The Detention Centre Rules 2001

Correspondence U.K.

27.—(1) Every detained person may send at his own expense and receive as many letters and facsimiles as he wishes.

(2) If a detained person does not have the necessary funds to do so, the Secretary of State may bear the postage expense of any reasonable number of letters which that person wishes to send.

(3) A detained person shall on request be provided with any writing materials necessary for the purposes of sending letters pursuant to paragraph (2).

(4) No letter or other communication to or from a detained person may be opened, read or stopped save where the manager has reasonable cause to believe that its contents may endanger the security of the detention centre or the safety of others or are otherwise of a criminal nature or where it is not possible to determine the addressee or sender without opening the correspondence.

(5) Detained persons will be given the opportunity of being present when any correspondence is opened or read and shall be given reasons in advance if any correspondence is to be opened, read or stopped under paragraph (4).

(6) Without prejudice to paragraph (2), if a detained person does not have the necessary funds to do so, the Secretary of State shall bear the postage expense of any letter to the European Court of Human Rights, F1 ... the High Court, the Court of Session, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission [F2 , the First-tier Tribunal or the Upper Tribunal] (or any court entitled to hear an appeal against a decision of those bodies).

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in rule 27(6) omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Immigration, Nationality and Asylum (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/745), regs. 1(2), 26(3) (with Sch. 2 para. 6); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F2 Words in rule. 27(6) substituted (15.2.2010) by The Transfer of Functions of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal Order 2010 (S.I. 2010/21), Sch. 2 para. 1