Prisoners Abroad is delighted to have received a grant of £50,000 from long-standing supporter the City & Metropolitan Welfare Charity.

---

The City & Metropolitan Welfare Charity, or “City & Met”, was formed in 1961 when the Prison Charities and the Central Fund of the Metropolitan Convalescent Institution were merged. The Charity has strong links to the Livery Companies of the City of London, with historical involvement from the Mercers’, Leathersellers’, Grocers’, Haberdashers’, and Ironmongers’ Companies.

For the past 63 years, the City & Met has supported charities working with prisoners and ex-prisoners, in that time distributing hundreds of thousands of pounds to causes working in the field of criminal justice. It has supported Prisoners Abroad since 2007, in that time helping to protect the welfare of thousands of British overseas prisoners, their families, and ex-overseas prisoners. In October 2024, the Trustees decided to begin the process of winding up the charity and distributing its endowment to organisations they have supported in the past, including Prisoners Abroad.

The grant will be used to help fund our three core areas of support: protecting the health and wellbeing of British people in overseas prisons, supporting their families at a time when they may have nowhere else to turn, and giving hope to ex-prisoners returning to the UK. This level of funding from the City and Metropolitan Welfare Charity will help to sustain these services for the future, enabling us to have a lasting impact on the lives of the vulnerable people we support.

We are thrilled to have received such a significant grant from the City & Metropolitan Welfare Charity, which will help us to continue providing hope and dignity to thousands of people affected by overseas imprisonment – both in the UK and around the world. We are very grateful to the Trustees and staff of the City & Met for their support throughout the years and wish them well for the future.

– Theresa Gilson, Head of Service Delivery

The impact of this donation will be felt by the people we support in over 100 countries around the world, bringing comfort and reassurance at a time when people most need it.

Thank you so much for the books and magazines, and for your continued support. They really are all greatly appreciated, and I can't thank you enough. They will greatly help to pass the time. Your continued support means a great deal to me, and I hope that I can one day repay you all in some way. It is also a pleasure to write to someone in English (I don't speak Spanish) so thank you once again for your kindness and consideration.

– Someone we support in prison in Spain

---

 For Press:

[email protected]

T: +44 (0) 20 7561 6820 (option 5)

 For more information about press enquiries, click here.