Author Topic: My Response from the Prisoner Location Service  (Read 17949 times)

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Offline mrswah

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My Response from the Prisoner Location Service
« on: April 17, 2017, 04:27:20 PM »
I have been trying, since 16th November of last year, to locate VT  and  obtain his prison number, in the hope of writing to him.  I have "chased up" the system on three occasions. This is my latest response, received on 10th April.

Unlike "Nine", I am pretty useless at IT, and haven't a clue how to take a screenshot, so I had to write the whole thing out, so that I can reproduce it here-----you will have to take my word for it that I am telling the truth!!  The stuff in brackets are my own comments.


Good Afternoon

I am sorry that you are not happy with the time it has taken to respond to your enquiry (you bet I'm not: I first wrote on 16th November of last year, and , in my last chaser, threatened to write to my MP).

I regret to inform you that your case is still ongoing.

Please note that locating a prisoner is a time consuming process (why??????).  If the person you are looking for is in fact held in custody (which he is, isn't he???), we have to write to them to gain there (sic)permission to disclose their location.  This is a requirement of the 1998 Data Protection Act. Please note we have processed your enquiry and chased it up. I will send one final chaser, but if we do not receive a response or the prisoner says they do not want there (sic) details disclosed then we will have to close your enquiry.

At this point we are not in control of how long it takes the prison and prisoner to respond to our request (what a lousy service---thank goodness I am not a relative or a friend!!).

Thank you for your patience.

Regards.




Comments, please?????????

46
« Last Edit: June 27, 2017, 04:28:56 PM by John »

Offline AerialHunter

Re: My Response from the Prisoner Location Service
« Reply #1 on: April 17, 2017, 09:56:35 PM »
If ever there existed an example of why we cannot rely on the intelligence levels of those in a controlling position within the mechanisms of the detention system, this has got to be it!
There is none so noble or in receipt of his fellows unbridled adulation as that police officer who willingly deceives to protect one of his own kind and, by virtue of birthright, extends that privilege to his family.

Offline [...]

Re: My Response from the Prisoner Location Service
« Reply #2 on: April 17, 2017, 10:12:11 PM »
It shouldn't take that long mrwah.... should it??

I wonder why they are taking there time about this??  Do other people have such difficulties when writing to the prison location service??

Offline mrswah

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Re: My Response from the Prisoner Location Service
« Reply #3 on: April 17, 2017, 10:19:12 PM »
It shouldn't take that long mrwah.... should it??

I wonder why they are taking there time about this??  Do other people have such difficulties when writing to the prison location service??

It is supposed to take six weeks------according to their website!


Offline Leonora

Re: My Response from the Prisoner Location Service
« Reply #4 on: April 18, 2017, 07:44:26 AM »
It is supposed to take six weeks------according to their website!
I can only admire your patience and persistence, mrswah! Six weeks might be acceptable if you inquired about a J. Smith sentenced to 18 months for knocking someone's teeth out in a pub brawl - but famous prisoners attract so much attention that I am sure that scarcely a day goes by when the Prisoner Location Service doesn't receive an inquiry about Vincent Tabak.

Have you asked them why they don't just look him up on Wikipedia? The prison history of each of the other famous killers is reported in the pages recounting their crimes. Your contact seems to have been gripped by the same inanity that characterises the attitude of the rest of the general public.

Wikipedia even has an article that lists the famous prisoners of Long Lartin. Oddly enough, Vincent Tabak is not mentioned.

What will you say to Vincent Tabak when you finally get in touch with him?
« Last Edit: April 27, 2017, 02:25:57 PM by John »

Offline mrswah

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Re: My Response from the Prisoner Location Service
« Reply #5 on: April 18, 2017, 09:17:26 AM »
Leonora, I am certainly not brave enough to contact anyone else.

What would I have said to Vincent Tabak?  I would have written him a friendly, general letter, not mentioning the case at all, but hoping to strike up a "penfriendship" of sorts, where, eventually, he might have told me something relating to the case. I would also have liked to get some idea of what kind of a bloke he is, and whether or not he is well.

It aint gonna happen, though.

I am not even going to be able to find out whether he is alive or dead, or whether he is in prison in this country or back in Holland. My retired lawyer hubby tells me that "they" have to tell the public if he is dead, or back in Holland, but I wonder!

So, the great silence continues, and the great silence is one aspect of this case that really makes me suspicious!


Offline mrswah

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Re: My Response from the Prisoner Location Service
« Reply #6 on: April 25, 2017, 07:36:08 AM »
I was being a good girl, Leonora, and trying to go through the "right channels", and taking care to supply them with all the information they wanted, and not chasing them up until the six weeks had passed, etc etc.  The Prisoner Location Service is supposed to provide a service to the public!
« Last Edit: April 27, 2017, 02:29:32 PM by John »

Offline mrswah

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Re: My Response from the Prisoner Location Service
« Reply #7 on: April 26, 2017, 10:01:30 AM »
My final response!!!


Dear Sir/Madam

I refer to your correspondence regarding the above named.

Unfortunately, because of the restraints of the Data Protection Act of not providing information regarding a prisoner without their consent, and due to the length of time passed, I am unable to supply you with the information you require and have no alternative but to close our files.

I am not permitted, because of the Data Protection Act to confirm whether or not they are or has(sic) been in prison custody.

I am sorry that on this occasion I am unable to help you.

Please be advised that files are retained for twelve months and should offenders return their consent forms to us during this time span we will relay their wishes to those who enquired.

Kind regards.



So, according to this, they sent an enquiry to the prison and received no response.

Oh well. Another mystery-------is he dead, is he ill, is he back in Holland, is he merely determined not to have any contact with the outside world?????

Offline [...]

Re: My Response from the Prisoner Location Service
« Reply #8 on: April 26, 2017, 10:17:45 AM »
My final response!!!


Dear Sir/Madam

I refer to your correspondence regarding the above named.

Unfortunately, because of the restraints of the Data Protection Act of not providing information regarding a prisoner without their consent, and due to the length of time passed, I am unable to supply you with the information you require and have no alternative but to close our files.

I am not permitted, because of the Data Protection Act to confirm whether or not they are or has(sic) been in prison custody.

I am sorry that on this occasion I am unable to help you.

Please be advised that files are retained for twelve months and should offenders return their consent forms to us during this time span we will relay their wishes to those who enquired.

Kind regards.



So, according to this, they sent an enquiry to the prison and received no response.

Oh well. Another mystery-------is he dead, is he ill, is he back in Holland, is he merely determined not to have any contact with the outside world?????


OMG.... what is that!!!!

Come on own up..... What have you done with Dr Vincent Tabak!!!!

Where have you popped him..... 

Jixy... I did say that it was impossible to get a response regarding Dr Vincent Tabak in relation to trying to locate him!!!


EDIT.... Mrswah.... they didn't tell you which prison he is being detained in... And they surely do not need a prisoners permission to give you that information at least!!!!

That cannot come under the Data protection act surely???


Offline [...]

Re: My Response from the Prisoner Location Service
« Reply #9 on: April 26, 2017, 10:38:25 AM »
My final response!!!


Dear Sir/Madam

I refer to your correspondence regarding the above named.

Unfortunately, because of the restraints of the Data Protection Act of not providing information regarding a prisoner without their consent, and due to the length of time passed, I am unable to supply you with the information you require and have no alternative but to close our files.

I am not permitted, because of the Data Protection Act to confirm whether or not they are or has(sic) been in prison custody.


Why haven't they told you which prison he is being detained at???

Offline [...]

Re: My Response from the Prisoner Location Service
« Reply #10 on: April 26, 2017, 12:44:06 PM »
My final response!!!


Dear Sir/Madam

I refer to your correspondence regarding the above named.

Unfortunately, because of the restraints of the Data Protection Act of not providing information regarding a prisoner without their consent, and due to the length of time passed, I am unable to supply you with the information you require and have no alternative but to close our files.

I am not permitted, because of the Data Protection Act to confirm whether or not they are or has(sic) been in prison custody.

I am sorry that on this occasion I am unable to help you.

Please be advised that files are retained for twelve months and should offenders return their consent forms to us during this time span we will relay their wishes to those who enquired.

Kind regards.



So, according to this, they sent an enquiry to the prison and received no response.

Oh well. Another mystery-------is he dead, is he ill, is he back in Holland, is he merely determined not to have any contact with the outside world?????

As I like to Dot The I's and cross the T's... can you confirm Mrswah that it was indeed Dr Vincent Tabak's name that was the above name that they are referring too....

Offline Leonora

Re: My Response from the Prisoner Location Service
« Reply #11 on: April 26, 2017, 01:52:37 PM »

OMG.... what is that!!!!

Come on own up..... What have you done with Dr Vincent Tabak!!!!

Where have you popped him..... 

Jixy... I did say that it was impossible to get a response regarding Dr Vincent Tabak in relation to trying to locate him!!!


EDIT.... Mrswah.... they didn't tell you which prison he is being detained in... And they surely do not need a prisoners permission to give you that information at least!!!!

That cannot come under the Data protection act surely???
I do not ask you to like the Prisoner Location Service, mrswah. Their behaviour towards you, frankly, is DISGUSTING.

Bristol Crown Court's own website confirms that a defendant of the name of Vincent Tabak was sentenced on 28 October 2011 to a minimum of 20 years in prison, so the Data Protection Act cannot possibly forbid the Prisoner Location Service (PLS) to confirm to you that this prisoner is also on their records.

At least two witnesses under oath confirmed in open court that Vincent Tabak was an inmate at Long Lartin Prison for at least part of 2011, so the Data Protection Act cannot possibly forbid the PLS to confirm that he was there.

It is such an unusual name that the PLS should have been able to find it within a matter of minutes, rather than 6 weeks.

If the prisoner has died, then the Data Protection Act cannot possibly forbid the PLS to disclose the date and place of death.

It would in any case have been all over the news media. Vincent Tabak is a very famous prisoner, on a par with numerous other famous prisoners whose places of imprisonment and other information are frequently reported in the press.

Can you explain, PLS, why the Data Protection Act distinguishes between Vincent Tabak and all these other famous prisoners in British prisons? Your deadpan responses are very strong evidence that he has been given a secret amnesty and a secret new identity and that he is not in prison at all.

As he is not a British national, it is probable that he had applied for repatriation, and may have been granted this. If he is no longer in a British prison for this reason, then surely the Data Protection Act does not forbid you to disclose the fact either?

So far, PLS, you have not even acknowledged that you know whom we are talking about, which must make you the only person in the country who has not even heard of Vincent Tabak and his very famous crime.
« Last Edit: April 26, 2017, 01:54:41 PM by Leonora »

Offline mrswah

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Re: My Response from the Prisoner Location Service
« Reply #12 on: April 26, 2017, 03:33:42 PM »
As I like to Dot The I's and cross the T's... can you confirm Mrswah that it was indeed Dr Vincent Tabak's name that was the above name that they are referring too....

Yes, I can---I just didn't bother putting it in my post!

Offline mrswah

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Re: My Response from the Prisoner Location Service
« Reply #13 on: April 26, 2017, 03:40:25 PM »
I believe that, under the Data Protection Act, they don't have to disclose what prison someone is in, and wont do so without the prisoner's permission.

He was certainly in Wakefield at the time of the "indecent images" trial in March 2015, and it is likely he is still there (likely, but not necessarily so. Ariel Hunter thought differently). What I was really after was his prison number, as one needs that to write to a prisoner.

Great cop out this Data Protection Act------IMO, obviously!

I also have a great cop out now, every time somebody suggests I should get in touch with Vincent and ask him to answer my questions!

jixy

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Re: My Response from the Prisoner Location Service
« Reply #14 on: April 27, 2017, 11:07:43 AM »
Have to say i disagree in blaming the service and dont agree that you can say their service is disgusting!

He may well have been asked and then the request chased up by the service.

If he chooses to not answer which is his right then they cannot even say his answer is NO. Under Data Protection as they have explained, its not possible to even confirm that because he hasnt given permission

It would have been easier if it was a flat out No but he has chosen not to reply. He probably isnt half as 'famous' as you think and most people if not connected to the case, wont even remember his name

The service works well. I have used it myself and received a reply within 2 weeks

Its easy to jump to conclusion and shout cover up etc. If that was the case, it would have been a polite no...