The Prisoners’ Advice Service (PAS) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded the Longford Prize for 2012.

This annual prize, awarded on behalf of the Longford Trust, recognises the contribution of an individual, group or organisation working in the area of penal or social reform, in showing outstanding qualities of humanity, courage, persistence and originality.

PAS, which has provided free, expert legal advice and representation to prisoners across England and Wales since 1991, would like to thank the prize committee, trustees and patrons of the Longford Trust for their kind endorsement of its work. It would also like to thank Deborah Coles of INQUEST, Erwin James of the Guardian, and Pete Weatherby QC of Garden Court North Barrister Chambers, for their testimonies in support of PAS’s application for the prize.

The Prize will be presented during the Longford Lecture, to be given by Will Self on Thursday November 22 at Church House, Westminster, on the subject ‘Mind Bending Behind Bars: Drug Use in British Prisons’. Further details of the lecture, including ticket information, may be found on the Longford Trust’s website.