Recommendation 37: Checklist for files on transfer

To ensure that all files accompany prisoners on their transfer to another establishment, they should be ticked off at the reception of the sending establishment against a checklist. Prisoners should not be allowed to leave unless all their files have been ticked as present, except with the permission of a governor. Staff on reception at the receiving establishment should notify the department responsible for chasing up files which do not arrive with a prisoner, entering the action they have taken in a “missing file book”. Consequential action and the eventual receipt of the files should also be entered in the book.