No, You Can't Make This Stuff Up, Warden

Telegraph | Expat | Prisoners told to open bank letters:
Prisoners told to open bank letters

By Paul Stokes
(Filed: 08/04/2005)

Inmates were asked to open correspondence giving details of people's bank accounts while they were involved in paper recycling work at a high security jail.

The letters, which were marked 'return to sender', were being prepared for recycling under a contract between Durham prison and a private firm.

At least one burglar gained access to a NatWest customer's information.

Durham, with a capacity for 746 prisoners, originally took on work compiling a database of mail returned from households where the person was not known. Those involved were asked to note down the name of the company sending the mail and it was decided last week to re-use the waste.

Prisoners were asked to open envelopes to remove plastic address windows before the paper was recycled.

Officers supervising the work alerted Jennifer Mooney, the acting governor, after an inmate approached them about the bank details.
A source at the prison, which houses men and women up to category A, said: 'When the letters were torn open, a multitude of cheques and letters containing bank details were found.

'This sort of information would be right up the street of some of the people we have in here.'

The Home Office said the work had been discontinued for security reasons."