Obiter’s personal mail is usually an uninspiring mix of junk and bills. This is not the case for certain prisoners at high security Wakefield Prison in West Yorkshire. They have been receiving post ostensibly from their legal advisers which turns out to contain hardcore pornography. Correspondence between prisoners and their lawyers is, of course, privileged and, apparently, letters looking as if they come from law firms get waved through the usual security checks. This has been noticed by some enterprising characters who have produced envelopes franked as if they came from solicitors, but with less salubrious material on the inside.

A spokesman for the prison said no genuine law firms are implicated. We wonder how widespread the practice is – and whether it is a reason to start examining correspondence more closely.