CHAPTER IV
Administration of correctional homes
5. Chief officer and other officers of correctional services. – (1) The Inspector General of Prisons, Additional Inspector General of Prisons and Deputy Inspector General of Prisons under the Prisons Act, 1894, shall, on and from the date of commencement of this Act, be designated as the Inspector General of Correctional Services, Additional Inspector General of Correctional Services and Deputy Inspector General of Correctional Services respectively.
(2) The Inspector General of Correctional Services shall be the Chief officer of correctional homes and correctional services and the control and superintendence of correctional services shall vest in him.
(3) The State Government may appoint such number of Additional Inspector General of Correctional Services and Deputy Inspector General of Correctional Homes and Correctional Services to assist the Inspector General of Correctional Services as the State Government may consider necessary.
(4) All officers of the below the rank of Additional Inspector General of Correctional Services, appointed under the provisions of this Act, shall be deemed to be subordinate to the Inspector General of Correctional Services, and shall be bound to obey his orders, directions and instructions.
6. Officers and staff of central correctional homes, district correctional homes and special correctional homes. – (1) The Jailor, Deputy Jailor and Sub-Jailor under the Prisons Act, 1894, shall, on and from the date of commencement of this Act, be designated as the Chief Controller of Correctional Services, Controller of Correctional Services and Assistant Controller of Correctional Services respectively.
(2) For every central correctional home, district correctional home and special correctional home, there shall be a Superintendent and such number of Medical Officer, Chief Controller of Correctional Services, Chief Welfare Officer, Welfare Officer and other officer and staff as the State Government may from time to time appoint. The Superintendent shall be the officer-in-charge of the correctional home and correctional services and shall have control and superintendence of the correctional home and all other officers and staff shall be subordinate to him and shall render due obedience to his orders, instructions and directions.
(3) The State Government may, for proper administration of any central correctional home, district correctional home or special correctional home, appoint such other officers and staff as it may consider necessary.
(4) The qualifications and the method of recruitment of the officers and staff of the correctional homes shall be such as may be prescribed.
7. Officers and staff of subsidiary correctional homes. – (1) (a) The Sub-Divisional Officer of every sub-division shall be the ex officio Superintendent of the subsidiary correctional home of the sub-division and the Sub-Divisional Medical Officer of every sub-division shall be the ex officio Deputy Superintendent of the subsidiary correctional home of the sub-division.
(b) There shall be such other officers and staff in every subsidiary correctional home as the State Government may from time to time appoint.
(2) The Sub-Divisional Officer or, in his absence, such other officer as may be authorised by him shall pay visit to the subsidiary correctional home at least twice a week.
(3) The Sub-Divisional Medical Officer shall pay visit to the subsidiary correctional home at least twice a week. He shall take necessary measures for treatment of prisoners confined in the correctional home as and when he is informed of any ailment of a prisoner by any officer of the correctional home. He may also delegate to any Medical Officer subordinate to him all his duties and functions as Deputy Superintendent of the correctional home.
8. Chief Controller of Correctional Services. – (1) The Chief Controller of Correctional Services shall, subject to the control and supervision of the Superintendent, be in charge of the correctional home and shall be the custodian of the prisoners and the properties of the prisoners and the correctional home.
(2) The Chief Controller of Correctional Services shall-
(i) give, on the death of a prisoner in a correctional home, immediate report of such death to the Superintendent and the Medical Officer of the correctional home, narrating in brief the circumstances under which the prisoner died;
(ii) be responsible for the safe-custody of the records of the condemned warrants and all other documents and the money and other articles taken from the prisoners;
(iii) perform such other duties and discharge such other functions as may be prescribed; and
(iv) not, without previous permission of the Inspector General of Prisons and Director of Correctional Services, be concerned with any other employment.
(3) The Chief Controller of Correctional Services shall be provided with residential quarters adjacent to the correctional home and he shall not, without previous permission in writing obtained from the Superintendent, leave his quarters for any private business or reside elsewhere. If, for any unavoidable reasons, the Chief Controller of Correctional Service is required to leave his quarters temporarily without previous permission of the Superintendent, he shall, before leaving his quarters place an officer immediately subordinate to him in charge of the correctional home during his absence. The Chief Controller of Correctional Services shall, immediately on his return, inform the Superintendent giving the details of the hour at which he left his quarters and the hour at which he returned to the quarters and the circumstances under which he was compelled to leave his quarters without previous permission of the Superintendent.
9. Controller of Correctional Services. – The State Government may appoint one or more Controllers of Correctional Services for each correctional home (other than a subsidiary correctional home) as it may consider necessary. Subject to the control of the Superintendent, the Controller of Correctional Services shall be competent to perform all or any of the duties of the Chief Controller of Correctional Services and shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed.
10. Discipline of Officers. – (1) For each central correctional home, there shall be a Chief Discipline Officer and such number of Discipline Officer who shall be subordinate to the Chief Discipline Officer, as the State Government may appoint.
(2) The Chief Discipline Officer shall have the same rank and status as that of the Chief Controller of Correctional Services and the Discipline Officer shall have the same rank and status as that of the Controller of Correctional Services. The qualifications and terms and conditions of service of the Chief Discipline Officer and the Discipline Officer shall be such as may be prescribed.
(3) The Chief Discipline Officer shall supervise the performance of the Discipline Officer. It shall be the duty of the Chief Discipline Officer and the Discipline Officer-
(a) to go on round inside the correctional home to ensure proper and effective watch by the warders and observance of rules by the prisoners and to take measures against slackening of security and discipline at the gate of the correctional home;
(b) to assist the Chief Controller of Correctional Services in the maintenance of security and discipline in the correctional home, specially in between gates;
(c) to receive prisoners from courts, other correctional homes and places of detention with requisite writs, warrants or orders along with the prisoners’ personal cash and other properties and to pass the prisoners;
(d) to supervise the work of the gate keepers;
(e) to prevent smuggling of any prohibited or unauthorised article in the correctional home;
(f) to check with reference to challans and gate passes of articles coming into or passing out of the correctional home and keep accounts thereof in the gate register of articles to be maintained for the purpose;
(g) to search all prisoners passing into or out of, or coming into or going out of, the gate of the correctional home;
(h) to receive officials and non-official visitors with due respect at the gate;
(i) to attend the weekly inspection by the Superintendent and the ceremonial parades;
(j) to perform such other duties as the Superintendent may allot from time to time.
(4) In addition to the duties as aforesaid, the Chief Discipline Officer may search head warders, warders and other subordinate staff of the correctional home and all persons going into, or coming out of, the correctional home. The Chief Discipline Officer shall not search any non-official visitor without special order of the Superintendent. If the Chief Discipline Officer has reasons to believe that any person exempted from search is carrying any prohibited or unauthorised article, he may stop such person between the gates and refer the matter to the Superintendent and shall act according to his direction.
11. Chief Welfare Officer and Welfare Officer of correctional home. – (1) The State Government may, for each of the central correctional home, district correctional home and special correctional home, appoint such number of Chief Welfare Officers and Welfare Officers as it may consider necessary. The Chief Welfare Officer shall have the rank and status of the Superintendent of a district correctional home and the Welfare Officer shall have the rank and status of the Chief Controller of Correctional Services. The qualifications and the terms and conditions of service of the Chief Welfare Officers and the Welfare Officers shall be such as may be prescribed.
(2) It shall be the duty of the Welfare Officer-
(a) to look after the correctional services and to see that the prisoners are not deprived of the amenities and privileges under this Act or under any other law for the time being in force;
(b) to organise and develop recreational, educational and cultural activities (including sports, games, physical culture and the like) amongst the prisoners;
(c) to give incentive to literary and artistic pursuits to the prisoners;
(d) to make efforts for betterment of educational, moral, cultural and vocational equipments of the prisoners;
(e) to perform such other duties as may be prescribed.
12. Assistant Controller of Correctional Services. – For each subsidiary correctional home, there shall be appointed an Assistant Controller of Correctional Services who shall act as the Chief Officer of administration of the correctional home, subject to the control and superintendence of the Superintendent of the correctional home, and the provisions of sub-rules (2) and (3) of the rule 8 shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to the Assistant Controller of Correctional Services.
13. Subordinate staff of correctional home. – The State Government shall appoint such number of subordinate staff with such designation as may be prescribed for efficient conduct of correctional homes. The duties and functions of such subordinate staff shall be such as may be prescribed.
14. Security staff of correctional home. – (1) For proper security of correctional homes and of the staff thereof and of the prisoners confined therein, there shall be the following categories of security staff in each correctional home :-
(i) one chief head warder;
(ii) one or more head warders as may be considered necessary having regard to the usual population of the home;
(iii) such number of gate warders as may be considered necessary;
(iv) such number of other warders as may be considered necessary.
(2) The gate warder shall guard the gate of the correctional home, open and close the gate according to necessity, and perform other consequential and incidental duties. He may at any time stop and search any person suspected of bringing any prohibited article into the correctional home or of carrying out any property belonging to the correctional home and shall report to the Chief Controller of Correctional Services about the discovery of such article or property.
(3) Any officer of the correctional home may, in the case of any suspicion about the entry into the correctional home of any prohibited article or about the carrying out any property belonging to the correctional home, stop and search or cause to be searched any person suspected or bringing such prohibited article or of carrying out such property and shall immediately report to the Chief Controller of Correctional Services about the discovery of such article or property.
(4) The uniform of the security staff shall be such as may be prescribed.
15. Night watchman, night guard and helper. – (1) The Superintendent of a correctional home may deploy any convict of good conduct and unblemished record during imprisonment, who has been sentenced for the first time to rigorous imprisonment for a term exceeding one year and has served fifty per cent, of the term of imprisonment, as a night watchman.
(2) There shall be deployed at least two night watchmen in each ward. One shall be on duty from the time of evening lock-up till 12 p.m. and the other shall be on duty from 12 P.M. till the lock-up is opened in the morning. A night watchman shall be entitled to patrol inside the ward to perform his duties and shall generally be entrusted with the task of-
(i) counting of prisoners under lock-up in the ward between the time of evening lock-up and opening the lock-up in the morning;
(ii) maintaining vigilance inside the ward in which he is placed on duty during night and seeing that nothing which is punishable or prohibited under any law for the time being in force is done inside the ward;
(iii) bringing to the notice of the warder on duty any culpable act which is likely to be committed but cannot be prevented by him.
(3) A prisoner deployed as a night watchman shall be entitled to three days’ remission in a month in addition to ordinary remission but shall not be entitled to any wages for working as a night watchman. He shall get his wages for his usual work during day time.
(4) The Superintendent of a correctional home may, with the prior approval of the Inspector General of Correctional Services, deploy any convict, who has maintained good conduct throughout his imprisonment having been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a term exceeding three years and has served seventy-five per cent, of his term of imprisonment, as a night guard. The night guard shall generally assist the security staff of the correctional home during night and shall wear blue badges for identification. The night guard may, if necessary, be posted outside the wards inside the correctional home to perform security duties. The night guard shall be entitled to five days’ special remission, in addition to the ordinary remission, per month. The convict deployed as a night guard shall not get any wages for performing security duties at night but shall be entitled to wages for his usual work during day time.
(5) The Superintendent of a correctional home may deploy a prisoner of good conduct whom he thinks to be trustworthy as a helper for carrying messages and doing sundry duties as may be given to him by the Superintendent. For such duty the helper shall be entitled to two days’ special remission, in addition to his ordinary remission, per month.
16. Officers and staff not to leave station without leave. – No officer or other staff of a correctional home shall leave station without obtaining leave from the Superintendent of the correctional home or from any other officer subordinate to the Superintendent and empowered to grant leave under the rules made under this Act.
17. Training of officers and staff. – The State Government may establish a training college for training of officers and all categories of staff of correctional homes. Until such college is established, the State Government may arrange in the prescribed manner for the training of the officers and staff of different correctional homes in any recognised institutions imparting such training.
