When a prisoner applies to subscribe to newspapers, magazines or books at their own cost, within the range and quantity the Ministry of Justice order sets, must the warden grant it, and what may stop that?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In practice material of this kind, we read the prisoner's application for the subscription, the receipt or payment showing the prisoner bears the cost, and the paper identifying the publication and its status as a harmful publication, since the warden's duty turns on that status.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes the provision at its word: within the range and quantity the Ministry of Justice order sets, a prisoner may apply, at the prisoner's own cost, to subscribe to newspapers, magazines or books, and once that application is made the warden shall permit it, apart from the one case the provision carves out.
Another reading stresses the carve-out: the duty to permit applies only where the publication is not a harmful publication under the Publishing Culture Industry Promotion Act, so the provision does not say whether the warden may permit one where it is, and leaves that open.
Your judgment
If a publication is not on any list of harmful publications, what in the file could show whether it is one?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to change the harmful-publication exception, if the Ministry of Justice order sets a different scope or quantity, or if a court decision explains what counts as a harmful publication for this purpose.