Prison Rules: a Working Guide
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Prison Rules: A Working Guide The Millennium edition, fully revised and updated Nancy Loucks PRISON TRUST ii Prison Rules: A Working Guide The work of the Prison Reform Trust is aimed at creating a just humane and effective penal system. We do this by inquiring into the workings of the system; informing prisoners, staff and the wider public; and by influencing Parliament, Government and officials towards reform. This edition first published in 2000 by the Prison Reform Trust, 15 Northburgh Street, London EC1V 0JR. © 2000 Prison Reform Trust ISBN: 0 946209 46 4 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Cover photos by James Stenson. Nancy Loucks is currently based in Scotland where she works as an independent researcher in criminology and prison policy. She is an Honorary Fellow of the Department of Social Work, University of Edinburgh. Prison Rules: A Working Guide iii PRISON RULES: A WORKING GUIDE The Millennium edition, fully revised and updated Acknowledgments iv Foreword to the Millennium edition v Introduction 1 Basis and Status of the Prison Rules, by Nancy Loucks and Nicola Padfield (1) The Prison Rules and guidance for their use 6 (2) The legal status of the Prison Rules 7 (3) Prisoners’ rights (4) The European Court of Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998 11 (5) European Prison Rules 13 (6) The movement for minimum standards 14 The Prison Rules 1999 18 Annex A The European Prison Rules 1987 133 Annex B HM Prison Service Race Relations Policy Statement 151 References 152 Index 158 iv Prison Rules: A Working Guide Acknowledgments No work such as this is ever done alone. My special thanks go to Stephen Shaw and all the staff at the Prison Reform Trust, without whom the production of this volume would not have been possible. Peter Quinn at Prison Service Headquarters has been particularly generous, as usual. Thanks also to Brian Peddie and the rest of the Legal Policy Unit in the Scottish Prison Service, as well as to Ed Wozniak and Jim Carnie in Research Branch. I am also indebted to Hamish Arnott at the Prisoners’ Advice Service in London, and to Kieran McEvoy at the Institute of Criminology in Belfast. Final thanks as always for the continuous patience and support from my husband Niall. Nancy Loucks December 1999 Prison Rules: A Working Guide v FOREWORD TO THE MILLENNIUM EDITION This Millennium edition marks the fourth time the Prison Reform Trust has issued a new version of the book Prison Rules: A Working Guide. The book is one of PRT’s initiatives of which we are most proud and which has proved most successful. In detailing and explaining prison regulations, prison law, and prison administration. Prison Rules: A Working Guide has been recognised as an invaluable aid to prison and probation staff, members of boards of Visitors, lawyers, and all students of penal policy. It has also proved a unique self-help guide for prisoners, their friends and relatives. As will be apparent to those in possession of earlier editions, the text has been comprehensively revised to take account of changes both in Prison Service policy and in the climate within which that policy is interpreted in jails up and down the country. I have in mind the shift in policy from Woolf’s justice model in the early ‘90s to the ‘prison works’ ethos of Michael Howard; the creation of the office of Prisons Ombudsman; the fall-out from the highly publicised escapes from HMPs Parkhurst and Whitemoor and the consequent emphasis on security in the Woodcock and Learmont reports; and most recently the redrafting of the Prison Rules 1964, and impending implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998. All have sweeping implications for the interpretation and application of the Prison Rules. The Prison Reform Trust is greatly indebted to Nancy Loucks, editor of the third edition, for returning to the fray some seven years later. Nancy has shown extraordinary diligence and commitment to the project, and this new edition is worthy testament to her skills as a criminal justice researcher. Thanks too to Nicola Padfield for her continuing contribution to the process. PRT also gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Trustees of the Robert Gavron Charitable Trust in helping meet the costs of this publication. Juliet Lyon Director, Prison Reform Trust February 2000 Introduction 1 INTRODUCTION At long last, after 35 years the Prison Rules in England and Wales have been redrafted rather than simply amended. This is not to say that, with a few notable exceptions, the new Rules differ substantially from the previous version, nor has the Prison Act 1952 been re-written. However, the Prison Rules 1999 are a welcome change from the piecemeal approach to amendments seen since the last consolidation in 1964 and criticised by the Prior Committee in 1985, the Chief Inspector of Prisons in 1990, and Lord Justice Woolf in 1991. Notable changes to the Rules include the deletion of references to prisoners under a sentence of death (previously rules 72-76), and the reference to special accommodation (rule 25), which allowed unconvicted prisoners to pay for specially fitted accommodation, complete with private furniture, utensils, and valet - a positively comical ‘allowance’. Rule 29 on Education (now r 32) has been revised to provide for the possibility of distance learning. Most welcome is the abolition of what was previously rule 47(21), a dis- ciplinary rule which penalised behaviour which “in any way offends against good order and discipline”. Repeated calls for its abolition came from sources such as Justice (1983), Quinn (1995), and from the Prison Reform Trust (Loucks 1995)). Additions to the Rules are also evident, such as the new rules on visitors and on bringing drugs in through visits. However, the language of the Rules remains inappropriate, such as its reference to disciplinary punish- ments as ‘awards’ and its use of masculine pronouns throughout. According to Livingstone and Owen, “Prison is an extensively rule- bound institution where the prison authorities can almost always point to a rule at some level of the hierarchy as the basis for any action that they take” (1999: 16.07). The Prison Rules lie at the heart of prison policies, and an examination of the Rules is relevant because of what they reveal about the day-to-day administration of prisons. In the gradual shift towards increased harmonisation with European policies, an examination of how the Rules in England and Wales compare with European guidance is perhaps even more relevant now than in the past. The current edition of this book comes when the European Convention on Human Rights is soon to be incorporated into domestic law. It also comes at a time when the format of guidance regarding the administration of prisons is in a state of transition, with the gradual shift from Circular Instructions and Standing Orders to Prison Service Instructions and Orders. The next section of this book explains the status of the Rules themselves and describes the documents which influence the Prison Rules (Standing Orders, Circular Instructions, Prison Service Instructions and Orders, and the European Prison Rules). It also touches on the development of prisoners’ litigation domestically and before the European Court of Human Rights, and traces the movement for minimum standards. The layout of this book lias changed from previous editions. First, while it still compares the Prison Rules for England and Wales to the European Rules, it does this only within the context of the commentary; the European Rules themselves are listed at Annex A. Second, the emphasis of the Guide is primarily on the Rules as they apply to adult convicted prisoners in England and Wales. As in past editions, the Guide acknowledges that 2 Prison Rules: A Working Guide Prison Rules and legislation in Scotland and in Northern Ireland are separate from those in England and Wales. Northern Ireland in fact has its own excellent guide to prisoners’ rights and law (Committee on the Administration of Justice 1998). Further, the Prison Service has redrafted the Rules for Young Offender Institutions, as it has the current Prison Rules, and may create a separate set of Rules specifically for remand prisoners. But as in earlier editions, the main section of this book sets out each of the Prison Rules, followed by a commentary on each section. The commentary compares the Rules in England and Wales with the European Rules and, where appropriate, cites reports, articles, and periodicals, case law, Standing Orders and Circular Instructions, Prison Service Instructions and Orders, and reports of HM Inspectorate of Prisons, the Prison Service, and of the Prison Ombudsman. The code of minimum standards called for in the original version of this book in 1985 has yet to be realised (see ‘Basis and Status of the Prison Rules’ below), although the Prison Service has made significant steps in other areas such as the provision of information to prisoners. Information to prisoners and staff During research for the earlier editions of this book, it became apparent that many staff were unclear about specific rules and varied widely in the interpretation and enforcement of the rules which they did know. A large number of both staff and prisoners interviewed commented that improve- ments in initial and ongoing training could remedy these inconsistencies. HM Chief Inspector reported the same situation in his 1991 Annual Report: “Some prisoners also complain to us that there is a lack of consistency of treatment even within different parts of the same establishment.