First Previous (Chapter VII. Action on Findings and Sentences of Courts-martial.) Next (Chapter IX. Rules of procedure.)

18 1954

DEFENCE ACT, 1954

Chapter VIII.

Execution of Sentences.

Sentence of death.

227. —(1) A sentence of death passed by a court-martial and confirmed shall not be carried out unless and until the execution of the sentence has been approved by the Government.

(2) Where the execution of a sentence of death passed by a court-martial and confirmed has been approved by the Government, the confirming authority—

(a) shall be responsible for the execution of the sentence, and

(b) shall direct the manner in which it is to be carried out.

Execution of sentence of penal servitude.

228. —(1) Where a sentence of penal servitude is passed by a court-martial and confirmed, the military convict shall, as soon as practicable, be committed to a penal servitude prison to undergo his sentence according to law.

(2) Until transferred to a penal servitude prison a military convict shall remain in service custody.

(3) An order of a competent authority shall be a sufficient warrant for the committal of a military convict to a penal servitude prison.

(4) An order of a competent authority shall be a sufficient authority for the transfer of a military convict from service custody to civil custody and from civil custody to service custody, and his removal from place to place, and for his detention in civil custody and generally for dealing with such convict in such manner as may be thought expedient until he is transferred to a penal servitude prison.

(5) A military convict at any time either before or after his arrival at a penal servitude prison may, if his sentence is remitted, be released by order of a competent authority.

(6) A military convict may, during his conveyance from place to place, be subjected to such restraint as is necessary for his safe conduct and removal.

(7) After a military convict has arrived at a penal servitude prison to undergo his sentence he shall be dealt with in the same manner as an ordinary civil prisoner under sentence of penal servitude and all enactments relating to a person sentenced to penal servitude by a competent civil court shall, so far as circumstances permit, apply accordingly.

(8) For the purposes of this section, each of the following shall be a competent authority, namely, the Minister and every prescribed officer, and different officers may be so prescribed for different such purposes.

Execution of sentence of imprisonment or detention.

229. —(1) Where a sentence of imprisonment is passed by a court-martial and confirmed, the military prisoner shall undergo the term of his imprisonment either in a military prison or detention barrack or in other service custody or in a public prison, or partly in one way and partly in another.

(2) Where a sentence of detention is passed by a court-martial and confirmed, or is passed by a commanding officer, the person on whom the sentence has been passed shall undergo the term of his detention either in a detention barrack or in service custody, or partly in one way and partly in another, but not in a public prison.

(3) A military prisoner or a man under sentence of detention may, until he reaches the prison or detention barrack in which he is to undergo his sentence, be kept in service custody or in civil custody or partly in service custody and partly in civil custody, and may by order of a competent authority be transferred from service custody to civil custody and from civil custody to service custody as occasion may require.

(4) An order of a competent authority shall be a sufficient warrant for the committal of a military prisoner to prison or a detention barrack, or a man under sentence of detention to a detention barrack.

(5) An order of a competent authority shall be a sufficient authority for the transfer of a military prisoner from prison to a detention barrack, or from a detention barrack to prison, or from one prison or detention barrack to another prison or detention barrack, or for the transfer of a man undergoing detention from one detention barrack to another, or for the delivery into service custody of a military prisoner or a man undergoing detention.

(6) A military prisoner or a man undergoing detention may at any time, if his sentence is remitted, be released by order of a competent authority.

(7) A military prisoner or a man undergoing detention may, during his conveyance from place to place, be subjected to such restraint as is necessary for his safe conduct and removal.

(8) A military prisoner while in a public prison shall be confined, kept to hard labour and otherwise dealt with in the same manner as an ordinary prisoner under a like sentence of imprisonment.

(9) Where the hospital or place for reception of sick persons in a prison or a detention barrack is detached from the prison or detention barrack, a military prisoner or a man undergoing detention may be detained in that hospital or place, and conveyed to or from the same as circumstances require.

(10) For the purposes of this section—

(a) the expression “detention barrack” includes a barrack detention room;

(b) each of the following shall be a competent authority, namely, the Minister and every prescribed officer, and different officers may be so prescribed for different such purposes.

Suspension of currency of sentence where a person escapes or is released without proper authority.

230. —Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, where a person sentenced to penal servitude, imprisonment or detention escapes or is released without proper authority whilst serving such sentence, the currency of such sentence shall be deemed to be suspended from the date on which he escaped or was released without proper authority until he surrenders or is again apprehended, and on such surrender or apprehension he may be recommitted by the prescribed authority to serve the unexpired term of his sentence.

Duty of governor of prison to receive prisoners.

231. —(1) The governor of every prison shall receive and confine, until discharged or delivered over in due course of law, all prisoners sent to such prison in pursuance of this Act.

(2) The governor of every prison shall also receive into his custody for a period not exceeding seven days any man in service custody upon delivery to him of a written order purporting to be signed by the commanding officer of such man.

Establishment of military prisons and detention barracks.

232. —(1) It shall be lawful for the Minister to set apart any building or part of a building under the control of the Minister as a military prison or detention barrack and to declare that any such building or part of a building shall be a military prison or a detention barrack, as the case may be.

(2) The powers of the Minister under this section may, during a period of emergency, be exercised by a prescribed officer.

Regulation of military prisons and detention barracks.

233. —(1) The Minister may make rules (in this Act referred to as rules for military prisons and detention barracks) for all or any of the following purposes, that is to say:—

(a) the government, management and regulation of military prisons and detention barracks;

(b) the appointment and removal and power of inspectors, visitors, governors and officers thereof;

(c) the labour of military prisoners and men undergoing detention therein;

(d) enabling such prisoners or men to earn, by special industry and good conduct, a remission of portion of their sentence;

(e) the classification of military prisoners and men undergoing detention;

(f) the safe custody of such prisoners or men, and the maintenance of discipline among them, and the punishment by personal correction, restraint or otherwise of offences committed by such prisoners or men;

(g) the temporary release, in such cases, for such periods and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed by the rules, of such prisoners or men.

(2) Rules under this section shall not authorise corporal punishment to be inflicted for any offence nor render the imprisonment or detention more severe than it is, under the law in force for the time being, in any public prison.

(3) Where any person has been temporarily released from a military prison or detention barrack in accordance with rules made under this section the currency of any sentence which he may be serving shall be suspended for the period commencing on the day after the day on which he was released and ending on the day on which he returns to the prison or detention barrack or is otherwise taken into custody under subsection (4) of this section.

(4) If any person who has been temporarily released from a military prison or detention barrack in accordance with rules made under this section fails to comply with any of the conditions subject to which he was released or to return at the expiration of the period for which he was released—

(a) he may be arrested without warrant by any member of the Garda Síochána or taken into service custody, and may be kept in custody, whether civil or service, until he is taken back to the military prison or detention barrack,

(b) unless proceedings are taken against him under section 135 or 137, he shall be liable to such punishment as may be prescribed by the rules.

(5) Rules under this section shall provide for applying, with such modifications and adaptations as the Minister thinks proper, in respect of military prisons and detention barracks, the provisions relating to the duties of medical officers contained in section 74 of the Prisons (Ireland) Act, 1826, and sections 52 and 53 of the General Prisons (Ireland) Act, 1877, and the provisions relating to the duties of gaolers contained in section 54 of the said General Prisons (Ireland) Act, 1877.

(6) Every rule made under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after such rule is made and, if a resolution annulling such rule is passed by either House of the Oireachtas within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which that House has sat after such rule is so laid before it, such rule shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under such rule.

Assisting prisoners in military prisons and detention barracks to escape.

234. —Every person who aids any prisoner in escaping or attempting to escape from any military prison or detention barrack, or who, with intent to facilitate the escape of any such prisoner, conveys or causes to be conveyed into any military prison or detention barrack any mask, dress or other disguise or any letter or other article or thing of whatsoever kind shall be guilty of felony and on conviction thereof shall be liable to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for any term not exceeding two years.

Penalty for carrying spirituous liquor, drugs or tobacco into military prisons or detention barracks.

235. —Every person who, contrary to the rules for military prisons and detention barracks, brings or attempts by any means whatever to introduce into any military prison or detention barrack any spirituous or fermented liquor or drug or tobacco and every person employed on the staff of any such prison or barrack who suffers any spirituous or fermented liquor or drug or tobacco to be sold or used therein contrary to such rules shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and imprisonment.

Penalty for carrying letters, etc., into or out of military prisons or detention barracks.

236. —Every person who, contrary to the rules for military prisons and detention barracks, conveys or attempts to convey any letter or other document, or any article whatever not allowed by such rules, into or out of such prison or barrack shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.

Unsoundness of mind of person imprisoned or undergoing detention.

237. —If a person imprisoned or undergoing detention by virtue of this Act becomes of unsound mind, then, without prejudice to any other enactment, a Minister of State may, upon a certificate signed by two registered medical practitioners certifying that such person is of unsound mind, order the removal of such person to a mental hospital, there to remain for the unexpired term of his sentence of imprisonment or detention but, upon such person being certified by two registered medical practitioners to be again of sound mind, may order his removal to any prison or detention barrack in which he might have been confined if he had not become of unsound mind, there to undergo the remainder of his sentence.

Inquests on persons under sentence dying in military prisons or detention barracks.

238. —Whenever a person under sentence dies in a military prison or detention barrack, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

(a) the coroner having jurisdiction in the place where such prison or barrack is shall hold an inquest on the body of such person;

(b) where it is practicable, one clear day shall intervene between the day of the death and the date of such inquest;

(c) such inquest shall be held on the body with a jury;

(d) notwithstanding section 5 of the Coroners (Amendment) Act, 1927 (No. 1 of 1927), none of the following persons shall be a member of such jury, that is to say:—

(i) members of the staff of such prison or barrack,

(ii) persons undergoing sentence in such prison or barrack,

(iii) persons engaged in any trade or dealing with such prison or barrack.

Provisions as to warrants and orders of military authorities under Chapter VIII of Part V.

239. —(1) Where any military convict or military prisoner or man undergoing detention is for the time being in custody, whether service custody or civil custody, in any place or manner in which he might legally be kept in pursuance of this Act, the custody of such convict or prisoner or man shall not be deemed to be illegal by reason only of any informality or error in or as respects the order, warrant or other document, or the authority by or in pursuance whereof such convict, prisoner or man was brought into or is detained in such custody, and any such order, warrant or document may be amended accordingly.

(2) Where a military convict or a military prisoner or a man undergoing detention or a person who is subject to military law and charged with an offence is a prisoner or man in service custody and for the purpose of conveyance by sea is delivered on board a ship to the person in command of the ship or to any other person on board the ship acting under the authority of the commander, the order of the military authority which authorises the prisoner or man to be conveyed by sea shall be a sufficient authority to such person, and to the person for the time being in command of the ship, to keep the said prisoner or man in custody and convey him in accordance with the order, and the prisoner or man while so kept shall be deemed to be kept in service custody.