Who it is for#
The Prisoners' Advice Service (PAS) was set up in 1991 by Liberty, Nacro, the Prison Reform Trust and the Howard League to give adult prisoners free legal advice about their rights, the Prison Rules and the conditions they are held in. It is a small charity with legal aid contracts for prison and public law, and its advice line is staffed by caseworkers who include solicitors and a barrister. It takes about eighty cases a year all the way to legal action against a prison, and it says no other organisation gives adult prisoners free, expert advice on prison law.
It acts for the prisoner. Its pages say it needs to be contacted by the prisoner directly, and it cannot advise on a matter another solicitor is already handling.
How prisoners contact it#
- The advice line is open three days a week, morning and afternoon, for calls from prison only; calls from outside are not accepted.
- Women in prison have a dedicated freephone one morning a week, answered by the women prisoners' caseworker.
- The letters clinic answers written requests sent to PAS, PO Box 46199, London EC1M 4XA. Writing "Rule 39 applies" on the envelope marks it as confidential legal post that staff should not open.
- Clinics inside prisons: in 2025-26 PAS ran 59 one-to-one advice and education sessions across 14 prisons, mostly in London and the south east.
- Families and friends use the online contact form, which it checks daily and aims to answer within ten days.
It also publishes information sheets and self-help toolkits on subjects from adjudications and categorisation to release, licence conditions, foreign national prisoners and sexual offences, with toolkits on LGB and trans prisoners' rights, and a Prisoners' Legal Rights Bulletin that is free to prisoners.
Does it help with a change of name?#
Nothing on its site explains changing your name, and its own search finds no mention of the prison order that governs it. The only reference is a January 2026 news post on an Unlock report, which notes that facial recognition and data scraping weaken traditional protections such as a change of name. Its downloadable sheets sit behind a verification page we did not pass, so we could not read their contents.
Where PAS could matter is if a prison will not recognise a new name. Prison Service Order 4455 lets a governor refuse a name changed by deed poll only in exceptional circumstances, such as an offensive or obscene name, and requires the refusal and its reasons to be written on the prisoner's record. A refusal of that kind is a question about how a prison applies its own rules, which is the sort of question PAS answers.
Things to know before changing a name inside#
- A deed poll needs its signature witnessed in person. Who can witness a deed poll? explains who qualifies.
- Under PSO 4455, a recognised name goes on every prison record with the old name kept as an alias, the prison number does not change, and the probation officer receives a copy of the deed poll and the police are told. Post in the new name is allowed whether or not the name is recognised.
- After release, the conditions of a licence include telling your supervising officer about a name you start using, and anyone with notification requirements must report it to the police inside three days. Can I change my name if I have a criminal record? has the detail.
- For a transgender prisoner, Deed poll or Gender Recognition Certificate? explains what each one changes.
This page describes what the Prisoners' Advice Service publishes on its own website, read on 26 October 2026. PAS has not reviewed it, and listing a charity here does not mean it recommends this handbook or any deed poll service.
