Capital Punishment Amendment Act 1868
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1868 c. 24 |
| Year | 1868 |
Capital Punishment Amendment Act, 1868
(31 & 32 Vict.) C A P. XXIV.
An Act to provide for carrying out of Capital Punishment within Prisons.
[29th May 1868]
W HEREAS it is expedient that Capital Punishments should be carried into effect within Prisons: 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:
1 Short Title.
1. This Act may be cited for all Purposes as ‘TheCapital Punishment Amendment Act, 1868.’
2 Judgment of Death to be executed within Walls of Prison.
2. Judgment of Death to be executed on any Prisoner sentenced after the passing of this Act on any Indictment or Inquisition for Murder shall be carried into effect within the Walls of the Prison in which the Offender is confined at the Time of Execution.
3 Sheriff, &c. to be present.
3. The Sheriff charged with the Execution, and the Gaoler, Chaplain, and Surgeon of the Prison, and such other Officers of the Prison as the Sheriff requires, shall be present at the Execution.
Any Justice of the Peace for the County, Borough, or other Jurisdiction to which the Prison belongs, and such Relatives of the Prisoner or other Persons as it seems to the Sheriff or the Visiting Justices of the Prison proper to admit within the Prison for the Purpose, may also be present at the Execution.
4 Surgeon to certify Death; and Declaration to be signed by Sheriff, &c.
4. As soon as may be after Judgment of Death has been executed on the Offender, the Surgeon of the Prison shall examine the Body of the Offender, and shall ascertain the Fact of Death, and shall sign a Certificate thereof, and deliver the same to the Sheriff.
The Sheriff and the Gaoler and Chaplain of the Prison, and such Justices and other Persons present (if any) as the Sheriff requires or allows, shall also sign a Declaration to the Effect that Judgment of Death has been executed on the Offender.
5 Coroner's Inquest on Body.
5. The Coroner of the Jurisdiction to which the Prison belongs wherein Judgment of Death is executed on any Offender shall within Twenty-four Hours after the Execution hold an Inquest on the Body of the Offender, and the Jury at the Inquest shall inquire into and ascertain the Identity of the Body, and whether Judgment of Death was duly executed on the Offender; and the Inquisition shall be in duplicate, and One of the Originals shall be delivered to the Sheriff.
No Officer of the Prison or Prisoner confined therein shall in any Case be a Juror on the Inquest.
6 Burial of Body.
6. The Body of every Offender executed shall be buried within the Walls of the Prison within which Judgment of Death is executed on him; provided that if One of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State is satisfied on the Representation of the Visiting Justices of a Prison that there is not convenient Space within the Walls thereof for the Burial of Offenders executed therein, he may, by Writing under his Hand, appoint some other fit Place for that Purpose, and the same shall be used accordingly.
7 Power to Secretary of State to make Rules, &c. to be observed on Execution of Judgment of Death.
7. One of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State shall from Time to Time make such Rules and Regulations to be observed on the Execution of Judgment of Death in every Prison as he may from Time to Time deem expedient for the Purpose, as well of guarding against any Abuse in such Execution as also of giving greater Solemnity to the same, and of making known without the Prison Walls the Fact that such Execution is taking place.
8 Such Rules to be laid before Parliament.
8. All such Rules and Regulations shall be laid upon the Tables of both Houses of Parliament within Six Weeks after the making thereof, or if Parliament be not then sitting within Fourteen Days after the next Meeting thereof.
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