(1)A convicted appellant who is not admitted to bail shall, pending the determination of his or her appeal, be treated as an appellant prisoner for the purposes of the Prisons Act.

(2)The appellate court may, if it sees fit, admit an appellant to bail pending the determination of his or her appeal; but when a magistrate's court refuses to release a person on bail, that person may apply for bail to the appellate court.

(3)The time during which an appellant, pending the determination of his or her appeal, is admitted to bail, and subject to any directions which the appellate court may give to the contrary on the appeal, the time during which the appellant, if in custody, is treated as an appellant prisoner under this section, shall not count as part of any term of imprisonment under his or her sentence; and the sentence of the appellant, whether it is the sentence passed by the court of trial or the sentence passed by the appellate court on appeal, shall, subject to any directions which may be given by the court as referred to in this subsection, be deemed to be resumed or to begin to run, as the case requires, if the appellant is in custody, as from the day on which the appeal is determined, and, if he or she is not in custody, as from the day on which he or she is received into prison under the sentence.

(4)Notwithstanding subsection (3), when an appellant has been in custody pending the determination of his or her appeal for a period longer than six weeks then, unless the appellate court otherwise orders, the sentence of the appellant shall begin to run so soon as he or she has been in custody for a total period of six weeks.

(5)Notwithstanding subsection (1), a convicted appellant may, at the time of lodging notice of appeal, elect to be treated pending the determination of his or her appeal as a convicted criminal prisoner for the purposes of the Prisons Act.

(6)Where a convicted appellant elects in accordance with subsection (5) to be treated as a convicted criminal prisoner, the sentence of that convicted appellant, whether it is the sentence passed by the court of trial or the sentence passed by the appellate court on appeal, shall, subject to any directions by the appellate court to the contrary, commence from the date of the original sentence.

(7)Where a court convicts any person and sentences him or her to a term of imprisonment, it shall inform the person of his or her right of election under subsection (5).