Section 18 in The West Bengal Correctional Services Act, 1992
18. Admission of prisoners.—
(1)No prisoner or any other person shall be admitted into a correctional home for detention unless a warrant, writ or order authorising his detention signed by a competent authority and duly sealed, is produced before the officer who, for the time being, remains in charge of the correctional home.Explanation.—For the purpose of this section, the expression “competent authority” shall mean the officer or authority duly empowered under any law for the time being in force to issue warrant, writ or order for detention of a person in the custody of a correctional home.(2)Every prisoner of person received in a correctional home for detention shall, before admission under sub-section (1), be searched at the Gate Office and the searching officer shall take into custody such articles as are not permitted under this Act or the rules made thereunder to be taken inside the correctional home. The search shall be made in such manner as may not subject the prisoner or the person to unnecessary harrassment, humiliation or ignominy. A female prisoner or person shall be searched by the matron or a female warder. When a female prisoner or person is admitted into a correctional home and there is no other female prisoner or person, a female warder shall be deputed to remain inside the ward such female prisoner or person in accommodated.(2A)Every prisoner or person received in a correctional home for detention under sub-section (1), shall undergo such physical and biometric identification measurements as may be directed by the State Government and the procedure for recording, preserving and sharing of such measurements shall be in the manner as may be notified by the State Government.(3)A register for recording the weight of every newly admitted prisoner or person shall be maintained in the office of the correctional home by the Medical Officer. After admission, every prisoner or person shall be weighed on a weighing machine kept in the office of the correctional home and his weight shall be recorded with date on which he is weighed in the register as aforesaid before he is sent to any cell or ward.(4)A prisoner or person admitted into a correctional home shall be produced on the date following the date of admission before the Superintendent of the correctional home and shall be examined by the Medical Officer of the correctional home. In course of such examination, the Medical Officer shall take the weight of the prisoner or person and record the same in the register maintained in the hospital for the correctional home as well as in the history ticket of such prisoner or person.(5)Within seven days from the date of admission of a prisoner or person in the correctional home, the Superintendent of the correctional home shall cause to be registered such descriptive roll in respect of the prisoner or person and in such form as may be prescribed.(6)Any officer or authority (other than the presiding officer of a Court) issuing any warrant, writ or order for detention of a person in a correctional home shall clearly mention in the warrant, writ or order, as the case may be, the provisions of the law under which the said person is being detained and the provisions of the law which authorise such officer or authority to issue such warrant, writ or order.When the committal of a person is not charged with any offence against the provisions of any law for the time being in force, the warrant, writ or order shall indicate the same.(7)The articles recovered from a prisoner or a person at the time of search before admission, other than those which are not permitted to be taken in the correctional home under the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder or any other law for the time being in force, shall be recorded in the register kept in the office of the correctional home as personal effects of such prisoner or person. If any of the prohibited articles as aforesaid is perishable, the same shall be destroyed and if it is not perishable, the same shall be seized and kept in safe custody and the details of such seizure shall be recorded in the register maintained in the office of the correctional home.(8)All money, jewellery or other valuable articles detected from a prisoner or person on search at the time of admission into a correctional home, if there is no order from a competent Court for seizure thereof, and all articles subsequently sent by any friend or relative of the prisoner or person for his use, shall be considered to be his personal property and shall, subject to the rules made under this Act, be kept in the safe custody in the manner prescribed.(9)After a prisoner or person is admitted into a correctional home on the basis of a warrant, writ or order issued by a Court or other competent authority, the Superintendent of the correctional home shall cause to be sent information about such admission through postal service to any relative or friend of the prisoner of person to whom the prisoner or person seeks to communicate information of his detention in the correctional home.
