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Prisoner Property

What can prisoners keep while they are in prison?

Corrections Victoria allows prisoners to keep some personal effects in their cells to enable them to adjust to life in prison.

Prisoners have an allocation of property according to a cell points system. Once a prisoner has been informed of what is allowed to be held, items are issued up to the points allocated and recorded.

Excess items of authorised property may be stored for the prisoner. All items are recorded with as much identifying detail as possible including the condition of items, and any make, model or serial numbers. The prisoner is asked to sign that these details have been recorded correctly.

Corrections Victoria endeavours to ensure that all property held on behalf of prisoners is safely stored, however prisoners are encouraged to send valuable property out of the prison. 

Valuables, including jewellery, birth certificates and credit cards are stored in the prison safe.

Prisoners may apply to retrieve items from stored property, provided they do not then exceed their total cell property allowance. Prisoners can also request that items in storage be given to a visitor, disposed of or destroyed.

Jewellery

Prisoners may wear an approved religious item, such as a necklace.

Prisoners may wear a plain, single wedding band. The wedding band may be engraved or patterned, but may not contain any stone inserts.

Unauthorised property

Some property items maybe prohibited or controlled. Such items include:

• drugs and drug paraphernalia
• money
• weapons
• explosives
• mobile phones.

Prisoners are given time to make arrangements for unauthorised property to be disposed of. If the prisoner fails to make arrangements, the General Manager will destroy or dispose of the items.

Publications or audio-visual material and pay television

Prisoners may only access publications or audio-visual material which is classified as unrestricted, in accordance with the Commonwealth Classification of Films and Publications Act 1990.

Where pay television is provided, the access is restricted to four channels, one of which must be a documentary and/or an educational channel. The classification of programs available must not exceed the MA rating.

Transferring prisons

When a prisoner is transferred to another prison, their property is transported to their new location. Items will be checked off against the prisoner’s property records to ensure they arrive as recorded and in good order. The same procedures are followed to decide which possessions the prisoner may keep and which must go into storage. 

When a prisoner is transferring interstate, prison managers must decide how much property can be safely and conveniently moved with the prisoner. Any excess property must be disposed of prior to transfer, or it may be forwarded at the prisoner’s expense.

Discharge

When a prisoner is discharged, all of their property will be returned to them. 

Unclaimed Property

If property is left unclaimed after one month, prison management will deal with this in a number of ways:

• a letter to the last known address of the owner will be sent, informing that they must claim the property within 30 days or it will be disposed of
• clothing and other items of minimal value may be given to charity or destroyed
• items of significant monetary value are registered with the Director, Statewide Services, who may authorise that they be sold at public auction.