risley prison booking visit number

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Risley Prison Information

• Accommodation: The prison provides multiple residential units with individual cells or shared accommodation for inmates. The cells are equipped with basic amenities, including beds, personal storage, and sanitation facilities.
• Education and Vocational Training: Risley Prison places a strong emphasis on education and vocational training. Inmates have access to a range of educational programs, including basic education, literacy, numeracy, and accredited courses. Vocational training opportunities are also available to develop employable skills and enhance prospects for successful reintegration into society.
• Work Opportunities: Inmates at Risley Prison have access to various work activities within the prison, such as maintenance, cleaning, kitchen, and other designated roles. These work activities aim to develop skills, instill discipline, and promote a sense of responsibility.
• Healthcare: Risley Prison has an on-site healthcare unit staffed with medical professionals who provide primary healthcare services to prisoners. Mental health support, substance abuse programs, and specialized medical care are also available.
• Family Contact: The prison recognizes the importance of maintaining family relationships and facilitates visits and contact with family members, subject to specific guidelines and regulations.
• Resettlement Support: Risley Prison offers pre-release planning and support to help inmates prepare for their eventual release. This may include assistance with accommodation, employment, and access to community-based support services.

Contact Information

Booking a visit to risley prison.

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Blog Government Digital Service

https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2014/09/15/you-can-now-book-a-prison-visit-online/

You can now book a prison visit online

Booking a prison visit should be simple and straightforward. Until now that was far from the case. Booking a visit required both prisoner and visitor to jump through hoops: paper forms and drawn-out phone calls. And if the visit date turned out to be impossible, they had to start all over again.

Now you can book a visit online . It takes about 5 minutes. Before, picking an available date was pot luck. Now there's a date-picker that lets you select 3 possible slots instead of 1. It’s a straight-forward service with user-needs at its heart but, if you get stuck, you can call the prison's visits booking line and someone will help you with the booking.

Here's a very short film we've made about it:

By making it easier to book visits, prisoners will see more of their friends and family. Evidence suggests this will help their rehabilitation. Transformation isn't just about websites.

The service was built by the Ministry of Justice, with a combined team from the National Offender Management Service, HM Prison Service and MoJ Digital Services.

For more of the story behind this service, read Mike Bracken's account of his trip to HMP Rochester or check out the service’s transformation page .

Join the conversation on Twitter , and don't forget to sign up for email alerts .

You may also be interested in:

• Prison visit booking: using digital analytics to inform alpha development
• Making prison visits easier to book
• Meet the Transformation team

Sharing and comments

Share this page, 20 comments.

Comment by Pauline posted on 23 August 2015

How do you find out the prisoners number??? so you can go ahead with online booking of a visit?

Comment by Carrie Barclay posted on 24 August 2015

You can find a prisoner using this service: https://www.gov.uk/find-prisoner However it will be the prisoner's responsibility to get in touch with you to let you know their prison number etc.

Comment by linda posted on 15 August 2015

This service does not appear to work this is day 2 trying to use it

Comment by Olivia posted on 30 July 2015

Hi, If a visit is booked and someone cant make it, is it possible to change the name of one of the people to someone else?

Comment by Louise Duffy posted on 30 July 2015

It's best to contact the prison directly if this happens. You can find contact details here: http://www.justice.gov.uk/contacts/prison-finder

Thanks, Louise

Comment by Paige posted on 28 July 2015

Hi my partner was sent to nottingham today, I was on his previous list 4 months ago for a visit. Will that still be on the system all will it have to he put through again if so how long does it take to be approved for a visit? Thanks Paige.

Comment by Louise Duffy posted on 29 July 2015

You might want to get in touch with the prison first before booking a visit. You can find the contact details of the prison here: http://www.justice.gov.uk/contacts/prison-finder

Comment by Debs posted on 27 July 2015

Hello Is there a list of prisons where online booking can't be used?

Comment by Louise Duffy posted on 28 July 2015

According to the information on this page: https://www.gov.uk/prison-visits , you can arrange a visit to any prison in England and Wales through this service. If you're visiting someone in Northern Ireland or Scotland you'll need to contact the prison directly.

This link also lists the type of visits that are not covered by the online service: https://www.gov.uk/prison-visits so you need to get in touch with the prison directly.

Hope that's helpful.

Comment by c.steer posted on 26 July 2015

So how do I find the booking form to fill in I am new to computers

Comment by Louise Duffy posted on 27 July 2015

Here's the link to the booking form: https://www.gov.uk/prison-visits

You'll need this information to complete the form:

prisoner number prisoner’s date of birth dates of birth for all visitors coming with you make sure the person you’re visiting has added you to their visitor list

Hope that's useful.

Comment by Shawnaa posted on 09 May 2015

i have a visit booked which i did online but i do not have a visiting order woll the prison let me in?

Comment by Carrie Barclay posted on 11 May 2015

Your identity will be checked on arrival to make sure you’re on the visitor list.

Comment by jessicca posted on 27 January 2015

What happens after you book the visit and its confirmed by email do you need the visiting order ?

Comment by Carrie Barclay posted on 29 January 2015

The Visiting Order (VO) number is generated by the booking system, it is included in your confirmation email and you will need this to change or cancel a booking.

However, if you're visiting a prison the guidance is that you only need your ID, not the VO number. If when you visit the prison you are asked for the VO number you should report this via the Contact Us link on the Prison Visits Booking form.

I hope that helps.

Comment by Ilysa Mcnally posted on 18 November 2014

How late in advance can I book e.g. book a visit today (Tuesday) for the Sunday coming???

Comment by Carrie Barclay posted on 19 November 2014

Hi Ilysa. Thanks for your question. A visit needs to be booked 3 working days in advance. So in this case, the visit request would have to be no later than Tuesday to allow for a visit on Sunday.

Comment by carole posted on 23 October 2014

How far in advance can you book visits

Comment by Carrie Barclay posted on 23 October 2014

Hi Carole. You can book up to 28 days in advance. Thanks for your question.

Comment by kimberly posted on 16 August 2015

does anyone know how to cancel a visit online?

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Please visit POPS’ Facebook page for HMP Risley for all the latest information and updates.

HMP Risley is a prison for men in Warrington, Cheshire.

POPS delivers the Family Support Services at HMP Risley providing a warm welcome and advice and support for all visitors on a range of issues including travel, debt and housing. We also offer one to one support at times to suit families, please ask for more information.

Recent Updates

• Warm Spaces 2024

Useful Documents

Before your visit make sure you download and read the following documents: I

• 10 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
• Prison Life Videos

Important Contact Information

Visitor Centre: 01925 733 063 Booking Line: 01925 733 284 / 733 285 Book by email: [email protected] Prison Switchboard: 01925 733 000

POPS’ Family Lead: [email protected] / [email protected]

Visitor Centre Opening Times

Visiting times:, financial assistance with visiting.

If you qualify to receive help with your finances such as benefits, you may be able to recoup all or part of the cost of your travel expenses.

Safer Custody 

If you have concerns about an individual in custody at HMP Risley please call the Safer Custody concern line on 01925 733 007. Please leave your name, contact information and the name and prison number of the individual you are concerned about along with a description of your concern. Alternatively you can send the information via email to [email protected] or via the online Safer Custody portal on the Prisoners’ Families Helpline website.

Last updated 10/01/24.

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Prison information

Address: HMP RISLEY Warrington Road, Risley Warrington, Cheshire, WA3 8BP Switchboard: 01925 733000 Managed by: HMPPS Region: Cheshire Category:  Male Cat. C Link to:   https://www.gov.uk/guidance/risley-prison

Description

Risley is a prison for men in Warrington, Cheshire, including men convicted of a sex offence.

Visit Booking: On-line

Use this online service to book a social visit to a prisoner in England or Wales you need the:

• prisoner number
• prisoner’s date of birth
• dates of birth for all visitors coming with you

The prisoner must add you to their visitor list before you can book a visit.

You’ll get an email confirming your visit. It takes 1 to 3 days.

ID: Every visit

Acceptable forms of ID

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2 thoughts on “ HMP RISLEY ”

Nichola depending on the prison it can be brought in on visits.

Please advise me on how I get underwear to a prisoner. Is it by post or on booked visits?

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Risley Prison

Tel: 01925 733000 – Risley, Warrington, Cheshire WA3 6BP

HMP Risley is a category C training prison holding adult males, with a capacity of 1,095. It also holds vulnerable prisoners, notably sex offenders, who are integrated with the other inmates. The prison originally opened in 1964 as a remand centre holding both men and women; however, the female unit officially closed in 1999. If you’d like to find out how to get to HMP Risley, you can find directions using the map on this page.

Tel: 01925 733000

Operational capacity: 1095

Risley, Warrington, Cheshire WA3 6BP

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Here’s some facts about Risley Prison

HMP Risley is a category C prison in the Risley area of Warrington, Cheshire. Opened in 1964, the prison has capacity to hold 1,095 inmates.

Appleton is a 185-bed unit, and Birchwood is a 92-bed unit. Ravensmoor is a 28-bed independent living unit, where prisoners are assessed to determine if they can be trusted to live on the wing without direct supervision. Culcheth is a 197-bed drug recovery unit; the north wing accommodates prisoners on maintenance doses, while the south wing is mainly for support and recovery. Daresbury is a 196-bed unit, with a focus on induction coordination. Elton is a 178-bed unit plus 16 beds in the segregation unit. Glazebury is a 196-bed unit accommodating sex offenders only. Fran Atkinson is a 28-bed unit accommodating sex offenders only.

Appleton, Culcheth, Daresbury, Elton and Glazebury are newer wings with open landings of two spurs each (north and south).

To view the latest  HMIP inspection report, click here .

Visiting hours are 13:45 – 16:00 Mon-Sun and 09:00 – 11:45 Sat-Sun.

A gang of smugglers were caught in the act of piloting a drone with drugs attached underneath.

Inmates have access to a wide variety of courses, including Open University degrees.

Inmates arranged for a guards car to be ‘firebombed’ , but they blew up the wrong vehicle.

Prison Phone offers phone tariffs that reduce the costs of calls from this prison by up to 75%! This enables prisoners to get the support and love that they are missing from home, while reducing costs for the inmate. Find out more below.

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General Information, HMP Risley

Risley opened in 1964 as a male and female remand centre. In 1989 the male part of the prison became a training prison. The training prison was expanded further and refurbished in 2003 with the addition of a new wing. The sex offender population was relocated to separate residential areas in 2009. In 2009, Risley became a hub for up to 200 foreign national prisoners. There is a  drug recovery unit on C Wing.

Accommodation

• A wing – foreign national prisoners and those subject to immigration rules
• B wing – first night centre and the Ravensmoor unit (a semi-independent living unit for enhanced level prisoners)
• C wing – substance misuse support unit
• D wing – Discovery programme wing, providing resettlement help
• E wing – Prisoners convicted of sexual offences
• F wing – prisoners convicted of sexual offences living on an enhanced semi[1]independent living unit
• G wing – Prisoners convicted of sexual offences
• Segregation unit

Return to Risley

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Prison visits

Visiting someone in prison

Prison visits are an important part of helping prisoners to stay in contact with their families and friends.

You will need to book if you want a prison visit and you will need to be aware of the rules and what to expect when you visit.

For more information or to book a visit click here .

Related to Prison visits

Most recent publications, information for families during the coronavirus pandemic, a guide to prohibited colours of clothing at maghaberry prison, most recent news items, in-person prison visits to resume – prison service, long welcomes relaxation on parental contact during prison visits, access to information.

How to request information from the Department of Justice including  Freedom of Information (FOI)  and the use of our  Publication Scheme .

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Nips visitor experience consultation.

Book a visit to prison

You will need to book a visit if you want to see someone in prison. You can book online to arrange an in person visit or a virtual visit with a prisoner or you can telephone the prison Visits Booking Office.

If you haven't visited a prison before you will need to phone to book your visit. You will be provided with your unique visitor identification number. Once  you have this you can start to book online.

Booking online

To book online for an in person visit or a virtual visit you will need:  

• to have previously booked a visit
• the visit reference number for the prisoner
• the prisoner's number
• your unique visitor identification number
• your date of birth
• your e-mail address and contact number
• the unique visitor identification number and dates of birth for all additional visitors (not needed for a virtual visit)

If you do not have these details, you should phone the relevant booking office.

Booking by telephone

To book a visit by telephone you will need:

• the visit reference number for the prisoner 
• the unique visitor identification number and dates of birth for all additional visitors

If you don't have a unique visitor identification number, you can get one from the booking office which you can use for future visits.

If the person you are visiting has just arrived in prison you will need to ring the booking office and they can arrange a visit.

Virtual visits

A virtual visit can last up to 20 minutes. The visitor can use a personal computer, mobile device or smartphone to have this meeting with the prisoner.

All virtual visits are supervised, if NIPS become aware of any behaviour, language or actions which are considered inappropriate, this will result in the visit ending early and possible removal of the facility in the future.

• Guide to arranging an online visit
• Privacy notice  explaining your rights to privacy when you arrange an online visit

Registering for visits

All visitors need to be registered in the prison they are visiting. When you arrive at Visits Reception you need to be photographed, have a scan taken of your finger and you should bring identification.

• more information about registering for visits

Bringing proof of identification to prison

When you first visit someone in prison, you will need to be registered on the prison system as a visitor. You will need to bring proof of identification with you when you are being registered.

• more information about the types of identification needed

Useful links

• Visiting someone in prison

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The Good Book of Prisons

What's good in prisons across England & Wales

The prisoners had high praise for staff, who they described as ‘very good’, as well as ‘helpful’ and ‘fair’. They said staff-prisoner relationships were a particular positive and compared favourably with other jails. They also described Risley as ‘safe’ compared to other prisons they had been to. They highlighted consultation and communication with prisoners as a strength, and made special mention of the Chaplaincy, which was agreed to be ‘excellent’.

The staff also highlighted good staff-prisoner relationships, which they said were often remarked on by detached duty staff. They felt that the staff were very supportive of each other, as well as of new staff. They, too, thought Risley was safer than other comparable jails, and noted that levels of drug use, including Spice, had reduced significantly in recent months. Staff were also impressed by good levels of communication and consultation on the part of ‘very visible’ managers, from the Governor down, valued the staff recognition scheme and felt ‘valued’ and supported by the Governor.

The Managers agreed that the prison was safer than comparable jails elsewhere, and that drug use and violence were reducing as a result of recent efforts to target both. They said Risley’s staff-prisoner relationships were ‘excellent’ and praised the staff as exceptionally ‘supportive’, ‘friendly’ and ‘dedicated’. They noted their ‘passion for Risley’ and ‘excellent’ jailcraft, and highlighted relationships among staff at all levels and across disciplines (including with those staff employed by outside agencies) as particularly strong. They also praised the ‘very visible’ and ‘approachable’ Governor, who they felt was supportive of both frontline staff and managers, and felt that relationships between managers and staff were also good. Like the Officers, they rated staff consultation and communication, and the staff recognition scheme as positives too.

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Lincoln Prison

Lincoln is a prison and young offender institution (YOI) in the East Midlands, for men aged 18 and over.

Help us to improve this page. Give us your feedback in this 2-minute survey .

Book and plan your visit to Lincoln Prison

To visit someone in Lincoln Prison you must:

• be on the prisoners approved visitor list
• book your visit more than 3 working days in advance
• Have a visit booked for the day you attend and be listed as a visitor on that visit
• have the required ID with you when you go

At least one visitor must be 18 or older at every visit.

There may be a limit to the number of visits a prisoner can have.

Help with the cost of your visit

If you get certain benefits or have an NHS health certificate, you might be able to get help with the costs of your visit , including:

• travel to Lincoln
• somewhere to stay overnight

How to book domestic and social visits

For first time visitors or people not on a prisoners approved visitors list, please call the booking line for more information.

Telephone booking line: 01522 663 172 The booking line is open Monday to Friday: 9:30am to midday, except Bank Holidays Find out about call charges

Approved visitors can book their visit online or by telephone.

Please note any domestic/social booking enquiries sent to the Lincoln Visits Booking email address will not be responded to. This email address is for legal enquiries only.

Visiting times:

• Tuesday 2pm to 4pm
• Thursday 2pm to 4pm
• Saturday 9am to 11am and 2pm to 4pm
• Sunday 9am to 11am and 2pm to 4pm

How to book legal and professional visits

Face to face legal and professional visit times:

• Tuesdays and Thursdays: 9am to 11:30am

They can be booked via [email protected]

Please note this email address is only for Legal enquiries. Domestic enquiries will not be responded to. See ‘How to book family and friends visits’ above for advice regarding domestic enquiries.

Or via the Visits Booking line 01522 663172

• Monday to Friday: 9:30am to 12pm except Bank Holidays

Social Visitors for Remand and Convicted prisoners can book online at www.gov.uk/prison-visits

Virtual Legal Visits can only be booked by emailing [email protected] .

We also offer Family Visits once a month. These are extended visits often with a specific focus and prisoners apply for these internally.

Getting to Lincoln Prison

Find Lincoln Prison on a map

The prison is opposite Lincoln County Hospital. The closest railway station is Lincoln Central. The prison is a 20 minute walk from the train and bus station.

To plan your journey by public transport:

use National Rail Enquiries

use Traveline for local bus times

There is Pay and Display parking to the right of the prison and also at the back. Blue Badge parking is at the front and should be requested when booking a visit.

Entering Lincoln Prison

All visitors, aged 16 or older must prove their identity before entering the prison. Read the list of acceptable forms of ID when visiting a prison .

For your first visit, please arrive from 12:20pm and look out for the ‘purple people’ so that you can have an induction prior to booking in (from 1:30pm).

All visitors will need to be given a pat-down search, including children. You may also be sniffed by security dogs.

There are strict controls on what you can take into Lincoln Prison. You will be provided with a locker key when you book in. Please be aware that there is only limited space for belongings available. Pushchairs and car seats can be left with security.

You will be told the rules by an officer at the start of your visit. If you break the rules, your visit could be cancelled and you could be banned from visiting again.

Visitors Dress Code

Visitors to HMP Lincoln must be dressed appropriately at all times, which will reflect in our aim to create a family atmosphere as part of the Reducing Re- offending and Decency agenda. This instruction applies to all visitors to the establishment regardless of age and gender.

At HMP Lincoln it is considered to be inappropriate to wear the following types of clothing:

• Short/cropped tops that reveal naked midriff.
• Low cut tops or shirts that unbutton to reveal cleavage or bare chest.
• Vests (as a single garment)
• Mini-skirts that are shorter than knee length and expose thighs.
• Shorts that are shorter than knee length and expose thighs.
• All types of see-through clothing.
• Headwear (other than for religious purposes).
• Clothing that is offensive in nature or displays offensive discriminatory, or inappropriate material.
• Ripped clothing
• Cloaks, capes, scarves or other articles that could prevent staff from observing visitors and prisoners sufficiently.

Any visitor that does not comply with this dress code will not be permitted entry to HMP Lincoln at the discretion of the visits staff.

This notice will be displayed in the visitors centre and available as an Annex to the visits policy.

Visitors must leave all property in their vehicle or the Visitors Centre with the exception of the articles listed below:

Card or Cash (coins only) for purchasing refreshments

Medication (to be held by visits staff for emergency use only)

Babies dummies

Baby’s bottle with dry, powdered milk (water to be supplied by refreshments team) and an unopened jar of baby food (not glass).

In the case of Legal Advisors or other professional visitors, documents, and briefcases, containing documents needed for the visit.

No recording equipment may be taken into the visit room without express permission from the Head of Security.

Visiting facilities

Lincoln Prison has a tuck shop where you can purchase food and drink during weekend visits, or you can order food from ‘On a Roll’ prior to your visit which will be delivered to the prison. Please order your food from this website

There is also a facility in the Visits Centre for a sit-down meal in the training restaurant ‘Berties’ on weekdays only. Enhanced prisoners can apply for this. All payments for this service are card only.

Counter service is also available for all visitors.

The children’s play area is available for use.

Family days

We offer family visits once per month, these are extended visits often with a specific focus and are applied for internally by prisoners.

For more information regarding family visits, please call the visits booking line or Lincolnshire Action Trust for more information.

Keep in touch with someone at Lincoln Prison

There are several ways you can keep in touch with a prisoner during their time at Lincoln.

Secure video calls

To have a secure video call with someone in this prison you need to:

• Download the Prison Video app
• Create an account
• Register all visitors
• Add the prisoner to your contact list
• Be an approved visitor on the prisoners’ visitors list

How to book a secure video call

Secure video calls at this prison can be requested by prisoners only.

You will receive a notification if a prisoner has requested a video call with you.

Read more about how it works

Please note that a prisoners’ call list and visitors list are different. You will need to be added to both in order to receive calls and visit a prisoner.

Phone calls

Prisoners do not yet have phones in their cells so they will always have to call you. They have to buy phone credits to do this.

They can phone anyone named on their list of friends and family. This list is checked by security when they first arrive so it may take a few days before they are able to call.

You can also exchange voicemails using the Prison Voicemail service .

Officers may listen to phone calls as a way of preventing crime and helping keep people safe.

You can send emails to someone in Lincoln Prison using the Email a Prisoner service .

You can write at any time.

Include the person’s name and prisoner number on the envelope.

If you do not know their prisoner number, contact Lincoln Prison .

All post apart from legal letters will be opened and checked by officers.

Send money and gifts

You can use the free and fast online service to send money to someone in prison .

You can no longer send money by bank transfer, cheque, postal order or send cash by post.

If you cannot use the online service, you may be able to apply for an exemption - for example if you:

• are unable to use a computer, a smart phone or the internet
• do not have a debit card

This will allow you to send money by post.

Gifts and parcels

Prisoners are given a list of items they can have in prison, known as the ‘facilities list’.

Convicted prisoners can not have any items posted or handed in and must save their money and buy them from the approved catalogue.

Un-convicted men on remand can have clothes handed in or posted, but in limited amounts. Make sure to include the person’s name and prisoner number on the parcel.

Family and friends of prisoners are permitted to send books directly to their loved ones, or can order books from approved retailers, which can source and send the books on to prisoners.   For the full list of approved retailers, you can read the HMPPS Incentives Policy, Annex F .

All parcels will be opened and checked by officers. Contact Lincoln Prison for more information on what’s allowed.

Life at Lincoln Prison

Lincoln Prison is committed to providing a safe and educational environment where men can learn new skills to help them on release, including workshops, education and vocational courses.

Security and safeguarding

Every prisoner at Lincoln Prison has a right to feel safe. The staff are responsible for their safeguarding and welfare at all times.

For further information about what to do when you are worried or concerned about someone in prison visit the Prisoners’ Families helpline website .

There is a Listeners’ Scheme, prison mentors and peer support schemes to aid well-being. There is addiction counselling available.

Charity workshops are available and many community links, for example, volunteers who help with family visits.

Arrival and first night

When a prisoner first arrives at Lincoln Prison, they will be able to contact a family member by phone. This could be quite late in the evening, depending on the time they arrive.

They will get to speak to someone who will check how they’re feeling and ask about any immediate health and wellbeing needs.

Each prisoner who arrives at Lincoln Prison gets an induction that lasts about a week. They will meet professionals and peers (known as ‘Insiders’) who will help them with:

• health and wellbeing, including mental and sexual health
• any substance misuse issues, including drugs and alcohol
• personal development in custody and on release, including skills, education and training
• other support (sometimes called ‘interventions’), such as managing difficult emotions

Every prisoner is allocated a key worker officer who meets them weekly to monitor progress and discuss any problems. Prisoners also find out about the rules, fire safety, and how things like calls and visits work.

Accommodation

Around 650 prisoners live in Lincoln Prison across 4 main residential wings. A, B and C wings hold a mix of prisoners while E wing holds any prisoners who are considered vulnerable.

All wings have access to showers, telephones, toasters and recreational activities, such as pool and table tennis.

Education and work

Lincoln offers a wide range of education, including English and maths, and also vocational courses in painting and decorating and bricklaying.

There are tailoring workshops, a laundry and a recycling centre where prisoners can earn recognised qualifications.

Temporary release

There is no release on temporary licence (ROTL) at Lincoln.

Organisations Lincoln Prison works with

Lincoln works with the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), Shelter and Lincolnshire Action Trust which offer varied resettlement support. Support is offered with employment, accommodation, mental and physical health and drug support services in the community.

Support at Lincoln Prison

Further information and support provided by Lincolnshire Action Trust for children and families of a person in prison.

Telephone: 01522 663 355

Concerns, problems and complaints

In an emergency.

Call 01522 663 000 if you think a prisoner is at immediate risk of harm. Ask for the Orderly Officer and explain that your concern is an emergency.

Problems and complaints

If you have any problem with any aspect of the prison, please write to the prison governor.

Contact Lincoln Prison

Governor: Colin Hussey

Telephone: 01522 663 000 24 hours Fax: 01522 663 001 Find out about call charges

Follow Lincoln Prison on Twitter/X

HMP/YOI Lincoln Greetwell Road Lincoln LN2 4BD

Social and legal visits updated.

Updated Governor

Updated visiting guidance based on 1 April COVID rule changes

Added link to new safer custody information under Security and safeguarding.

Updated visiting information: Reduced visit schedule and testing for visitors aged 12 and over.

Updated visiting information: Testing for visitors aged 12 and over.

Added link to information about testing for physical contact at visits.

New visiting times and booking information added.

Prison moved into National Stage 3 framework and is now preparing to open visits for family, friends and significant others. We will update this page with specific visiting information as soon as possible.

Updated visit info

Updated visiting information in line with new national restrictions in England.

Updated visiting information in line with coronavirus restrictions.

Updated dress code

Updates to entering and visits sections

updated survey

First published.

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Inside the Penal Colonies: a Glimpse at Life for Political Prisoners Swept Up in Russia's Crackdowns

Memorial, russia’s oldest and most prominent human rights organization, counted 558 political prisoners in the country as of april — more than three times the figure than in 2018, when it listed 183., by dasha litvinova • published june 3, 2023 • updated on june 3, 2023 at 4:06 am.

When Alexei Navalny turns 47 on Sunday, he'll wake up in a bare concrete cell with hardly any natural light.

He won't be able to see or talk to any of his loved ones. Phone calls and visits are banned for those in “punishment isolation” cells, a 2-by-3-meter (6 1/2-by-10-foot) space. Guards usually blast patriotic songs and speeches by President Vladimir Putin at him.

“Guess who is the champion of listening to Putin’s speeches? Who listens to them for hours and falls asleep to them?” Navalny said recently in a typically sardonic social media post via his attorneys from Penal Colony No. 6 in the Vladimir region east of Moscow.

He is serving a nine-year term due to end in 2030 on charges widely seen as trumped up, and is facing another trial on new charges that could keep him locked up for another two decades. Rallies have been called for Sunday in Russia to support him.

Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York newsletters.

Navalny has become Russia’s most famous political prisoner — and not just because of his prominence as Putin's fiercest political foe, his poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin, and his being the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary.

He has chronicled his arbitrary placement in isolation, where he has spent almost six months. He's on a meager prison diet, restricted on how much time he can spend writing letters and forced at times to live with a cellmate with poor personal hygiene, making life even more miserable.

Most of the attention goes to Navalny and other high-profile figures like Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was sentenced last month to 25 years on treason charges. But there's a growing number of less-famous prisoners who are serving time in similarly harsh conditions.

U.S. & World

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Australia's prime minister calls domestic violence a ‘national crisis' after nationwide protests

Memorial, Russia’s oldest and most prominent human rights organization and a 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, counted 558 political prisoners in the country as of April — more than three times the figure than in 2018, when it listed 183.

The Soviet Union's far-flung gulag system of prison camps provided inmate labor to develop industries such as mining and logging. While conditions vary among modern-day penal colonies, Russian law still permits prisoners to work on jobs like sewing uniforms for soldiers.

In a 2021 report, the U.S. State Department said conditions in Russian prisons and detention centers “were often harsh and life threatening. Overcrowding, abuse by guards and inmates, limited access to health care, food shortages and inadequate sanitation were common in prisons, penal colonies, and other detention facilities.”

Andrei Pivovarov, an opposition figure sentenced last year to four years in prison, has been in isolation at Penal Colony No. 7 in northern Russia’s Karelia region since January and is likely to stay there the rest of this year, said his partner, Tatyana Usmanova. The institution is notorious for its harsh conditions and reports of torture.

The 41-year-old former head of the pro-democracy group Open Russia spends his days alone in a small cell in a “strict detention” unit, and is not allowed any calls or visits from anyone but his lawyers, Usmanova told The Associated Press. He can get one book from the prison library, can write letters for several hours a day and is permitted 90 minutes outdoors, she said.

Other inmates are prohibited from making eye contact with Pivovarov in the corridors, contributing to his “maximum isolation,” she said.

“It wasn’t enough to sentence him to a real prison term. They are also trying to ruin his life there,” Usmanova added.

Pivovarov was pulled off a Warsaw-bound flight just before takeoff from St. Petersburg in May 2021 and taken to the southern city of Krasnodar. Authorities accused him of engaging with an “undesirable” organization -– a crime since 2015.

Several days before his arrest, Open Russia had disbanded after getting the “undesirable” label.

After his trial in Krasnodar, the St. Petersburg native was convicted and sentenced in July, when Russia’s war in Ukraine and Putin's sweeping crackdown on dissent were in full swing.

He told AP in a letter from Krasnodar in December that authorities moved him there “to hide me farther away” from his hometown and Moscow. That interview was one of the last Pivovarov was able to give, describing prison life there as “boring and depressing,” with his only diversion being an hour-long walk in a small yard. “Lucky” inmates with cash in their accounts can shop at a prison store once a week for 10 minutes but otherwise must stay in their cells, he wrote.

Letters from supporters lift his spirits, he said. Many people wrote that they used to be uninterested in Russian politics, according to Pivovarov, and “only now are starting to see clearly.”

Now, any letters take weeks to arrive, Usmanova said.

Conditions are easier for some less-famous political prisoners like Alexei Gorinov, a former member of a Moscow municipal council. He was was convicted of “spreading false information” about the army in July over antiwar remarks he made at a council session.

Criticism of the invasion was criminalized a few months earlier, and Gorinov, 61, became the first Russian sent to prison for it, receiving seven years.

He is housed in barracks with about 50 others in his unit at Penal Colony No. 2 in the Vladimir region, Gorinov said in written answers passed to AP in March.

The long sentence for a low-profile activist shocked many, and Gorinov said “authorities needed an example they could showcase to others (of) an ordinary person, rather than a public figure.”

Inmates in his unit can watch TV, and play chess, backgammon or table tennis. There's a small kitchen to brew tea or coffee between meals, and they can have food from personal supplies.

But Gorinov said prison officials still carry out “enhanced control” of the unit, and he and two other inmates get special checks every two hours, since they've been labeled “prone to escape.”

There is little medical help, he said.

“Right now, I’m not feeling all that well, as I can’t recover from bronchitis," he said, adding that he needed treatment for pneumonia last winter at another prison's hospital ward, because at Penal Colony No. 2, the most they can do is “break a fever.”

Also suffering health problems is artist and musician Sasha Skochilenko, who is detained amid her ongoing trial following her April 2022 arrest in St. Petersburg, also on charges of spreading false information about the army. Her crime was replacing supermarket price tags with antiwar slogans in protest.

Skochilenko has a congenital heart defect and celiac disease, requiring a gluten-free diet. She gets food parcels weekly, but there is a weight limit, and the 32-year-old can’t eat “half the things they give her there,” said her partner, Sophia Subbotina.

There's a stark difference between detention facilities for women and men, and Skochilenko has it easier in some ways than male prisoners, Subbotina said.

“Oddly enough, the staff are mostly nice. Mostly they are women, they are quite friendly, they will give helpful tips and they have a very good attitude toward Sasha,” Subbotina told AP by phone.

“Often they support Sasha, they tell her: ‘You will definitely get out of here soon, this is so unfair here.’ They know about our relationship and they are fine with it. They’re very humane,” she said.

There’s no political propaganda in the jail and dance music blares from a radio. Cooking shows play on TV. Skochilenko “wouldn’t watch them in normal life, but in jail, it’s a distraction,” Subbotina said.

She recently arranged for an outside cardiologist to examine Skochilneko and since March has been allowed to visit her twice a month.

Subbotina gets emotional when she recalled their first visit.

“It is a complex and weird feeling when you’ve been living with a person. Sasha and I have been together for over six years — waking up with them, falling asleep with them — then not being able to see them for a year," she said. "I was nervous when I went to visit her. I didn’t know what I would say to Sasha, but in the end, it went really well.”

Still, Subbotina said a year behind bars has been hard on Skochilenko. The trial is moving slowly, unlike usually swift proceedings for high-profile political activists, with guilty verdicts almost a certainty.

Skochilenko faces up to 10 years if convicted.

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Inside Russia’s penal colonies: A look at life for political prisoners caught in Putin’s crackdowns

FILE In this file photo made from video provided by the Moscow City Court on Feb. 3, 2021, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny makes a heart gesture standing in a cage during a hearing to a motion from the Russian prison service to convert the suspended sentence of Navalny from the 2014 criminal conviction into a real prison term in the Moscow City Court in Moscow, Russia. Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe, has become Russia’s most famous political prisoner. He is serving a nine-year term due to end in 2030 on charges widely seen as trumped up, and is facing another trial on new charges that could keep him locked up for another two decades. (Moscow City Court via AP, File)

FILE Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny looks at photographers standing behind a glass of the cage in the Babuskinsky District Court in Moscow, Russia, on Feb. 20, 2021. Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe, has become Russia’s most famous political prisoner. He is serving a nine-year term due to end in 2030 on charges widely seen as trumped up, and is facing another trial on new charges that could keep him locked up for another two decades. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - Detained protesters are escorted by police during a protest against the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Jan. 31, 2021. Memorial, Russia’s oldest and most prominent human rights organization and a 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, counted 558 political prisoners in the country as of April -- more than three times higher than in 2018, when it listed 183. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Opposition leader Alexey Navalny, speaks with riot police officers blocking the way during a protest rally against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s rule in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Feb. 25, 2012. Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe, has become Russia’s most famous political prisoner. He is serving a nine-year term due to end in 2030 on charges widely seen as trumped up, and is facing another trial on new charges that could keep him locked up for another two decades. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Police block a protest against the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on Jan. 23, 2021. Memorial, Russia’s oldest and most prominent human rights organization and a 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, counted 558 political prisoners in the country as of April -- more than three times higher than in 2018, when it listed 183. (AP Photo, file)

FILE Sasha Skochilenko, a 32-year-old artist and musician, stands in a defendant’s cage in a courtroom during a hearing in the Vasileostrovsky district court in St. Petersburg, Russia, on April 13, 2022. Skochilenko is in detention amid her ongoing trial following her April 2022 arrest in St. Petersburg on the charges of spreading false information about the army. She has spent over a year behind bars. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza is escorted to a hearing in a court in Moscow, Russia, Feb. 8, 2023. Kara-Murza, another top Russian opposition figure, was sentenced last month to 25 years on treason charges. (AP Photo, File)

FILE In this handout photo released by the Moscow City Court, Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza stands in a glass cage in a courtroom at the Moscow City Court in Moscow, on April 17, 2023. Kara-Murza, another top Russian opposition figure, was sentenced last month to 25 years on treason charges. (The Moscow City Court via AP, File)

FILE - Alexei Gorinov holds a sign “I am against the war” standing in a cage during hearing in the courtroom in Moscow, Russia, on June 21, 2022. Gorinov, a former member of a Moscow municipal council, was convicted of “spreading false information” about the army in July over antiwar remarks he made at a council session. Criticism of the invasion was criminalized a few months earlier, and Gorinov, 61, became the first Russian sent to prison for it, receiving seven years. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Andrei Pivovarov, former head of Open Russia movement stands behind the glass during a court session in Krasnodar, Russia, on June 2, 2021. Pivovarov, an opposition figure sentenced last year to four years in prison, has been in isolation at Penal Colony No. 7 in northern Russia’s Karelia region since January and is likely to stay there the rest of this year. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Andrei Pivovarov, former head of Open Russia movement, speaks with media in Moscow, Russia, on July 9, 2020. Pivovarov, an opposition figure sentenced last year to four years in prison, has been in isolation at Penal Colony No. 7 in northern Russia’s Karelia region since January and is likely to stay there the rest of this year. (AP Photo/Denis Kaminev, File)

FILE - Riot police detain two young men at a demonstration in Moscow, Russia, on Sept. 21, 2022. Memorial, Russia’s oldest and most prominent human rights organization and a 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, counted 558 political prisoners in the country as of April -- more than three times higher than in 2018, when it listed 183. (AP Photo, File)

• Copy Link copied

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — When Alexei Navalny turns 47 on Sunday, he’ll wake up in a bare concrete cell with hardly any natural light.

He won’t be able to see or talk to any of his loved ones. Phone calls and visits are banned for those in “punishment isolation” cells, a 2-by-3-meter (6 1/2-by-10-foot) space. Guards usually blast patriotic songs and speeches by President Vladimir Putin at him.

“Guess who is the champion of listening to Putin’s speeches? Who listens to them for hours and falls asleep to them?” Navalny said recently in a typically sardonic social media post via his attorneys from Penal Colony No. 6 in the Vladimir region east of Moscow.

He is serving a nine-year term due to end in 2030 on charges widely seen as trumped up, and is facing another trial on new charges that could keep him locked up for another two decades. Rallies have been called for Sunday in Russia to support him.

Navalny has become Russia’s most famous political prisoner — and not just because of his prominence as Putin’s fiercest political foe, his poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin, and his being the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary.

He has chronicled his arbitrary placement in isolation, where he has spent almost six months. He’s on a meager prison diet, restricted on how much time he can spend writing letters and forced at times to live with a cellmate with poor personal hygiene, making life even more miserable.

Most of the attention goes to Navalny and other high-profile figures like Vladimir Kara-Murza , who was sentenced last month to 25 years on treason charges. But there’s a growing number of less-famous prisoners who are serving time in similarly harsh conditions.

Memorial, Russia’s oldest and most prominent human rights organization and a 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, counted 558 political prisoners in the country as of April — more than three times the figure than in 2018, when it listed 183.

The Soviet Union’s far-flung gulag system of prison camps provided inmate labor to develop industries such as mining and logging. While conditions vary among modern-day penal colonies , Russian law still permits prisoners to work on jobs like sewing uniforms for soldiers.

In a 2021 report, the U.S. State Department said conditions in Russian prisons and detention centers “were often harsh and life threatening. Overcrowding, abuse by guards and inmates, limited access to health care, food shortages and inadequate sanitation were common in prisons, penal colonies, and other detention facilities.”

Andrei Pivovarov , an opposition figure sentenced last year to four years in prison, has been in isolation at Penal Colony No. 7 in northern Russia’s Karelia region since January and is likely to stay there the rest of this year, said his partner, Tatyana Usmanova. The institution is notorious for its harsh conditions and reports of torture.

The 41-year-old former head of the pro-democracy group Open Russia spends his days alone in a small cell in a “strict detention” unit, and is not allowed any calls or visits from anyone but his lawyers, Usmanova told The Associated Press. He can get one book from the prison library, can write letters for several hours a day and is permitted 90 minutes outdoors, she said.

Other inmates are prohibited from making eye contact with Pivovarov in the corridors, contributing to his “maximum isolation,” she said.

“It wasn’t enough to sentence him to a real prison term. They are also trying to ruin his life there,” Usmanova added.

Pivovarov was pulled off a Warsaw-bound flight just before takeoff from St. Petersburg in May 2021 and taken to the southern city of Krasnodar. Authorities accused him of engaging with an “undesirable” organization -– a crime since 2015.

Several days before his arrest, Open Russia had disbanded after getting the “undesirable” label.

After his trial in Krasnodar, the St. Petersburg native was convicted and sentenced in July, when Russia’s war in Ukraine and Putin’s sweeping crackdown on dissent were in full swing.

He told AP in a letter from Krasnodar in December that authorities moved him there “to hide me farther away” from his hometown and Moscow. That interview was one of the last Pivovarov was able to give, describing prison life there as “boring and depressing,” with his only diversion being an hour-long walk in a small yard. “Lucky” inmates with cash in their accounts can shop at a prison store once a week for 10 minutes but otherwise must stay in their cells, he wrote.

Letters from supporters lift his spirits, he said. Many people wrote that they used to be uninterested in Russian politics, according to Pivovarov, and “only now are starting to see clearly.”

Now, any letters take weeks to arrive, Usmanova said.

Conditions are easier for some less-famous political prisoners like Alexei Gorinov , a former member of a Moscow municipal council. He was was convicted of “spreading false information” about the army in July over antiwar remarks he made at a council session.

Criticism of the invasion was criminalized a few months earlier, and Gorinov, 61, became the first Russian sent to prison for it, receiving seven years.

He is housed in barracks with about 50 others in his unit at Penal Colony No. 2 in the Vladimir region, Gorinov said in written answers passed to AP in March.

The long sentence for a low-profile activist shocked many, and Gorinov said “authorities needed an example they could showcase to others (of) an ordinary person, rather than a public figure.”

Inmates in his unit can watch TV, and play chess, backgammon or table tennis. There’s a small kitchen to brew tea or coffee between meals, and they can have food from personal supplies.

But Gorinov said prison officials still carry out “enhanced control” of the unit, and he and two other inmates get special checks every two hours, since they’ve been labeled “prone to escape.”

There is little medical help, he said.

“Right now, I’m not feeling all that well, as I can’t recover from bronchitis,” he said, adding that he needed treatment for pneumonia last winter at another prison’s hospital ward, because at Penal Colony No. 2, the most they can do is “break a fever.”

Also suffering health problems is artist and musician Sasha Skochilenko, who is detained amid her ongoing trial following her April 2022 arrest in St. Petersburg, also on charges of spreading false information about the army. Her crime was replacing supermarket price tags with antiwar slogans in protest.

Skochilenko has a congenital heart defect and celiac disease, requiring a gluten-free diet. She gets food parcels weekly, but there is a weight limit, and the 32-year-old can’t eat “half the things they give her there,” said her partner, Sophia Subbotina.

There’s a stark difference between detention facilities for women and men, and Skochilenko has it easier in some ways than male prisoners, Subbotina said.

“Oddly enough, the staff are mostly nice. Mostly they are women, they are quite friendly, they will give helpful tips and they have a very good attitude toward Sasha,” Subbotina told AP by phone.

“Often they support Sasha, they tell her: ‘You will definitely get out of here soon, this is so unfair here.’ They know about our relationship and they are fine with it. They’re very humane,” she said.

There’s no political propaganda in the jail and dance music blares from a radio. Cooking shows play on TV. Skochilenko “wouldn’t watch them in normal life, but in jail, it’s a distraction,” Subbotina said.

She recently arranged for an outside cardiologist to examine Skochilneko and since March has been allowed to visit her twice a month.

Subbotina gets emotional when she recalled their first visit.

“It is a complex and weird feeling when you’ve been living with a person. Sasha and I have been together for over six years — waking up with them, falling asleep with them — then not being able to see them for a year,” she said. “I was nervous when I went to visit her. I didn’t know what I would say to Sasha, but in the end, it went really well.”

Still, Subbotina said a year behind bars has been hard on Skochilenko. The trial is moving slowly, unlike usually swift proceedings for high-profile political activists, with guilty verdicts almost a certainty.

Skochilenko faces up to 10 years if convicted.