Prison impacts on family members as much as on those inside. Contact with a loved one can be fraught and visits, in particular, can be a very stressful experience. Many prisons make huge efforts to make visits as comfortable and enjoyable as possible. However, there are still situations where resources or attitudes mean that a family member is not satisfied with their treatment during a visit. If families feel they have been treated badly by a prison, there are various steps they can take. Obviously, who to complain to depends on the type of complaint. Many organisations will also expect individuals to have made a complaint through the channels available before they get involved in a complaint.

Families can write to the governor (or visits manager) with their concerns and should be responded to within 28 days. The Prison Service has a performance target that states that 95% of correspondence from external bodies, including family members, should receive a response within 20 working days.

Families with a concern about access to a prison should be aware that the Prison Service has signed up to the Disability Discrimination Act. This means they have to take reasonable steps to overcome any physical barriers which stop, or make it difficult for people with disabilities to access the prison.

Family members needing information about an individual prison regime can request this from a prison directly. If this is not forthcoming, a request can be made under the Freedom of Information Act. This needs to be in a written form and can be requested by letter or email. The prison has to respond within 20 working days and if they do not provide the information, they have to give an explanation for this.

Some organisations such as the Prisoners’ Families Helpline and the Prison Reform Trust can take up complaints with prisons in certain circumstances. They also collate information about the prisons where families may be experiencing particular difficulties and this information can be passed to area managers or Prison Service HQ.

Families with general concerns about procedures or regulations can write to the Independent Monitoring Board (care of the prison) or the prisons inspectorate. Although, they will not be able to take action about an individual concern or incident this is another way of ensuring that the general situation is monitored.

Currently, there is no systematic way for families to complain about their treatment from a prison. The complaints system within prisons is only for prisoners. As previously stated families can write in to prison and should be responded to reasonably quickly. However, prisons vary and there is no cast iron guarantee that this will happen. If the response is unsatisfactory (or non-existent) there is no obvious recourse for families to take their concerns further.

There is a convincing case for families having access to the Prison and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) procedure. It would not be appropriate for families to initiate complaints about an individual prisoner’s treatment. However, there are specific circumstances where a family might wish to complain about the way they have personally been treated.

The PPO office has investigative powers and is independent of the Prison Service. They are able to investigate complaints for prisoners once someone has gone through the internal complaint procedure. Currently,the Ombudsman’s office remit extends only to working with the families of those who have died in custody. This remit could be extended so that families have access to a formalised standard complaint system too.

This is not the only option for a complaints system for families. However, there needs to be a systematic route for families to raise their concerns. This would improve their confidence in the prison system and the individual establishments where their family member is held. It would be fairer and it would improve services.

Children and Families are part of the NOMS agenda and one of the seven pathways identified in reducing reoffending. NOMS states that they will ensure that the needs of offenders’ children and families are considered. A significant part of this work needs to be ensuring that families of offenders have a voice within the Prison Service. This needs to be in built into the system in the way that request and complaints are for prisoners. Without an independent and robust system for this, families will remain sidelined and have little confidence that the Prison Service is responsive to their concerns.

Further advice can be obtained from the Disability Rights Commission Helpline on 0845 7622633.

Prisoners’ Families Helpline (0808 808 2003)