PRISONS ACT (preamble—prisonsact)

PRISONS

CHAPTER 260

PRISONS ACT

To provide, in place of the Prisons Ordinance, for matters relating to

Prisons.

20th April, 1976

ACT IX of 1976, as amended by Acts XI of 1977, XLIX of 1981 , XIII of

1983 , XIII of 1990 , VII of 1999 and XXIV of 2002 ; Legal Notices 211

and 351 of 2004; Act XXXII of 2007 ; Legal Notice 423 of 2007 ; and

Acts XXXVIII of 2015 , XLI of 2016 and IV of 2017 .

The short title of this Act is the Prisons Act.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -

"Director" means the Director of Correctional Services and

includes any other public officer authorised on his behalf by such

Director;

"Minister" means the Minister responsible for the prisons and

includes, to the extent of the authority given, any person authorised

on his behalf for any purpose of this Act;

"other person employed in the prisons" means such other person

who is not a prisons officer and who may from time to time be

employed or assigned duties, in a prison;

"prison" means the Corradino Prison and includes any other

place or building declared or deemed to be a prison under the

provisions of article 3;

"prisoner" means any person who is confined in any prison;

"prisons officer" means any public officer of whatever grade or

category, who is appointed or seconded to serve in the Department

of Correctional Services and includes the Director.

(1) The Minister may by order published in the Gazette

declare any place or building or part of a building to be a prison.

(2) The Minister may also appoint any suitable place outside

the precincts of a prison for the custody of any prisoner, or other

person liable to be confined in prison, who is subject to quarantine

or is suffering from any contagious or infectious disease within the

meaning of any law for the time being in force; and any such place

shall be guarded only if and to the extent that the Director deems it

necessary or expedient.

(3) A prisoner shall be deemed to be confined in a prison while

he is being moved to or from a prison or from one prison to another

or while he is under treatment or observation in any hospital.

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(1)

The following persons shall be confined in prison

(a) any person who has been sentenced by a court of

criminal jurisdiction in Malta to the punishment of

imprisonment or detention or who, having been

sentenced by a competent authority to pay a fine

(multa or ammenda) or costs, fails to pay such fine or

costs in any case in which, according to law, such fine

or costs are, if not paid, convertible into imprisonment

or detention;

(b) any person who has been sentenced to the punishment

of death, imprisonment or detention by any other court

or by any authority in Malta authorised by law to

inflict any such punishments, unless such law appoints

any other place in which the punishment is to be

undergone;

(c) any person who, having been sentenced abroad by a

foreign or international court or other competent

authority to a punishment involving deprivation of

liberty for a limited or unlimited period of time on

account of a criminal offence, is sent to Malta to

continue serving such sentence in Malta in accordance

with any treaty, convention, agreement or

understanding for that purpose to which Malta is a

party or which is for the time being in force between

Malta and the foreign country concerned or which

applies to both such countries or to which both

countries are a party;

(d) any person who has been arraigned under arrest and

charged before the competent court for an offence in

respect of which the courts in Malta have jurisdiction

according to law, or is under examination before a

court of criminal inquiry, or who is committed for trial

by the said court or by any other competent authority,

or who is under trial in Malta, or who is the subject of

extradition proceedings, unless such person is released

on bail.

(2)

It shall be lawful to confine in a prison

(a) any person who, having been sentenced to give

security to keep the peace and to be of good behaviour

or to watch over the conduct of a minor is, upon failure

to give such security, liable to be detained and kept in

custody, and any person who is arrested by a

competent court for non-payment of the sum in which

he bound himself;

(b) any person, whose arrest or detention according to law

is ordered by any court or other competent authority;

(c) any person who, under any extradition arrangement, is

liable to be surrendered to a foreign country;

(d) any person detained in custody under the provisions of

the Immigration Act, other than under article 10 or 22

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thereof;

(e) any person who has been arrested for an offence.

(3) Where any prison is used for both men and women, separate

places or buildings or parts of a building shall be used for the men

and for the women respectively so as to prevent the one category of

prisoners from seeing or communicating with the other category.

Repealed by Act VII of 1999.

(1)

The Minister may by regulations provide for

(a) the good order and management of prisons;

(b) the admission, removal or discharge of prisoners;

(c) the diet, clothing, maintenance, discipline, instruction,

employment and correction of prisoners, including the

work prisoners may be required to perform by way of

discipline, instruction or employment;

(d) the means for facilitating the identification of

prisoners and their classification into categories

accordingly;

(e) the manner in which and conditions under which a

remission of a portion of the sentence may be earned

by industry, good conduct and adherence to the Care

Plan in terms of the Restorative Justice Act;

(f) the granting of gratuities to prisoners and the

remuneration of prisoners for work done by them;

(g) the temporary absence of prisoners from the prison for

any legitimate purpose;

(h) the temporary removal of a prisoner to any hospital or

similar institution in circumstances not contemplated

under the provisions of article 3;

(i) the conditions under which visitors may be allowed in

the precincts of a prison;

(j) the duties and conduct of the prison officers and of

other persons employed in the prisons;

(k) the penalties which may be inflicted for any offence

committed against the provisions of any such

regulations;

(l) generally any other matter relating to the prisons and

to the proper treatment of prisoners or which may

appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient for

the better carrying out of the provisions of this Act.

(2) Any gratuity or remuneration granted to a prisoner under

the provisions of this article shall not be attached by a garnishee

PRISONS

(1) Where any person, not being a prisons officer or other

p e r s o n e m p l o y e d i n t h e p r i s o n s , w i t h o u t l a w f u l a u t h o r i t y,

introduces or attempts to introduce into any part of the precincts of

a prison any article whatsoever not allowed under any regulations

made under this Act, or conveys or attempts to convey any such

article out of any prison, shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on

conviction, be liable to a fine (multa) not exceeding two hundred

and thirty-two euro and ninety-four cents (232.94).

(2) Where the article which is introduced or sought to be

introduced into a prison as aforesaid consists of arms proper as

defined by article 64 of the Criminal Code, or an explosive

substance as defined by article 314 of the Criminal Code, or any

burning or corrosive fluid or substance, or any drug which is a

dangerous drug under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, or which is

a drug controlled by regulations made under the Medical and

Kindred Professions Ordinance, the punishment shall be

imprisonment for a period of not less than one and not more than

eighteen months unless a higher punishment is provided for under

any other law.

(3) Where any offence under the foregoing provisions of this

article is committed by a prisons officer or by any other person

employed in the prisons the punishment shall be a fine (multa) not

exceeding one thousand and one hundred and sixty-four euro and

sixty-nine cents (1,164.69) in the case of a conviction under the

provisions of subarticle (1), and imprisonment from six months to

two years in the case of a conviction under the provisions of

subarticle (2) unless a higher punishment is provided for under any

other law.

(1) There shall be a Corradino Correctional Facility

Monitoring Board, composed of such members as shall be

appointed every two years by the President.

(2) If any vacancy in the Board occurs on account of death,

resignation or for any other cause, the President shall, as soon as

practicable, appoint another person to fill the vacancy

Provided that the Board and the members thereof may act

notwithstanding any such vacancy.

(3) The members of the Board shall exercise such functions as

shall be assigned to them by regulations made under article 6 of

this Act.

(4) The Minister responsible for the Prisons, the Chief Justice,

the judges, the magistrates and the Attorney-General shall be ex

officio Special Visitors of the prisons, and as such it shall be lawful

for them to have at any time access to the prisons for the purpose of

inspecting such prisons and any of the prisoners therein. They shall

enter in the official Visitors’ Book any remarks which they may

deem proper in regard to the prisons and prisoners, and the book

shall be produced to the members of the Corradino Correctional

Facility Monitoring Board on their next visit to the prisons.

(5) The Director of Prisons shall ensure that all prisoners are

made aware of the Corradino Correctional Facility Monitoring

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Board and its functions thereof and to make available the necessary

mechanism in order that the prisoners can make their requests or

complaints to the Board.

(1) With effect from the commencement of this Act, every

sentence of imprisonment, whether with or without hard labour,

passed upon any convicted prisoner shall subject the prisoner

during the term of such sentence to be imprisoned and to perform

such work as the Director may in accordance with regulations made

under this Act direct.

(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, no person

shall be sentenced by a court or by any other competent authority to

imprisonment with hard labour.

(3) Every law conferring power on a court or on a competent

authority to pass a sentence of imprisonment with hard labour shall

be construed as conferring a power to pass a sentence of

imprisonment for a term not exceeding a term for which a sentence

of imprisonment with hard labour could have been passed

immediately before the commencement of this Act.

The Corradino Civil Prisons Regulations, 1931, and any

regulations made under the provisions of the Prisons Ordinance

shall, until other provision is made under or by virtue of this Act,

continue in force, and have effect as if made under this Act, and

may be varied, altered or repealed accordingly.

Prisons Officers

(1) Prisons officers shall carry out such duties as may be

assigned to them by regulations made under this Act or by any

direction of the Minister.

(2) In the performance of their duties within a prison and when

on escort duties with prisoners outside the prisons, prisons officers

shall be vested with all such functions, powers and duties as are by

law vested in an officer of the Malta Police Force.

(1) The Minister, with the concurrence of the Minister

from time to time responsible for the Department of Social

Security, may make regulations for the granting of pensions to

persons who have served in the Department of Correctional

Services or to their legal representatives or dependants.

(2) Any regulations made under this article may with

retroactive effect confer a benefit upon or remove a disability

attaching to any person or class of persons.

(3) Any pension granted under this Act shall be computed in

accordance with the provisions in force at the actual date of the

officer’s retirement.

(4) No regulation made under this article shall have effect

unless it has been approved by a prior resolution of the House of

Representatives.

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There shall be charged on and paid out of the Consolidated

Fund all such sums of money as may from time to time be granted

by way of pension in accordance with this Act.

It shall be lawful for the Minister to remove from his office

at any time an officer of the Department of Correctional Services

who -

(i)

is considered unlikely to become, or has ceased

to be, an efficient officer of the Department of

Correctional Services;

(ii) is incapable by reason of some infirmity of mind

or body of discharging the duties of his office

when such infirmity is likely to be permanent;

and

(iii) it is considered, having regard to the conditions

of the Department of Correctional Services, the

usefulness of the office thereto, and all the

circumstances of the case, should in the public

interest no longer serve as a member of the

Department of Correctional Services.

No pension shall be granted to any officer of the

Department of Correctional Services except on his retirement from

the Department of Correctional Services in any one of the

following cases

(i)

on or after attaining the age of fifty-five years or

if he has completed twenty-five years’ service in

the Department of Correctional Services;

(ii) on the abolition of his office;

(iii) on compulsory retirement for the purpose of

facilitating improvement in the organisation of

the Department of Correctional Services, by

which greater efficiency and economy can be

effected;

(iv) in the case of termination of employment in the

public interest as provided in this Act;

(v) on medical evidence to the satisfaction of the

Minister that such office of the Department of

Correctional Services is incapable by reason of

infirmity of mind or body of discharging the

duties of his office and that such infirmity is

likely to be permanent

Provided that if a correctional services officer

has, without his own default, been seriously

injured during the course of his duties and due to

such injury he is incapable of discharging the

duties of his office, and has been duly certified

by an Injuries Board made up of medical and

other professionals appointed by the Minister

responsible for Prisons, such officer may be

entitled to pensionable emoluments as if he had

completed the 25 years’ service

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Provided further that, if a correctional services

officer, without his own default, dies as a direct

consequence of him having carried out the duties

of his office, his dependants, unless otherwise

precluded at law, will be entitled to the payment of

such pensionable emoluments in accordance with

regulation 16 of the Prisons Pensions Regulations.

Subject to any regulations made under this Act

determining the maximum pension grantable to a correctional

services officer as may be in force from time to time, where a

person has been appointed a correctional services officer, any

period previous to that appointment during which that person has

served as a prisons officer or as a member of a disciplined force as

defined in article 47(1) of the Constitution shall be deemed as

service as a correctional services officer for the purpose of any

pension that may be granted under this Act or any regulations made

thereunder.

Where the services of an officer of the Department of

Correctional Services are terminated on the ground referred to in

article 14(iii), and a pension cannot otherwise be granted under the

provisions of this Act, such officer may be granted a pension not

exceeding in amount that for which he would be eligible if he

retired from the Department of Correctional Services in the

circumstances described in article 15(v).

Pensions, gratuities and allowances payable under this Act

to any prisons officer shall also be payable to the person entitled

thereto in other Member States of the European Community net of

any taxes and transaction charges in accordance with Article 5 of

Council Directive 98/49/EC of the 29th June, 1998 on safeguarding

the supplementary pension rights of employed and self-employed

persons moving within the Community.

Where any prisons officer is posted in another Member

State of the European Community, such officer shall be entitled to

receive adequate information as to his rights under article 17.

(1) The Corradino Correctional Facility may make use of

animals in the performance of certain operations and in ceremonial

functions.

(2) The Director shall ensure that these are treated in the best

way possible and compatible to the nature of such animals, and that

they are not subjected to any cruel treatment.

(3) Unless otherwise advised by a veterinary surgeon, an

animal that is no longer of use to the Corradino Correctional

Facility, for any reason whatsoever, shall preferably be donated to

any person or body that can continue to treat the animal well in its

retirement. The Corradino Correctional Facility shall not euthanize

any animal merely because no suitable person has been

immediately found to take care of that animal.

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