The High Court (Administrative) has ruled that the prohibition on sending books to prisoners is unlawful. The prohibition imposed by the Justice Secretary Chris Grayling was overturned by Mr. Justice Andrew Collins, ordering an amendment to the policy on what prisoners can receive.
Mr. Justice Collins in ruling described as "strange" the reference to books as a privilege:
A book may not only be one which a prisoner may want to read but may be very useful or indeed necessary as part of a rehabilitation process.
The challenge to the prohibition was taken by Barbara Gordon-Jones, a 56-year-old serving an indefinite sentence for a number of offences including arson with intent to endanger life.
Ms. Gordon-Jones, Mr. Justice Collins observed:
[...] has a doctorate in English literature and the books she wishes to read are often such as are not normally required by fellow prisoners.
Her interests include books by Alan Bennett, Monica Ali and the Dialogues of Marcus Aurelius.
Mr. Justice Collins accepted that there was no intention by ministers to prevent access to books with weekly earnings which can be as low as £2.50 meant the prohibition on books stopped short of an outright ban. However, Mr. Justice Collins noted the restrictions on what prisoners can receive from friends and relatives under the amended Incentives and Earned Privileges Scheme was viewed as an outright ban on books:
As I have said, I see no good reason in the light of the importance of books for prisoners to restrict beyond what is required by volumetric control and reasonable measures relating to frequency of parcels and security considerationsThe prohibition was imposed by Justice Secretary Chris Grayling a year ago in a crackdown on prisoners' "perks and privileges".
