NOV 8 — Section 2 of the Prison Act 1995 (Act 537) defines a prisoner as "a person, whether convicted or not, under confinement in a prison and in relation to a convicted prisoner, includes a prisoner released on parole”.

A person who is not convicted but "under confinement in a prison” is generally a person who has been (1) charged with an unbailable offence where bail pending trial cannot be granted by the court or (2) charged with a non-bailable offence where bail pending trial is denied by the court at its discretion.

The person is referred to as an accused person under remand — or a remand prisoner — and the law is contained in Section 388 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

If by the house arrest Bill (a proposed law) the legislature intends to give the court another discretion to order an accused person who has been denied bail pending trial to be placed under house arrest, then house arrest is not objectionable in principle.

This is because an accused person, or any person for that matter, is presumed innocent until proven guilty.