701. Escort requisitions and general rules regarding escorts. [§ 12, Act V, 1861].
(a)Escorts shall be furnished only on written indents from competent authority. A separate requisition shall be made for each escort required in B. P. Form No. 145 and escort parties shall be distinguished from each other by the number of the requisition. Persons authorised to indent for escort parties shall be supplied with books of requisition forms by the Superintendent.(b)The Superintendent shall determine the strength of the escort to be supplied when it is not laid down by rule. (See regulations 704-707.)(c)Forty-eight hours' notice in ordinary cases and 72 hours' notice in the case of escorts proceeding beyond the limits of the province (exclusive of Sundays and holidays) shall be given to the Superintendent to enable him to furnish an escort of the proper strength. But in urgent cases, on requisition from competent authority, Superintendents shall do their best to supply or relieve escorts at short notice.(d)Superintendents shall report promptly to the Deputy Inspector-General of the Range, by telegram when necessary, when they anticipate difficulty in providing escorts within the time fixed by district officers. In such cases special arrangements shall be made by the Deputy Inspector-General for the supply of the force.(e)As a rule railway and inland steam navigation lines shall be utilized as much as possible, and the shortest road from one place to another shall be taken.(f)When large escorts are sent sufficient accommodation in the train or steamer or bus shall be reserved in good time and each Assistant Sub-Inspector or head constable shall be definitely in charge of a specified number of men of whom he shall have a list.(g)All arrangements as regards carriage shall devolve upon the officer to whom the escort is supplied, and shall not in any way form part of the duty of the police. [See regulation 703(b)].(h)Prisoners and treasure shall not, except under special circumstances, be sent together.(i)Superintendents shall not despatch treasure or receive charge of it for despatch by railway until assured that arrangements have been made for receiving it at the station of arrival.(j)Escorts shall never travel by night, except when proceeding by railway, steamer or boat, or under special instructions and the marches shall be regulated so as to take advantage of police-stations or other places of security in which to lodge prisoners and treasure when halting for the night.(k)With a view to utilizing as much as possible escorts returning to their districts, indenting officers having prisoners or treasure to be escorted to any place on the line of march shall apply to the senior local police officer present to depute a return escort or any. portion of it for this purpose and such police officer shall, unless there be good grounds for refusal, comply with the requisition and make all necessary arrangements in accordance with rule, sending by the next post, to the Superintendent of the district to which the escort belongs, a copy of the orders he has given to the officer-in-charge of the party.(l)Advantage shall be taken of returning escorts whenever possible for the despatch of treasure or prisoners to the district to which they belong or any district on their line of route. Officers-in-charge of escorts of any kind shall, on arrival at their destination, enquire from the authorities of the district whether any prisoners or treasure are awaiting transfer to their own district or in any district en route, and shall take charge of any that may be made over to them for escort. The escort commander shall report himself to the local Superintendent who shall make any arrangement that may be necessary for strengthening the return escort. Escorts arriving at Calcutta shall enquire at both the Alipore and the Presidency Jails.(m)Escorts, when halting at headquarters or subdivisions prior to escorting prisoners or treasure back to their own districts, shall remain together in the police lines or the police-station compound.(n)When any treasury official is sent in charge of a remittance he shall remain present whilst the treasure is being examined and shall take back all bags and padlocks. If the escort is returning to the station of original despatch, the chests, etc. should be sent back under its charge, coolies, cart-hire and freight being paid by the treasury.(o)Male prisoners, when heavily fettered, shall invariably be conveyed to and from railway and steamer stations in cares or carriages.(p)Female and juvenile prisoners shall be separated as far as possible from adult male prisoners. Female prisoners whether convicted or undertrial while on transit shall invariably be accompanied by a female warder to be furnished by the Jail Department.(q)When an escort proceeds by boat or road, and one or more nights may be expected to intervene before it arrives at its destination, one hurricane lantern for every 10 men, with a sufficiency of oil or funds to procure it, shall be made over to the senior officer of the escort by the Reserve office for use during the journey. In every place, hut or tent, where prisoners are confined or treasure guarded during halts, and at every place of detention on railways owing to change of trains or steamers, etc., at night, a hurricane lantern shall be suspended, so that the treasure or prisoners may be in the full light.(r)The segregation of prisoners, etc., travelling by railway as obligatory whenever -(i)military prisoners are sent;(ii)the aggregate number of prisoners and guards seat exceeds eight in number;(iii)even one prisoner is sent if violent or dangerous; and(iv)insanes, civil or military, are sent.(s)Whenever compartments are reserved for the transport of prisoners or lunatics or iron frames attached in order to segregate prisoners or lunatics, payment shall be made at the rates charged by the different railways to the general public for reserved, accommodation. In other cases prisoners may be carried by ordinary trains at ordinary rates.(t)When convicts proceed the whole or part of their journey by road, they shall not be marched more than 20 miles in one day. [See clause (j)].(u)(i)When at any time it becomes necessary to allow convicts to stop for necessary purposes, the whole party shall be halted, and not more than two convicts at a time detached for such purpose. These convicts shall have shackles put on, their legs singly, and the handcuffs being then removed, they shall be allowed to proceed to a distance of not more than 12 paces from the escort. The halting place shall be carefully selected in a clear and open piece of ground. The handcuffs shall not be removed until the leg-shackles are securely adjusted and vice versa.(ii)Ordinarily two halts shall be permitted in one day to attend to necessary purposes, in addition to the authorized halt, to allow the convicts to cook and eat their food.(iii)When a police-station lying en route is used as a halting place the officer-in-charge of such police-station shall give all reasonable aid to the escort commander; but all arrangements for feeding and guarding the convicts devolve during the halt on the police escort and not on the local police.(iv)To prevent dangerous overcrowding, each lock-up in which prisoners are accommodated for the night, shall be measured and the number the room is capable of holding shall be printed on the door. Each prisoner shall have not less than 9 square feet of sleeping space and at least 10 square inches of ventilating openings. In very hot weather verandahs shall, if possible, be occupied instead of closed rooms.(v)At stations where there is a railway police lock-up, all necessary, be placed in the lock-up, the escort providing the sentry.(w)(i)The regulations regarding escort of prisoners by railway shall, as far as possible, be applicable in case of escort of prisoners by steamer. Prisoners sentenced to more than 6 months' rigorous imprisonment, prisoners awaiting trial for serious offences who have previous convictions, or who are reported to be dangerous, should be put in leg-shackles as well as handcuffs. At night a light chain should be passed through the fetters of each prisoner and the end tied to the sentry, or the ends padlocked to stanchions.(ii)A chain should also be used whenever a prisoner goes to the closet, the end of the chain being passed under the door.(iii)On river steamers the escort commander shall report all circumstances connected with the convicts in his custody to the Commander or Serang of the steamer or flat, to whom he shall apply in all difficulties for advice and assistance and from whom he will receive all orders, necessary for the safe custody and well-being of the convicts.(x)Men supplied from police-station to strengthen escorts shall be relieved at the next police-station in the line of route.
