Who Runs a Prison
Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Eight
Syllabus topic 6, "Imprisonment"
Pages 537 to 541 of 806
In one line
Section 6 says every prison must have a Superintendent, a Medical Officer, a Medical Subordinate and a Jailer, and sections 8 to 23 say what each of them does.
In the wording a student can write in an exam: section 6 of the Prisons Act 1894 requires that for every prison there be a Superintendent, a Medical Officer who may also be the Superintendent, a Medical Subordinate, a Jailer, and such other officers as the State Government thinks necessary. Above them, section 5 places the general control and superintendence of all prisons in a State in an Inspector General appointed for that State, subject to the orders of the State Government.
The chain of authority
Four levels, and a candidate should be able to draw them.
| Level | Who | Source |
|---|---|---|
| The State | State Government | Sections 4, 5, 7 and 59; prisons are a State subject |
| The State's prisons | Inspector General, with general control and superintendence, subject to the orders of the State Government | Section 5 |
| One prison | Superintendent, who manages it subject to the orders of the Inspector General | Section 11(1) |
| Inside the prison | Jailer, and officers subordinate to him | Sections 8 and 16 to 23 |
Section 8 states the rule of obedience in one sentence: all officers of a prison shall obey the directions of the Superintendent, and all officers subordinate to the Jailer shall perform such duties as the Jailer imposes with the Superintendent's sanction, or as the rules under section 59 prescribe.
The District Magistrate
An oddity worth knowing, because it is easily missed.
Section 11(2): subject to such general or special directions as the State Government may give, the Superintendent of a prison other than a central prison or a prison in a presidency town shall obey all orders not inconsistent with the Act or its rules given respecting the prison by the District Magistrate, and shall report to the Inspector General all such orders and the action taken on them.
So a district prison has two masters, and the Act resolves the conflict by two devices: the District Magistrate's orders must not be inconsistent with the Act or rules, and every such order must be reported upwards.
The four officers
The Superintendent, section 11(1). Subject to the orders of the Inspector General, he manages the prison in all matters relating to discipline, labour, expenditure, punishment and control. Those five words are the scope of the office. See [The Superintendent and the Records He Keeps].
The Medical Officer, section 13. Subject to the control of the Superintendent, he has charge of the sanitary administration of the prison and performs such duties as State rules prescribe. Note that he is subordinate to the Superintendent, which is the structural weakness discussed in [The Medical Officer].
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