Official visitors

Official visitors are specially appointed members of the community who regularly visit prisoners to help manage and resolve their complaints.

Official visitors are independent of prison staff. However, they work together with them to resolve prisoner complaints.

Duties of official visitors

• ensure decisions made in prisons are fair
• report on any issues they find in prisons
• report on the outcome of investigations
• review safety orders and maximum security orders
• help identify problems in the prison system and to find solutions
• help plan the annual inspection program.

For more information

Contact the State Coordinator of the official visitors scheme.