South Australian Consolidated Acts

CORRECTIONAL SERVICES ACT 1982 - SECT 37

37—Search of prisoners

        (1)         The manager of a correctional institution may cause a prisoner or a prisoner's belongings to be searched in any of the following cases:

            (a)         where the prisoner enters the correctional institution or moves from one part of the institution to another;

            (b)         where the manager has reasonable cause to suspect that the prisoner has in his or her possession in the correctional institution an item prohibited by the regulations;

            (c)         where the prisoner is required pursuant to this Act to provide a biological sample for analysis.

        (1a)         The manager of a correctional institution may also cause a prisoner's belongings to be searched if, for the purpose of detecting items prohibited by the regulations, the manager—

            (a)         proposes that the belongings of all prisoners within the institution, or a part of the institution, be searched; or

            (b)         causes the random selection of prisoners from the whole, or a part, of the institution for the purposes of such a search and the prisoner falls within the selection.

        (2)         The following provisions apply to the search of a prisoner:

            (a)         those present at any time during the search when the prisoner is naked, except a medical practitioner, must be of the same sex as the prisoner;

            (b)         at least two persons, apart from the prisoner, must be present at all times during the search when the prisoner is naked;

            (c)         for the purposes of the search, the prisoner may be required—

                  (i)         to open his or her mouth;

                  (ii)         to strip;

                  (iii)         to adopt particular postures;

                  (iv)         to do anything else reasonably necessary for the purposes of the search,

and if the prisoner does not comply with such a requirement reasonable force may be applied to secure compliance.

        (3)         Force must not be applied to open a prisoner's mouth except by or under the supervision of a medical practitioner.

        (4)         Nothing may be introduced into an orifice of a prisoner's body for the purposes of a search except by a medical practitioner.

        (5)         A search must be carried out expeditiously and undue humiliation of the prisoner must be avoided.

        (6)         The annual report submitted under this Act by the Chief Executive Officer in respect of a financial year must include particulars of—

            (a)         the number of searches conducted under subsection (1a) in respect of each correctional institution during the year; and

            (b)         the number and general description of items prohibited by the regulations detected in the institution during those searches.