LABITA v. ITALY JUDGMENT
11
jeopardise security in prison institutions. In addition, it was a reasonable
assumption that prisoners such as the applicant would recruit other prisoners
or dominate and humiliate them in prison, just as they did in criminal
organisations.
52. The order represented a derogation from the Prison Administration
Act and imposed the following restrictions:
(i) a ban on the use of the telephone;
(ii) a ban on all association or correspondence with other prisoners;
(iii) censorship of all inward and outward correspondence;
(iv) a ban on meetings with third parties;
(v) restrictions on visits from members of the family (to one hour
monthly);
(vi) a ban on receiving or sending sums of money over a set amount;
(vii) a ban on receiving parcels (other than those containing linen) from
the outside;
(viii) a ban on organising cultural, recreational or sporting activities;
(ix) a ban on voting or standing in elections for prisoner representatives;
(x) a ban on taking part in arts-and-crafts activities;
(xi) a ban on buying food that needed cooking;
(xii) a ban on spending more than two hours outdoors.
53. These measures were subsequently extended for successive
six-monthly periods until 31 January 1995.
2. Censorship of the applicant's correspondence
54. On 21 April 1992 the Trapani District Court decided, without giving
specific reasons, to subject the applicant's correspondence to censorship.
However, his correspondence was not monitored while he was in Termini
Imerese Prison.
55. An order was also made for censorship of the applicant's
correspondence by the Minister of Justice on 20 July 1992 (see
paragraph 52 above).
56. The following letters were censored:
(i) the applicant's letter of 21 October 1992 to his wife (delivery of this
letter was delayed by the Pianosa Prison as the prison authorities,
considering the content to be suspect, first sent it to the judicial authorities);
(ii) a letter of 7 May 1993 sent to the applicant by his first lawyer
(stamped by the Pianosa Prison censors);
(iii) a letter of 28 February 1993 sent by the applicant to his family
(stamped by the Termini Imerese Prison censors);
(iv) a letter sent by the applicant to his wife on 2 March 1993 enclosing
a certificate (the Termini Imerese Prison authorities had intercepted the
letter and sent it to the Prison Administration Department at the Ministry of
Justice with a request for permission to remit the letter to the applicant; as
no reply was received, the letter was never remitted to him);