Prisoners' Advice Service (PAS) is a

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-based

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

that provides free, confidential legal advice and representation to prisoners regarding their rights, the application of prison rules and conditions of imprisonment. The charity takes up prisoners' complaints about their treatment inside prison by providing free advice and taking legal action where appropriate. PAS provides assistance on an individual and confidential basis, taking legal action where appropriate. PAS was set up in 1991 by organisations working with prisoners, including

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

, the

Howard League for Penal Reform The Howard League for Penal Reform is a registered charity in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest penal reform organisation in the world, named after John Howard. It was founded as the Howard Association in 1866 and changed its name in 1921, ...

and

Nacro Nacro is a social justice charity based in England and Wales, established in 1966 from the previous National Association of Discharged Prisoners’ Aid Societies, it became the largest criminal justice-related charity in England and Wales. In th ...

. Due to increasing demand for legal advice, a new charitable organisation was required to deal with the large number of requests for legal advice that they were receiving from prisoners. The organisation runs the Prisoners' Legal Rights, which produces a quarterly bulletin entitled ''Prisoners' Rights''. Membership includes prisoners, solicitors, barristers, academics and

non-governmental organisation A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...

s (NGOs).

References

{{Reflist

External links

The Prisoners' Advice Service website

Howard League for Penal Reform
- the world's oldest penal reform organisation Prison charities based in the United Kingdom Charities based in London Advice organizations