Commentary on Sections Part 2: Prisons Section 20: Amendment of section 87 of Criminal Justice Act 1991
104.This section makes two small amendments to section 87 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991. The principal effect of the Section is to enable the search powers vested in “authorised employees” under section 8A of the 1991 Act, together with the mechanism for authorising those searches, to apply in a contracted-out prison. Accordingly a director of such a prison will be able to authorise employees who are not prisoner custody officers to carry out “rub down” searches in accordance with section 8A.