Raymond v Honey

Ratio Decidendi

Facts

Mr Honey, a prisoner at Albany Prison serving a sentence for theft of about £2 million, prepared an application to the High Court for leave to commit the prison Governor, Mr Raymond, for contempt of court, arising from the Governor's earlier stopping of a letter Honey had written to his solicitors. The Governor stopped this application too, on the ground that it contained an allegation against a prison officer and so could not be forwarded without first being investigated inside the prison under the 'prior ventilation rule.' The Divisional Court held that stopping the committal application (though not the earlier solicitor's letter) amounted to a contempt of court; the Governor appealed and the prisoner cross-appealed on the earlier letter.

Judgment Summary

The House of Lords (Lord Wilberforce) dismissed both the appeal and the cross-appeal. It held that a convicted prisoner retains all civil rights not taken away expressly or by necessary implication, including the right of unimpeded access to the courts, and that nothing in the Prison Act 1952 or the Prison Rules 1964 was sufficiently clear to authorise a governor to obstruct a prisoner's attempt to bring committal proceedings against him. Stopping the application for leave to commit the Governor for contempt therefore itself amounted to a contempt of court.

Key Quotes

Subsequent Treatment