Prisoners Act, 1900

The Prisoners Act, 1900 sets out the basic rules for how prisons must handle people who have been committed to custody by a court. Section 3 requires the officer in charge of a prison to receive and hold anyone sent to them under a court's writ, warrant, or order, and Section 4 requires that officer to return the writ or warrant to the issuing court once it has been carried out or the person released, along with a certificate explaining what happened.

Part IV deals with carrying out sentences. Section 15 allows prison officers to act on sentences or detention orders from any court or tribunal, whether inside or outside Pakistan. Section 16 says a warrant signed by an officer of that court is enough authority to hold the person. Section 17 tells a prison officer what to do if they doubt whether a warrant sent to them is legally valid: refer the matter to the Provincial Government, whose decision then governs how the prisoner is treated. Section 18 deals with the special case of executing certain death sentences passed by courts that operated outside Pakistan's territory.

Part VI covers moving prisoners between prisons (Section 29) and how prisoners who are found to be of unsound mind are dealt with (Section 30). Section 33, in Part VIII, allows a prisoner who has been recommended for pardon to be released by the High Court on their own recognizance while the pardon is being processed.

Part IX is about getting prisoners to court to give evidence or face charges. Sections 35 to 48 let civil courts (Section 35) and certain criminal courts (Section 37) require a prisoner's attendance, set out how these orders are sent through the local magistrate, and provide special procedures when the prisoner is held more than a hundred miles away or beyond a High Court's usual reach, including using a formal "commission" to take the prisoner's evidence where they are held instead of bringing them to court (Sections 44-46).

This is a very old law dating to 1900, and the extract contains numerous footnotes showing it has been repeatedly amended (for example by the 1981 Federal Laws (Revision and Declaration) Ordinance and earlier Adaptation Orders). Anyone relying on its exact current wording, especially for the sections not covered here, should check the up-to-date official text.