Advice & Support

We know that a prison sentence can be a daunting experience both for those in prison and for their families and friends. The Advice & Support section has been developed to answer some of the questions people may have about life in prison and explains the support available for both prisoners and their family and friends.

As well as providing an overview of life inside a prison; the section describes the rights of prisoners and the efforts made by the prison staff to treat all prisoners whatever their colour, race, sex, age or offence with decency and fairness. Our section on diversity and equality explains this further.

The Prison Service strives to make the prison experience constructive. We seek to reduce re-offending by encouraging prisoners to be better equipped for work, relate to others and live lives free from addiction.

This section also provides practical advice about keeping in touch with prisoners as well as looking at the services and procedures before and after their release.

Finally, we have provided a resource for finding out more about the many Support Groups that are available for both prisoners and their family and friends.