§ Ms RuddockTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the current arrangements for prisoners of category B security status or lower, with regard to private telephone calls.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the director general of the Prison 465W Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Ms Joan Ruddock, dated 24 October 1994:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the current arrangements for private telephone calls by prisoners of category B status or lower.Following the installation of cardphones in all establishments, prisoners may make private telephone calls in accordance with guidance to Governors set out in Circular Instruction 21/92. A copy of this is in the House of Commons Library. All calls are paid for by prisoners through the purchase of phonecards.Only in exceptional compassionate circumstances where it is not appropriate to use a cardphone, or where there is an urgent need to contact a legal or consular representative, are prisoners allowed to use official telephones. For foreign nationals only, the Prison Service Operating Standards provide they may be permitted a short call of no more than five minutes duration once a month to their home country using an official telephone, if they have not received a visit from either family or friends in the preceding month.Under the guidelines in Circular Instruction 50/88 on the use of official telephones, a copy of which is in the House of Commons Library, prisoners are normally expected to pay for calls made on an official telephone. This is except where the amount involved does not justify the effort of collection, or where the Governor is satisfied that the inmate has insufficient funds to meet the cost of the call.