The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman investigates complaints from prisoners, those on probation and those held in immigration removal centres. The Ombudsman also investigates all deaths that occur among prisoners, immigration detainees and the residents of probation hostels (Approved Premises).
13 July 2011 - The Annual Report for 2010-11 is published today and a Press Release has been issued.
7 July 2011 - The minutes of the PPO Fatal Incident Investigations Liaison Meeting held on 9 June have been published.
22 June 2011 - We have published "Learning from PPO investigations: Self-inflicted prison deaths 2007-2009" which summarises the key facts and figures from over 200 fatal incident investigations to identify collective learning.
17 June 2011 - The acting Ombudsman, Jane Webb, terminates her appointment as the acting Ombudsman on 30 June. The new Ombudsman, Nigel Newcomen CBE, has now been confirmed in post and his start date is being finalised.
10 June 2011 - The minutes of the PPO Fatal Incident Investigations Liaison Meeting held on 10 March have been published.
25 May 2011 - The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) has published its first statistical report about complaints. The report titled 'Learning from PPO investigations: Overview of complaints' summarises the complaints received by the PPO from when the office was established in 1994 until April 2010. The report shows how the workload has increased over time at a faster rate than the prison population and provides an analysis of complaints over the last five years. Statistics on numbers received and upheld about individual prisons are also included.
9 May 2011 - The 2011-12 Business Plan has been published.
3 May 2011 - The latest edition of "On the Case" has been published.
8 April 2011 - Jane Webb, Acting Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, congratulated Nigel Newcomen on his selection as the preferred candidate to be the next Prisons and Probation Ombudsman and wished him well as he takes the office forward. She reflected on the importance of independent investigations into complaints and deaths in custody, saying that Nigel's knowledge and experience will be invaluable. An announcement about the selection was made on the Justice website on 7 April 2011.
25 February 2011 - Help the Hospices has been chosen as PPO's office charity for 2011.
11 February 2011 - For the latest on Complaint Investigations read our Complaint annual figures for the calender year 2010.
4 February 2011 - For the latest on Fatal Incident Investigations read our FII annual figures for the calendar year 2010.
About the Ombudsman
Information about the Ombudsman, Nigel Newcomen CBE
Annual Report 2010-11 (PDF 0.73Mb)
Our latest annual report detailing our performance and progress.
Terms of Reference
The Ombudsman has agreed updated terms of reference with Ministry of Justice Ministers