Section 50: Rights of arrested and detained persons

(1) Any person who is arrested—

    (a) must be informed at the time of arrest of the reason for the arrest;

    (b) must be permitted, without delay—

          (i) at the expense of the State, to contact their spouse or partner, or a relative or

legal practitioner, or anyone else of their choice; and

          (ii) at their own expense, to consult in private with a legal practitioner and a medical

practitioner of their choice;

and must be informed of this right promptly;

    (c) must be treated humanely and with respect for their inherent dignity;

    (d) must be released unconditionally or on reasonable conditions, pending a charge or

trial, unless there are compelling reasons justifying their continued detention; and

    (e) must be permitted to challenge the lawfulness of the arrest in person before a court and

must be released promptly if the arrest is unlawful.

(2) Any person who is arrested or detained—

    (a) for the purpose of bringing him or her before a court; or

    (b) for an alleged offence; and who is not released must be brought before a court as soon as possible and in any event not later than forty-eight hours after the arrest took place or the detention began, as the case may be, whether or not the period ends on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday.

(3) Any person who is not brought to court within the forty-eight hour period referred to in subsection (2) must be released immediately unless their detention has earlier been extended by a competent court.

(4) Any person who is arrested or detained for an alleged offence has the right—

    (a) to remain silent;

    (b) to be informed promptly—

          (i) of their right to remain silent; and

          (ii) of the consequences of remaining silent and of not remaining silent;

    (c) not to be compelled to make any confession or admission; and

    (d) at the first court appearance after being arrested, to be charged or to be informed of the

reason why their detention should continue, or to be released.

(5) Any person who is detained, including a sentenced prisoner, has the right—

    (a) to be informed promptly of the reason for their being detained;

    (b) at their own expense, to consult in private with a legal practitioner of their choice, and

to be informed of this right promptly;

    (c) to communicate with, and be visited by—

          (i) a spouse or partner;

          (ii) a relative;

          (iii) their chosen religious counsellor;

          (iv) their chosen legal practitioner;

          (v) their chosen medical practitioner; and

          (vi) subject to reasonable restrictions imposed for the proper administration of

prisons or places of detention, anyone else of their choice;

    (d) to conditions of detention that are consistent with human dignity, including the

opportunity for physical exercise and the provision, at State expense, of adequate

accommodation, ablution facilities, personal hygiene, nutrition, appropriate reading

material and medical treatment; and

    (e) to challenge the lawfulness of their detention in person before a court and, if the

detention is unlawful, to be released promptly.

(6) Any person who is detained pending trial for an alleged offence and is not tried within a reasonable time must be released from detention, either unconditionally or on reasonable conditions to ensure that after being released they—

    (a) attend trial;

    (b) do not interfere with the evidence to be given at the trial; and

    (c) do not commit any other offence before the trial begins.

(7) If there are reasonable grounds to believe that a person is being detained illegally or if it is not possible to ascertain the whereabouts of a detained person, any person may approach the High Court for an order—

    (a) of habeas corpus, that is to say an order requiring the detained person to be released,

or to be brought before the court for the lawfulness of the detention to be justified, or

requiring the whereabouts of the detained person to be disclosed; or

    (b) declaring the detention to be illegal and ordering the detained person’s prompt release;

and the High Court may make whatever order is appropriate in the circumstances.

(8) An arrest or detention which contravenes this section, or in which the conditions set out in this section are not met, is illegal.

(9) Any person who has been illegally arrested or detained is entitled to compensation from the person responsible for the arrest or detention, but a law may protect the following persons from liability under this section—

    (a) a judicial officer acting in a judicial capacity reasonably and in good faith;

    (b) any other public officer acting reasonably and in good faith and without culpable

ignorance or negligence.