What can I do if I suspect someone has been arrested? Expand If you suspect someone British has been arrested abroad, you should call the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) on 020 7008 5000), to make them aware of the situation. If you are outside the UK, call the British Embassy/Consulate in that country. Staff at the British Embassy in the country of arrest will then try to make contact with the person to get more information, and will encourage them to sign up with Prisoners Abroad for additional support while they’re detained. You can see information about prisons in each country, as well as lists of local lawyers and translators, and contact details for British consular staff, on their website: https://www.gov.uk/help-if-you-are-arrested-abroad/y General information about how the FCDO can assist can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/arrest-or-detention/arrested-abroad-advice-for-british-nationals
Will my friend/relative have a criminal record in the UK when they come back? Expand For serious offences, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office is obliged to share information with the UK authorities when a prisoner returns to the UK. Information about offences is often shared between countries anyway. The charity Unlock has a very good summary on their website of how this works in practice.
My friend/relative will be released soon but they don’t have a passport. Can you help them apply for one? Expand Applying for a passport from within prison is not always straightforward, not least because getting passport photos taken and gathering documents can be very difficult. However, in some more accommodating prisons it is possible. Take a look at our factsheet on the subject for more information about how this might work.
Do you share information with third parties? Expand We operate a very strict confidentiality policy and will not disclose any information regarding your loved one’s situation or alleged offence to third parties unless we have their express consent to do so. However, if your friend/relative is registered with Prisoners Abroad, they will have signed our authorisation form. This will give us permission to share information with and receive updates from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) or local British Embassy dealing with their case. Our family support service is completely confidential as well so you can rest assured that when you contact us, we will do all we can to help in a discreet and non-judgemental way. Prisoners Abroad might sometimes need to share your information without your permission, for example: where there is a ‘legal obligation’ to respond to a court order to share information; to protect someone’s life (‘vital interests’) if we are aware they or others are in danger; where there are ‘legitimate interests’ to use the information in our work such as in anonymous data for fundraising purposes; to defend our legal rights following a complaint. You can read our privacy policy here.
Can my friend/relative serve their sentence in the UK? Expand Prisoner Transfer Agreements (PTAs) allow British prisoners to serve the remaining part of their sentence in the UK. Not all countries have PTAs in place but see our factsheet for more information on how this process works. Remember that your relative will only be able to apply to transfer to a UK prison once their sentence is final, and there are no appeals or fines outstanding. You can also see the British government's guidance on transfer here
Can Prisoners Abroad visit my friend/relative in prison? Expand We are a very small charity and only have one office in London. We deliver lots of our services via staff in the British Embassies and Consulates around the world and they visit prisons periodically. However, we do not conduct prison visits ourselves.
Will I be able to visit? Expand Most prisons allow visits, although rules vary considerably. In most instances, visitors need to get permission to visit, either by applying for a permit or submitting paperwork to get their name added to a list. Consult the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) prisoner pack for more specific advice and get in touch with us if you need help with booking a visit in either France or Spain. We understand that visiting a loved one in prison can be a very nerve-wracking and emotional experience. We’ll do everything we can to help you prepare for your visit and ensure that it goes smoothly. Please feel welcome to call us once you’ve visited to talk through how it went and any issues it raised.
Can Prisoners Abroad help someone if they are out on bail? Expand Due to our very limited resources, we are unable to continue supporting anyone released on bail. Often, a condition of bail will be that a person has to stay in the country in which they've been arrested. We urge people to think carefully about how they will support themselves outside of prison in a foreign country for an indefinite amount of time if they are granted bail.
How long can my friend/relative be kept on remand? Expand Periods of time spent on remand (pre-trial) can be lengthy and we know that this is often very difficult for the prisoner and their family and friends. Some countries may have a limit on the amount of time someone can be kept on remand – we’d advise you check the FCDO’s prisoner pack to see if this is the case. We cannot intervene in legal proceedings/speed cases up in any way, but we can help to ensure that the person in detention understands how their case is progressing.
How do I find a lawyer? Can you recommend a good one? Expand As a welfare charity, we are not able to recommend lawyers or give legal advice. The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office can provide a list of English-speaking lawyers in each country but Prisoners Abroad is not able to vouch for their credibility. Some countries may provide court appointed lawyers if the prisoner is unable to afford a private lawyer.
How can I keep in touch with someone in prison? Expand You can usually communicate via letter and some prisons will also allow outgoing phone calls, although these can be costly. We provide prisoners with international freepost envelopes so that they can stay in touch with friends and family without having to worry about the cost of stamps or stationery. There are sometimes restrictions around prisoners receiving items other than letters in the post. If you’re unsure of the rules, try checking the FCDO prisoner pack or ask us for advice. If you need help with getting your phone number approved by the prison or sending money for phone calls, please get in touch with us.
What support can you provide to the friends/family of prisoners? Expand Prisoners Abroad’s Freephone helpline (0808 182 0098) is open from 9.30am-4.30pm on Monday to Friday. It is free to call from a UK landline or mobile. We can answer practical questions about keeping in touch with your relative in prison and we can also listen and provide support if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the situation. If your relative is in prison in France or Spain, we may also be able to help with some of the practicalities of arranging visits and liaising with the prison authorities. We hold Family Days and Family Support Groups too; you can find out more information about an event near you on our Family Support and Events page. If you can’t attend an event, there are other ways that we can link you with people experiencing the overseas imprisonment of a loved one, by phone or on our online family network.
What support can Prisoners Abroad provide for someone in prison? Expand 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.
How can I help a prisoner manage their financial affairs while they're detained? Expand If you want to help a prisoner manage their financial affairs while they’re in prison, the prisoner will need to complete a Power of Attorney form. Once completed, this will give the named person permission to liaise with the relevant agencies (landlords, banks, creditors, etc.) on the prisoner's behalf. The power of attorney form should be completed using the accompanying guidance notes. If the person in prison overseas is unable to have contact with the outside world and therefore to sign a Power of Attorney, it may be that the Guardianship (Missing Persons) Act 2017 would be relevant for the purposes of appointing someone to manage their affairs. There is more information in the Code of Practice and further advice would need to be sought from a lawyer.
How can Prisoners Abroad help when someone raises a potential human rights abuse with us? Expand Prisoners Abroad works to protect the health, wellbeing and basic human rights of British citizens detained abroad. The worldwide protection of human rights is very complex; our range of factsheets aims to provide more background information on issues such as torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and how to make complaints to a human rights body. In many cases, human rights complaints are best dealt with through the legal system in the country where someone is detained, and therefore seeking legal advice from a lawyer will be the best solution. Prisoners Abroad employs Human Rights Advisers – seconded to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) – who can give general advice and training to both organisations about what constitutes a human rights abuse and what can be done about it. The Human Rights Advisers cannot give advice to individuals, nor can they provide legal advice. If a person whom we are supporting alleges a breach of their human rights, or if we have concerns, we will raise it and ask for advice.
Does Prisoners Abroad work with people who are arbitrarily detained? Expand Arbitrary arrest and arbitrary detention is the arrest or detention of an individual in a case in which there is no good legal basis for the arrest or detention, or where due process of law has not been followed. Arbitrary detention can include people who are: arrested or detained without explanation of the reasons or charges; detention for legitimate exercise of human rights, such as free speech or free assembly; or detention for discriminatory reasons; detained for a long time without being brought before a judge, or coming to trial; kept in prison beyond their release date without a clear reason. Prisoners Abroad’s support is available from the moment of an overseas arrest, so we can work with British people who are arbitrarily detained and their families, but the level of support will depend on the possibility of contact, whether directly or via the British government and the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). In some cases, it can be challenging or impossible to make contact with people in these circumstances. Our support is welfare-based, so we cannot advise on the legal aspects of a case, but we would consider people who are arbitrarily detained to be more vulnerable service users (see ‘What support can Prisoners Abroad provide someone in prison’ for more information). Prisoners Abroad can also alert the FCDO to the concerns of people who believe they or their loved one fall into this category.
Who can Prisoners Abroad provide services to? Expand Prisoners Abroad can only provide services to British citizens detained overseas and their loved ones. We cannot provide services to: Non-British citizens British dual citizens who are detained in the country of their other nationality (e.g. a British/US dual national detained in the USA). Any person who may come under the umbrella term of British national but does not have the Right of Abode in the UK. This includes: British Overseas Territories citizens (e.g. citizens of Bermuda) British Nationals Overseas (e.g. persons who have UK nationality through a connection with Hong Kong) British subjects (e.g. persons who had a connection to the UK through residency/citizenship of a country which was part of the former British Empire or Commonwealth For further details and queries about these categories, please contact Prisoners Abroad, or the FCDO. We may only be able to provide a limited service to British dual nationals who are detained in a third country (e.g. a British/US dual national detained in Thailand). This depends on whether you decide to ask the British consular staff to represent you. Should you ask to be represented by the consular staff of your other nationality, this will create difficulties with aspects of our service such as passing on funds. Should you register to Prisoners Abroad as a British citizen and we later receive information to suggest that you are a non-British or dual national in the circumstances listed above, we reserve the right to withdraw all services.