Prison report raises concerns over private letters

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A number of private letters between inmates and their lawyers were opened by prison staff in breach of the rules, an investigation has found.

The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) for England and Wales investigated 32 complaints, in just over a year, of letters being opened.

The watchdog ruled in favour of the prisoner in 16 cases, but found "little evidence" of deliberate tampering.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said they were "isolated cases".

Nigel Newcomen of the PPO said it was a "fundamental aspect" of the right to a fair trial and access to justice that correspondence between prisoners and their legal advisers was kept private.

Prison rules say such letters can be opened only if staff suspect they contain banned items, such as drugs, or if they do not think the mail is connected to a legal matter.

'Human error'

Mr Newcomen said the investigation, which looked into complaints dating from April 2014 to June this year, found "one-off and occasional errors".

Most of the cases were due to "human error", he said

But he found that some letters had been "deliberately" opened on security grounds without the prisoner involved having the opportunity to be present, as the rules require.

There was a small number of cases in which staff training or prison processes had not been sufficient to prevent repeated mistakes, he said.

He added: "To say that the evidence pointed to human error rather than deliberate interference is not to minimise the seriousness of the issue."

He called for improvements in the way prisons handle confidential correspondence - ensuring errors are recorded and that staff fully understand the rules.

A Prison Service spokesman said his recommendations had been accepted and the "necessary action" taken at the prisons concerned.

"This bulletin is being shared with all prison staff to reinforce the correct process that needs to be followed when handling prisoners' legal and confidential mail."