The prison administration may restrict means of communication but only for security reasons, as a disciplinary measure or if the letter contains irregular symbols and characters.
Per French law, your letter should be written in plain language and should not contain signs or characters understandable only to the correspondent. However, those restrictions should only be for a limited time and they cannot ban all of your communication with the outside world. In such cases, a separate written decision explaining the reasons, the length and the opportunity to appeal such a restriction must also be issued. If your letter – sent or received - has been withheld for such reasons, the head of the prison administration will notify you within 3 days.
Proportionality
In certain situations, if you are prohibited from sending or receiving a letter or making a call, without a valid reason, this may violate your right to a private and family life or, where you cannot reach your lawyer due to this, the right to a fair trial.
Even if the restriction on communication is lawful and well-reasoned, your rights may still be violated if the restrictions are not proportional to your situation. To assess whether there has been a violation, various factors have to be taken into account, such as:
- the length of the prohibition
- whether there was an emergency that required contact with people outside the prison
- whether there were other appropriate ways of contacting the outside world, etc.
example If you were not allowed to make phone calls, but you could still communicate with your family by writing, your rights will most likely not have been violated.
How to complain
If you believe that your correspondence is being restricted without any individual assessment or valid reason, or the restrictions are too severe for your situation, you should complain about this to the French Prison Administration, and subsequently, the Administrative Court. Read more about how to complain.