📨 Rights in prison: mail, visits, complaints
In brief
Mail, visits and telephone calls may be monitored or restricted for security and order reasons – but the prison may not withdraw them from you entirely. Mail to and from your defence lawyer enjoys special protection and, in principle, may not be monitored. You can first complain informally about specific measures taken by the prison (e.g. refusal of a visit, withholding of a letter) and then challenge them in court.
Step by step
- Informal complaintFirst contact the prison management or the supervisory authority (the state's ministry of justice) informally – many conflicts can be resolved this way.
- File an application for a court decisionIf the informal complaint does not help, you can file an application for a court decision against the specific measure with the Strafvollstreckungskammer (sentence enforcement chamber) of the competent regional court.
- Keep to the two-week deadlineThe deadline usually starts when the measure is announced or when you learn of a failure to act – note the date immediately.
- Involve the prison advisory boardThe voluntary prison advisory board can mediate and pass suggestions on to the prison – but it is not a legal remedy and has no decision-making power of its own.
- Take special care to protect defence lawyer mailFor mail to your defence lawyer, clearly indicate the sender/recipient – this mail may not, in principle, be checked for its content.
Deadlines
- An informal complaint to the prison does not preserve the two-week court deadline – anyone who only complains internally can miss the court route.
- Mail to and from the defence lawyer may not, in principle, be checked for its content – other correspondence (including with relatives), however, can be withheld or read for security reasons.
- The right to visits can be restricted for security or order reasons, but not withdrawn entirely – the exact minimum differs by federal state and partly by prison (house rules).
- The prison advisory board is a mediation body, not a court – do not rely solely on a conversation with the board when an important deadline is running.
In depth · legal basis, figures and practice – for advisers and professionals
Legal basis and statutory reservation
Fundamental rights such as the privacy of correspondence, post and telecommunications (Art. 10 GG) or general freedom of action also apply to prisoners, but may be restricted by the respective state laws where necessary for security or the orderly running of the prison. The specific design of mail, visiting and telephone rules differs in detail between the 16 state laws.
Mail and telecommunications
Incoming and outgoing mail may be checked and, in exceptional cases, withheld if this is necessary for security reasons. Correspondence with the defence lawyer, courts and certain institutions (e.g. data protection and anti-corruption officers, in part also members of parliament) enjoys, under the overwhelmingly prevailing legal position, special, far-reaching protection against monitoring of its content.
Visits
All state laws provide for a minimum amount of visiting time; the exact number of hours per month and possible differences between closed and open prison vary between the states and are deliberately not stated here as a single nationwide figure, because the research did not yield a uniform figure reliably applicable to all 16 states. The house rules of the respective prison are binding.
Legal protection: application for a court decision
Against measures of the prison authority that affect one's own rights (e.g. refusal of a visit, mail monitoring, disciplinary measures), an application for a court decision can be filed with the competent Strafvollstreckungskammer. The standard deadline is two weeks. In many proceedings, a lawyer is appointed officially.
Prison advisory board
The prison advisory board is a voluntary body with external members, provided for by law in the state laws. It can receive suggestions and complaints from prisoners, mediate and comment to the prison, but has no decision-making power of its own and does not replace a formal legal remedy.
A question about your situation that this page does not answer? Write to us or use the contact form – we will tell you which office is responsible and what to bring. Free of charge, without individual legal advice.