When can prison staff open my mail?
Most letters and parcelscan be opened and readby prison staff. These are called routine inspections. This power comes from section 47C of the Corrections Act 1986 (Vic).
Prison staff can do routine inspections to figure out whether the mail or contents in an envelope or package might be a risk to:
- The safety and security of the prison
- The safety of the person in prison sending or receiving the mail
- The safety of the community
Important: Routine inspections are not allowed for exempt mail. Exempt mail is letters or parcels to or from particular people or organisations that are confidential. These include:
- Your lawyer or a lawyer who is giving you legal advice
- An Independent Prison Visitor
- Victorian Ombudsman
- Office of the Victorian Information Commission (OVIC)
- Health Complaints Commissioner (HCC)
- Mental Health and Wellbeing Commissioner (MHWC)
- Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC)
- Australian Human Rights Commission
- Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC)
- Victorian Inspectorate
- Justice Health
- Secretary of the Department of Justice and Community Safety
- Commissioner of Corrections Victoria
- A member of Parliament (including Minister for Corrections)
- Any Royal Commissions
- Victoria Police or any other law enforcement agency in Australia (like the Australian Federal Police or Australian Crime Commission)
- Freedom of Information (FOI)
- Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT)
- First People’s Assembly of Victoria
- Department of Social Services Mail Code 121112
Exempt mail can only be opened by prison staff in very specific circumstances.
There are strict processes prison staff have to follow. For more information, use the link to When can prison staff open exempt mail? on the left side of this page.