A court hearing was adjourned because a criminal defence firm had to wait six weeks after requesting a prison visit to see the client, the Gazette has learned.

The London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association revealed last week that it has been liaising with Wood Green Crown Court about the ‘dire state’ of legal visits at HMP Pentonville. The court manager has asked for examples of access issues that can be taken up directly with the prison governor.

LCCSA member Rumit Shah, who has been gathering examples, told the Gazette that his firm, Galbraith Branley Solicitors, contacted the prison on 12 September to see its client. The visit was booked for 26 October. A plea and trial preparation hearing due to take place on 30 September had to be adjourned.

Other issues raised by solicitors include being unable to take paper into the prison. Solicitors have also complained about consultation rooms. Shah said legal visits used to take place in private rooms. Now, they are conducted in an open setting.

A prison service spokesperson said: ‘Drug-soaked paper is one way that illicit substances can be smuggled into prisons and we must do everything in our power to reduce the risk of this happening - including reducing the amount of paperwork entering the prison. Lawyers have special exemptions from the rules to bring in laptops or other digital devices without prior authorisation.’

Guidance provided by the Ministry of Justice to the Gazette states that letters and documents handed over to or by prisoners during visits from their legal advisers are subject to whatever monitoring procedures would have been appropriate if they had been sent through the post.

Solicitors can bring in laptops without prior authorisation. Where prisons wish to print legally privileged documents in advance, the prisoner must agree to waive their right to legal privilege, as prison staff would have to open the documents to print them.

The ministry said paper and pens are readily provided at HMP Pentonville once inside the establishment.

National policy states that when meeting rooms cannot be found, visits can take place in communal areas but must be out of earshot of others. Staff must be able to see, but not hear, official meetings. The ministry said HMP Pentonville has a video-conferencing centre which can be used if legal representatives require additional privacy, adding that there is currently no wait to book a video legal conference.

Where a firm needs to see a client urgently, the ministry said the prison always endeavours to offer legal representatives the earliest and safest possible alternative date.

However, the ministry added that non-attendance of legal representatives for legal visits was a ‘significant issue’ causing delays. On Monday, 13 visits were booked but eight representatives did not attend.