Section 46. Power of prison authority to borrow on rate. 47. Power of Public Works Loan Commissioners to lend. 48. Legal estate in prison. 49. Appropriation of court-houses situate within the precincts of a prison. 50. Protection of prisons in the nature of national monuments. 51. Rules of Secretary of State, and repeal of inconsistent enactments. 52. Saving clause as to reformatory and industrial schools. 53. Saving clause as to pensions. 54. Commutation of payment by University of Oxford to the city of Oxford. Arrangement and Arbitration, 55. Power for Secretary of State and prison authority to compromise and refer to arbitration: Definitions. 56. Definition of "furniture and effects belonging to a prison." 57. Definition of "prisoner" and "the maintenance of a prisoner." "Cell accommodation for a prisoner.' 58. Definition of "county" and "riding." 59. Definition of "borough." 60. Definition of " prison." 61. Definition of prison authorities," "justices in sessions assembled," "visiting justices." 149 THE PRISON ACT, 1877. (40 & 41 VICT. c. 21.) An Act to amend the Law relating to Prisons in England. [12th of July, 1877.] BE it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: PRELIMINARY. Short Title of Act. 1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as The Prison Act, 1877. Commencement of Act. 2. This Act shall, except as is hereinafter otherwise provided, (p) and except in so far as relates to the making of rules by the Secretary of State, in pursuance of any power transferred to or vested in the Secretary of State by this Act, which rules may be made at any time after the passing of this Act, (9) come into operation on the first day of April one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight, which day is hereinafter referred to as the commencement of this Act. (p) See ss. 6, 14, post pp. 153, 160. (4) The 51st section of this Act (post p. 192) declares that all rules and regulations made under or in pursuance of the Act shall be forthwith laid in a complete form, after they have been settled and approved by the Secretary of State, before both Houses of Parliament, if Parliament be sitting, or if not, then within three weeks after the beginning of the next ensuing session of Parliament; and that if any such rules or regulations shall be disapproved of by either House of Parliament within forty days after they have been so laid before Parliament, such rules or regulations, or such parts thereof as shall be disapproved of, shall be void and of no effect. The same section also declares that no rules or regulations so made by the Secretary of State shall come into force until they have been laid before Parliament, in accordance with its provisions, for forty days. Although the rules referred to in this section may be made by the Secretary of State at any time after the passing of the Act, they cannot therefore come into force until they have been laid before both Houses of Parliament for the period and in the manner provided by the 51st section. Any such rule may be proved in the manner in which regulations made under the authority of one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State are capable of being proyed in pursuance of The Documentary Evidence Act, 1868 (see s. 51, and note (x) thereto, post p. 192). Application of Act. 3. This Act shall not extend to Scotland or Ireland, but shall apply to all prisons (r) belonging to any prison authority as defined by The Prison Act, 1865. (s) () As to the meaning of the term "prison," see The Prison Act, 1865, s. 4, ante p. 61, and s. 60 of this Act, post p. 197. (s) See s. 5 of that Act, ante p. 62. PART I. TRANSFER AND ADMINISTRATION OF PRISONS. Maintenance of Prisons and Prisoners out 4. On and after the commencement of this Act all expenses incurred in respect of the maintenance of prisons to which this Act applies, and of the prisoners therein, shall be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament. (t) (t) The Act will come fully into operation on the 1st of April, 1878 (see s. 2, ante p. 149). As to the prisons to which the Act applies, see s. 3, and the notes thereto. The term "maintenance of a prisoner' is defined by the 57th section of this Act, post p. 195. The Prison Act, 1865, required (s. 8, ante p. 65) that there should be provided at the expense of every county, riding, division, hundred, liberty, franchise, borough, town, or other place having a separate prison jurisdiction, adequate accommodation for its prisoners in a prison or prisons constructed and regulated in compliance with the requisitions of that Act; and declared that all expenses incurred by a prison authority in carrying into effect the provisions of the Act should be defrayed out of the county rate, or rate in the nature of a county rate, borough rate, or other rate leviable in the county, riding, division, hundred, liberty, franchise, borough, town, or other place having a separate prison jurisdiction, and applicable to the maintenance of a prison, or out of any other property applicable to the purpose. The effect of the provisions of the present section, in conjunction with those of the 16th section of this Act (see post p. 163), which abolishes, from the date above mentioned, the local obligation of any county, town, or other place as already named, to maintain a prison or to provide prison accommodation for its prisoners, will be entirely to relieve the local rates, after that date, from all expenses connected with the future maintenance of prisons to which the Act applies, and of the prisoners confined in them, and to transfer the burthen of those expenses to the Imperial Exchequer. Prisons to vest in Secretary of State. 5. Subject as in this Act mentioned (u)— 1. The prisons to which this Act applies, and the furniture and effects belonging thereto; (v) also, 2. The appointment of all officers, (w) and the control and safe custody of the prisoners in the prisons to which this Act applies; also all powers and jurisdiction at common law or by Act of Parliament or by charter vested in or exerciseable by prison authorities or the justices in sessions assembled, (x) in relation to prisons or prisoners within their jurisdiction, shall, on and after the commencement of this Act, (y) be transferred to, vested in, and exercised by one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, in this Act referred to as the Secretary of State. (u) See ss. 6, 7, 9, 48, post pp. 153, 154, 155, 191, respectively. (v) The Act applies to all prisons belonging to any prison authority as defined by The Prison Act, 1865 (see s. 3, ante p. 150). As to the meaning of the term "prison," see The Prison Act, 1865, s. 4, ante p. 61, and s. 60 of this Act, post p. 197. The meaning of the term "furniture and effects belonging to a prison" is defined by s. 56 of this Act, post p. 195. Although this section declares that "the prisons to which the Act applies, and the furniture and effects belonging to them," shall, on and after the commencement (1st of April, 1878) of the Act, be transferred to and become vested in the Secretary of State, it is expressly declared by the 48th section of the Act (see post p. 191) that the "legal estate" in every such prison, and in the. site and land belonging thereto, and in the furniture and effects, shall, on and after the date just mentioned, be deemed to be vested in the Prison Commissioners and "not in the Secretary of State," but it is further declared by the same section that they shall from time to time be disposed of by the Commissioners in such mode as the Secretary of State, with the consent of the Treasury, may direct. (w) The officers heretofore required to be appointed for every prison will be found named in the 10th section of The Prison Act, 1865 (ante p. 66). The Prison Commissioners are, however, subject to the approval of the Secretary of State, to appoint (s. 9, post p. 155) all such officers of a prison as are by The Prison Act, 1865, declared (Regulation 104, Sched. I., ante p. 141) to be subordinate officers of a prison. The Commissioners are also to appoint, subject to approval, as above stated, all such officers and servants, with the exception of the inspectors of prisons, who are to be appointed by the Secretary of State himself, as may be required for assisting them in the performance of their duties, the number of those officers and servants being determined, with the sanction of the Treasury, by the Secretary of State (see s. 7, post p. 154). As to the tenure of office of officers attached to prisons at the time of the commencement of this Act, and as to their distribution amongst and employment in the prisons to which the Act applies, see s. 35, post p. 177. (x) The terms "prison authorities" and "justices in sessions assembled " are (see s. 61, post p. 198) to have the same meaning in this Act, in relation to any prison, that they have (see ss. 5, 6 of the Act, ante pp. 62, 63 respectively) in The Prison Act, 1865. The provisions of this section, with respect to the transfer to and the exercise by the Secretary of State of the powers and jurisdiction of prison authorities, are not to affect the powers or jurisdiction of those authorities in relation to any reformatory school, or to any industrial school under The Reformatory Schools Act, 1866, or The Industrial Schools Act, 1866, or either of them, or any Act amending them or either of them (see s. 52 of this Act, post p. 193). The general rules for the government of prisons made by the Secretary of State, on the transfer to him under this Act of the powers hitherto exercised in relation to prisons by the justices in sessions assembled, will be found in the Appendix, post pp. 279-293. (y) The 1st of April, 1878 (s. 2, ante p. 149). |