THE PRISONS ACT

This section says a death sentence must be carried out in or near a prison appointed by the Commissioner, certain prison staff must attend, a minister may attend, and other people need the Minister’s written authority to be present.

The Minister may define which prisoner acts or omissions count as prison offences and classify some as minor or major.

A prison officer-in-charge may punish prisoners found guilty after due inquiry, with different powers depending on whether the officer is senior or subordinate.

The Commissioner may punish prisoners for prison offences, and an officer-in-charge may transfer a major prison offence to the Commissioner if local punishment powers are inadequate.

A prisoner found guilty of a major prison offence may ask for review by the Commissioner, and the officer-in-charge must pass the record to the Commissioner if the prisoner wants review.

A persistent prison-discipline offender may be brought before a magistrate, who may sentence the offender to up to six months in prison, consecutive to the current sentence.

A prisoner cannot be found guilty of a prison offence unless he has first had a chance to hear the charges and make his defence.

A prisoner cannot be put on punishment diet unless a medical officer, or someone the medical officer appoints, certifies the prisoner as medically fit.

This section limits corporal punishment, requires medical certification, and gives the medical officer control to direct safety measures or stop the punishment.

The officer-in-charge may order a prisoner to be segregated if that is considered necessary for the prison’s good order and discipline.

The officer-in-charge must enter punishment records in a register, including the prisoner’s name, offence, and punishment details, and the register must be open to inspection by visiting justices.

A prisoner must follow prison discipline and regulations for the whole time of imprisonment, even outside prison premises.

A prison officer investigating a prisoner disciplinary offence may summon and question witnesses, require documents, and adjourn hearings.

Each prisoner’s religious denomination or sect must be recorded, and the prisoner must be treated as a member of that denomination or sect; worship facilities are to be provided as prescribed.

The Minister may appoint ministers or priests of any religion or sect as prison ministers by notice in the Gazette.

Prisoners may receive and send letters and receive visitors, but only as prescribed.

The Government must pay the postage costs for letters written by prisoners.

A prisoner may raise any matter with a visiting justice when that justice is visiting the prison.

Some prisoners can earn remission of one-third of their sentence for industry and good conduct, but not if they are serving life imprisonment or are detained at the President’s pleasure.

The President may grant a further remission, if the Commissioner recommends it, for exceptional merit, permanent ill-health, or another ground.

The Commissioner must send the President reports on certain prisoners at specified intervals, with some cases excluded and some reports allowed more often.

If a prison officer thinks a prisoner is eligible for community-service release, the officer must tell the prisoner and, if the prisoner agrees, certify the matter to the court.

The Commissioner may order a prisoner moved from one prison to another. If the prison officer cannot provide an escort, the officer-in-charge may hand the prisoner over to a police officer for that duty.

A seriously ill prisoner may be moved to a Government hospital, and in an emergency the officer-in-charge may order the move without consulting the medical officer.

Hospital medical officers and staff must take reasonable steps to stop a prisoner under treatment from escaping, but not if doing so would likely harm the prisoner’s health.

If the officer-in-charge thinks special security measures are needed for a prisoner in hospital, the prisoner may be placed in the charge of selected prison officers or temporary prison officers.

A prison officer is not answerable for a prisoner’s escape from a hospital or mental hospital unless the prisoner was in the officer’s personal custody. Hospital medical officers and similar staff are also not answerable unless they helped the escape or wilfully failed to take reasonable precautions.

A medical officer must report an unsound-mind prisoner to the court, and the court may order removal to a mental hospital in Tanzania.

Prisoners certified by a medical officer as having active leprosy must be transferred, by order of the Commissioner, to the nearest prison for persons with leprosy.

A court or other competent authority may order a prison officer to produce a prisoner, and the officer must move and safely keep the person while away from prison.

Before a prisoner is moved to another prison, a medical officer must examine the prisoner and certify that the prisoner is free from illness that would make removal unfit.

A prisoner sentenced to imprisonment and detained in prison must be employed, trained, treated, and assigned labour as directed.

Prisons holding female prisoners must have enough women prison officers, and the Commissioner decides whether a woman prison officer must be in charge.

A woman prisoner may only be employed on labour suitable for women, and a medical officer may excuse her from labour, tasks, or other duties.

The medical officer may excuse a prisoner from labour or require light labour, and a prisoner assigned light labour must do the work the medical officer considers fit.

Prisoners must wear prison clothing set by the Commissioner, have separate bedding for warmth and health, and the dietary scale for prisoners must be prescribed.

The Government may pay a prisoner gratuity at prescribed rates.

Convicted criminal prisoners may be confined in wards or cells, subject to regulations, and cells and wards must be lit at night and constantly supervised by a prison officer.

Prisons must have suitable isolation cells when needed and practicable, and the Commissioner must approve their pattern.

The Commissioner may order convicted criminal prisoner groups to be separated from each other, subject to sections 28 and 76.

The officer-in-charge may order a prisoner to be confined in an isolation cell and restrained when urgently necessary for safe custody; hospital patients are exempt unless a medical officer certifies they are fit.

A prisoner under sentence of death must be kept apart from other prisoners in a special cell or ward.

Some short-term prisoners, and people held for unpaid fines or costs, may declare that they want public work outside prison, and the court and prison authorities must process that declaration and notify the administrative officer.

When a detained person dies in prison, the officer-in-charge must notify the medical officer, who must examine the body, issue a cause-of-death certificate, and deliver it to the nearest coroner.

The officer-in-charge must hold a remanded person in prison according to the warrant of committal and deliver the person to the court or competent authority at the time named in the warrant.

Civil and unconvicted prisoners may be allowed to associate together in an orderly way if the Commissioner directs the conditions.

Unconvicted prisoners may keep themselves and buy or receive food, bedding, clothing, and other necessities from private sources, but only during proper hours and subject to examination and other conditions set by the Commissioner.

Civil and unconvicted prisoners, and appellant prisoners, must keep their cells and belongings clean; appellant prisoners must also do labour directed by the Commissioner with the Minister’s approval.

Prison officers must discharge prisoners when they become entitled to release, normally before noon, with limited exceptions for medical treatment and irregular public transport.

The Minister may release a prisoner who is to be expelled, deported, or removed from the United Republic so the person can be taken onto the transport for removal; while being conveyed, the person must stay in custody.

A prisoner discharged from a prison outside the area where he usually lives must be given a travel warrant home and subsistence allowance for the journey, at Government expense.

A person must not wear Service uniforms, badges, or similar items likely to deceive unless entitled by office or given permission by the Commissioner; doing so is an offence punishable by a fine up to 5,000 shillings.

A person commits an offence if they help a prisoner escape, provide or arrange escape aids, send escape-related messages into or out of prison, or hide an escaped prisoner.

A person commits an offence if they loiter near a prison after warning, contact prisoners without lawful authority, interfere with prisoners, photograph or sketch prisons or prisoners without written authority, or publish false prison-related information; conviction can bring a fine, imprisonment, or both.

It is an offence to handle or move prohibited items or communicate with prisoners without lawful authority, and prison staff are also barred from allowing such conduct or dealing with prisoners in business transactions.

It is an offence to bring or remove a prohibited article into or from a prison without lawful authority.

A person must not possess, buy, receive, or help sell/dispose of prison-duty articles supplied to a prison officer without authority; doing so is an offence.

This section creates offences for helping a prison officer desert, encouraging mutiny or disobedience, and for prison officers taking part in or inciting mutiny.

A prison officer who leaves the Service or withdraws from duty outside the law, or who deserts, commits an offence.

A prisoner may not offer or give money or other consideration to a prison officer or other prison service employee, and such officers or employees commit an offence if they receive or demand it.

Prison officers, and people acting for or employed by them, must not sell or supply articles for prisoners or the Prisons Department, take benefits from those sales, or have prohibited financial or communication dealings tied to prisoners or prison supplies.

A prison officer must not, without the Commissioner’s permission, give a certificate or testimonial about a prisoner’s conduct in prison or otherwise.

A prison officer must not give certain prison-related information to the press or anyone else without the Commissioner’s permission.

A person who commits an offence under the Act, or breaches its regulations, may be fined up to 2,000 shillings, jailed up to 6 months, or both, if no specific penalty is provided.

This section says the Act does not stop a prisoner, prison officer, or other person from being prosecuted and punished under other written law, and a person cannot be tried twice for the same offence.

A prison officer may arrest a person who commits a specified offence in the officer’s presence and gives a false name or residence, or refuses to state it, and must hand the person to a police officer without undue delay.

The officer-in-charge must post a notice outside the prison in Kiswahili and English listing the acts prohibited in sections 82 to 87 and 91 and the penalties for committing them.

The officer-in-charge must tell every prisoner, immediately on admission, about the rules in subsection (1).

If a person's age is disputed, their prison detention is not treated as unlawful if, when the detention order was made, they appeared to be within the Act's age limits.

A civil action under this Act must be started within six months, or within six months of a prisoner’s release, and in any event within one year of the act or omission complained of. Written notice of the claim must be given to the defendant at least one month before the action starts.

This section lets certain officials appoint or serve as visiting justices for prisons, gives visiting justices access and reporting powers, and limits women visiting justices from entering male prisoner areas unless escorted by a male prison officer.

The Commissioner must keep records for every prison officer and prisoner and record who should receive money or property if they die without a valid will.

The Commissioner may offer rewards for information or assistance leading to the capture of an escaped prisoner, and must pay a person’s expenses if they qualify; rewards to prison or police officers are barred unless exceptional circumstances justify payment.

Fines for discipline offences must be paid into the Prison Officers Rewards and Fines Fund, and payments out of the fund need the Commissioner’s authority.

The Minister may make regulations to carry out this Act, including detailed rules for prison administration and prisoner management.

This provision is omitted and contains no operative rule in the provided text.