Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994

102 Arrangements for the provision of prisoner escorts

(1) The Secretary of State may make arrangements for any of the functions specified in subsection (2) below (“escort functions”) to be performed in such cases as may be determined by or under the arrangements by prisoner custody officers who are authorised to perform such functions.

(2) Those functions are—

(a) the transfer of prisoners from one set of relevant premises to another;

(b) the custody of prisoners held on court premises (whether or not they would otherwise be in the custody of the court) and their production before the court;

(c) the custody of prisoners temporarily held in a prison in the course of transfer from one prison to another; and

(d) the custody of prisoners while they are outside a prison for temporary purposes.

(3) In paragraph (a) of subsection (2) above, “relevant premises” means—

(a) the premises of any court, prison, police station or hospital; or

(b) the premises of any other place from or to which a prisoner may be required to be taken under the [1975 c. 21.] Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975 or the [1984 c. 36.] Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984;

and either (but not both) of the sets of premises mentioned in that paragraph may be situated in a part of the British Islands outside Scotland.

(4) Arrangements made by the Secretary of State under this section (“prisoner escort arrangements”) may include entering into contracts with other persons for the provision by them of prisoner custody officers.

(5) Any person who, under a warrant or hospital order, is responsible for the performance of any such function as is mentioned in subsection (2) above shall be deemed to have complied with that warrant or order if he does all that he reasonably can to secure that the function is performed by a prisoner custody officer acting in pursuance of prisoner escort arrangements.

(6) In this section—

• “hospital” has the same meaning as in the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984;

• “hospital order” means an order for a person’s detention in, or admission to and detention in, a hospital under section 174, 174A, 175, 375A or 376 of the Act of 1975 or section 70 of the Act of 1984; and

• “warrant” means a warrant for committal, a warrant for arrest, a warrant under section 69, 73, 74 or 75 of the Act of 1984, a transfer direction under section 71 of that Act or any other warrant, order or direction under the Act of 1975 or the Act of 1984 requiring a person to be taken to a particular place.