asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if there is a list of approved organisations with which prisoners are allowed to correspond and, if so, if he will list the organisations so listed and indicate the criteria employed in deciding which organisations are put on the list;(2) what status the list of approved organisations that prisoners are allowed to correspond with has; whether all prisoners are able to have the list; and. if not, why not;(3) if he will publish in the

In general, there is no list of approved organisations. In the specific context of seeking legal advice about his conviction or sentence, four bodies are listed to whom a prisoner may write. These are the National Council for Civil Liberties, Justice, Release, and The Howard League for Penal Reform. The list appears in standing orders to governors, of which a copy is in the Library of the House. The provision was made to indicate to governors that a prisoner who sought to write on that subject to one of these bodies should be allowed to do so, and was made in the belief that these were experienced and responsible bodies, competent to provide legal advice, although I understand that one of them does not in fact have legal staff. Information cards for prisoners seeking legal advice direct them to the