prison visits psi

PSI 16/2011 Providing Visits and Services to Visits

This Prison Service Instruction (PSI), produced by the Ministry of Justice, provides rules, regulations and guidelines around prison visits. It includes information about the minimum requirements English and Welsh prisons must provide regarding visits, visitor facilities, safeguarding, visitor information etc and also makes suggestions about additional services that prisons may wish to consider providing. The PSI stresses the importance of family ties and visits, both to the prisoner and their family, and cites the reduction in intergenerational offending as a potential outcome of successful visiting arrangements.

See PSI 16/2011 Providing Visits and Services to Visits below: 

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Visiting someone in prison

This page includes advice on how to book a prison visit, what to expect and how to get financial assistance for your visit.

How to book a visit

Which prison are they in, preparing for a visit, will i get searched, what happens during the visit, complaints about visits, financial assistance for visits.

You will need to book a visit for the person you’re going to see making sure you have their name, prison number and date of birth, this can be done through the Gov.uk website — https://www.gov.uk/prison-visits

You can also book visits by calling the prison directly.

If you are having difficulty booking a visit you can telephone the Prisoners’ Families Helpline  on 0808 808 2003 who will be able to give you advice about booking a visit. You will need to give them information about how long you have spent on the phone trying to book a visit.

If you don’t know where the person you want to visit is, you can email Prisoner Location Service who may be able to location your loved one — subject to conditions.

You should check that you know where you are going. You may want to arrive early, as there will be security to go through.

You will also need a photographic ID i.e. passport or driver’s licence for when you arrive at the prison.

You’ll be allowed to take some money with you to purchase some food and drinks from the prisons shop during the visit for you and the person you’re visiting. You can contact the prison to confirm the maximum amount you’re allowed to take to the visiting area.

You should be aware that you will not be able to hand property directly to the prison. If you would like to hand something in for the person you’re visiting, it would be useful to call the prison to ask if this is allowed to avoid disappointment.

Yes, your bags and pockets will be searched. You may also be given a rub down search and asked to open your mouth. All searches should be carried out in a polite and respectful way.

You will be allocated seats and you normally have to remain seated.

You can usually embrace at the beginning and end of the visit.

Officers will be present and may listen to your conversation.

You cannot usually smoke in the visits hall.

The rules for visiting should be clearly displayed in the prison. The visit can be refused or cut short if you break any of the prison visit rules. If you are a threat to prison security or are causing concern to other visitors, you may also find the visit is cut short or you are offered a closed visit.

Further information on visits this can be found below:

PSI 16/2011 Managing prison visits

Management of security at visits Policy Framework

Visitors should be treated professionally and with respect. If you feel you have been discriminated against or treated discourteously, you can write to the governor of the prison. The governor is expected to reply to you within 28 days. There is no formal complaints procedure for people visiting a prison.

More information on how to make a complaint and who to complain to should be displayed in the visits area of each prison.

You may be able to get help with the costs of visiting someone in prison. If you are a close relative, partner or the only visitor and have a low income, you should contact the Assisted Prison Visits Unit to see if you qualify for help.

More information and contact details can be found at https://www.gov.uk/help-with-prison-visits

Prison Visits and Desistance: A Human Rights Perspective

• First Online: 20 April 2017

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• Marie A. Hutton 3  

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10 Citations

The important role of family contact in the desistance process is almost universally acknowledged and enshrined in policy on prison visits in England and Wales. In the first instance, this chapter challenges these dominant narratives and questions the extent to which such a discourse is legitimate and appropriate. With that in mind, the chapter then goes on to critically examine the operation of the Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) scheme in prisons. In National Offender Management Service (NOMS) policy, access to prison visits is simultaneously treated as a prisoners’ right under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights 1950 (ECHR) and a privilege under the IEP scheme; an incentive for good behaviour, a reward for complying with the regime and, most tellingly, a mechanism of punishment for not. This chapter argues that such a contradictory approach fundamentally undermines the desistance process potentially inhibiting post-release desistance from crime.

Mail, visits and food should be the three things that they do not fuck about with and they do, they always have done. (John, Prisoner, HMP Anon)

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Inmate Social Ties, Recidivism, and Continuing Questions About Prison Visitation

Both prisons’ names have been anonymised for the purpose of this study.

Despite current uncertainty at the time of writing as to the status of the Human Rights Act 1998 and the potential alternative of a British Bill of Rights the UK will still be bound not to act in contravention of Article 8 ECHR. In order to absolve themselves of this responsibility, the UK would have to withdraw from the ECHR, which is not currently on the political agenda.

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University of Sussex, Falmer, UK

Marie A. Hutton

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Emily Luise Hart

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Esther F.J.C. van Ginneken

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About this chapter

Hutton, M.A. (2017). Prison Visits and Desistance: A Human Rights Perspective. In: Hart, E., van Ginneken, E. (eds) New Perspectives on Desistance. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95185-7_9

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Published : 20 April 2017

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• Prisons and probation

Prison service orders (PSOs)

Policy and guidance for prison and probation professionals in England and Wales.

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Index and notes.

This page lists all current prison service orders (PSOs). From 2010, new prison operational policies were issued as prison service instructions (PSIs) .

If the PSO you want is not listed here, check the PSO index. This document lists every PSO issued and includes details of those which have been cancelled, updated or replaced by a PSI or policy framework. The index also includes the most up-to-date contact details for the owner of each PSO.

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