Family and friends of people facing the death penalty or on death row

If you have a family member or friend who is charged with a capital crime or currently on death row overseas, Reprieve may be able to help.

Based in the UK, Reprieve provides legal and investigation assistance to British nationals facing the death penalty around the world. We also assist nationals from other European countries who are facing the death penalty in the USA.

In order to help prisoners, we work closely with the local lawyers already representing your family member or friend . We aim to support them in whatever way they think will be effective. Please note that, in most countries, we cannot actually represent your loved one in court; the services we provide are designed to support the local lawyer, not replace him or her.

If we agree to assist on your case, we will also ensure that your family member or friend gets as much support as possible from their home country (the UK or another European country) – both from the government and from others who may be able to lend assistance. This sometimes involves securing the services of experts who can review the evidence in the case, or even conducting investigation on the ground.

Whatever we do on the case, Reprieve will not share confidential or privileged information we collect with anyone outside of the legal team without the permission of the local lawyers.

Of course, we can only assist your relative or friend if he or she wants us to. We will endeavour to obtain a prisoner’s written permission as soon as possible after learning of a new case.

We should stress that we work solely as a charity, and have never asked for payment for working on a case. Our assistance is provided at no cost and we will never ask to be paid for our help.

If you want to tell us about a new case, please call Reprieve’s office on 020 7353 4640 and ask to speak to a member of the Death Penalty Team. You can also send an email to info@reprieve.org.uk.