(1) This Act may be called the Punjab Prisons and Correctional Services Act, 2026.
(2) It shall extend to the whole of the State of Punjab.
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act, and any reference in any such provision to the commencement of this Act shall be construed as a reference to the coming into force of that provision.
Short title, extent and commencement.
PUNJAB GOVT. GAZ.(EXTRA), MAY 21, 2026 (VYSK 31, 1948 SAKA) 584
2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-
(1) "after-care service" means any activity aimed at financial rehabilitation and social integration of released prisoners into the main stream of society;
(2) "civil prisoner" means any prisoner who is not a criminal prisoner;
(3) "competent authority" means any officer having jurisdiction and due legal authority to deal with a particular matter in question;
(4) "convict" means any prisoner who has been sentenced for any term by a court of law or tribunal or court martial;
(5) "correctional service" means any service that is provided pursuant of this Act, and includes services related to the assessment, supervision, treatment, training, control, custody, reformation or rehabilitation of prisoners;
(6) "criminal prisoner" means any prisoner duly committed to custody under the writ, warrant or orders of any court exercising criminal jurisdiction or court martial and includes a person detained in prison under the provisions of chapter IX of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (Central Act No. 46 of 2023) and the Prisoners Act, 1900 (Central Act No. 3 of 1900);
(7) "Court" includes any officer lawfully exercising civil, criminal or revenue jurisdiction;
(8) "detenue" means any person detained in prison on the orders of the competent authority under the relevant laws providing for preventive detention;
(9) "Department" means the Department of Prisons and Correctional Services, Punjab;
(10) "Directorate" means the Directorate of Prisons and Correctional Services of the State of Punjab;
(11) "family" means the spouse, children including legally adopted children, parents, siblings, grandparents and grandchildren. In the absence Definitions.
PUNJAB GOVT. GAZ.(EXTRA), MAY 21, 2026 (VYSK 31, 1948 SAKA) 585 of these member(s), it shall include parents-in-law, siblings-in-law, children’s spouse, parents’ sibling of the prisoner. In the context of transgender prisoners, if there is no immediate family then, it shall include people related through socio-religious family system;
(12) "foreign prisoner" means any prisoner who is not a citizen of India;
(13) "geriatric prisoner" means a prisoner who is sixty-five years of age or above and medically unable to manage his daily affairs independently without assistance;
(14) "Government" means the Government of the State of Punjab in the Department of Prisons and Correctional Services;
(15) "Habitual Offender" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in the Punjab Habitual Offenders (Control and Reform) Act, 1952 (Punjab Act No. 12 of 1952);
(16) "Head of Department" means the Director General, Prisons and Correctional Services, Punjab or such other officer, as may be notified by the Government, from time to time;
(17) "high-risk prisoner" means a prisoner with high propensity towards violence, escape, self-harm, disorderly behavior and likely to create unrest in the prison and threat to public order. It shall also include persons intermittently suffering from suicidal tendencies and persons with substance related and addictive disorders and those engaged in organized crime, major drug traffickers and smugglers, violent or religious fundamentalists, naxalites, extremists, hired assassins, contract killers, dacoits, serial killers, criminals involved in violent rape incidents, violent robberies, communal fanatics, prisoners prone to escape from prison, involved in organized contraband smuggling inside prison, offenders involved in attack on police or prison personnel, and terrorist activities or any other identifiable threat to other prisoners; or any prisoner having specific, identifiable threat to life;
(18) "history ticket" means the ticket, either in physical or electronic form, exhibiting all relevant information in respect of a prisoner;
(19) "Internee" means a foreigner prisoner who has completed PUNJAB GOVT. GAZ.(EXTRA), MAY 21, 2026 (VYSK 31, 1948 SAKA) 586 his sentence and is awaiting deportation to the home country;
(20) "Magistrate" means any person exercising all or any of the powers of a Magistrate under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023;
(21) "medical officer" means a qualified Government medical practitioner deputed as a medical officer of a prison;
(22) "medical subordinate staff" includes a qualified Medical Assistant, such as Pharmacist, Nurse, Lab Technician, counsellor or psychiatrist deputed in a prison;
(23) "measurements" includes physical, biological, medical and biometric samples and their analysis, but not limited to finger-impressions, palm-print impressions, foot-print impressions, photographs, iris scan, body fluid samples; and behavioural attributes including signatures, handwriting, voice sampling or any other examination referred to in sections 51 or 52 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023;
(24) "offence" means any act of commission or omission made punishable by any law or under the rules made under this Act, for the time being in force;
(25) "officer in charge" means a prison officer appointed by the Government as in-charge of a prison, namely Superintendent or Deputy Superintendent or officers on deputation or such other officer of the Department, as may prescribed;
(26) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(27) "prison and correctional institution" means any place used permanently or temporarily under the general or special orders of the Government for the detention of persons including under-trial prisoners, preventive detenues, convicted prisoners, civil prisoners or any other person as ordered by a court or a competent authority, and for the aftercare and rehabilitation of convicted persons, and includes all lands and buildings appurtenant thereto, but does not include, -
(a) any place for the confinement of prisoners who are exclusively in the custody of the police;
(b) any place specially appointed by the Government under PUNJAB GOVT. GAZ.(EXTRA), MAY 21, 2026 (VYSK 31, 1948 SAKA) 587 section 457 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023;
(c) any observation home, special home, children’s home, shelter home, place of safety, under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (Central Act No. 2 of 2016) and protective home for women set up by the State Government;
(28) "prisoner" means any person confined under the order, writ or warrant of a competent authority;
(29) "prison officer" means an officer appointed by the Government and includes officer-in-charge and officers of any other security force or any other service deployed in the prison for assisting the prison administration for the safe custody of prisoners and providing correctional services to the prisoners;
(30) "prison staff" means an employee appointed by the Directorate or the Government, other than a prison officer, who exercises powers or performs duties or functions related to prison administration or as may be assigned by the Government;
(31) "prohibited article" means an article, the introduction or removal of which into or out of a prison is prohibited by this Act or rules made under this Act or by any other law or by any notification issued by the Government;
(32) "recidivist" means an offender who has committed another crime after the first one;
(33) "State" means the State of Punjab;
(34) "under-trial prisoner" means a person who is not a convict and has been committed to judicial custody pending investigation by the police or a trial by a court of competent jurisdiction;
(35) "visitor" means any person, other than a prisoner, prison officer or prison staff, who is permitted by the Government or by such duly empowered authorities to visit the prison;
(36) "wireless communication device" includes mobile phone, PUNJAB GOVT. GAZ.(EXTRA), MAY 21, 2026 (VYSK 31, 1948 SAKA) 588 drone, wi-fi device, computer, laptop, palmtop, tablet, watches, satellite phone, portable radios and their use for communication like verbal, nonverbal, internet, General Packet Radio Service or any such device which is available for similar purpose or any such item duly notified as wireless communication device by the Government; and
(37) "young offender" means a prisoner who has attained the age of eighteen years and has not attained the age of twenty-one years.
CHAPTER-II FUNCTIONS OF PRISONS AND CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS
3. The functions of prisons and correctional institutions shall be as follows, namely:-
(i) to keep prisoners in safe custody;
(ii) to take suitable measures for the safety and security of prisoners;
(iii) to provide the prisoners with food, clothing, accommodation, other necessities and medical treatment;
(iv) to provide correctional services to the prisoners with the objective of rehabilitating them in the society as law abiding citizens;
(v) to maintain discipline in the prison in accordance with the provisions of this Act and the rules made thereunder;
(vi) to adopt measures,-
(a) to put the prisoners sentenced to rigorous imprisonment to labour;
(b) to put the prisoners to vocation-oriented labour; and
(c) to put the prisoners on activities in prison like cooking, sanitary services, gardening, or any other job on a roster basis; and Functions of prisons and correctional institutions.
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(vii) to provide such other facilities and amenities to the prisoners, as may be prescribed.
CHAPTER-III PRISON ACCOMMODATION
4. The Government shall provide sufficient number of prisons and correctional institutions in the State of Punjab for accommodating the prisoners, which may be constructed and maintained in such manner so as to comply with the requirements of this Act.