6. Entrance and Exit Procedure “I was scared on my first night here. Let’s not talk about it please. I have made peace with it now. I have stopped crying now.” Convicted Female, PCP 1. Introduction The entrance procedure consists of numerous steps, such as admission, body searches upon admission, recording assaults, registration, medical examination and the orientation provided to prisoners. Generally, prisoners are brought to prison in the evening, as transfers from courts are done only at the end of the day. Upon entry into prison, their detention documents will be checked and a basic registration is done. New entrants will also be inquired about any assault they experienced prior to admission to prison. Following this, their property will be taken from them for storage and they will be subjected to body searches. They will thereafter be assigned to the ward for new entrants where they will spend their first night in prison. The remainder of the admission and registration process, such being registered by the Record Clerk, being subjected to a medical examination, being assigned to work parties and given an orientation, will be undertaken only the following day. Each step of the aforementioned entrance process will be discussed in detail in this chapter. 2. Admission process The SMRs contain the standard procedure to be followed in the process of admitting a person to a prison. SMR 7 provides that, ‘No person shall be received in a prison without a valid commitment order,’14 the purpose of which is to ensure the detention is not unlawful or arbitrary and has been ordered by a lawful authority. Local laws contain similar provisions with Section 82 of the SRs15 affirming that a jailor cannot receive any prisoner into prison ‘without a legal warrant or a written authority from the SP.’ Further, Section 91 of the SRs provides that the jailor ‘shall not permit any person to remain for the night within the prison without the written order of the SP.’16 Section 95 of the PO specifies that a certified copy of the committal paper is sufficient prima facie evidence of a lawful custody for the purpose of admission of a person into a prison.17 Section 89 of the 14 UN General Assembly, The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) 17 December 2015, Resolution A/RES/70/175, r 7. 15 Subsidiary Legislation under the Prisons Ordinance 1956, s 82. 16 SRs 1956, s 91. 17 PO No.16 of 1877, s 95, ‘A copy of the committal of any prisoner by a competent court, or a copy of the extract from the calendar relating to any prisoner who may have been convicted by the Supreme Court, shall, if such copy 36