Removal of criminals from prison to Mental Hospital

(1) If any person imprisoned in any prison or other place of confinement appears to be of mind, the Superintendent of Prisons shall call to his assistance a medical practitioner and inquire with his aid into the mental condition of the person so imprisoned. (2) If the medical practitioner certifies that the person so imprisoned is of unsound mind, the Minister may, if he thinks fit, upon receipt of the certificate of the medical practitioner 20 and such other evidence as he may require, direct by warrant under his hand that the person so imprisoned be removed to the (3) The Minister may for the purpose of establishing whether the person so imprisoned is of unsound mind require the magistrate of the district in which the prison is situated to hold an inquiry into the state of that person’s mind and thereupon the magistrate shall proceed in like manner as if information upon oath had been given to him under section 33 of this Act. (4) Every person removed to the Mental Hospital under this section shall remain there in imprisonment until it is duly certified to the Minister by the Director of Health Services that he is no longer of unsound mind. (5) If, when a certificate that a person confined in the Mental Hospital under this section is no longer of unsound mind is forwarded to the Minister, the sentence under which he was imprisoned has expired, the Minister shall by order under his hand direct that he be discharged from custody, but if otherwise, that he shall be taken to the prison or other place of confinement whence he was removed to the Mental Hospital to serve the remainder of his sentence. (6) The Minister may by warrant remove or discharge from the Mental Hospital any person confined therein under this section, if it be duly certified to him by at least one medical practitioner that that person, while not of sound mind, is harmless and may be discharged from restraint without danger to himself or the public.