15 & 16 Geo. 6
& 1 Eliz. 2
- in the opinion of the Secretary of State give the best information to Parliament;
- (c) a statement of the punishments inflicted in each prison and of the offences for which they were inflicted, with particulars of every case in which an order for corporal punishment was made and of the grounds upon which it was made.
Visiting committees and boards of visitors
Visiting committees and boards of visitors. 6.—(1) Rules made under section forty-seven of this Act shall provide for the constitution, for prisons to which persons may be committed directly by a court, of visiting committees consisting of justices of the peace appointed at such times, in such manner and for such periods as may be prescribed by the rules, by such courts of quarter sessions for counties or benches of magistrates for boroughs as the Secretary of State may by order direct.
(2) The Secretary of State shall appoint for every prison other than a prison mentioned in subsection (1) of this section a board of visitors of whom not less than two shall be justices of the peace.
(3) Rules made as aforesaid shall prescribe the functions of visiting committees and boards of visitors and shall among other things require members to pay frequent visits to the prison and hear any complaints which may be made by the prisoners and report to the Secretary of State any matter which they consider it expedient to report; and any member of a visiting committee or board of visitors may at any time enter the prison and shall have free access to every part of it and to every prisoner.
(4) Rules made as aforesaid may require the board of visitors appointed for any prison to consider periodically the character, conduct and prospects of each of the prisoners sentenced to corrective training or preventive detention and to report to the Prison Commissioners on the advisability of his release on licence.
Prison officers
Prison officers. 7.—(1) Every prison shall have a governor, a chaplain and a medical officer and such other officers as may be necessary.
(2) Every prison in which women are received shall have a sufficient number of women officers; and if women only are received in a prison the governor shall be a woman.
(3) A prison which in the opinion of the Secretary of State is large enough to require it may have a deputy governor or an assistant chaplain or both.
