Written question asked by Lord Beecham (Labour), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord McNally (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 1 May 2012.

Prisoners: Judicial Review

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many claims for judicial review have been lodged by prisoners against (1) the Prison Service, and (2) the Secretary of State for Justice, within the last three years; and in what proportion of those cases has a written response been made within 14 days of receipt of the letter of claim.

Answer: While the number of judicial reviews received from prisoners or their representatives against the Secretary of State for Justice are recorded centrally, there is no such record of letters before action. Such correspondence is addressed by the most appropriate prison, headquarters unit or by the Treasury Solicitors Department, depending on the nature and complexity of the complaint. To answer the question in full would require a trawl through thousands of individual records held at over 136 various sites. This could be achieved only at disproportionate cost.

Secondary information