GOZO PRISON REGULATIONS

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 260.01

GOZO PRISON REGULATIONS

5th June, 1934

GOVERNMENT NOTICES 228 of 1934 and 342 of 1964, consolidated.

The title of these regulations is the Gozo Prison

Regulations.

The Gozo Prison shall be administered by the Director of

Prisons.

The staff of the prison shall consist of a Principal Warder

and two warders.

One of the warders shall reside in the prison.

The prisoners to be kept in the prison are those referred to

article 4 of the Prisons Act.

These classes of prisoners are to be kept separated as far as

the accommodation of the prison permits.

Female prisoners are in all cases to be separated from male

and juvenile prisoners, and when possible, youths under eighteen,

from adults.

Prisoners under trial before the Court of Magistrates may

be visited only by permission of the presiding Magistrate.

No access shall be allowed to an arrested party before

presentation to the Court except by special permission of the

Commissioner of Police.

Whenever a person is placed in confinement, the police

officer shall deliver such person to the prison official on duty who,

in the presence of the police officer, shall search and remove from

such person any moneys and other articles found in his possession,

and shall make an entry accordingly in the Prisoners’ Property

Book.

Prisoners paying a fine in the hands of the Principal

Warder in order to be released are to be furnished by him with an

official receipt before leaving the prison; and such moneys are to

be remitted within the next working day to the Registrar of Courts.

The release of all prisoners is to be entered daily in the

Discharge Register and signed by the Principal Warder.

Prisoners, whose state of health requires hospital

treatment, should be transferred to hospital, if proper

accommodation cannot be provided in the prison, measures being

taken to keep such patients apart from other patients.

The scale of dietary is that laid down for the same category

of prisoners confined in the Corradino Civil Prison.

Medical diet shall be supplied to the prisoners on the

recommendation of the District Medical Officer on duty. A record

of each case is to be kept in the report book of prisoners under

medical diet and such entry is to be initialled by the District

Medical Officer.

Prisoners awaiting trial or undergoing a sentence of

detention are allowed to have food provided at their own expense.

No wine or beer above half a pint and no spirituous liquors of any

sort, nor tobacco in any form, shall be allowed to any such

prisoners, except under the written order of the Medical Officer.

Such prisoners must either provide themselves with food entirely or

accept the rations supplied by the Government. A prisoner of this

class shall not be allowed to supplement in any way the prison fare,

and shall not be allowed to sell or transfer to any other prisoner any

articles introduced for his own use.

Prisoners undergoing detention who do not provide their

own food may be compelled to work.

Prisoners are not allowed to converse or communicate with

each other except with the order of the Director.

The hours of unlocking and locking up of prisoners, and

the wearing of prison dress shall be the same as those laid of in the

Prison Regulations.

(a) The Principal Warder shall be responsible to the

Director of Prisons to whom he shall report and from

whom he shall receive instructions on all matters

connected with the prison. He shall be responsible that

all orders recorded in the Director’s Order Book are

communicated to the warders under his charge and

duly attended to.

(b) He shall on no occasion whatever leave the prison

unless substituted by a warder and with the previous

approval of the Director.

(c) He shall immediately report to the Director any

neglect, misconduct or irregularity on the part of the

warders as well as any circumstance likely to affect the

safety, health or discipline of the prisoners which may

come to his knowledge.

(d) He shall hand over to the warder on night duty at 6

p.m. the keys of the outer gate of the prison.

(e) He shall visit and inspect every yard, ward and

division of the prison as often as possible and shall

ensure that the whole premises are kept clean and tidy,

regard being given to the personal cleanliness of the

prisoners.

(f) He shall cause to be handed to him by the warder on

night duty the keys of the outer gate of the prison after

unlocking hours each morning.

(g) He shall be responsible for all articles of clothing,

rations and supplies issued to prisoners and shall

personally attend the distribution of rations according

to the scale of diet.

(h) He shall be responsible for all stores as well as for all

articles of furniture, tools, etc., existing within the

prison and shall ensure that all items connected

therewith are duly entered in the Inventory Book.

(i) He shall not receive visitors in the prison without the

the written permission of the Director of Prisons.

(j) He shall keep the following books

(i)

a register called "Register of Prisoners" in which

the name, surname, the age, the name of the

father, and the residence of the prisoners, the

date of admission, the nature of the charge, by

whose authority confined, the date of sentence,

and the sentence awarded are to be entered;

(ii) a "Prisoners’ Property Book" in which all

moneys and goods taken from prisoners are to be

entered;

(iii) a "Ration Book" containing the total number of

rations supplied daily;

(iv) a "Daily Admission and Discharge Register'';

(v) an inventory of all the articles in the prison

distinguishing those that are in actual use from

those in store; and

(vi) any other book which the Director may order

him to keep.

(a) The warders shall obey the orders of the Director and

of the Principal Warder and shall be held responsible

for being fully acquainted with the rules and orders

relating to their respective duties.

(b) They shall not be absent from the prison during the

hours of duty without the leave of the Director.

(c) They shall treat prisoners with kindness and humanity

being firm at the same time, maintaining order and

discipline and enforcing complete observance of all

rules and orders.

(d) They shall not converse familiarly with prisoners and

shall not correspond or hold intercourse with the

relatives of the prisoners unless expressly authorized

by the Director.

(e) They shall as frequently as possible inspect the yards

and divisions and shall seize all prohibited articles and

deliver then to the Principal Warder.

(f) They shall be responsible for the cleanliness of the

premises, wards, yards, and divisions, and shall

superintend the work of the prisoners under their

charge.

(g) The warder on night duty shall lock up the prison at 8

p.m. and shall keep the keys in his custody until the

hour of unlocking in the morning, when he shall hand

over same to the Principal Warder. He shall not allow

egress or ingress between the hour of locking at night

and unlocking in the morning except to the officials of

the prison or other public officer in case of emergency.

The Commissioner for Gozo shall inspect the prison and

hold surprise visits at least once a month recording the result of his

inspections in the Official Visitors’ Book.

The powers of the Commissioner for Gozo shall be the

same as those laid down for the Board of Visitors in Part IV of the

Prison Regulations.

In case of emergency not provided for in these

Regulations, the Director of Prisons shall take such action as he

may consider necessary and report such action forthwith to the

Minister.

A prisoner committed for trial by the Court of Magistrates

of Judicial Police for the Islands of Gozo and Comino may, in lieu

of being kept at the Gozo Prison, be kept at the Corradino Prison

Provided that any such prisoner who, after having been so

committed for trial, has remained in the Gozo Prison shall, as soon

as may be after an indictment against him has been filed by the

Attorney General, be removed to and kept in the Corradino Prison.