What support can Prisoners Abroad provide for someone in prison?

Prisoners Abroad can provide practical and emotional support to prisoners. This can include one-off grants for people in any country who are eligible, or regular money for vitamins, food and toiletries (in most countries in Africa, Asia (apart from Japan, Singapore), Caribbean, Middle East and Central & South America). We are able to help cover the cost of emergency medical care or dental treatment which is not paid for by the prison authorities.

We help prisoners stay in touch with their friends and family through providing international freepost envelopes and assisting with prison visit bookings.  Prisoners Abroad can also send English-language books, magazines and newspapers to help sustain mental health and reduce isolation.

If the language barrier is making it difficult to understand legal proceedings or prison rules, we have volunteers who can help with translating documents.  

Because of the number of people we help, much of our work is reactive, responding as best we can to the queries or concerns brought to us by people in prison or their families. However, we recognise that some people will be considered more vulnerable than others, whether because of their age, worse prison conditions, health, or other factors. For those more vulnerable service users, our role might be more proactive and will include asking for updates from the person or consular representatives, providing information about a health issue, or making sure that they have access to all our grant programmes.