47Police custody in lieu of imprisonment
(1)No person shall be sentenced to imprisonment by a court of summary jurisdiction for a period of less than five days.
(2)Where a court of summary jurisdiction has power to impose imprisonment on an offender, it may, if any suitable place provided and. certified as hereinafter mentioned is available for the purpose, sentence the offender to be detained therein, for such period not exceeding four days as the court thinks fit, and an extract of the finding and sentence shall be delivered with the offender to the person in charge of the place where the offender is to be detained and shall be a sufficient authority for his detention in that place in accordance with the sentence.
(3)The expenses of the maintenance of offenders detained under this section shall be defrayed in like manner as the expenses of the maintenance of prisoners under the Prisons (Scotland) Act, 1952.
(4)The Secretary of State may, on the application of any police authority, certify any police cells, or other similar places provided by the authority to be suitable places for the detention of persons sentenced to detention under this section, and may by statutory instrument make regulations for the inspection of places so provided, the treatment of persons detained therein and generally for carrying this section into effect.
(5)No place certified under this section shall be used for the detention of females unless provision is made for their supervision by female officers.
(6)In this section the expression " police authority " means the council of a county or of a burgh which maintains a separate police force or in the case of a county or burgh included in the area for which there is an amalgamation scheme under the Police (Scotland) Act, 1946, in force, the joint police committee.