At the core of our work is our vision, mission and purpose.

Vision

British prisoners overseas and their families survive imprisonment with dignity and face the future with hope.

Mission

Prisoners Abroad works to protect the health, wellbeing and basic human rights of British citizens detained abroad.

We strive to ease the isolation and deprivation experienced by prisoners abroad and their families at home.

On their return to the UK, we prevent their homelessness and destitution and support people to rebuild their lives and have a future free of crime.

Purpose

To safeguard the welfare and human rights of British citizens detained overseas.

To reduce the isolation and deprivation experienced by both prisoners overseas and their families.

To prevent destitution and street homelessness among British citizens returning from overseas and give them a second chance to rebuild their lives.

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About our work

Prisoners Abroad is a human rights and welfare charity providing humanitarian aid, advice and emotional support to people affected by overseas imprisonment. We assist British citizens during their incarceration, when they return to the UK and need access to resettlement services, and we also support their family and friends throughout the trauma.

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.

Prisoners Abroad also helps family members affected by a loved one’s imprisonment by providing one to one support as well as hosting family support groups around the country and arranging overseas visits. Our work extends to a resettlement service that supports those who return back to the UK; we find them somewhere to stay, provide grants for food and travel, and help them take the vital steps to a new life.

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Values

Prisoners Abroad is non-judgmental and helps British citizens convicted or unconvicted, guilty or innocent, solely on the basis of need. 

Prisoners Abroad believes in the importance of human rights and that no-one should be subject to torture, inhumane or degrading treatment. 

Prisoners Abroad embraces equality, diversity and inclusion. 

Prisoners Abroad listens to its service users' voices, it empathises and empowers them by involving them throughout the organisation and valuing their lived experience. 

Prisoners Abroad values and supports its staff and their wellbeing. 

Prisoners Abroad appreciates its funders and donors and ensures its resources are used responsibly, creating maximum impact with accountability and transparency. 

Prisoners Abroad strives to achieve the best impact for its service users by working in collaborative partnerships with them and with statutory and voluntary sector organisations. 

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Non-judgmental 

We know that people need help from the moment they are detained all the way through the process from beginning to end - remand, sentencing, imprisonment and release. We are mindful of safeguarding and public protection but we also believe in seeing beyond the crime to the humanity - the people. The people we work with need access to food and clean water and medical support immediately - we don't wait until someone has been sentenced to provide these fundamental human rights. Families find themselves unexpectedly plunged into life-changing experiences due to circumstances out of their control and often find themselves judged by those around them. 

We approach our work with great compassion and provide a non-judgmental support service that our service users tell us - saves lives, changes lives and improves lives. 

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 Our Strategy, 'Building our community of support' (2022-25)

The world has certainly changed a lot since we published our last organisational strategy. We are now living in the Covid-era and the pandemic forced us into new and different ways of working. Some of which were not ideal, but there were some changes that we can keep and build on and learn from the positive initiatives that have taken place.

Our strategic aims continue to keep our service users at the heart of what we do. Focusing on their vulnerabilities means using our time and resources to their greatest effect. At the same time, none of this happens without our amazing staff and volunteers who have been brilliant throughout the challenges presented by Covid. We want to continue investing in their skills and abilities, their ingenuity and futures. Prisoners Abroad has proven to be a strong and resilient organisation over the last four decades and particularly through these highly challenging recent years. To remain agile and robust needs us to continue to refresh and invest in our internal processes and support structures.

During the period of this strategy, we plan to continue to build our community of support – our contacts and connections, a gathering together of individuals and organisations that can help in different ways, to respond to the changing needs of our service users and provide access to knowledge, resources and other services that would be advantageous for them.

Working together we can all make a positive difference to people’s lives and futures. If you are interested in reading it please download a copy.