Update from G4S about HMP Oakwood.

After emailing a copy of the letter to Inside Time from a prisoner at Oakwood (posted at 12.39pm yesterday) to the company that runs the prison, G4S, I received the following reply, denying the key allegations that prisoners cannot buy books and cannot have 12 books in their cells:

Prisoners can purchase books from approved suppliers; the approved supplier at Oakwood for the supply of books is Amazon.

Prisoners are allowed to use the library and take books back to their cells. The Incentive and Earned Privileges policy states that prisoners can have 12 books in their possession.

The Ministry of Justice also replied on the issue of whether there is a list of books prisoners cannot buy:

There isn't one single nationwide list of books banned from prisons.Each prison governor has the discretion to ban access to any reading material if he or she considers that the content presents a threat to good order or discipline, or that possession of the material is likely to have an adverse effect on the prisoner’s physical or mental condition.

Finally, a kind reader emailed a link to a more recent version of the National Product List of what prisoners are allowed to buy: it is dated 2012, and you can see it via this link.

I sent a list of questions to the Ministry of Justice this morning.

Here are the key questions and replies:

What were the old rules governing receiving packages by post?

It was at the governor's discretion.

What are the new rules?

Other than in exceptional circumstances, prisoners are not allowed to receive parcels. This is to minimise security risks, contraband being sent to the prison and to prevent prisoners bypassing the incentives and earned privileges scheme, which limits prisoners’ access to certain privileges.

Prisoners need to take responsibility for their offending behaviour and earn privileges — not simply through the avoidance of bad behaviour but also by working, taking part in education or accepting the opportunities to rehabilitate themselves. Privileges will only be given to those who demonstrate such behaviours.

Access to books is not considered a privilege and all prisoners have access books from their prison library and education departments. They can also purchase them using their own money.

Do all prisons have libraries, and do you have a record of how many books and how many different titles (in case there are multiples of some titles) are on offer in each prison? (Or in total?)

Every prison has a library and all prisoners have access to books from there. Books are not considered a privilege and access to library books is not restricted by the IEP scheme.

No prison libraries have been closed and funding for them has not been cut.

Prisoners can have up to 12 books in their cell at any one time.

Can prisoners' borrow books from other prisons or local council libraries on loans?

Libraries in prisons are run by local authorities and there is inter-library borrowing. So if a prisoner wants a book that is not available in their library, staff will do their best to track it down.

There were other questions about buying books, some of which I have (sort of ) answered already, some of which - notably the list of banned books - I am hoping I will still get answers too.

Some have questioned why a policy published last year and introduced in November is in the news today.

Yesterday Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform charity, wrote an article for politics.co.uk arguing against the new regulations. The subsequent row has been somewhat diverted by what the government has actually done. But the charity understood all along (not surprisingly) and was in fact specifically arguing against the wisdom of including books (and some other items such as clothes) in the re-written incentives scheme.

A statement on their website yesterday reiterated that argument:

The reality is that most prisoners on an ‘entry’ or ‘standard’ regime will be allowed no more than £10 or £15.50 a week, which means that almost all a prisoner’s weekly allowance would be spent on just one title. Even the most ardent book lovers tend not to spend all of their weekly wage on what they read.

Over the last year, because of shrinking prison budgets, staff cuts and increasing numbers, prisoners have been spending even longer in their cells.

It is common for prisoners to spend 20 hours a day in their cells during the week. At weekends they can be cooped up from Friday lunchtime until Monday morning. Conditions have deteriorated so much in recent months that this has become a major concern.

In those circumstances it is the little things that make a difference. Being able to read a book is a lifeline and a way of nourishing the mind.

As families and friends are now forbidden from sending basic items into prison, prisoners are sitting in stinking cells, wearing dirty clothes, with nothing to do and not even a book to read. We urge the government to reconsider this draconian measure.

Thanks to (whisper it) buzzfeed, I have a link to the policy document that has sparked this furore.

The rules in question, Incentives and Earned Privileges, were published by the National Offender Management Service in October last year, and came into force on November 1. These guidelines were published for prisons following the government's review of the Earned Privileges Scheme (IEP), published in April last year. They only apply to offenders of 18 and over.

Here is an explanation of the policy from the document itself:

The Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) scheme was introduced in 1995 with the expectation that prisoners would earn additional privileges through demonstrating responsible behaviour and participation in work or other constructive activity....In order to earn privileges, prisoners will now have to work towards their own rehabilitation, behave well and help others. The absence of bad behaviour alone will no longer be sufficient to progress through the scheme.

When they enter custody or are convicted, prisoners start on "basic" or "entry", and by their behaviour can rise to "standard" or "enhanced" levels of privileges. Full definitions are in section 4.

The list of what they cannot and can do depending on their status is much longer than books: some issues, such as a ban on subscription TV channels have been widely commented on before; others I at least was not aware of. Other restrictions on "entry level" prisoners include:

• Using the prison gym;
• Having access to more cash;
• Access to higher paid work in prison;
• Wearing their own clothes, as opposed to standard issue blue prison wear.

It adds:

Incentives arrangements are fair, consistent and not subject to unfair discrimination. They support the requirements of the establishment and meet the needs of the population where practicable. Basic level provides access to the safe, legal and decent requirement of a regime on normal location.

The six key earnable privileges are:

• Extra and improved visits;
• Eligibility to earn higher rates of pay;
• Access to in-cell television;
• Opportunity to wear own clothes;
• Access to private cash;
• Time out of cell for association.

In addition, section 10 sets out Additional Non Designated Key Earnable Privileges. These must be chosen from a new standardised "menu" (Annex F). For example (from page 46):

Specialist products including music CDs, DVDs, an extended range of products suitable for vegans, an extended range of religious items, electronic games, electronic equipment, clothing, footwear, books, mother and baby requirements, and cosmetics may, at the discretion of the establishment and subject to the Incentives and Earned Privileges Scheme, be purchased by prisoners for their own use, through catalogue suppliers.

This is where the controversy about books springs from. I quote:

To ensure that the IEP scheme is not undermined the general presumption will be that items for prisoners will not be handed in or sent in by their friends or families unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Governors have discretion to determine what constitutes exceptional circumstances; this could include for example disability/health aids or an artefact for religious observance, stamped-addressed envelopes so as to facilitate a prisoner’s ability to communicate or where there is a need to replace clothing due to restricted access to laundry facilities.

So, in brief, books and other items cannot be sent to prisoners because they are part of an earned privileges scheme: if inmates could be posted stuff there would be less incentive for them to behave better (my summary, not my opinion).

There is detail about some items having to be bought from a National Products List and through approved suppliers. I will check if this applies only to things that could pose a "threat" (eg to make sure only non-internet enabled games consoles are bought) or covers books (eg this rumoured banned books list).