An email system that allowed prisoners to communicate with the outside world has been discontinued with immediate effect. According to Minister of Legal Protection Franc Weerwind (D66), the ‘eMates’ system is leaking and there is a fear that criminals can continue their criminal activities from prison, so he writes in a letter to parliament†
The mail service eMates is facilitated by a commercial company. Prisoners can create an account and type messages via the system. These are then printed out by guards and given to the recipient. The idea is that these messages are checked, but in practice this often does not happen.
‘Dozens of messages a day’
The minister is concerned about the amount of messages that some detainees send. This sometimes involves dozens of e-mails a day, leading to fears that instructions will be passed on to criminals outside the prison walls. The “first and biggest” concern that the Public Prosecution Service has with eMates is “the lack of contractual agreements between DJI and eMates,” the letter reads. “There is no insight into the system and it is not known whether it meets the legal requirements set for the processing of personal data.”
An investigation into eMates is currently being conducted, until it is completed, detainees can “of course continue to use regular mail, telephone and visitors”. After the investigation is completed, it will be checked whether eMates can be resumed and under what conditions.