Australian Capital Territory
Corrections Management (Email, Internet and Legal Education and Resource Network [LEARN] for Prisoners) Policy 2010
Notifiable instrument NI2010- 63
made under the  
Corrections Management Act 2007, section 14(1) (Corrections policies and operating procedures) 

1	Name of instrument
This instrument is the Corrections Management (Email, Internet and Legal Education and Resource Network [LEARN] for Prisoners) Policy 2010.
2	Commencement
This instrument commences on the day after it is notified.
3	Policy
I make the

Email, Internet AND LEarn FOR PRISONERS policy

attached to this instrument, to facilitate the effective and efficient management of correctional services.

4	Revocation

	This instrument revokes notifiable instrument NI2009-126.

James Ryan
Executive Director 
ACT Corrective Services
     10 February 2010

Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC)

Email, Internet and learn for 
Prisoners 
Policy

Purpose										1
Authority										1
Policy											1
Principles 										1
Email											2
Internet                                                                                                                      2
LEARN										3
Administration									3
Forms/Templates									3
Related policies and procedures 							3

Purpose
To outline the policy for prisoner access to email, Internet and Legal Education and Resource Network [LEARN].  

Authority
Legislation
Corrections Management Act 2007, sections 14 & 52(1)(a).

Policy
Principles 
Access to Internet, email and LEARN is deemed a privilege. 
Requests for access to Internet, email and LEARN services may be denied.  If access to Internet, email and LEARN is granted, it may be suspended or removed for inappropriate behaviour or misuse such as that which may:  
•	undermine security or good order in the AMC;
•	revictimise a victim;
•	engage in unlawful activities; 
•	have the purpose of causing community distress
•	be used to contact the media; or
•	for any reason at the Superintendent’s discretion.
All ACTCS employees and contractors must ensure that prisoners do not use the internet or email to view offensive material, intimidate witnesses, contact victims or engage in unlawful activity.  
Email is not to be used to contact the media or any media representatives.
It is the responsibility of prisoners to safeguard their own user names and passwords.  The Superintendent will ensure that the system is regularly audited to ensure that the correct login details are being used.  It is an offence to use the user name and password of another prisoner, and any attempt to do so will bring an immediate revocation of email, Internet and LEARN privileges.
Prisoners may print documents.  All documents will print at the education provider’s printers, with an identifying prisoner number at the beginning of the document.  If the document is of an educational nature, the prisoner will not be asked to pay for the printing.  Otherwise, the prisoner will be required to pay for the printing.    

Email
Authorised prisoners may have reasonable access to email at designated computers and may be granted up to five approved addresses.    
Prisoners must have their list of email addresses approved by the Intelligence Officer, prior to sending any emails, as outlined in the Email, Internet and Legal Education and Resource Network [LEARN] for Prisoners Procedure.
All emails sent from prisoners will be identified as having come from the AMC, as the email address will include amc@prisonpc.com. 
For reasons of good order and security of the AMC, prisoners will not be permitted to email one another, except at the Superintendent’s discretion.  
All emails will be archived on a prison system drive, independent of the prisoner’s own personal account, and are not able to be deleted from this drive.  All incoming and outgoing emails, other than those deemed privileged, may be vetted by AMC staff. 
Emails will be screened by a scanning program that will be used to filter out commonly used expletives or inappropriate phrases and to scan for potential threats to the security or good order of the AMC.
Internet
Prisoners may be granted limited supervised access to specific web sites on the internet.  
Prisoners’ use of the internet must satisfy one of the following criteria:
•	reintegration needs  — a prisoner’s use of the internet can assist in their reintegration into the community; or
•	education needs — a prisoner’s use of the internet assists them in an approved education course.
Access will be restricted to certain sites through the use of “white listing”.
Prisoners will not be permitted to download or install programs or software onto computers.  

LEARN
All material to be loaded onto the LEARN system by ACTCS staff must receive prior approval from the Superintendent.  This process is detailed in the Email/Internet and Legal Education and Resource Network [LEARN] for Prisoners Procedure.

Administration
Notices are to be displayed prominently near all computers that are used by prisoners advising them that their usage will be monitored.  

The Intelligence Officer and the Manager, Business & Security Systems will generate weekly reports to Corrections Officers Grade 3 and the Deputy Superintendent regarding changes to the status of the system and accounts.  Corrections Officers Grade 3 and the Deputy Superintendent will be required to acknowledge the reports in writing.

Further to this, the Intelligence Officer and the Manager, Business and Security Systems will provide a monthly audit report to the Superintendent.  This report will include a general summary of audits, changes to prisoners’ accounts, breaches and capacity issues.  Auditing will include random sampling of e-mails not captured by the quarantine box.
Section 154 of the Corrections Management Act 2007 defines email and Internet as a privilege. If a prisoner is found guilty of inappropriate use of email, Internet or LEARN the privilege may be removed or restricted.  This privilege may be removed for other reasons, including discipline or for any reason at the Superintendent’s discretion. 
All staff facilitating prisoner use of email, Internet and LEARN resources (and other staff as necessary) will act with due regard for the good order and security of the AMC, including safeguarding access to the internet by any unauthorised person.  Appropriate actions include properly securing rooms in which there are computers (when the room is unsupervised) and constantly monitoring password security.  
Any member of staff, including Corrections Officers, administrative staff and contractors, logged onto the internet or email system with their own username and password must take all precautions to ensure that prisoners do not access this information (including regularly changing passwords).  Once logged in, staff must not leave their computers unsupervised, unless they have logged out or have otherwise ensured that unauthorised access to the computer is not possible.  

Forms/Templates
Prisoner Request Form
Request to Alter, Add Email and Web Addresses Form 

Related policies and procedures
Email, Internet and Legal Education and Resource Network [LEARN] for Prisoners Procedure