SENTENCING ACT 1989 - SECT 51 Information concerning prisoners and prisons

This legislation has been repealed.

SENTENCING ACT 1989 - SECT 51

51 Information concerning prisoners and prisons

(1) The Commissioner of Corrective Services, and all persons employed in a prison, shall grant to the members of the Board or to any person authorised in writing by the Board in that behalf access at all reasonable times to any prisoner confined in the prison:

(a) whose release on parole is being considered by the Board, or

(b) whose case has been referred to the Board by the Minister as referred to in section 50, or

(c) in respect of whom a minimum term is applicable, or

(d) who is being detained in strict custody in a prison under section 25 or 39 of the Mental Health (Criminal Procedure) Act 1990 , or

(e) who is a licensee or a person whose existing licence has been revoked,

and shall provide for those members or persons, as the case may be, facilities for communicating with or observing the prisoner.

(2) The Commissioner of Corrective Services or the Commissioner of Police shall, if so requested by the Board, supply or cause to be supplied to the Board reports on the conduct and character of:

(a) any prisoner referred to in subsection (1), and

(b) any person who is for the time being subject to a parole order.

(3) Where any prisoner or person referred to in subsection (2) was formerly:

(a) an inmate of an institution, within the meaning of the Child Welfare Act 1939 , or

(b) a person detained in a detention centre, within the meaning of the Children (Detention Centres) Act 1987 ,

the Director-General of the Department of Community Services (in respect of a prisoner or person referred to in paragraph (a)) or the Director-General of the Department of Juvenile Justice (in respect of a prisoner or person referred to in paragraph (b)), shall, if requested by the Board, supply or cause to be supplied to the Board a report on the conduct and character of the prisoner or person while an inmate of an institution or while a person detained in a detention centre.

(4) The Director-General of the Department of Health shall, if requested by the Board:

(a) arrange for psychological, medical or psychiatric examinations to be carried out on any prisoner or person referred to in subsection (2), and

(b) supply, or cause to be supplied, to the Board all reports on the result of any such examination.

(5) There shall be included in any report on a prisoner or person supplied to the Board under this section any information available to the person supplying the report or causing it to be supplied which may be of assistance to the Board in considering the case of the prisoner or person to whom the report relates.