Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994

151 Power to test prisoners for drugs. E+W+S

(1) After section 16 of the M1 Prison Act 1952 there shall be inserted the following section—

“16A Testing prisoners for drugs.

(1) If an authorisation is in force for the prison, any prison officer may, at the prison, in accordance with prison rules, require any prisoner who is confined in the prison to provide a sample of urine for the purpose of ascertaining whether he has any drug in his body.

(2) If the authorisation so provides, the power conferred by subsection (1) above shall include power to require a prisoner to provide a sample of any other description specified in the authorisation, not being an intimate sample, whether instead of or in addition to a sample of urine.

(3) In this section—

• “authorisation” means an authorisation by the governor;

• “drug” means any drug which is a controlled drug for the purposes of the M2 Misuse of Drugs Act 1971;

• “intimate sample” has the same meaning as in Part V of the M3 Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984;

• “prison officer” includes a prisoner custody officer within the meaning of Part IV of the Criminal Justice Act 1991; and

• “prison rules” means rules under section 47 of this Act.”.

(2) After section 41A of the M4 Prisons (Scotland) Act 1989 there shall be inserted the following section—

“41B Testing prisoners for drugs.

(1) If an authorisation is in force for the prison, any officer of the prison may, at the prison, in accordance with rules under section 39 of this Act, require any prisoner who is confined in the prison to provide a sample of urine for the purpose of ascertaining whether he has any drug in his body.

(2) If the authorisation so provides, the power conferred by subsection (1) above shall include power to require a prisoner to provide a sample of any other description specified in the authorisation, not being an intimate sample, whether instead of or in addition to a sample of urine.

(3) In this section—

• “authorisation” means an authorisation by the governor;

• “drug” means any drug which is a controlled drug for the purposes of the M5 Misuse of Drugs Act 1971; and

• “intimate sample” means a sample of blood, semen or any other tissue fluid, saliva or pubic hair, or a swab taken from a person’s body orifice.”.

Extent Information

E1 S. 151(1) extends to England and Wales only; s. 151(2) extends to Scotland only see s. 172(7)(13)

Marginal Citations

M1 1952 c. 52.

M2 1971 c. 38.

M3 1984 c. 60.

M4 1989 c. 45.

M5 1971 c. 38.