Section 59(1)(a) of the Corrections Act 2004 provides that the Prison Manager (or his / her authorised delegate) may direct that the opportunity of a prisoner to associate with other prisoners be restricted or denied if the prisoner requests and the Prison Manager (or his / her authorised delegate) considers, having regard to any information supplied by the prisoner or otherwise available to the Prison Manager (or his / her authorised delegate), that it is in the best interests of the prisoner to give that direction.
The segregation of a prisoner under section 59(1)(a) is referred to as “voluntary protective custody” in this National System.
Segregation into voluntary protective custody under section 59(1)(a) requires the prisoner to give written consent to that direction. Unless the written consent is given, no prisoner is to be segregated into voluntary protective custody.
The direction for segregation is to be immediately revoked if the prisoner withdraws his / her consent. The prisoner’s withdrawal of consent should ideally be evidenced in writing, but the prisoner’s oral withdrawal of consent must be acted upon and the fact of the withdrawal of consent recorded. The statement of withdrawal of consent and advice from the prisoner not to confirm this in writing should be observed by two officers and the record of this signed by both officers.
A prisoner placed in voluntary protective custody under a segregation direction must be advised at the outset that they may withdraw their consent to the direction for voluntary segregation at any time and return to the general prison population, unless the prison manager gives a further direction that the prisoner be segregated for the purpose of directed protective custody in which case the prisoner’s consent is not required.