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Advocating for the just and humane treatment of prisoners
Official Visitors are advocates for just and humane treatment of prisoners.
Official Visitors, members of the Society, monitor prison conditions and visit prisoners to assist them with issues ranging from serious medical concerns to re-connecting with family members.
In fact, by Act of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, Prison Society Official Visitors are guaranteed access to all Pennsylvania correctional facilities.
"In performing these visits with the hope of doing good, it is deemed essential to approach the prisoner in a spirit of kindness, and thus convince him that, although the world may have cast him off, there is one at least who feels that he is still a fellow being."
Prison Society
Annual Report
1862
Currently throughout the Commonwealth, more than 250 volunteer Official Visitors make approximately 5,000 visits to jails and prisons each year. The statewide network of volunteers is organized into 43 chapters.
The Prison Society has been acting in this capacity since 1787. During the first meeting, the Acting Committee was formed to facilitate and organize the visitation of prisoners by Society members. Unless prisoners' families were able to provide food and clothing, such necessities were non-existent in colonial and early 19th Century jails; disease and death were commonplace.
Today, the need remains and the Pennsylvania Prison Society is determined to fill it with your help and the help of our current Official Volunteers.
For more information, or to become an Official Visitor, please contact:The Pennsylvania Prison Society
(215) 564-6005