Key contacts
Pact contact: Lynn Mitchell
Prison switchboard: 0208 196 6300
Visitors’ Centre telephone: 0208 196 6409
Email Pact: downview@prisonadvice.org.uk
Safer Custody line: 0208 196 6370
Guidance for visitors
Visit the gov.uk page for information about:
- booking and planning your visit
- ID requirements
- dress code
- help with the cost of prison visits
- sending money and property to a prisoner
- keeping in touch with a prison
HMP Downview's Family & Visitors' Centre
Pact runs the Family & Visitors’ Centre at this prison, ensuring you a warm welcome when you visit.
Our team supports family members, friends and visitors. This includes emotional and practical support before and after your visit and additional reassurance if it is your first visit or you are particularly anxious about going through the gate.
We can also offer guidance and resources around:
- Travel and transport
- Financial assistance for prison visits
- Signposting to Pact services and other helpful organisations
- Supporting children and young people affected by imprisonment
- Raising concerns or making a complaint
Family engagement support
Your Family Engagement Manager is Lynn Mitchell
Email: downview@prisonadvice.org.uk
Contact number: 0208 196 6529
If your issue is complex and you need to talk to us in person, please include your number in the email and tell us that you would like a callback. It would also be helpful if you could let us know whether we are able to leave a message if there is no answer. We will aim to get back to you as soon as we possibly can.
If you have urgent concerns about the welfare of your loved one in prison, please call the prison Safer Custody line directly.
Other services at HMP Downview
Visiting Mum
Visiting Mum identifies women who are risk of losing contact with their children and offers specialist support to preserve and strengthen these vital family ties.
In partnership with Change Grow Live, specially trained volunteers provide emotional support to the women’s children and families in the community.
Journeys to Freedom
Journeys to Freedom offers holistic, person-centred support for women leaving HMP Downview.
The programme supports vulnerable women to navigate the transition from prison to the community in three stages: prior to their release, through the gate on the day of release, and in the community.
Prisoners' Families Helpline
You can contact the Prisoners’ Families Helpline for advice and support on all aspects of the criminal justice system.
Call freephone on 0808 808 2003
Open 9am – 8pm Monday to Friday and 10am – 3pm on weekends and bank holidays (exc. Christmas Day and Boxing Day)
Email the team at info@prisonersfamilies.org (please allow up to 3 days for a response)
The Prisoners’ Families Helpline website also offers a range of information on supporting your loved one in prison.
Make a comment or complaint
We are committed to putting the people who use our services first. You can offer feedback on any of our services by speaking to a member of our team, submitting a feedback form online, or sending an email to feedback@prisonadvice.org.uk.