Prisoners can make a complaint if they have any problems. There are two basic ways for prisoners to make a complaint. They can use internal prison procedures or go outside the prison system - to their MP for example.
The Prison Service takes complaints very seriously and there is a process for making sure that complaints are dealt with as quickly and as fairly as possible.
The prison system for making a complaint
Talking to a member of staff
As a first step, prisoners should talk to a member of staff - preferably their personal officer if they have one. Lots of problems are dealt with very simply and quickly in this way.
Alternatively they can make an application to speak to a medical officer, chaplain or a member of the local Independent Monitoring Board.
Formal complaints
If the matter cannot be sorted out through discussion and the prisoner is still unhappy, they can make a written complaint. All prison establishments are required to have in place a three stage complaints process and to make complaint forms freely available on the prison wing. Ordinary complaints are managed locally and should normally be responded to within prescribed time limits so that problems can be resolved swiftly. The stage 3 response is the final scrutiny of a complaint by the Prison Service, after which a complaint may be taken to the independent Prisons & Probation Ombudsman.
There are also external avenues through which prisoners may pursue a complaint without necessarily having exhausted the internal process although some of the organisations will expect the prisoner to have al least raised their complaint internally. These include The Criminal Cases Review Commission, Commission for Racial Equality, European Court of Human Rights and The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO)
The Prisons & Probation Ombudsman is appointed by the Secretary of State for Justice, and is an independent point of appeal for prisoners and those supervised by the Probation Service. Prisoners may pursue a complaint with the PPO after all the internal avenues of complaint have been exhausted, provided they do so within three months of having received the response to the final stage in that process.
For the purpose of investigations, the Ombudsman has full access to Prison Service information, documents, establishments and individuals, including classified material and information provided to the Prison Service by other organisations, such as the police. For medical records, the prisoner's consent is required for disclosure.
You can find out more about the Ombudsman on the PPO website - a link to which is available on the right of this page.
