§ Mr. SoleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what regulations govern prisoners writing to addresses registered as Post Office box numbers; and what security considerations apply. [78358]
§ Mr. George HowarthPrisoners' correspondence is governed by the Prison Rules, and policy is set out in Prison Standing Order 5 (copies of which are in the Library). Under paragraph 29 of Standing Order 5B, governors have the authority to stop prisoners writing to a Post Office Box. Prisons must be able to identify and check the recipients of prisoners' correspondence, particularly in the case of high risk prisoners and sex offenders.
While this provision will more often apply to individuals using PO Box numbers, it may also be applied to organisations where the governor considers there to be a risk. Some organisations, for example, operate pen-pal schemes for prisoners to make contact with people on the outside. Such schemes may be susceptible to infiltration by sex offenders and paedophiles seeking to network and make contact with vulnerable people. These schemes, therefore, need to be thoroughly vetted. Where the organisations concerned are not able to do this, and the use of a box number precludes prisons from making appropriate checks on the recipients, a governor is within his or her rights to stop prisoners from writing to the organisation.