Send a letter to a prisoner
Write from your phone. We print it and post it to the prison.
Prisons take post in the ordinary way: a letter, in an envelope, through Royal Mail. The awkward part is rarely the postage — it is finding a printer, and knowing what you are allowed to send. This page covers both.
Who this is for
Family keeping in touch
Letters are the most reliable contact there is. They do not depend on a phone credit balance or a visiting slot.
People without a printer at home
Write on your phone; we do the printing and the posting.
Anyone unsure of the rules
The guidance below is the part most services leave out.
What you need before you write
- The prisoner's full name and prison number
- Both are needed. Post without a prison number is slow at best and returned at worst. If you do not have it, ask the person you are writing to, or ring the prison and ask — they will not give it out to just anyone, but they will help someone who is expected to be in touch.
- The right prison, and its current address
- People move between prisons, sometimes at short notice. GOV.UK keeps an up-to-date address and phone number for every prison in England and Wales at gov.uk/find-a-prison, and that is the address to use rather than one remembered from last year.
- Your own name and address on the letter
- Most prisons will not deliver anonymous post, and the person receiving it usually cannot reply without it.
What prisons will and will not accept
Rules differ between prisons, and a governor can set stricter ones. These are the constants — when in doubt, ring the prison and ask before you send.
Usually fine
- Ordinary written letters, typed or handwritten, on plain paper.
- More than one page. Length is rarely the problem.
Refused
- Polaroids, stickers, glitter, perfume, and anything stuck to the paper.
- Anything the prison judges to be a security risk, which includes coded or unclear content.
- Cash, cards, and anything with value.
Almost all prison mail is opened and read before it is passed on. Correspondence with a solicitor is handled differently under Rule 39 and is not something this service is set up for — send that yourself, marked correctly.