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Send a letter
to a prisoner.

Enter their name, their prison number or date of birth, and the prison. We’ll address it correctly, print it, and post it the same working day.

Who is the letter for?

We print it and post it the same working day. Their name goes on the envelope with either their prison number or their date of birth — the mail room needs one of the two to route it.

On any letter they have sent you. Ask them if you don’t have it.
We never save this address to your account.
Every UK prison listedPosted the same working day
How it works

From their name to their wing, in four steps

Entering a prisoner’s name and number
1Enter their details

Their full name and either their prison number or their date of birth, then pick the prison from the list. We hold the address for every establishment in the UK, so you don’t have to find it.

Writing a letter in the editor
2Write it

The editor opens with the addresses and the date already filled in — you just write. Change any of it you like.

A letter being printed
3We print it

Printed on quality paper, black & white or colour, single or double-sided. Nothing is added to the page that you did not write.

A letter being posted
4We post it

Sent flat, addressed with their name and their prison number or date of birth so the mail room can route it. Order before 2pm on a working day and it goes out the same day.

Why use printle

No printer, no post office,
no wrong address.

The two things that stop letters reaching people in prison are a missing prison number and a wrong establishment address. We handle both.

Every establishment listed
143UK prisons

England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Pick from the list and the address is filled in for you.

Same-day dispatch
2pmcutoff

Order before 2pm on a working day and your letter is printed and posted that day.

Private by default
90day deletion

Your letter is encrypted end to end and deleted 90 days after printing. We never save the prison as one of your addresses.

Sent flat
Flatnever folded

Packed flat, so it arrives in the condition it was printed.

Pricing

Priced per page, postage included

Black & white
From/ page

The usual choice for a letter. Clear, sharp text on quality paper.

The more pages, the lower the price per page.
Colour
From/ page

For letters with photographs or children’s drawings — check the prison’s own rules on images first.

The more pages, the lower the price per page.

Postage to any UK prison is included. No minimum order, no subscription.

Every UK prison

UK prison addresses

The postal address for every establishment in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Pick one above and we fill it in for you — or copy it if you are posting the letter yourself.

A letter needs the establishment’s full postal address and something that identifies the person: their prison number, or their date of birth. Addresses below come from the prison services’ own published details.

England117 prisons

Scotland17 prisons

Addresses are taken from the prison services’ own published details. Click any prison above to start writing, or search to find the one you need.

Questions

Sending mail into prison,
answered.

The things people ask most before sending a first letter.

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01How do you address a letter to a prisoner in the UK?

Four lines. First the person’s full name followed by their prison number in brackets — or, if you do not have the number, DOB and their date of birth as DD/MM/YYYY. Then the name of the establishment, for example HMP Wandsworth. Then its street address, and finally the town and postcode. Your own name and address go on the back of the envelope. Choose the prison on this page and we lay all of that out for you.

02What if I do not have their prison number?

You can use their date of birth instead. Prison mail rooms sort incoming post by prison number, because a prison may hold several people with the same name — but most establishments will also route on a name and date of birth. The number is the more reliable of the two, so use it if you can: it appears on any letter they have sent you, and the prison will confirm it.

03How do I find the prison’s address?

You do not need to. Choose the prison from the list on this page and we fill in its address from the prison service’s own published details, covering every establishment in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

04How long does a letter take to arrive?

We print and post the same working day when you order before 2pm, then it travels as normal post. Allow extra time once it reaches the prison, as incoming mail is checked before it is passed on — this usually adds a day or two.

05Will the prison read my letter?

Most letters into prison are opened and checked before being passed to the person they are for. Legal correspondence is handled differently under rule 39 and its equivalents in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Check the individual prison’s published guidance if this matters for what you are sending.

06Can I send photographs?

You can print photographs as part of your document, but rules vary between establishments and some restrict printed images. Check that prison’s own guidance before ordering. Nothing with glitter, stickers, tape or perfume will get through anywhere.

07Is the prison address saved to my account?

No. The prison address is filled into the delivery details for that order only and is never added to your saved addresses. If you remove the letter from your basket, the address is removed with it.

08Can I write the letter here, or do I need my own file?

Either. The letter editor opens with the addresses and date already filled in and prompts for the rest, so you can write it here and send it without leaving the site. If you have already written something, upload it instead.

09What if I get the prisoner’s details wrong?

You can check and correct the name, number and address at checkout before paying — the delivery details are shown in full and remain editable. Once an order is printed and posted we cannot recall it.

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Also used for

Staying in touch, whatever the distance.

People use printle to send post that has to arrive properly addressed and on time.

Letters to family in prisonLetters to a friend insideBirthday and Christmas lettersLegal correspondenceLetters to your MPLetters abroad
Writing to someone in prison

How to address a letter to a prisoner

Mail sent into a prison is sorted by the mail room before it reaches the person it is for. That is why the envelope needs two things a normal letter does not: the recipient's full legal name and something that identifies which person that is — normally their prison number. A prison can hold hundreds of people, and more than one of them may share a name, so a name on its own is not enough to deliver on.

The prison number is on any letter they have sent you. If you do not have it, you can use their date of birth instead: most establishments will route on it. A number is the more reliable of the two, so use it if you can get it — ask them, or ask the prison directly.

The address goes in this order

  • Their full name, followed by their prison number in brackets — or their date of birth, written as DOB DD/MM/YYYY
  • The name of the prison, for example HMP Wandsworth
  • The prison's street address
  • The town and postcode

When you pick a prison on this page, we fill all of that in for you — the establishment's address comes from the prison service's own published details, not from something you have to type correctly under pressure.

What you can and cannot send

Rules differ between establishments, and each prison publishes its own. As a general rule, a printed letter on plain paper is accepted everywhere. Prisons routinely refuse anything with glitter, stickers, tape, perfume, or unusual paper stock, and many restrict printed photographs — so if you want to send photos, check that prison's rules first.

Letters into prison are usually opened and checked before being passed on. Legal correspondence is treated differently under rule 39 (or its equivalent in Scotland and Northern Ireland). Nothing on this page is a substitute for the individual prison's own guidance, which is published on its GOV.UK, Scottish Prison Service, or Department of Justice page.

Writing the letter itself

If you are not sure what to say, start with the ordinary. News from home, what the weather has been doing, what you have been cooking, how someone you both know is getting on. Letters into prison do not need to be momentous — being remembered is the point, and a short letter that arrives beats a long one you never finish.

Our editor opens with a structure already in place: your address, the date, their address, and prompts for the parts only you can write. You can delete all of it and start from scratch if you would rather.

Carbon conscious printing
Environment

A tree for every 5,000 pages

Every order contributes to reforestation through JUST ONE Tree. We plant one tree for every 5,000 pages printed.

1 tree
per 5,000 pages
100%
UK printed and posted