Prison rule unlawful (1)
01 January 1991
Prison rule unlawful
artdoc July=1993
The Court of Appeal declared invalid a prison rule which allowed
officers to read prisoners' correspondence with their lawyers
about pending or contemplated legal proceedings. After adverse
rulings from the European Court on Human Rights in the 1980s,
prison rules were changed to preserve confidentiality between
prisoner and lawyer in relation to `proceedings to which the
prisoner is a party'; but did not extend the protection to
correspondence on future proceedings, which the Court said should
also be
confidential. R v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex
parte Leech, Independent 20.5.93.
Statewatch vol 3 no 3 May-June 1993