Prison Act 1952

Remand centres, detention centres and Borstal institutions

43 Remand centres, detention centres and Borstal institutions

(1) The Secretary of State may provide—

(a) remand centres, that is to say places for the detention of persons not less than fourteen but under twenty-one years of age who are remanded or committed in custody for trial or sentence;

(b) detention centres, that is to say places in which persons not less than fourteen but under twenty-one years of age who are ordered to be detained in such centres under the Criminal Justice Act, 1948, may be kept for short periods under discipline suitable to persons of their age and description; and

(c) Borstal institutions, that is to say places in which offenders not less than sixteen but under twenty-one years of age may be detained and given such training and instruction as will conduce to their reformation and the prevention of crime.

(2) The Secretary of State shall provide in remand centres facilities for the observation of any person detained therein on whose physical or mental condition a medical report may be desirable for the assistance of the court in determining the most suitable method of dealing with his case.

(3) The following provisions, that is to say—

(a) section six of the Prevention of Crimes Act, 1871 (which relates to the registration of prisoners);

(b) subsections (2) and (3) of section six, section sixteen, subsection (1) of section eighteen, and sections twenty-two and thirty-six of this Act; and

(c) subject as provided in the next following subsection, the other provisions of this Act preceding this section,

shall apply to remand centres, detention centres and Borstal institutions and to persons detained therein as they apply to prisons and prisoners.

(4) The application as aforesaid of the provisions mentioned in paragraph (c) of the preceding subsection shall be subject to the following exceptions, adaptations and modifications:—

(a) subsection (1) of section six, subsections (2) to (6) of section eighteen, subsections (2) to (6) of section twenty-five, sections twenty-six to thirty and subsection (2) of section thirty-seven shall not so apply ;

(b) subsections (1) and (7) of section twenty-five shall not apply to remand centres or Borstal institutions;

(c) subsection (4) of section six shall not apply to remand centres and detention centres, and shall apply to persons detained in Borstal institutions as it applies to persons sentenced to corrective training or preventive detention; but the report required, by that subsection, as so applied, shall be made on the advisability of their release under supervision;

(d) the provisions mentioned in paragraph (c) of the last preceding subsection other than those specified in paragraphs (a) to (c) hereof shall apply as aforesaid, subject to such adaptations and modifications as may be made by rules of the Secretary of State.

(5) References in the preceding provisions of this Act to imprisonment shall, so far as those provisions apply to institutions provided under this section, be construed as including detention in those institutions.

44 Transfers from prison to Borstal institution and vice versa

(1) If the Secretary of State is satisfied that a person serving a sentence of imprisonment is under twenty-one years of age and might with advantage be detained in a Borstal institution he may, after consultation where practicable with the judge or presiding chairman of the court which passed the sentence, authorise the Prison Commissioners to transfer him to a Borstal institution ; and the provisions of the next following section shall thereupon apply to him as if he had on the date of the transfer been sentenced to Borstal training:

Provided that if on that date the unexpired term of his sentence is less than three years those provisions shall apply to him as if he had been sentenced to Borstal training three years before the expiration of that term.

(2) If a person detained in a Borstal institution is reported to the Secretary of State by the board of visitors to be incorrigible, or to be exercising a bad influence on the other inmates of the institution, the Secretary of State may commute the unexpired part of the term for which the said person is then liable to be detained in a Borstal institution to such term of imprisonment as the Secretary of State may determine, not exceeding the said unexpired part; and for the purpose of this Act the said person shall be treated as if he had been sentenced to imprisonment for that term.

45 Release of person sentenced to Borstal training

(1) A person sentenced to Borstal training shall be detained in a Borstal institution, and after his release therefrom shall be subject to supervision, in accordance with the following provisions of this section; subject, however, to the power of the Secretary of State under subsection (2) of the last preceding section to commute in certain cases the unexpired part of the term for which a person is liable to be so detained to a term of imprisonment.

(2) A person sentenced to Borstal training shall be detained in a Borstal institution for such period, not extending beyond three years after the date of his sentence, as the Prison Commissioners may determine, and shall then be released:

Provided that the Prison Commissioners shall not release any such person from a Borstal institution before the expiration of nine months from the date of his sentence unless required to do so by directions of the Secretary of State.

(3) A person shall, after his release from a Borstal institution and until the expiration of four years from the date of his sentence, be under the supervision of such society or person as may be specified in a notice to be given to him by the Prison Commissioners on his release, and shall, while under that supervision, comply with such requirements as may be so specified:

Provided that the Prison Commissioners may at any time modify or cancel any of the said requirements or order that a person who is under supervision as aforesaid shall cease to be under supervision.

(4) If before the expiration of four years from the date of his sentence the Prison Commissioners are satisfied that a person who is under supervision after his release from a Borstal institution under subsection (2) of this section has failed to comply with any requirement for the time being specified in the notice given to him under subsection (3) of this section, they may by order recall him to a Borstal institution ; and thereupon he shall be liable to be detained in the Borstal institution until the expiration of three years from the date of his sentence, or the expiration of six months from the date of his being taken into custody under the order, whichever is the later, and, if at large, shall be deemed to be unlawfully at large:

Provided that—

(a) any such order shall, at the expiration of four years from the date of the sentence, cease to have effect unless the person to whom it relates is then in custody thereunder; and

(b) the Prison Commissioners may at any time release a person who is detained in a Borstal institution under this subsection; and the preceding provisions of this section shall apply in the case of a person so released as they apply in the case of a person released under subsection (2) thereof.

(5) If any person while under supervision, or after his recall to a Borstal institution, as aforesaid, is sentenced by a court in any part of Great Britain to corrective training or Borstal training, his original sentence of Borstal training shall cease to have effect.

(6) The Prison Commissioners in exercising their functions under this section shall consider any report made to them by a board of visitors on the advisability of releasing a person from a Borstal institution.

46 Temporary detention of persons liable to detention in a Borstal institution

A person who is required to be taken to a Borstal institution may, until arrangements can be made for taking him there, be temporarily detained elsewhere.