Visit Times

From 19th June 2023

Remand prisoners can have hourly visits on all the days that we are open.

Sentenced prisoners can have 5 visits per month.

When visiting, make sure you bring photo ID with you and proof of your address, such as a utility bill (gas, electricity, water, council tax etc.) or a bank or building society statement. These must be less than three months old.

Accepted forms of photo ID are:

• Driving licence (photo card)
• Valid passport
• Citizenship card
• Bus pass
• Blue Badge with photo

If you do not have photo ID you should bring either your birth certificate plus two utility bills or bank/building society statements. Or you can bring three utility bills/bank or building society statements – each must be from a different organisation.

Car parking

Visitors' parking is provided free of charge. If the visitors' car park is full, please use the overflow car park at the top of the drive. Please do not park along the drive as this can be a safety risk for cars and pedestrians.

Check-in to our visitors centre

When you arrive you will need to check-in to our visitors centre which is the small building on the right before you reach the prison. You will be welcomed by a member of our team who will check your name against the list of visitors and check your ID. Here you can wait until your visit time.

The Centre opens 45 minutes prior to the start of visits – please arrive at least 30 minutes prior to the start of your visit.

There’s a soft play area for little ones and a small kiosk to get a drink. It’s best to use the toilet facilities here before you go into the visits hall.

You will be directed to the main prison building where our visits hall is based. Here you can hand in any property that you have brought with you for the person you are visiting. 

Refreshments

We are pleased that visitors can now buy hot and cold snacks and drinks in the Vita Nova Visits Coffee Shop. Please remember card only payments.

Lockers

You can use a locker to leave your personal belongings such as, such as keys, mobile phones, cigarettes, tobacco, lighters etc.

Within the Visits Hall there is a tea bar operated by the Vita Nova Visits Coffee Shop. Please remember card only payments. There are also toilet, baby changing and wash facilities available. 

Security

When it is time to go through for your visit, you will pass through an airport-style security.

Any bags will be passed through a scanner and you will walk through a metal detector.

You’ll also need to agree to a ‘level A’ rub down search. Official visitors are required to agree to a ‘level B’ rub down search.

If you refuse to be searched, you will not be allowed to enter the prison. Please be advised that we have a drug detecting machine which, if proven positive, will determine whether your visit continues and if it continues under closed conditions.

Once you’ve passed through security, you’ll then go through our airlock door system before entering the visits hall.

Face to Face Legal Visits:

Monday to Friday – 09.00am to 11.00am in the Visits Hall

Booking email address – BF.FacetoFaceLegalVisits@sodexogov.co.uk

Virtual Legal Visits (Video Link):

Monday to Thursday – 08.30am to 18.00pm 

Fridays – 08.30am to 17.00pm 

Booking email address – bf.videolink@sodexogov.co.uk

Social Visits:

Social visits are booked by the prisoners using our Internal Pods system. Prisoners are shown how to use this on their induction (normally within the first 3 days). They need to register all their visitors details and then request a visit. This can take a few days. Unfortunately due to data protection we are unable to book any social visits for anyone calling in.

We have a Tea Bar in the Visits Hall where you can purchase hot drinks and snacks. Please be advised we can only accept payment via a credit card (cannot accept cash).

Please note that social visits are booked by the prisoner

Purple Visits (Virtual Visits) are also available from 09.00am to 18.00pm Monday to Thursdays and 09.00am to 17.00pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

If you would like to book one please download the application to your mobile device/tablet via the apple app store or google play and follow the instructions. Or visit https://www.purplevisits.com/

If you can only visit outside of these hours, please contact the Visits department and we will do our best to accommodate the visit.

Please download and complete a VideoLink Booking Form

please note: these departments will not be able to give out any prisoner information

COLLECTION OF DATA

In order to facilitate your visit to one of our prisons and to ensure that we deliver appropriate levels of security and safety and prevent crime, for identification purposes we shall collect your name, date of birth, address, a biometric template of your fingerprint and a photograph. A series of reference points from a finger print are collected, allowing a unique identification pattern. We do not collect or hold actual fingerprints.

Our prisons operate CCTV and staff may wear Body Worn Video Recording Equipment. We do not collect biometric readings or photographs of children under 16, however with the use of CCTV, images may routinely be captured.

DATA SHARING

We will only share your information with a third party where there is a legal obligation to do so.

RIGHTS OF ACCESS, CORRECTION, ERASURE AND RESTRICTION

You have legal rights in connection with personal information. Under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to:

• Request access to your personal information (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
• Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.
• Request erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal information where you have exercised your right to object to processing.
• Object to processing of your personal information by us or on our behalf in certain situations.
• Request the restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.

DATA RETENTION

We keep personal data in accordance with our clients’ and Sodexo’s retention procedures. These retention periods depend on the nature of the information (e.g. we apply different retention periods to different type of information such as CCTV and your visitor record), and may be subject to change.

If you have any questions or concerns about how long we retain your personal data, please contact the Data Protection Officer using the details below.

FURTHER ADVICE / GUIDANCE

To exercise your rights, you can contact us by writing to us at the following address: dataprotection.ukandie@sodexo.com or email the Global Data Protection Office at the following email address: dpo.group@sodexo.com stating your surname, first name and the reason for your request. We will most likely ask you for additional information in order to identify you and to enable us to deal with your request

You also have the right to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office and file a complaint. (https://ico.org.uk/concerns/)