2011 Annual Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner
8.4. Summary
In the reporting year 80 prison inspections were conducted by my inspection team.All of the prisons
responded positively to their inspections and overall the responses to the recommendations have
been encouraging. Although it was disappointing to find the same number of poorly performing
prisons, I am encouraged by the fact that a number of the prisons have clearly improved their
level of compliance. A number of prisons now have a dedicated team of well trained staff to
conduct the interception of communications and experience shows that this model always
achieves better standards.
It is clear that managers and staff are more accustomed to the process and have a better
understanding of the systems and procedures that should be in place. There is also evidence
from a larger number of the inspections that managers and staff are committed to achieving
the best possible level of compliance with the rules governing the interception of prisoners’
communications.
“A number of prisons now have a dedicated team of well trained staff to conduct
the interception of communications and experience shows this model always
achieves better standards”
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