We are delighted to share that Caseworkers advised some 36,000 people in prison over the course of last year. Though PAS consists of a legal team of just seven – including six qualified Solicitors and one Caseworker who has advised prisoners for over 30 years – the number of beneficiaries engaged with our services continues to remain high.
Our 2025 Outputs are as follows:
· our telephone Advice Line, via which we successfully responded to 35,038 calls from prisoners;
· our Letters Clinic, which saw PAS receive 796 letters from service-users, and send out 4,127 letters or related items in response;
· Outreach Clinics within prison walls, which saw PAS deliver 61 face-to-face clinics to 366 prisoners across 15 prisons;
· end-to-end legal casework, which saw PAS open new cases on behalf of 51 prisoners;
· Toolkits, Guides and Information Sheets, downloaded from our website on many thousands of occasions and a selection of which are available in prison libraries.
In 2024-25, nearly half (49.6%) of all jails in England and Wales were graded ‘of concern’ or of ‘serious concern’. 401 deaths in prison were recorded – 86 of them self-inflicted.
Serious concerns remain over restricted regimes, staff shortages and a lack of rehabilitative activity. Nevertheless, despite the current overcrowding crisis, the prison population is projected to rise by a further 10,000 by 2027, increasing the likelihood that the rights of vulnerable prisoners be overlooked or ignored. (Prison Reform Trust, February 2025) PAS’ work to defend the rights of people in prison, therefore, remains as important as ever.