How we help | How We Help Families

If you have a friend or relative who is a British citizen and is detained in prison abroad, here are some of the ways that we may be able to help you.

Advice and information

Our Prisoner and Family Support team at Prisoners Abroad will be your point of contact for advice, information and support. Our caseworkers provide a friendly and confidential service to friends and relatives of British prisoners detained overseas. All our caseworkers speak at least one foreign language and can often liaise with the prison, your relative's lawyer or the British Embassy on your behalf.

Freephone number for families

Family Days

Our Family Days gave families and friends of British prisoners in incarcerated overseas a chance to meet Prisoners Abroad staff and talk about shared experiences with other families who are in a similar situation. We hold these events throughout the year, so please contact us if you are interested in attending the next one.

Newsletter

We publish a newsletter three times a year. This is written by British citizens held throughout the world. In addition, each issue of the newsletter contains is a family section which highlights particular topics and articles which will hopefully be of interest to you.

Family linking

We can try to put you in touch with other families who have a friend or relative in the same prison or country to provide mutual support. More information is given in our short briefing paper Family Linking. (File size: 68KB)

Prison visiting

We have travel and visiting information for many prisons overseas. We can sometimes provide recommendations of places for people to stay. We also have an information leaflet called Visiting for the first time, which gives advice and information to those people who are planning their first prison visit.

Where to get other support

We have information on local prisoner family support groups throughout the UK. Or you can contact Action for Prisoners' Families who can give you details of any groups local to you.

We have produced a series of leaflets that offer guidance and information on some of the problems that families face when their relative is in prison abroad. To download these leaflets, please go to the family section of our factsheet page.

Returning Prisoners
If you have any concerns about the return of your friend or relative, please get in touch with our Prisoner and Family Support team. Further information can be found in the Resettlement section.