Prisons (Police Lock-ups and Temporary Lock-ups) Regulations 2013

These Regulations apply to, and in relation to, any lock-up in —

These Regulations also apply to, and in relation to, any temporary lock-up.

The general charge and administration of any police lock‑up or temporary lock-up, and the control of any officer‑in‑charge of a police lock‑up or temporary lock-up, shall be vested in the Commissioner of Police, being duly authorised under section 50A of the Act.

The Commissioner of Police may appoint an officer-in-charge for any police lock-up or temporary lock-up.

The officer‑in‑charge of a police lock‑up or temporary lock-up shall ensure that all laws, regulations and orders relating to the police lock‑up or temporary lock-up, lock‑up prisoners, authorised officers and other staff are strictly adhered to and all records are properly maintained.

The officer‑in‑charge of a police lock‑up or temporary lock-up shall appoint a police officer not below the rank of Sergeant as a lock‑up officer for the police lock-up or temporary lock-up to assist the officer-in-charge in the day-to-day management and administration of that police lock-up or temporary lock-up.

Every lock‑up prisoner confined in a police lock‑up or temporary lock-up shall be provided with food that —

For the purposes of this regulation, “food” includes drink.

A lock‑up prisoner may be physically searched by an authorised officer with due regard to decency, except that a female lock‑up prisoner shall only be searched by an authorised officer who is female.

An authorised officer searching a lock‑up prisoner may use such equipment as may be approved by or on behalf of the Commissioner of Police for the purpose of the search.

Except with the express approval of the officer‑in‑charge of a police lock-up or temporary lock-up —

The lock‑up officer appointed for a police lock‑up or temporary lock-up may destroy any personal property delivered to the lock-up officer under paragraph (3)(b) that is of a perishable or dangerous nature.

Every visitor to a police lock‑up or temporary lock-up shall —

A search conducted under paragraph (1)(b) —

A lock‑up officer of a police lock‑up or temporary lock-up may deny a visitor admission to the police lock‑up or temporary lock-up, if —

Where a lock-up officer denies any visitor admission to a police lock-up or temporary lock-up under paragraph (3), the lock-up officer must record the grounds of the lock-up officer’s refusal in a report to the officer-in-charge of that police lock-up or temporary lock-up.

The officer‑in‑charge of a police lock‑up or temporary lock-up may order the separation of lock‑up prisoners in the interest of the safe custody, security and good order of the police lock‑up or temporary lock-up.

A female lock‑up prisoner shall be kept in a cell separate from any male lock‑up prisoner.

A female lock‑up prisoner shall be kept in a cell that provides reasonable privacy.

A female lock‑up prisoner shall not be attended to by persons of the opposite sex except in the presence of an authorised officer who is female.

A lock‑up prisoner below 16 years of age, whether male or female, shall be kept apart from any other lock‑up prisoner who is 16 years of age or older.

Whenever possible, a lock‑up prisoner who is violent, drunk, disorderly or mentally disordered shall be separately confined.

Any authorised officer may use force according to guidelines approved by or on behalf of the Commissioner of Police, if it is necessary for the security and good order of a police lock‑up or temporary lock-up or for the safety and welfare of the lock‑up prisoners or other persons therein.

No more force than is necessary in the circumstances, for the purposes of control and protection and with due regard to the personal safety of authorised officers and others, must be used.

Where force is used on a lock‑up prisoner of a police lock-up or temporary lock-up —

Restraints may be employed to prevent any lock‑up prisoner from inflicting injury to himself or herself or another person, damaging property, creating any disturbance or escaping.

Any restraint applied on a lock‑up prisoner shall be removed as soon as the purpose for which it was first applied is no longer applicable.

No restraint shall, under any circumstances, be used for the purpose of punishing a lock‑up prisoner.

The types of restraints used for restraining a lock‑up prisoner, their application under various situations and safeguards for the prevention of their abuse shall be approved by or on behalf of the Commissioner of Police.