Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner - March 2015
In a large number of instances our inspectors concluded that the interception risk
assessments were not completed robustly or properly. In these instances the necessity
and proportionality justifications for invoking or reviewing the monitoring had not been
made out sufficiently. In these cases it was difficult to understand how the Governor had
been able to make an informed judgement as to whether the monitoring was necessary
and proportionate on the basis of the information contained on the risk assessment,
authorisation and review documentation. In a number of cases the inspectors examined
other relevant documentation in the prisoners’ files and / or reviewed the minutes from
risk management meetings where the prisoners had been discussed in an attempt to
satisfy themselves that there was sufficient evidence to support the decisions.
11.26 Second, failings were identified in relation to the actual monitoring. Our inspectors
randomly interrogate the system used for the monitoring of prisoners telephone calls
and the prisoners accounts are compared against the monitoring logs completed by the
staff conducting the monitoring. In some instances these audits showed that not all of
the calls made by the prisoners subject to offence related or monitoring for other security
purposes had been listened to. Failure to monitor the communications of prisoners who
pose a risk to children, the public or the good order, security and discipline of the prison
could place prison staff in an indefensible position if a serious incident was to occur
which could have been prevented through the gathering of intercept intelligence. More
frequently our inspectors identified that the calls had been listened to, but not in a timely
fashion. This is of concern and could result in a significant piece of intelligence being
gathered from a telephone call which was made a week or two earlier and by this time
the opportunity to react to it may have been missed. It is vitally important for calls to be
Figure 15 2014 Prison Inspection Recommendations by Category
monitoring of prisoners
mail and
telephone calls
79%
induction &
prisoner
awareness
12%
legal privilege or otherwise
confidential calls & mail 4%
storage, retention & destruction
of intercepted material 4%
translations 1%
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