To the editor,

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I want to write to you regarding seized stamps and envelopes. At times, if we happen to be sick and taken to hospital, everything of ours is put into boxes and taken away until the time we return. Then on our return we are strip searched and our possessions are taken out and checked.

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This is where the problems start for those of us who previously bought stamps and envelopes from the canteen. The canteen is the only place where we can buy stamps or envelopes. We cannot get stamps or envelopes sent to us. As they are checking our boxes, they remove the stamps and envelopes and will not return them.

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One of the stories is that drugs may be smuggled in under stamps. This seems rather strange, as why would a prisoner try to smuggle drugs out of prison, under the stamps purchased at the canteen?

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On a low wage, letters to friends and relatives from home are a big help to retain one’s sanity. Losing these stamps and envelopes means a lot, and then having them seized and having to go and buy the same again does not help financially, also as the price of stamps is going up in July. Makes an added burden to an already stretched budget.

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I don’t know whether this happens in all jails, but I guess it does.

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Thank you for a great magazine. I just hope that someone in power thinks about our financial position. The drop in price of phone calls has been gratefully received. I just hope something happens with the return of seized stamps.

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Yours in appreciation,

Les