of torture. ˚ Law enforcement officers and corrections officers are included within the statutory definition of a “public official” for the purposes of the Act. Crimes Act 1961 • Section 151: “Every one who has actual care or charge of a person who is a vulnerable adult and who is unable to provide himself or herself with necessaries is under a legal duty – (a) to provide that person with necessaries; and (b) to take reasonable steps to protect that person from injury.” • Section 2 defines a “vulnerable person” “a person unable, by reason of detention, age, sickness, mental impairment, or any other cause, to withdraw himself or herself from the care or charge of another person.” Corrections Act 2004 Segregation • Section 57: Segregation is defined as an event where “[t]he opportunity of a prisoner to associate with other prisoners may be restricted or denied in accordance with sections 58 to 60.” • The Corrections Act provides for the segregation of prisoners for the purpose of security, good order or safety (s 58), protective custody (s 59) or medical oversight (s 60). Security, good order, or safety. • Section 58(1): A prisoner may be placed in segregation if the prison manager is of the opinion that “the security or good order of the prison would otherwise be endangered or prejudiced”, or “the safety of another prisoner or another person would otherwise be endangered.” • Section 58(2): If a prisoner is segregated in this way, they must be given the reasons for their segregation in writing and the chief executive of the Department of Corrections must be promptly informed of the direction and the reasons for it. • Section 58(3): The decision to segregate someone may be revoked at any time by the chief executive or a Visiting Justice (and it must be revoked by the prison manager if there ceases to be any justification for continuing to restrict or deny the opportunity of the prisoner to associate with other prisoners), • Sections 58(3)(c), 58(3)(d)(i): A decision to segregate expires after 14 days unless the chief executive directs for it to continue, in which case the decision must be reviewed by the chief executive at least every month. • Sections 58(3)(d)(ii), 58(3)(e): It then expires after three months unless renewed by a Visiting Justice, who must then review it in intervals of not more than three months. 68