Criminal Justice Act 1948

22 Power to order certain discharged prisoners to notify address.

(1) Where a person is convicted on indictment of an offence punishable with imprisonment for a term of two years or more and that person—

(a) has been convicted on at least two previous occasions of offences for which he was sentenced to Borstal training or imprisonment; or

(b) has been previously convicted of an offence for which he was sentenced to corrective training,

the court, if it sentences him to a term of imprisonment of twelve months or more, shall, unless having regard to the circumstances, including the character of the offender, it otherwise determines, order that he shall for a period of twelve months from his next discharge from prison be subject to the provisions of this section.

(2) Where any such order as aforesaid has been made—

(a) the offender shall, on his next discharge from prison and thereafter from time to time, inform the appointed society of his address in accordance with such instructions as may be given to him by or on behalf of the society;

(b) if the offender fails to comply to the satisfaction of the appointed society with the aforesaid requirement to notify his address on his discharge, the society shall, and if he subsequently fails to keep the society informed of his address to their satisfaction, the society may, give notice by registered post of the failure to the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, and shall use their best endeavours to inform the offender that the notice has been given;

and as from the date on which any such notice has been given as aforesaid, the provisions of the Fourth Schedule to this Act shall apply to the offender.

(3) It shall be the duty of the governor of a prison on the discharge from prison of an offender against whom an order has been made under this section to serve upon him a notice stating the effect of the order.

(4) The Secretary of State may by a direction in writing relieve an offender against whom an order has been made under this section of any requirement of this section or of the Fourth Schedule to this Act; and any such direction may be made conditional upon the observance of such requirements as may be specified therein; and the Secretary of State may, if he is satisfied that any requirement so imposed has been contravened, cancel the direction.

(5) In this section the expression " the appointed society " means a society appointed by the Prison Commissioners for the purposes of this section, being a society approved by the Secretary of State; and the Prison Commissioners may appoint a society either to act in all cases or to act in such cases or classes of cases as they may direct.