Legal action has been launched after a letter sent by a republican prisoner to the media in Derry was tampered with before it reached its destination.
The letter was sent to the Derry News by Nathan Hastings, a republican prisoner currently serving a five year sentence in Magaherry prison.
The envelope which contained the letter reached its destination in a sealed bag from Royal Mail, which carried an apology for how the correspondence had arrived.
The letter itself, which was sent by Mr Hastings from Roe House in Maghaberry prison, then arrived separately in another sealed Royal Mail bag containing an apology (pictured) the following day.
The Derry News contacted the Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS), and asked for its official policy when it comes to mail being sent by republican prisoners from Maghaberry with regards to whether it is opened prior to leaving the prison.
A spokesperson for the Northern Ireland Prison Service issued this reply: “All prisoners’ mail is checked prior to leaving the prison to ensure it is properly sealed.”
Christy O’Kane, of the Irish Republican Prisoners’ Welfare Assoication (IRPWA), said the issue of prisoners’ mail being opened when being sent both to and from the prison was now the subject of legal action.
“There’s a legal team working on this, and what’s known as a pre-action protocol letter, which happens prior to a judicial review, has already been sent,” he said.
“There had been an order preventing prisoners writing to the media, but that was then lifted after an unofficial agreement.
“When any letter comes from Roe House, it goes to the letter censors in the prison, before it passes through the security department and goes to what would be known as the ‘social prisoners’, who then post them.
“So the mail could have been opened up at any of these stages.”
Mr O’Kane added: “So we had situations where cards meant for family members, such as Father’s Day cards coming in and birthday cards going out, didn’t arrive.
“There’s also the issue that mail containing privileged legal information from our solicitor has bene either opened or delayed once it arrived at the prison, so we have the situation that it has taken two weeks for a letter which is lying only 100 yard away to reach us.”
“We have a fundamental right to a private life, and that’s why we’re taking this legal challenge.”
and hospitals and solicitors are daft enough to use such envelopes. 