Inside: December 2024

Welcome to December's edition of inside. Throughout the year, we feature news and updates on our work, as well as the real-life stories which influence everything we do, in these e-newsletters. For the final edition of 2024, we thought we'd reflect back on some highlights from the last 12 months...

In January...

We joined REDRESS in supporting the legal right to consular access for British nationals detained abroad. We recently reiterated this support in light of recent media attention on several arbitrarily detained British people and will continue to support these principles in 2025 - and beyond.

In February...

We started our 'Staff Stories' series in a bid to put faces and names to the behind the scenes work of Prisoners Abroad. Visit the blogs page on our website to hear from Meg, Sofia, Lauren, Sam, Theresa, Christopher, Bryony, and Meghan - with more to come in 2025!

In April...

We made an organisational commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI). Over the last year, we have formed an EDI employee resource group and taken the first steps to form an advisory group of those with lived experience of our services and overseas imprisonment.

At the end of April...

We were thrilled to welcome four new trustees to our board: Dame Anne Owers, Kate Lill, Julian Braithwaite, and Silvana Keen. Along with the wider board, their experience and input has been invaluable - particularly as we’ve started to develop our new 2025-2030 strategy.

In June...

We were beyond honoured to be awarded the 2024 highly commended Robin Corbett Award for our resettlement work. Chief Executive Christopher and Deputy Resettlement Manager Rob attended the awards and said: “We are grateful to the judges for recognising our work in this important but often hidden part of the justice system.”

Also in June...

Several of the Prisoners Abroad staff team took part in the 2024 London Legal Walk, walking 10km through central London to raise money and awareness for our work. We couldn't have done it without the encouragement of our supporter and, with your help, our total reached a fantastic ￡10,095!?

In July...

We reached out to supporters, partners,?volunteers, and staff to learn what people think we?do well and what we could do more of in the years to?come. We received lots of responses, all of which have?been key to shaping our upcoming 2025-2030 strategy. Keep your eyes peeled in?2025 for its release!

In August...

We announced a new research partnership with the University of Cambridge, which will help us to understand which facilitators and barriers to resettlement are most significant in the desistance process and the effectiveness of the support provided by Prisoners Abroad. Funded by the Dawes Trust, the study will take place over the next two years.

In September...

Laura and Bryony from our Prisoner and Family Service visited the Netherlands to meet with FCDO consular staff from across Europe and visit Schiphol detention centre. This was an invaluable opportunity to discuss issues and developments and reaffirm our key partnership with the FCDO.

In October...

We saw the first development from our strategy consultation, with the announcement of our redefined values on World Values Day. These guide our approach to supporting and advocating for British people affected by overseas imprisonment and shape how we function as an organisation.

In December...

We launched a match-funded Crowdfunder in partnership with Aviva. The money raised from this project will go towards financial wellbeing, budgeting advice and digital skills training for those accessing our resettlement service and all individual donations up to ￡250 will be doubled!

We have already seen a fantastic response from our community, so huge thanks to all of you who have donated. The Crowdfunder will be live until January 2nd, so there is still time if you would like to make a donation and have it doubled by Aviva - so your support can reach even further.

Have your donation doubled!

As always, thank you for being a vital part of our work over the last 12 months. We want to sign off by acknowledging everyone who supported us this year - the funders, donors, partners, and volunteers who have done so much to make our work possible. Together, we can ensure British prisoners overseas and their families survive imprisonment with dignity and face the future with hope.

Wishing you a very happy new year,

The Prisoners Abroad team