Access to Prison Records
The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) allows prisoners to have copies of their prison records. Applications are dealt with by the Information Management Section of NOMS. A fee of £10 is payable to obtain these records. The prison authorities will normally give access within 40 days of receiving the request.
Disclosure can be refused on a number of grounds, including that the information identifies third parties or that disclosure may prejudice the detection or prevention of crime. A weakness of the DPA is that it is not a requirement to confirm whether exempt information has been withheld and so there is no right to be told whether access has been granted to the full file or only an edited version.
The DPA also gives the right to have inaccurate data corrected. This applies if the data is incorrect or misleading about any matter of fact or contains an opinion based on data that is factually incorrect or misleading. In such cases the prison authorities can be required to correct, erase, destroy or block the use of the information. Opinions cannot be challenged unless they are based on wrong facts.
The Information Commissioner is able to investigate complaints about DPA compliance.
Disclosure can be refused on a number of grounds, including that the information identifies third parties or that disclosure may prejudice the detection or prevention of crime. A weakness of the DPA is that it is not a requirement to confirm whether exempt information has been withheld and so there is no right to be told whether access has been granted to the full file or only an edited version.
The DPA also gives the right to have inaccurate data corrected. This applies if the data is incorrect or misleading about any matter of fact or contains an opinion based on data that is factually incorrect or misleading. In such cases the prison authorities can be required to correct, erase, destroy or block the use of the information. Opinions cannot be challenged unless they are based on wrong facts.
The Information Commissioner is able to investigate complaints about DPA compliance.
