Western Australian Current Acts Western Australian Current Acts (1) Subject to
subsection (5), a person who is detained in custody is entitled —
(a) upon
making a request to the officer in whose custody he is detained or to any
other officer performing duties in connection with his detention —
(i)
to be provided with facilities for preparing a complaint
in writing under this Act, for furnishing in writing to the Commissioner after
the complaint has been made any other relevant information, and for enclosing
the complaint or the other information (if any) in a sealed envelope; and
(ii)
to have posted to the Commissioner, without undue delay,
a sealed envelope delivered by him to any such officer and addressed to the
Commissioner;
and
(b) to
have delivered to him, without undue delay, any sealed envelope addressed to
him and sent by the Commissioner that comes into the possession or under the
control of any such officer.
(2) Subject to
subsection (5), where a sealed envelope addressed to the Commissioner is
delivered by a person detained in custody to an officer referred to in
subsection (1) for posting to the Commissioner, or a sealed envelope addressed
to a person so detained and sent by the Commissioner comes into the possession
or under the control of any such officer, the officer shall not open the
envelope, or inspect any document enclosed in the envelope.
(3) The Commissioner
may make arrangements with the relevant authorities for the identification and
delivery of sealed envelopes sent by the Commissioner to persons detained in
custody.
(4) In subsection (3)
the relevant authorities means the Commissioner of Police, the chief executive
officer of the department principally assisting the Minister administering the
Prisons Act 1981 with the administration of that Act, the CEO as defined in
the Court Security and Custodial Services Act 1999 , the CEO as defined in the
Declared Places (Mental Impairment) Act 2015 section 3, the CEO as defined in
the Health Legislation Administration Act 1984 section 3 and the chief
executive officer within the meaning of the Young Offenders Act 1994 .
(5) Subsections (1)
and (2) —
(a) do
not affect the operation of sections 67 and 68 of the Prisons Act 1981 ; and
(b)
subject to paragraph (a), have effect notwithstanding anything in any other
Act.
(5a) A reference in
subsection (1) to an officer in whose custody a person is detained includes a
reference to a person authorised to exercise a power set out in Division 1, 2
or 3 of Schedule 2, or in Schedule 3, to the
Court Security and Custodial Services Act 1999 in relation to the detained
person.
(6) An officer
referred to in subsection (1) who wilfully contravenes or fails to comply with
this section is guilty of an offence.
Penalty: $200.
[Section 17A inserted: No. 124 of 1984 s. 6;
amended: No. 47 of 1987 s. 26; No. 113 of 1987 s. 31; No. 78 of 1996 s. 12;
No. 47 of 1999 s. 26; No. 25 of 2014 s. 75; No. 4 of 2015 s. 87(3); No. 10 of
2023 s. 410.]