But, of course, it cannot be excused. It is desirable, for clarity, to emphasise the great difference between prison custody and police custody. The former involves, mainly, prisoners who have been sentenced, or who are on remand awaiting trial, or awaiting sentence following conviction. The periods of detention vary enormously but is generally for a period of weeks, although prisoners on fine default sentences may be in custody for days. 3.3.3 Police custody is quite different.
Police custody is, therefore, typically for hours rather than days, weeks or months.
There is an exception to this. Some police station cells are gazetted as prisons with a limited maximum holding period. Typically, these are stations in fairly remote areas and stations adjacent to major prisons to cater for prison overflow problems. Ten of the ninety-nine deaths investigated by the Commission fall into this category. A discussion of the practical legal consequences of this situation is contained in the report of the death of the man who died at Katherine, and of the practical unsuitability of at least some police cells for this prolonged detention in the report of John Pilot.