15
SILVER AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUGDMENT
(x)
complaints about prison treatment, in respect of which the
"simultaneous ventilation rule" (see paragraph 49 below) has not been
observed;
(xi) material initiating a private prosecution;
(xii) certain specified material intended for publication or for use by
radio or television;
(xiii) in the case of a convicted prisoner, material constituting the
conduct of a business activity, which expression is defined so as to exclude
certain specified personal transactions.
The foregoing list does not apply to correspondence with Consular and
Commonwealth officials or, with the exception of item (x), to
correspondence with Members of the United Kingdom Parliament (new
Orders 5D5 and 5E6).
As regards item (xiii) above, it remains the basic rule that inmates may
not conduct any business activity from prison, but this no longer applies to
unconvicted prisoners who may correspond without restriction about such
matters (revised Orders 1C 4 and 1C 5).
49. The "prior ventilation rule" (see paragraph 47 above) has now been
replaced by the "simultaneous ventilation rule", set out in Order 5B34 j. A
complaint about prison treatment may be referred to in correspondence as
soon as it has been raised through the prescribed procedures and without the
prisoner’s having to await the outcome of the internal enquiry. The rule
does not apply to complaints not requiring investigation or to general
complaints in respect of which no corrective or remedial action is possible
(for example, regarding overcrowding): these may be mentioned in
correspondence without any internal ventilation. Moreover, the effect of the
new Orders is that, in contrast to the earlier position, a duly ventilated
complaint may now be referred to in any letter, irrespective of the identity
of the correspondent.
E. Censorship practice (before and after 1 December 1981)
50. Except as otherwise provided by the Rules (for example, Rule
37A(1); see paragraph 31 above) and until 1 June 1974, all communications
to or from a prisoner had, according to Rule 33(3), to be read and examined,
although Order 5A 26 gave prison governors a discretion to subject
specified domestic correspondence to no more than a cursory examination.
With effect from that date, Rule 33(3) was amended to make reading and
examination optional, but governors remained and remain subject to the
Home Secretary’s directives in this respect. Thus, at the present time,
outgoing domestic correspondence is normally not to be read or examined at
open establishments; elsewhere, all correspondence is to be examined but
not necessarily read (new Order 5B32).