Prisons act, 1972

• Act Number: 7
• Enactment Date: 25 May 1972

Number 7 of 1972
PRISONS ACT, 1972
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section 1. Definition. 2. Transfer to military custody. 3. Specifying of prisons. 4. Short title, collective citation and construction.
Acts Referred to Prisons (Visiting Committees) Act, 1925 1925, No. 11 Criminal Justice Act, 1960 1960, No. 27
Number 7 of 1972
PRISONS ACT, 1972
AN ACT TO AMEND AND EXTEND THE PRISONS ACTS, 1826 TO 1970. [25th May, 1972]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:
	Definition.	1.—In this Act “the Minister” means the Minister for Justice.
	Transfer to military custody.	2.—(1) This section shall continue in operation until the 31st day of May, 1974.
	(2) If and whenever Dáil Éireann is satisfied that this section should cease to be in operation, it may, by resolution, declare that it is satisfied as aforesaid and appoint a day on which this section shall cease to be in operation, and on the day so appointed this section shall cease to be in operation.
	(3) If and whenever, at a time when this section is in operation, the Minister is of opinion that prison accommodation or prison staff is insufficient to provide secure and reasonable conditions of custody for all persons then in custody in prison or for whom prison accommodation is required or is insufficient to provide such conditions without serious detriment to the maintenance in prisons of the normal arrangements for the rehabilitative treatment and welfare of prisoners he may, in writing—
	(a) certify that he is so of opinion, and
	(b) direct the transfer to military custody of such of the persons aforesaid as are specified by him,
	and thereupon the persons so specified shall be transferred to military custody and shall remain in such custody until—
	(i) in the case of persons on remand, they are brought before the court to which they were remanded,
	(ii) in the case of persons sent forward for trial or sentence, they are brought before the court to which they were sent forward and the proceedings in relation to the trial or sentence have concluded, and
	(iii) in any other case, their sentences or other periods of custody have terminated.
	(4) If and whenever, at a time when this section is in operation, a person on remand or sent forward for trial or sentence is in military custody pursuant to this section, a court that further remands him in custody or a court that sends him forward in custody for trial or sentence or a court that sentences him to be detained in custody in prison shall commit him to military custody for the period...