This information applies to Scotland only
When you go into prison or leave prison, both you and your family will have to make arrangements about a range of practical concerns, including:-
You will need specialist advice about these issues. There are a number of specialist organisations which can give advice about these matters. For details of organisations that can help, see under heading Useful organisations.
If you want further information about the legal situation, for example whether you can appeal against the prison sentence, you should consult a solicitor. You should usually consult the solicitor who represented you before you went into prison. All prisoners are allowed access to their legal advisers at ‘any reasonable time’.
The rules about visiting someone in prison vary according to whether you are:
As an untried prisoner you are normally allowed one 30 minute visit every week day. Arrangements for visits vary between prisons and the visitor should check in advance what the rules are.
As a convicted prisoner you are normally allowed one 30 minute visit each week or one two hour visit every 28 days. You will be given information when you arrive at the prison about how to organise a visit. In most cases the prisoner will have to complete a form saying who the visitor will be and the visitor will be sent a pass which they must bring with them to the prison.
These are basic minimum rules for how many visits you can have but some prisons will also allow longer or more frequent visits. If you are a long way from your family and friends, you may be able to save up visits. Special arrangements can be made if you are seriously ill or if there is an urgent domestic crisis in your family.
Individual prisons will be able to advise about the rules which apply to them. Specialist organisations may also be able to give advice about visits, see under heading Useful organisations.
If you would like visits but do not usually get them the prison chaplain or social worker may be able to arrange for a volunteer prison visitor to visit you.
There are strict rules on gifts that can be given to you and your visitor should check with the prison what s/he can take to the prison before the visit.
Financial help is available from the Assisted Prison Visits Unit (APVU) to allow close relatives and partners in the UK to visit prisoners. The APVU scheme covers visits to all convicted, remand prisoners, civil prisoners and people held in prison under the 1971 Immigration Act. A close relative is defined as a husband, wife, civil partner, parent, brother, sister or child. This includes adoptive and step brothers, sisters, parents and children, and half-brothers and half-sisters. It does not include parents-in-law, brothers-in-law or sisters-in-law. Claims as an unmarried ‘partner’ will only be allowed where the relationship meets certain requirements of proof, for example, documentary evidence of having lived together for at least four months. This includes lesbian and gay partners who are not in a civil partnership.
If you are the prisoner’s sole visitor, the costs of your visit may be allowed, whatever the relationship.
To qualify for financial help from the APVU for visiting a prisoner you must also be:-
If you are on a low income, but you are not covered by the list above, you may still be able to get financial help, but you will need to see a specialist adviser for details of how to claim.
The address of the APVU is:-
The Assisted Prison Visits Unit
PO Box 2152
Birmingham
B15 1SD
Tel: 0845 300 1423
Textphone: 0845 304 0800
Email: assisted.prison.visits@hmps.gsi.gov.uk
You can obtain help from the APVU for a visit as soon as someone is imprisoned. It will pay for an assisted visit every 14 days. If the prison governor agrees it is necessary, it may also be possible to get financial help with the cost of extra visits, for example, if the prisoner is seriously ill.
You can claim the following expenses:-
Your claim should normally be made once every four weeks in advance of the visit. You can claim for two visits at the same time. You should make the first claim on Form F2022, which should be available from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) or the APVU by ringing 0121 626 2206. You should return the form 14 days before the visit to the APVU.
If your visit has already taken place, you may still make a claim for the costs, provided that you meet all the conditions and the claim is made within four weeks of your visit.
The cost of fares will usually be covered by a travel warrant. This will be made out in your name, and will expire on the same day as the VO unless an overnight stay in the middle of the journey is necessary. The cost of food, meals and petrol will be paid by girocheque. If you have borrowed the money to pay your travel costs, the claim should still be made by you, but the giro can be made out to the person from whom you borrowed the money. Only in exceptional circumstances will you be paid by cash, for example, if payment is very late.
If your claim was refused or you feel that it was wrongly assessed, you can appeal.
If you wish to appeal against a refused claim, you should consult a specialist adviser.
You are allowed to send out and receive as many letters as you wish. However, if your letters or packages are not marked as ‘legal correspondence’ because you are sending them to your solicitor or a court they will be opened by a prison officer to check that they do not contain any illegal enclosures. Letters will only be read if you are in a high security category, or if the prison officer suspects that it is necessary to read it to prevent or detect crime, or in the interests of security, even if the letter is being sent to your solicitor or a court.
You can buy cardphones for use on prison phones. Each prison will have different rules about how the phones can be used and there will be restrictions on the times that you can make phone calls. All telephone calls are recorded and may be monitored by prison staff.
If you are having a problem with letters or phone calls, you should consult an experienced adviser. For details of organisations that may be able to advise, see under heading Useful organisations.
The NHS assumed responsibility for providing prison healthcare on 1 November 2011. This includes medical, mental health, nursing, dental and ophthalmic services. Complaints about medical treatment in prison from 1 November 2011 are dealt with by the NHS complaints procedure.
Until 1 November 2011 primary healthcare services in Scottish prisons were the responsibility of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS). Complaints about medical treatment in prison before 1 November 2011 are dealt with by the Scottish Prison Service. If the internal SPS complaints procedure does not settle the issue, it can be taken to the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Justice.
Depending on the nature of the complaint, you should first consider using the prison’s internal complaints procedure, If your complaint is of a sensitive nature you could complain to someone outside the prison for example your MSP. If you are not happy with the response you get to your complaint, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) can consider complaints about most aspects of a prisoner’s treatment in prison. For more information about making a complaint to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, see How to use an ombudsman or commissioner in Scotland.
If you are complaining about race discrimination you can make your complaint to the Race Relations Manager in the prison or use the prison’s complaints procedure.
If you need more information about how to complain you should consult an experienced adviser for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on nearest CAB.
All Citizens Advice Bureaux can give information and advice about the issues facing prisoners and their families. They all hold detailed information about prisoners’ rights and will know who to refer to if they are not able to help. The address and telephone number of the local Citizens Advice Bureau can be found in the telephone directory.
13 Great King Street
Edinburgh
EH3 6QW
Tel: 0131 557 9800 (for professionals requiring information and back up)
Freephone helpline: 0500 839383
Email: support@familiesoutside.org.uk (helpline enquiries)
Email: admin@familiesoutside.org.uk (general enquiries)
Website: www.familiesoutside.org.uk
Families Outside is a Scottish charity which runs a free, confidential helpline for friends and families affected by imprisonment in Scotland. It provides information on all Scottish prisons, claiming travel expenses for prison visits, visiting and what to take to the prison, housing and benefit issues, and other concerns families may have. It also provides general support and a listening ear for anyone who needs to talk.
1 Broughton Market
Edinburgh EH3 6NU
Tel: 0131 624 7270
Fax: 0131 624 7269
Email: info@national.sacro.org.uk
Website: www.sacro.org.uk
SACRO provides advice, assistance and support to offenders and their families. In particular it assists in resettlement with individually planned and agreed packages of through care, supported accommodation and personal resettlement programmes. It has a drop-in/phone-in service, befrienders, and in some areas helps with transport to institutions. It also has youth justice services including behavioural programmes and restorative justice services. Restorative justice services attempt to address the impact a crime has had on a victim and a community and may involve face to face meetings between the offender and the victim if both parties agree. SACRO also offers non-offending services such as community mediation.
18 Stevenson Street
Glasgow G40 2ST
Tel: 0141 552 0229
Email: hope.organisation@virgin.net
310 Peat Road
Glasgow G53 6FA
Tel: 0141 876 1846
Email: hope.npvs@virgin.net
Hope offers support to prisoners and their families by providing advice and information. It specialises in employment advice. In addition there are a number of projects being run, for example, volunteer prison visitors who visit vulnerable prisoners, training in basic IT, jobseeking skills and adult literacy and numeracy for ex-prisoners and their families. There are also women's support groups for wives, mothers and partners of prisoners.
546 Sauchiehall Street
Glasgow G2 3NG
Tel: 0141 332 7752
Fax: 0141 332 6775
The aim of this organisation is to alleviate all types of poverty experienced by prisoners and their families. Much of the support is offered by home visits to prisoners’ families, in particular, single parents, housebound and older people.
16 Mortimer Street
London W1T 3JL
Tel: 020 7436 3304
Fax: 020 7436 3302
Email: info@fhaonline.org.uk
Website: www.fhaonline.org.uk
This association will provide grants for families, including those with a member in prison, so that they may have a holiday. In general, grants will only be paid to families which have not had a holiday for four years. There is a choice in the type of holiday for which help can be provided, including a visit to relatives. Grants vary according to the size of the family, and their financial situation. All applications have to be referred by a social worker, welfare agency or voluntary organisation.
115 Old Street
London
ECIV 9RT
Advice line: 020 7251 8706 (Tuesday and Thursday 2 – 5pm)
Tel: 020 7251 8708
Fax: 020 7251 8707
Email: info@jcwi.org.uk
Website: www.jcwi.org.uk
JCWI offers help, information and advice to prisoners who are experiencing immigration law problems including the threat of deportation.
For more information, see Help with immigration problems.
52 Octmore Road
Sheldon
Birmingham
B33 0XL
Tel: 0121 789 8443
Fax: 0121 789 8443
Email: mojo@mojo.freehosting.net
Website: www.mojo.freehosting.net
MOJO provides free and impartial expert advice to individuals who are suffering because of a miscarriage of justice.
The Scottish Prison Service website has information about prison locations, travel directions for visitors and visiting times. Visit the homepage at www.sps.gov.uk and click on 'prisons'.
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