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Welcome to the EuroPris Knowledge Management System. The table below shows questions and responses from European National Agencies. Select a question for more information or use the filters on the left to narrow down questions based on Agency or Category.
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Introduction: In Estonia, a restraining order (e.g ban on making calls or sending letters to a specific person) is imposed by a court or a prosecutor. Violation of that order is a criminal offense. At the moment, we are dealing in Estonian prisons with the issue of restraining orders. In particular, how to ensure more effective compliance with the restraining order. We would like to know the legal framework and practices of other countries in this matter.
The system includes alerts in order to know tht the inmate has restriction of communications.
Have you regulated this matter? If so, please refer to the legal act.It can be order by a judge in the penal procedure or by the penitentiary administration in case of sanction due to bad use of previous communications.
Requests to prevent communication from a prisoner 60.—(1) Any person who does not want to receive any communication from a prisoner may make a request to the Governor to prevent that prisoner from communicating with that person. (2) Where the Governor receives a request under paragraph (1), the Governor must take all reasonable steps to prevent any communication from that prisoner to that person. (3) For the purposes of this rule “communication” includes written correspondence and telephone calls. Communication by telephone 62.—(1) A prisoner is entitled to the use of a telephone, subject to the provisions of paragraphs (2) and (3). (2) A prisoner’s use of a telephone is subject to the provisions of any direction which the Scottish Ministers may make in relation to (a) the groups or categories of prisoners who may have the use of a telephone; (b) the times of day and circumstances in which a telephone may be available for use; (c) the conditions applicable to the use of such a telephone; (d) the logging, monitoring and recording by any means by any person authorised by the Governor of telephone calls made by a prisoner. (3) An officer may refuse to allow a prisoner to have the use of a telephone or restrict a prisoner’s use of a telephone (a) by virtue of the provisions of any direction as mentioned in paragraph (2); or (b) in accordance with rule 60. (4) Where an officer refuses or restricts a prisoner’s use of a telephone in terms of paragraph (3), the officer must inform the prisoner of the reasons for that decision and, where a request is made by the prisoner, such reasons must be given in writing.
Have you regulated this matter? If so, please refer to the legal act.The Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Rules 2011
Where any Public Protection order is in place, restrictions may be placed on a prisoners communications, whereby either the local Public Protection Unit, or Security and Intelligence Unit would complete a level of communications monitoring in order to identify any attempts to breach such an order. Establishments are required to complete checks against requested contacts, and restrictions can be applied to any prisoner’s BT PIN Phone account, to ensure calls are not made to numbers identified as being linked to victims, or for whom a Court Order is in place.
Have you regulated this matter? If so, please refer to the legal act.Prison Rule 34 allows Governor’s to apply any condition or restriction upon the communications of any prisoner, as long as the restriction or condition meets conditions set out within that rule. Communications with Prison and Probation are locally managed under PSIs – 49/2011 and 04/2016.
Inmates’ incoming and outgoing correspondence may be screened by the decision of the prison director or court; incoming and outgoing mail may be restricted for up to 3 months. An inmate (a convicted offender or a person held in custody) is allowed to talk on the phone only after a correctional officer checks whether an inmate has not dialled the telephone number of a person an inmate is not allowed to call. A unified dial-up system is currently in place, which identifies a caller and has an option of identifying and blocking unwanted phone numbers.
Have you regulated this matter? If so, please refer to the legal act.Penitentiary Code of the Republic of Lithuania (Art. 99) Internal Rules of Correction Houses and Remand Prisons of the Republic of Lithuania
According to the provisions of the Enforcement Code and the Statute of the Execution of the Sentence by the inmates, regarding the inmates who have violated the detention regime, there are no disciplinary sanctions such as: bans on making telephone calls or sending letters.
Have you regulated this matter? If so, please refer to the legal act.---
In prisons of Latvia, prisoners make calls and send letters through the prison administration. If the prisoner has been restricted by a court decision (make calls, send letters), the prisoner will not be able to send a letter to the person with whom he/she has restrictions, as well as he/she will not be able to make a call from the prison payphone.
Have you regulated this matter? If so, please refer to the legal act.Restrictions are regulated by Section 13.1 and Section 28 of Law on the Procedures for Holding under Arrest, as well as Section 9 of the Sentence Execution Code of Latvia.
The inmate who, despite of the imposed prohibition (urgent measure) repeatedly contacts a person protected by a court decision in written or via telephone, commits the crime of the obstruction of the execution of an official decision. If the prison officer who looks into the correspondence, has available information on such court decision, he/she may withhold the correspondence due to the suspicion of committing the crime and to forward it to the competent body. The inmate shall be informed about this fact. However, in the mentioned case, it is not a uniform procedure, as for some types of decisions (e.g. decisions issued in civilian adversary proceeding), the Corps of Prison and Court Guard may not have available that decision on the prohibition to contact the “protected person”. The situation is similar when using a telephone - if the protected person informs the Prison Governor that the inmate contacts him/her despite the court prohibition, the prison officer shall block the possibility to call the phone number of the “protected person”.
Have you regulated this matter? If so, please refer to the legal act.The authorisation of the prison officer to withhold the correspondence that raises the suspicion of committing the crime, is stipulated directly in the Act on Pre-trial Detention Execution and the Act on Prison Sentence Execution. The information on the option to block the phone number of the “protected person” (or alternatively of another person who does not wish to be contacted by a particular inmate, without giving the reason) is stated in each House Rules of the prison (House Rules is a secondary regulation amending the manner of exercising the rights, restrictions and obligations of inmates and the application of the good order and discipline).
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