§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the procedures that must be followed for a newspaper to be allowed to interview a prisoner being held in a prison establishment in England and Wales.
§ Mr. Peter LloydResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from A. J. Butler to Mr. Tom Cox, dated 28 April 1994:
The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question about the procedures that must be followed for a newspaper to interview a prisoner being held in a prison establishment in England and Wales.Prison Service Standing Order 5A 37 states that visits to inmates by journalists or authors in their professional capacity should not in general be allowed. Any interview which is allowed can take place only with the consent of both the governor and prisoner concerned.