86
IPCO Annual Report 2017
13.13
An Interception Risk Assessment needs to be completed whenever there is a request to
intercept a prisoner’s communications. This document should explain the threat, the
proposed course of action, the assessment of necessity and proportionality, the duration
of the proposed monitoring and any other matters taken into consideration by the
Authorising Officer.
Surveillance and CHIS
13.14
The process for authorising surveillance and CHIS is essentially the same as for law
enforcement agencies. An operational manager, commonly the deputy governor of a prison,
acts as the authorising officer.
How IPCO oversees these powers
13.15
During 2017, prior to and following the establishment of IPCO, there were separate
inspection regimes for the oversight of the interception of communications, on the one
hand, and the use of directed surveillance and CHIS on the other. In future, oversight will be
conducted by way of unified inspections covering all the intrusive powers in a single audit.
Interception
13.16
Oversight of the interception of communications in prisons within England, Wales and
Northern Ireland (but not Scotland) was previously the responsibility of the Interception
of Communications Commissioner (IOCC). The current prison inspections are based on the
Prison Rules and PSIs.
13.17
At inspections we aim to ensure that:
• the prison authorities inform prisoners that their communications are liable to
be intercepted;
• inmates are aware that confidential communications – always depending on the individual
or the organisation in question – will not ordinarily be monitored;
• the correct authorisations and risk assessments are completed;
• interception is conducted lawfully;
• the approach to interception is consistent and ; and
• appropriate measures are in place for the retention, storage and destruction of any
material that is gathered.
13.18
In 2017, we carried out 33 inspections of the prison estate, a reduction of between 50% and
60% as compared with previous years. This is primarily because our inspectors have spent
more time than anticipated on the work required to set up IPCO.
13.19
Usually one of our inspectors will inspect a prison over a single day. The former IOCCO
inspection regime aimed to inspect each of the 128 prisons in England and Wales once every
two years. Our inspectors visit the various parts of the prison that are linked to interception,
for example the security offices, the accommodation wings, the administration hubs and
the offender management units, in order to examine the records and to test whether the
relevant staff have the level of knowledge that is necessary to apply the correct procedures
and to ensure that the interception is necessary and proportionate.