Visiting the prison

Monday/Wednesday morning there is now no 1st morning visit this is for legal visits only, the first social visit will commence on these days at 10:30am- visitors will need to arrive no later than 10am or visit may be refused.

Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with remain social visits 4 in total a day- times are as follows:

1st visit- Arrive 8:00am go to staff search 8:30am-visit start 9:00am-10-:00am

2nd visit-Arrive 9:30am- go to staff search 10:00am-visit start 10:30-11:30am

3rd visit-Arrive 13:30am-go to staff search 14:00pm visit start 14:30-15:30pm

4th visit-Arrive- 15:00pm go to staff search 15:30pm Visit start 16:00-17:00pm

Visits must be booked 72 hours in advance and a maximum of 6 people per visit (3 adults 3 children) a request for extra children to visit for larger families can be made at least 72 hours to the visit by the person you are visiting contacting the visit manager himself and arranging this, it is the responsibility of the prisoner himself to arrange and inform family/friends of visits (other than a purple/legal visit) staff take no responsibility for informing family of booking or cancelled visits and for GDPR reasons are unable to confirm visit details over a phone.

Please arrive 1 hour prior to your visit time with plenty of time to park-weekends can be especially busy and disabled parking is limited.

Cash only with a maximum amount of £30 per family per visit.  This can be in coins or notes.

Valid ID accepted for over 18

  • Passport (MUST BE IN DATE WITH CORRECT LEGAL NAME THAT MATCHES WHAT IS ON SYSTEM)
  • Driving licence (Full or provisional- Address must be current and match what is on the CMS SYSTEM- Cannot be changed even with 2 letters as this is a legal document that is required to be updated by the law and does carry a fine for not updating this.
  • Over 65 bus passes.
  • Citizen card.

Any visitor under the age of 18 are not required to provide proof of address, however they must have proof of identity such as:

  • Birth certificate
  • Red Book
  • Passport

Must have an over 18 presents going in on visit to allow entry and cannot be left unsupervised in the outside visit centre if there is no adult (18+ to accompany)

All forms of photographic ID require 2 proofs of address to accompany dated within 3 months of their visit-an in-date driving licence can be used as one proof of address with one other proof of address such utility bill, benefit letter, wage slip, prescription etc.

  • Online banking is the only electronic document we can accept on a phone we do not accept any photos, screenshots, or documents older than 3 months,
  • Failure to provide the correct information may result in visit refusal -Visit manager has complete authority over visits going ahead not visit centre booking in staff and is subject to visit managers discretion.

All legal visits must be booked via the main switch board and dialling the extension numbers 2047/2196 between the hours 8:30am-16:00pm

Dress code restrictions:

No Hoods

No ripped jeans/items of clothing

No football/sports affiliation

No offensive slogans

No revealing clothing

No steel toe shoes/boots

No scarves/caps

No shorts-skirts above knee level

Underwear must be worn.

No smart watches

This list is not exhaustive and may be subject to change at any time without warning.

For anyone who has any medical needs that prevent any of the above, please provide evidence of exception certificate/card with you.

If anyone has any medical conditions that require medical treatment such as inhalers, stomas, Dex coms for diabetes phones are not allowed to go into the prison to monitor sugar levels- although there is a shop within the visit centre it is not always open so please take necessary steps to ensure safe sugar levels during visit and have a emergency drink/snack that can be kept in the outside visit centre in event of medical emergency.

The prison offers a purple visit scheme that visitors can book themselves. This can be accessed by downloading the purple visit app on any smart phone’s app store and registering with your personal details. The user will be required to verify their email address and upload photo ID- once this has been verified and processed contact can then be added. You will need to know the persons prison number to be able to add them to your account and 1 hour per month is permitted at HMP Altcourse.

Get help with the cost of travel- If you travel to visit a loved one in prison you can get help with travel expenses, overnight accommodation, and meals.

You can apply up to 28 days after your last visit and must be on certain benefits to get help with this.

More information can be found on the gov.uk website about this.

To apply you will need:

  • The prisoners number you are visiting
  • Date of the visit (backdated up to 28 days)
  • Your national insurance number
  • Any receipts of travel, accommodation, food etc
  • Assisted prison visit scheme travel form

 To apply please follow:

Get help with the cost of prison visits - GOV.UK

If you have concerns about a someone in HMP Altcourse, you can contact safer custody on:

ac.safercustody@sodexogov.co.uk or 0151 522 2021

Property –

You must be on a visit - checked in first to hand any property in.

The person you are visiting must have a completed/accepted application for majority of items to be put in, please see below for a list of items that do not need an application.

Property allowed to be handed in without an application is as follows:

  • Underwear/socks
  • Court clothes- Shirt, tie, jacket, belt, trousers- not tracksuit bottoms/jeans
  • Books-up to 5
  • Glasses/contact lenses and sealed solution.

For any property enquiries please call the main switch board on 0151 522 2000 EXT 2244

Email a prisoner-

To email a family member/friend you can log and follow the instructions here:

https://www.emailaprisoner.com

We ask unless using a mobile device to show proof of address that you refrain from using any electronic or mobile device whilst checking in for GDPR reasons, this also includes the use of videoing and taking pictures whilst visiting HMP Altcourse.

Visit facilities- during your visit to HMP Altcourse refreshments are available in the hall and in the outside visit centre (please be advised the outside visit centre is vending machine and card machine only but inside visit hall is cash only) Remember to bring £1 for lockers.

Altcourse Address:

HMP Altcourse

Brookfield Drive

Fazakerley

Liverpool

L9-7LH

Local taxi companies -Delta -0151 922 7373

One call taxi’s Bootle- 0151 928 3535

How we collect and use your data

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/)

 

Latest News

Ways to stay in touch... 

Send them an email using the email a prisoner service
Secure video calling is available at this prison. Family and friends need to download the purple visits app, create an account, register all visitors, and add the prisoner to their contact list. Read more about how it works
You can also contact the Prisoners’ Families Helpline on 0808 808 2003.

 

How to send money to a prisoner

If you are wanting to send money to a prisoner. Please use the link below:

Send money to someone in prison - GOV.UK