Prisons Act 1839
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1839 c. 56 |
(2 & 3 Vict.) C A P. LVI.
[17th August 1839]
'WHEREAS the Laws now in force for regulating Gaols and Houses of Correction inEngland and Wales , and for the Classification, Government, and Instruction of the Prisoners confined therein, require to be amended:' 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, That so much of an Act passed in the Fourth Year of the Reign of KingGeorge the Fourth, intituled Englandand Wales, and of an Act passed in the Fifth Year of the same King, intituled An Act for amending an Act of the last Session of Parliament relating to the building, repairing, and enlarging of certain Gaols and Houses of Correction, and for procuring Information as to the State of all other Gaols and Houses of Correction, in England and Wales, as does not relate to the Classification of Prisoners of each Sex into distinct Classes, shall, subject to an Act made in the Sixth Year of the Reign of His late Majesty, intituled An Act for effecting greater Uniformity of Practice in the Government of the several Prisons in England and Wales, and for appointing Inspectors of Prisons in Great Britain, and to an Act made in the Seventh Year of the Reign of His late Majesty, intituled An Act for the better Administration of Justice in certain Boroughs , and subject to this Act, extend to every Gaol, House of Correction, Bridewell, and Penitentiary in England and Wales now or hereafter to be provided, and not exclusively used for the Confinement of Debtors, except the Queen'sBench and Fleet Prisons, and the General Penitentiary at Millbank .
II Justices, &c. authorized to make Rules for Classification and Separation of Prisoners.
II. And be it enacted, That so much of the said Act of the Fourth Year of KingGeorge the Fourth as provides that no Classification of Prisoners shall be made inconsistent with or contrary to the Classification directed by that Act is hereby repealed, and that the Persons authorized by Law to make Rules and Regulations, to be submitted to One of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, for the Government of any Prison in England or Wales , shall be empowered, if they shall think fit, to make Rules for a different Classification of Prisoners of each Sex in such Prison, or for the individual Separation of all or any of the Prisoners confined therein, with due Regard to their proper Supervision, Religious and Moral Instruction, and Employment, and from Time to Time to alter or add to such Rules; and the Secretary of State, if he shall think that the Rules so made and submitted to him for a different Classification of Prisoners of each Sex, or for the individual Separation of Prisoners, are fit to be enforced in that Prison, shall subscribe a Certificate or Declaration that they are proper to be enforced, and the Rules so made and certified, but not until they shall have been so certified, shall be enforced; and if the Gaol or House of Correction for which they shall be made was before the passing of this Act within any Provision of either of the first Two recited Acts, shall be taken to supersede the Rules and Provisions enacted in the first Two recited Acts, or either of them, for the Classification of Prisoners of each Sex confined therein.
III Prisoners may be separately confined.
III. And be it enacted, That, in order to prevent the Contamination arising from the Association of Prisoners in any Prison in which Rules for the individual Separation of Prisoners shall be in force, any Prisoner may be separately confined during the Whole or any Part of the Period of his or her Imprisonment, under the Restrictions herein-after provided.
IV Separate Confinement not to be deemed solitary Confinement.
IV. And be it declared and enacted, That separate Confinement under the Provisions of this Act shall not be deemed solitary Confinement within the Meaning of any Act forbidding the Continuance of solitary Confinement for more than a limited Time: Provided always, that no Cell shall be used for the separate Confinement of any Prisoner which is not of such a Size, and lighted, warmed, ventilated, and fitted up in such Manner, as may be required by a due Regard to Health, and furnished with the Means of enabling the Prisoner to communicate at any Time with an Officer of the Prison; and that no Cell shall be used for such separate Confinement until its Fitness in these several Particulars shall have been certified by One of the Inspectors of Prisons to One of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State; and that every Prisoner so separately confined shall have the Means of taking Air and Exercise at such Times as shall be deemed necessary by the Surgeon, and shall be furnished with the Means of Moral and Religious Instruction, and with suitable Books, to be chosen as herein-after provided, and also with Labour or Employment, unless it shall be deemed advisable by the Secretary of State to make and certify a Regulation for withholding, for a Period or Periods not exceeding One Calendar Month at any one Time, such Labour or Employment: Provided also, that if it shall any Time be made to appear to the Secretary of State that the Conditions upon which such Rules for the separate Confinement of Prisoners were allowed have not been fulfilled, or that upon further Inquiry it shall appear that the Provisions required are insufficient, it shall be lawful for the Secretary of State to annul the Rules so made and allowed as aforesaid, and thenceforward the Rules so annulled shall cease to be of force in that Prison, and thereafter it shall not be lawful to continue any Prisoner in separate Confinement in that Prison until new Provisions shall have been made and allowed as aforesaid for the separate Confinement of Prisoners therein: Provided also, that in case the Prison shall be inadequate for the individual Separation of all the Prisoners who may be confined therein at one Time, the Rules of the Prison shall specify the Class or Description of Prisoners who shall be confined in the separate Cells, having regard either to the Nature of the Crime with which the Prisoner may be charged or of which he or she may have been convicted, or to the Sex or Age of the Prisoner, or to the Term of Imprisonment, or to such other Circumstances as the Persons authorized to make such Rules shall think fit, and as the Secretary of State shall approve.
V Different Classes of Prisoners.
V. And be it enacted, That the Prisoners of each Sex in every Gaol, House of Correction, Bridewell, and Penitentiary inEngland and Wales , which before the passing of this Act was not within the Provisions of the said Act of the Fourth Year of the Reign of King George the Fourth, as amended by the said Act of the Fifth Year of the same Reign, and in which a more minute Classification or individual Separation shall not be in force, shall be at least divided into the following Classes; (that is to say,)
First—Debtors, in those Prisons in which Debtors may be lawfully confined:
Second—Prisoners committed for Trial:
Third—Prisoners convicted, and sentenced to hard Labour:
Fourth—Prisoners convicted, and not sentenced to hard Labour:
Fifth—Prisoners not included in the foregoing Classes:
And that in every Prison inEngland and Wales separate Rules and Regulations shall be made for every Class of Prisoners in that Prison.
VI General Rules to be observed in Prisons.
VI. And be it enacted, That the following Rules shall be observed in every Prison inEngland and Wales , in addition to and in amendment of the other Rules and Regulations which shall be in force in such Prison:
First—No Keeper nor Officer of a Prison, nor any Person in Trust for or employed by him, shall let or have any Benefit or Advantage from the Loan or letting of any Article or any Dealing whatsoever to or with any Prisoner:
Second—In every Prison in which the Keeper shall not visit every Ward, and see every Prisoner, and inspect every Cell, Once at least in every Twenty-four Hours, the Keeper shall state the Cause of Omission in his Journal:
Third—The Wards, Cells, and Yards allotted to Female Prisoners shall be locked by Keys in the Custody of the Matron, and secured by Locks different from those securing the Wards, Cells, and Yards allotted to Male Prisoners:
Fourth—No Prisoner shall be employed as Turnkey, Assistant Turnkey, Wardsman, Yardsman, Overseer, Monitor, or Schoolmaster, or in the Discipline of the Prison, or in the Service of any Officer thereof, or in the Service or Instruction of any other Prisoner; but this Rule shall not be taken to prevent the Employment of any Debtor in that Part of the Prison in which he or she may be lawfully confined in any Manner in which he or she shall be willing to be employed, and which is consistent with his or her safe...
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