Prisons in England and Wales
Find information on prisons and young offender institutions in England and Wales, including how to arrange visits and how to stay in touch with prisoners.
Apply to find a prisoner’s location
Use this service to find someone in prison if you do not know which prison they are in.
The prisoner must give their permission for their information to be shared.
You can only use this service to find someone in an English or Welsh prison.
To apply, you’ll need:
the prisoner’s name (or any other name they may have used)
the prisoner’s date of birth or age - if you know it
their prisoner number - if you have it
You’ll get a reply to your application within 4 weeks.
Contact somebody in prison
Prisoners are not allowed to access social networking websites (such as Facebook or Twitter) while they’re in custody.
You cannot email prisoners directly, but you can use a service called Email a Prisoner. If you send a message this way, it’ll be printed out and delivered by prison staff. Each email costs 40p and you need to buy credit to use the service.
In some prisons, prisoners can also reply and attach a photo through Email a Prisoner
Send money to someone in prison
You can use this service to make a payment by Visa, Mastercard or Maestro debit card. Money usually takes less than 3 working days to reach a prisoner’s account, but it may take longer.
This service is free, secure and available in all prisons in England and Wales.
You can no longer send money by bank transfer, cheque, postal order or send cash by post to any prison. You’ll need to use a debit card instead.
Request a basic DBS check
Apply for a basic Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check to get a copy of your criminal record. This is called ‘basic disclosure’. It’s available for people working in England and Wales.
It currently costs £21.50.
A Subject Access Request (SAR) is a legal right. It allows you to see the personal information held about you by the police, probation, prisons, and other government bodies. On paper, the right exists for everyone. In practice, people in prison face serious barrier before a request is even sent.Outside prison, a SAR can usually be made by email or online. Inside prison, people are typically told to write a letter by hand and post it to a long, multi-line government address. That address must be copied exactly, without access to the internet, spell-check, or templates. One mistake can mean the request is delayed, returned, or never acknowledged.
This creates a hidden obstacle. Limited access to stationery, poor handwriting facilities, learning difficulties, or simple human error can stop a SAR before it reaches the correct department. Weeks or months can be lost before anyone even confirms the request exists. Delays matter. Information held about you is often relied on for parole decisions, licence conditions, recalls, and risk assessments. When a SAR is slow or blocked, you may miss the chance to challenge mistakes before decisions are made.
The law gives you the right to your data. The process should not punish you for trying to use it.
This is why using the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is critical.
When you submit a Subject Access Request through the ICO, the request is sent via the ICO’s own systems. The organisation cannot claim it was never received. It creates a clear, independent record that the request was made and when the legal time limit started.
Subject Access Request (S.A.R)
You can make a request yourself, for your child under 13 (for whom you have parental authority), or for someone who you have a legal authority.
What you will need
A proof of identity - they require one of the following as proof of your identity:
Driving Licence
Passport
National ID card
Birth certificate
Adoption certificate
Access your POLICE Record
Request information from Prison Service and National Probation Service
