Decision Report 201303137

Summary

Mr C, who is a prisoner, complained that the prison would not allow him to purchase a postal order to buy a book from an approved supplier. The prison had changed their book purchasing policy. They said that in future postal orders could not be used to pay for books, which had to be purchased from one of their approved suppliers, with payment coming from a prisoner's wage account. Because of the new process, Mr C was no longer able to purchase postal orders. He said that his account with the supplier was in credit, and he wanted to be allowed to buy one last postal order to combine with the credit to buy a book.

We asked the prison if they would allow Mr C to do this. They said they had already given him that opportunity, and were not prepared to allow him to do so again. However, they said Mr C could have the supplier credit reimbursed to his prison account, or could use funds from his wage account to combine with the credit to purchase a book through the prison. We were satisfied the process in place for ordering and paying for books reflected the prison rules and because of that, we did not uphold Mr C’s complaint.