptional cases,”.

Amendment of section 72

23. Section 72 of the Prisons Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting the word “gang” in paragraph (12) and substituting the word “group”; and

(b)

by deleting paragraph (17) and substituting the following paragraph:

“(17) refusing to eat the meals provided;”.

Amendment of section 73

24. Section 73 of the Prisons Act is amended by inserting, immediately after paragraph (7), the following paragraph:

“(7A) Any act constituting a minor prison offence under section 72, committed by one or more members or associates of a secret society in connection with the activities of any secret society, whether or not all the other members of the secret society are present;”.

Amendment of section 77

25. Section 77 of the Prisons Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting subsection (2) and substituting the following subsection:

“(2) No sentence of corporal punishment shall be passed upon —

(a)	a woman;
(b)	a man sentenced by a court to death; or
(c)	a man whom a medical officer considers to be more than 50 years of age.”; and

(b)

by deleting subsection (4) and substituting the following subsections:

“(4) No sentence of corporal punishment shall be inflicted unless a medical officer is present and certifies that the prisoner is in a fit state of health to undergo the punishment.

(5) If, during the execution of the sentence of corporal punishment, a medical officer certifies that the prisoner is not in a fit state of health to undergo the remainder of the sentence, the corporal punishment shall be finally stopped.”.

Amendment of section 84

26. Section 84(2) of the Prisons Act is amended by deleting paragraph (j).

Savings and transitional provisions

27.—(1) The Prison Officers Reward Fund shall, on the date of commencement of section 21 of this Act, be dissolved and any balance of moneys remaining in that Fund shall be transferred to the Consolidated Fund.

(2) Every person who, immediately before the date of commencement of section 5 of this Act, is a medical officer for the prisons, shall be deemed to have been appointed on that date by the Director under the Prisons Act as amended by that section.

(3) Sections 16 and 17 of this Act shall —

(a)	not apply in respect of any home detention order made under the Prisons Act before the date of commencement of those sections, unless that order is revoked or suspended on or after that date; and
(b)	except as provided in paragraph (a), apply to any prisoner serving a sentence of imprisonment on or after the date of commencement of those sections.

(4) Section 22 of this Act shall apply to any punishment imposed by a Superintendent before the date of commencement of that section where such punishment has not been confirmed or varied by the Director before that date.

(5) Any sentence of corporal punishment passed under the Prisons Act before the date of commencement of section 25 of this Act shall —

(a)	remain in force as if this Act had not been enacted; and
(b)	if not already inflicted before the date of commencement of section 25(b) of this Act, be inflicted in accordance with the Prisons Act as amended by that section.

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