Decision report 201201405

Summary

Mr C complained that one of the three specific magazine titles he regularly received was removed from his possession. When he complained to the prison about this, he was advised that they were reviewing their policy on sexually explicit publications. In complaining to this office, Mr C stated that the publication he used to receive should not have been excluded.

When we investigated, the prison told us that following their review they decided to allow all publications that are freely available within reputable newsagents. They provided me with a list of titles which are available for prisoners to purchase direct from their regular supplier. This included two of the magazines Mr C received. The prison also confirmed that the list was not exhaustive and that Mr C could submit a request for the third title, which would be permitted as long as reputable newsagents were willing to stock it. As the prison rules give the governor discretion to decide what items to allow, we considered this reasonable and did not uphold the complaint.