Children do visit people in prison in England and Wales. Whether a particular child can visit a particular person comes down to two things, and neither is decided at the gate. GOV.UK's guidance on staying in touch with someone in prison, checked on 14 September 2026, sets out the first: "You can only visit a prisoner if they have added you to their visitor list. The prison will contact you once you're on this list." The second is the individual prison's own rules. How often you can go depends on their status: a convicted prisoner is usually allowed at least two 1-hour visits every 4 weeks, and someone on remand is allowed three 1-hour visits a week. Anything specific to a child, such as what identification is accepted and which adult has to come along, is set by that prison. If you want to talk it through first, the Prisoners' Families Helpline is free on 0808 808 2003.
Can children visit someone in prison?
Yes, children are visitors like any other visitor, and they go through the same route. What changes with a child is the number of details you have to confirm in advance, because those details are not set nationally.
Before you plan anything, two organisations exist for exactly this situation. The Prisoners' Families Helpline is a free national line on 0808 808 2003. NICCO, the National Information Centre on Children of Offenders, is delivered by Barnardo's in partnership with His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service and lists services and resources for families and professionals supporting children of people in prison. NICCO is a directory rather than a helpline, so contact there is by form.
Everything below applies to England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland run their prisons under different arrangements, so check locally if that is where your visit would be.
Does a child need to be on the visitor list?
The visitor list is where a visit starts. GOV.UK states it plainly: "You can only visit a prisoner if they have added you to their visitor list. The prison will contact you once you're on this list" (GOV.UK, Staying in touch with someone in prison, checked 14 September 2026).
That means the first move belongs to the person inside, not to you. They name the people they want to see. Until that happens, there is nothing on your side to submit and nothing to book.
So if weeks have gone by and no contact has arrived, the thing worth checking is whether the names went onto the list at all. Ask on your next call.
Once the list stage is done, the booking itself follows the standard process, which we cover in more detail in how prison visits work and how to book.
How many visits is the family allowed?
The entitlement depends on whether the person has been convicted or is on remand waiting for trial. The difference is large, and it is worth knowing before you promise a child anything.
| Their situation | What GOV.UK states | What it means when you plan |
|---|---|---|
| Convicted | "A convicted prisoner is usually allowed at least two 1-hour visits every 4 weeks" | Visits are spaced out; most contact in between is by phone or post |
| On remand, waiting for trial | "A prisoner on remand (waiting for their trial) is allowed three 1-hour visits a week" | Far more frequent, but the situation can change after the trial |
| Any prison, any status | "You can find out more about the exact rules on visits on the prison information page of the prison you're visiting" | The local page overrides your assumptions about ID, times and children |
Source for all three rows: GOV.UK, Staying in touch with someone in prison, checked 14 September 2026.
Travel is the other constraint families run into. GOV.UK states: "You might be able to get help paying for a prison visit, for example travel costs, if you're receiving certain benefits." If money is the reason a visit keeps being postponed, that scheme is worth reading before you decide it cannot be done.
Between those visits, contact is mostly by phone, and every call is paid for by the person inside from their own limited credit. The rate they are charged for ringing a mobile is higher than the rate for ringing a landline, which is the whole reason call diversion exists.
Why do ID and accompanying-adult rules vary by prison?
Because the general guidance does not set them. GOV.UK points you to the local page instead: "You can find out more about the exact rules on visits on the prison information page of the prison you're visiting."
That is why this page does not publish a minimum age, a list of accepted documents, or a rule about which adult must accompany a child. There is no single national figure we can verify, and a confident wrong answer here costs a family a long journey and a child a disappointment. The prison information page for the specific establishment is the only place to confirm it.
Ring the prison's visits line if the page leaves anything unclear, and write down what you are told. If you are still early in this and unsure what happens when, the first few days covers the sequence.
What should you check before the first visit with a child?
Start with the list. Confirm on a call that every person coming, including the child, has been added, and wait for the prison to make contact as GOV.UK describes.
Then read that prison's own information page. Identification, who has to accompany a child, arrival times and what you can take in are all local details, and reading them twice is quicker than being turned away.
Set expectations around the hour. The entitlement is written in 1-hour visits, and a child will feel the ending of it.
Check the travel cost scheme if you receive benefits. And if you are unsure whether the visit is right at all, ring the Prisoners' Families Helpline on 0808 808 2003 before you commit to a date.
What if a visit isn't the right thing right now?
Sometimes it is not. The child might not be ready, the prison might be hours away, or the entitlement might mean the next slot is weeks out. Phone contact carries a lot of weight in that gap, and how to contact someone in prison sets out the routes available.
Here is where our service fits, stated plainly. We provide a real 01/02 landline number, regulated by Ofcom, which forwards to your UK mainland mobile. The person in prison has to submit that number through the prison's normal process, and the prison decides whether to allow it. It can refuse. Calls are still recorded and monitored exactly as they were before. Nothing about this hides anything from anyone.
What changes is the rate the call is charged at. Their credit is charged at the landline rate rather than the mobile rate, so the same credit buys roughly twice as many minutes on the phone with you. For a child waiting three weeks for the next visit, minutes are the thing that matters.
One number works for any prison in the UK, the rate does not vary by region, and a transfer does not break it. Two people can share one number, though the minutes are shared too.
If you are weighing up whether the monthly cost makes sense against how often your family actually calls, the plans are set out in full here.
Frequently asked questions
These are the questions families ask most often before a first visit with a child.
Does a child have to be on the visitor list too?
GOV.UK states that you can only visit a prisoner if they have added you to their visitor list, and that the prison will contact you once you are on it. That applies to visitors generally. How a child is recorded on the booking, and what proof of who they are is needed, is a matter for the individual prison, so confirm it on that prison's information page.
How long is a prison visit?
GOV.UK describes the entitlement in 1-hour visits: at least two 1-hour visits every 4 weeks for a convicted prisoner, and three 1-hour visits a week for someone on remand (GOV.UK, checked 14 September 2026).
Can we get help with the cost of travelling there?
Possibly. GOV.UK states: "You might be able to get help paying for a prison visit, for example travel costs, if you're receiving certain benefits." Check the criteria against your own circumstances before ruling a visit out on cost.
Where do I find the rules for one specific prison?
On that prison's information page. GOV.UK directs you there for the exact rules on visits, and that is the page that governs identification, timings and what is allowed in the visits hall.
Will the prison allow a diverted number for calls between visits?
No one can promise that. The number has to be submitted by the person inside through the prison's normal process, the prison makes the decision, and it can refuse. Calls remain recorded and monitored either way.
Get the names onto the list first; everything else about the visit follows from that.