A couple of months ago a notice to prisoners appeared on the landings to inform us that the Ministry of Justice has now authorised governors to destroy any property confiscated from a prisoner after a set amount of time.
They say that if the property is not a permitted item (such as a mobile telephone) then it may be destroyed unless the prisoner can provide a valid reason not to do so, and if the property is a permitted item, but is confiscated for another reason (such as it not being listed on the prisoner’s property card) then it may be destroyed unless another prisoner makes a claim for it (and can prove it is theirs) within the fixed time limit. However, there are numerous things wrong with this new policy.