Prisons
On this page:
- Prison law guidance and FAQs
- Application for prior approval for prison law treatment cases (PL1)
- Guidance for prison visits
- Video link interviews
- Prison Law Funding
Prison law guidance and FAQs
We have published additional guidance, together with answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) on the prison law scheme that came into effect from 14 July 2010. Both can be found under documents on this page.
Application for prior approval for prison law treatment cases (PL1)
Under the 2010 Standard Crime Contract in force from 14 July 2010, providers must apply for prior approval to undertake a prison law treatment case. The rules which apply to this work can be found in part B of the contract specification.
To apply for prior approval you must complete the PL1 form, available under Documents, and send it to the Nottingham office (address details are included on the form).
Guidance for prison visits
A Good Practice Guide for prison visits has been jointly produced by the Ministry of Justice, Her Majesty's Prison Service (HMPS), National Offender Management Service (NOMS) and the LSC. See the Documents panel for this guidance.
The guide has been sent to prison governors and directors to help improve the efficiency of prison visits for both defence practitioners and prisons.
The guidance was developed following:
- a series of fact finding visits to several prisons
- direct engagement with defence practitioners
- a subsequent workshop with officials from MoJ, Home Office, Her Majesty's Courts Service (HMCS), NOMS and HMPS.
The guide uses good practice identified at the local level to highlight how improvements can be made across the system as a whole by both prisons and practitioners.
It recommends:
- joint working by both parties on improvements to legal visits via local user group forums is an effective way to push forward reform
- prisons should improve the processes that support visits more effectively, such as making greater use of electronic booking systems and providing specific written information for legal visitors which is then adhered to
- defence practitioners should be aware that late cancellation of legal visits creates operational problems for prisons and results in delays for other practitioners who want to arrange legal visits with their clients.
Video link interviews
Her Majesty's Courts Service (HMCS) has published new guidance to help solicitors set up video link interviews with clients in prisons.
The scheme can help avoid costly visits and can be used for:
- client interviews
- parole board hearings
- other prison law matters.
The guidance includes updated booking procedures and new contact details for prisons and courts.
Prison Law Funding
We published our response to a review of Prison Law funding on 15 July 2009.
For more information:
- visit the Prison Law Funding page
- or the Prison Law Funding consultation page.
Last updated: 16 August 2010