Section 50 in The West Bengal Correctional Services Act, 1992
50. Letters.—
(1)Every Division I prisoner shall have the facility of writing such number of letters, being not less than one letter in a week, to his relatives and friends as may be prescribed. Every Division II prisoner shall have the facility of writing such number of letters, being not less than one letter in a month, to his relatives and friends as may be prescribed. Every prisoner under death sentence shall be entitled to write such number of letters to his friends and relatives as may be prescribed. Ordinary inland letter forms shall be supplied to Division I prisoners, political prisoners and detenus and plain paper and envelopes shall be supplied to Division II prisoners at Government cost.(2)Every political prisoner and every detenue may be allowed to write at his own cost letters in excess of the number fixed by rules made under this Act.(3)All letters shall be written in Bengali or Hindi or English or mother tongue of concerned prisoner.(4)The Superintendent shall examine every letter written by a prisoner and may ask the prisoner concerned to delete any portion of the letter which, in his opinion, is likely to endanger the security of the correctional home or contains false information about the affairs of the correctional home.(5)The Superintendent shall examine every letter sent to an prisoner from outside and delete any portion thereof which, in his opinion, is likely to endanger the security of the correctional home or contains false information about the affairs of the correctional home, before it is delivered to the prisoner.(6)Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing provisions of this section the Superintendent shall hot censor any letter written by any prisoner to the Inspector General of Correctional Services or to any Minister of the State Government or to a Member of Parliament or of the State Legislature or to the Speaker of the LokSabha or to the Chairman of the RajyaSabha or to the Speaker of the State Legislature, and such letters shall not be taken into account while computing the number of letters admissible under the rules made under this Act.
