It is usually the wing office where you post letters. The prison will supply paper, stamp and envelope for 1 outgoing letter a week, but many prisoners are prolific letter writers and supply their own stationery. All letters must be given to the wing office unsealed and the envelope must have your name, wing and cell number, along with your prison number on it. If the letter is not legally privileged correspondence it may be read by the prison staff, legally privileged letters are dealt with under a prison regulation called Rule 39 and can be sealed after an officer is content that it is a bona fide legal letter.
Incoming post is subject to the same security checks and will be opened by the prison and its contents checked before it is handed out to you. Legal letters should be handed to you unopened as long as your lawyer has followed the correct procedures. There is an excellent e-mail system, which allows you to receive e-mails which are printed and distributed to you along with traditional mail. This system is called “email a prisoner” (click here to go to the external company providing this service) . At the present time there is no facilities for prisoners to send e-mails however this is under consideration as some establishments.
You will be given access to a phone during the unlocked periods on the wing. You must register the phone number and details of the person you wish to call so that the number can be authorised. This is done, like everything else in prison, by application to the wing office. By using your PIN number you can then call that person, but there will be a limited number of phones available on the wing at peak times there may be a wait to get to a phone.