Welcome to the PPO

The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) carries out independent investigations into deaths and complaints in custody. The detailed role and responsibilities of the PPO are set out in our office’s Terms of Reference. The PPO has two main duties:

•  to investigate complaints made by prisoners, young people in detention (prisons and secure training centres), offenders under probation supervision and immigration detainees
•  to investigate deaths of prisoners, young people in detention, approved premises’ residents and immigration detainees due to any cause, including any apparent suicides and natural causes.

The purpose of these investigations is to understand what happened, to correct injustices and to identify learning for the organisations whose actions we oversee so that the PPO makes a significant contribution to safer, fairer custody and offender supervision.