Independent Monitoring Boards for Prisons and Immigration Removal Centres

Independent Monitoring Boards perform a vital ‘watchdog’ role on behalf of Ministers and the general public in providing a lay and independent oversight of prisons and immigration removal centres.

The 1800 volunteers attached to 137 prisons and 9 immigration removal centres throughout England and Wales have an increasingly valuable and important role to play in ensuring that prisoners and detainees are being cared for decently and with humanity. Each Board is independent of the establishment it monitors and submits an annual report to the Home Secretary.

Board members can access the establishment at any time in order to talk to the staff, inmates or detainees, hear their concerns and check on the conditions they are living and working in. In the past Boards have achieved significant changes through the work of their members.

There is a continual need to recruit new members to serve on Boards throughout England and Wales, and applications are welcome from members of the general public from all walks of life, ethnic backgrounds, religions and age groups. This could be your chance to make a difference.

Find out what being a member of an Independent Monitoring Board involves in What Does Being a Board Member Involve?