Police Force (Special Constabulary — Detention) Regulations 2016

In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires —

In these Regulations, any reference to a numbered form is a reference to the form bearing the corresponding number set out in the Schedule.

There is established for all detention barracks a Board of Visitors.

The Board consists of not less than 4 and not more than 12 members.

Every member of the Board —

At least 2 members of the Board must be appointed from among police officers and special police officers.

The Minister must appoint a chairman of the Board from among the members of the Board.

Each member (including the chairman) of the Board is eligible for re-appointment.

Any member (including the chairman) of the Board may at any time resign from his or her office by notice in writing to the Minister.

The Minister may at any time revoke the appointment of any member (including the chairman) of the Board, or fill any vacancy in the membership of the Board.

The functions of the Board are as follows:

The Board must visit a detention barrack at least once every month.

The Board may be represented by 2 or more of its members when the Board visits a detention barrack.

After each visit to a detention barrack, the Board must submit a report to the Director Manpower and the Director PNSD.

The report must mention any irregularity observed by the Board in the management or operation of a detention barrack, or the treatment of any detainee in the detention barrack.

The Director PNSD must —

Every report of the Board must not be disclosed to any person other than a public officer who is authorised by the Minister or the Commissioner to see or comment on the report.

Any special police officer against whom an order of detention is made by a disciplinary officer under section 81(3)(aa) or 82(3)(a) of the Act must be kept in custody in a detention barrack.

The disciplinary officer must issue a committal order in Form 1 authorising the custody of the special police officer in a detention barrack.

Before a person liable to serve detention under these Regulations is delivered to a detention barrack, the person must be examined by a medical officer.

The medical officer must certify in Form 2 whether the person is fit to undergo detention in a detention barrack.

On the admission of the person to a detention barrack, the following procedures apply:

The person must be issued with clothing which serves as the person’s attire during the person’s detention.

Subject to paragraph (2), a detainee is not allowed to keep in the detainee’s cell any article other than the clothing issued to the detainee under regulation 8(4).

The Director PNSD may permit a detainee to keep any other article that the Director PNSD deems appropriate.

A detainee is not allowed to wear any decoration, insignia or badge of rank on the detainee’s person or clothing.

A detainee is allowed to write letters which must be sent through the Director PNSD.

The Director PNSD, or a person authorised by the Director PNSD —

A detainee is not allowed to receive any parcel or any item without the approval of the Director PNSD.

Any parcel or item approved by the Director PNSD under paragraph (1) must be opened and examined by or under the authority of the Director PNSD for objectionable content.

Any parcel or item not approved by the Director PNSD under paragraph (1) must be returned to the sender, retained in safekeeping by the Director PNSD, or disposed of.

A detainee is allowed one visit per week from members of the detainee’s family.

The Director PNSD may allow a detainee additional visits per week from members of the detainee’s family as the Director PNSD may consider consistent with security and discipline.

Every visit must be made during official visiting hours.

The Director PNSD may issue an order in writing for the mechanical restraint of a detainee to prevent the detainee from inflicting injuries to the detainee or others, damaging property, creating a disturbance or escaping.

The Director PNSD must not order mechanical restraint of a detainee for the purpose of punishment.

A detainee may be handcuffed to another detainee in transit.

An order in writing under paragraph (1) —

Mechanical restraint must only be applied by means of handcuffs, except that the Director PNSD may, with the approval of and subject to such conditions as may be laid down by a medical officer, order any other means or manner of restraint if handcuffs cannot efficiently secure a detainee.

Any approval of a medical officer under paragraph (5) must be in Part 2 of Form 3.

Mechanical restraint may be applied to a detainee before an order in writing is issued under paragraph (1) only in a case of extreme urgency where the order cannot be obtained on time.

The Director PNSD must, in a case mentioned in paragraph (7), issue the order in writing under paragraph (1) as soon as possible.

Any person who is aware of any escape of a detainee from custody in a detention barrack, or has any knowledge which may assist in the apprehension of the detainee, must immediately report the matter to the Director PNSD.

Upon receiving any report under paragraph (1), the Director PNSD must immediately make, or cause to be made, an investigation of the escape.

The Director PNSD may, on the application of a detainee or an immediate family member of a detainee and on compassionate grounds, by issuing a certificate of temporary release in Form 4, grant the detainee temporary release for a period not exceeding 48 hours from the detention barrack in which the detainee is detained.

The temporary release period under paragraph (1) does not count as part of the period of detention served by the detainee.

The Director PNSD may, on the application of a detainee or an immediate family member of a detainee and on compassionate grounds, by issuing an order for release under escort in Form 5, allow the detainee to leave the detention barrack under escort for such period as the Director PNSD may determine.

The period under paragraph (1) counts as part of the period of detention served by the detainee.

Subject to paragraph (3), a detainee is entitled to have part of the detainee’s sentence of detention remitted in accordance with the following provisions:

If, after deducting the period referred to paragraph (1)(c) from the period of the detainee’s sentence of detention, the total period of detention is less than 30 days, the period of remission is equal to the number of days by which the detainee’s sentence of detention exceeds 30 days.

Any remission of sentence must be awarded upon the sentencing of a detainee.

For the purposes of calculating the remission, a portion of a day is to be ignored.

If a detainee misbehaves when serving the period of detention in a detention barrack, the Director PNSD may, by an order for withdrawal of remission in Form 6, withdraw the whole or any part of the remission awarded.

Any detainee who commits a minor offence under regulation 22 shall, after being given an opportunity to be heard, be liable to be punished by the Director PNSD with one or more of the following punishments: (a)close confinement for a period not exceeding 3 days;

A detainee under close confinement —

Subject to paragraph (2), a guard of a detention barrack must not use physical force on any detainee of the detention barrack.

A guard may use such physical force as is necessary —

Where a guard uses a baton or any other object on a detainee in the circumstances set out in paragraph (2), the guard must attempt to strike only the non-vital parts of the detainee’s body.

A medical officer must —

The Director PNSD may, at any time, require any detainee to undergo a medical examination by a medical officer for the purposes of ascertaining whether the detainee is suffering from, or is a carrier of, any infectious disease.

A detainee must comply with any requirement of the Director PNSD under paragraph (1).

The Director PNSD may, in the case of any detainee who refuses to undergo a medical examination under paragraph (1) or refuses to provide any sample necessary for the purposes of such medical examination, direct that the detainee be detained separately until the detainee has undergone the medical examination.

Where a medical officer ascertains that a detainee is suffering from, or is a carrier of, any infectious disease, the medical officer must immediately give a written report to the Director PNSD.

The Director PNSD may, upon receiving the written report under paragraph (4), direct that the detainee be detained separately until a medical officer certifies that —

In this regulation, “infectious disease” has the same meaning as in section 2 of the Infectious Diseases Act (Cap. 137).

A detainee who feels aggrieved about any matter concerning the detainee’s detention in a detention barrack, or the management or operation of the detention barracks, may complain to the Director PNSD.

The Director PNSD must —

The Director PNSD may, by a committal order in Form 7, order that a person on whom a sentence of detention has been passed be detained in a prison temporarily for any period not exceeding 7 days if —

A person who is temporarily detained in a prison is subject to the Prisons Act (Cap. 247) and any regulations made under that Act.

Where the Director PNSD orders that a person be detained in a prison under paragraph (1), the Director PNSD must, by an order in Form 8, order the return of the person to a detention barrack on the expiration of the period in that paragraph.

The Director PNSD must cause to be entered in a register a record of the punishments imposed on every detainee, showing, in respect of each detainee punished —

The register referred to in paragraph (1) must be open for inspection by the Board.

Before a detainee is discharged from a detention barrack, the detainee must be examined by a medical officer for any fresh marks, injuries or tattoos on any part of the detainee’s body which were not previously recorded upon the detainee’s admission or during the detainee’s detention.

The medical officer must immediately inform the Director PNSD if the medical officer finds any fresh marks, injuries or tattoos on the body of the detainee.