By Emma, Casework Assistant

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For the last three years, we have provided casework experience for a student studying an international or criminal justice-related degree and we are thrilled to have our current casework assistant, Emma, on the team. Emma is studying Criminology and is with us on a placement year between her second and final years of study. Read her staff story, written for Student Volunteering Week 2025, below.

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Student Volunteering Week 2025 has started, so it seems like a good time to reflect on my first four months of volunteering here at Prisoners Abroad. It’s been a period of challenges, personal growth and heartwarming moments surrounded and supported by an amazing team. It’s also been an experience that has given me opportunities I didn’t think would be possible.

My day-to-day role is assisting the casework team. While getting to grips with the more admin-based aspects and processes was initially quite tricky, I soon got into the flow of things and started feeling more confident with the work and how my contributions were valuable to the rest of the team. Generally, my day-to-day has involved liaising with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, replying to letters received from clients, and putting parcels together with reading materials to send out.

This can be very fulfilling, especially when I find the perfect book for a client, and heartwarming when receiving thank you letters, as these really highlight the impact and the importance of our support. Some of the correspondence can be challenging, but with the support of the casework team, I am able to respond accordingly.

We receive a lot of letters from people in prison overseas with messages of thanks and gratitude which makes volunteering very worthwhile.

As the months have gone by, I have had the opportunity to contribute to wider projects such as the revision of the ‘In Prison Abroad’ handbook and the translation of an advert highlighting our overseas services in various prisoner-focused publications. I’ve taken part in one of the themed family support group meetings, which gave me the opportunity to hear how much families relish the support we provide, and I wrote about my experience attending the meeting in an article for the Prisoners Abroad overseas newsletter.

I was fortunate to attend an event to celebrate Prisoners Abroad’s partnerships. For me, the prospect of attending an event where you have to mingle and talk to as many people as possible was quite daunting, but I recognized the importance of the event both for Prisoners Abroad and for my personal growth, as it provided me with the chance to step out of my comfort zone and experience an event I would not have otherwise had the chance to attend. Furthermore, it was timed perfectly to reflect on my first month volunteering and share my experience as a newcomer to Prisoners Abroad. I also got insights into the reasons people have decided to support our charity, which made me even more aware of the importance of the support network that surrounds Prisoners Abroad.

The first few months volunteering have been amazing. I have enjoyed every bit of it and I look forward to coming into the office every day.

As a university student, I was initially nervous at the prospect of taking on voluntary work, but after reading the advert, I kept thinking about it and actually started imagining working here and what it might look like. I was captivated by the description of the work I would be doing.

Why? Because at university I have studied the negative impact imprisonment can have on people, especially if detained somewhere far from home, as this hinders the possibility for some families to visit their loved one, increasing the sense of isolation already brought on by imprisonment. However, at university, my focus has always been on people in prison in the UK. Reading about this volunteering opportunity made me consider how much more the “pains of imprisonment” must be felt when detained overseas; families based in the UK have even more difficulties visiting, and on top of this there is the language barrier that comes with being in prison overseas that exacerbates isolation even further.

I felt I wanted to do something to help ease this, and volunteering with Prisoners Abroad was going to give me the perfect opportunity to do so, but also to learn more about different prison conditions across the world.

So far, volunteering for Prisoners Abroad has been a wonderful experience for me and one I will cherish. It has given me the opportunity to make a positive impact on people’s lives, and it has also given me food for thought about the paths to take once I graduate.

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Being offered a lifeline can change everything. 

Prisoners Abroad translates human rights law into practical life-saving actions by providing prisoners access to vitamins and essential food, emergency medical care, freepost envelopes to keep in touch with home and books and magazines to help sustain mental health.

Can you help to support our life-saving work by donating today?

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