Terms & Conditions

Business Terms & Conditions 2024

By purchasing our goods and services, or applying for advertising facilities in our publications, you specifically agree to be bound by each and all of the following terms and conditions which we reserve the right to alter without prior notice at our sole discretion.

Prisons.Org.Uk Ltd (POUK) is registered in England 05949117 and is committed to dealing with you in an honest, straightforward and transparent way.

Our policies below explain how we will do this.

By doing business with us you specifically agree to each and all of the following terms and conditions however you do business with us, for example by ticking the appropriate box when purchasing online, signing registration forms off line, by email exchange or otherwise. We will discharge all our obligations openly and deal with you in an open and transparent manner – we will expect our customers to deal with us in the same way.

1. PRISON LAW COURSES / What’s The Policy?

2. BOOKS / DELIVERY / REFUNDS: What’s The Policy?

3. CONFERENCE REFUNDS: What’s The Policy?

4. BOOK / MAGAZINE / NEWSPAPER / DAMAGED ON ARRIVAL / RETURNS: What’s The Policy?

5. BOOK / MAGAZINE / NEWSPAPER DELIVERY & NON DELIVERY: What’s The Policy?

6. BOOK / MAGAZINE / NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING & CANCELLATION: What’s The Policy?

7. BOOKS: CANCELLATION/UNDER PAYMENT NON-PROVISION & PUBLICATION: What’s The Policy?

8. PRISON ORACLE WEB SITE MEMBERSHIP, DISCOUNTS & CANCELLATIONS What’s The Policy?

1. PRISON LAW COURSES / What’s The Policy?

  1. What we do: The Institute of Prison Law is a trading name of Prisons Org UK that since 2006 has delivered training in prison law by way of distance learning packages.
  2. The Course: The Certificate of Competency in Prison Law consists of eight separate Modules, within which are a total of 32 separate units (as detailed on the course syllabus), and the course must be completed within 12 months of enrolment – the date shown on the purchase receipt of the course. There is a discretion to extend this 12 month period in exceptional circumstances at our discretion for a further 12 months on payment of a continuing student fee which will be advised at the appropriate time. 
  3. Enrolment: As a distance learning course students can join at any time by completing the enrolment application form, (which includes agreeing to these terms and conditions in full) and paying the appropriate fee – links for which form part of the application form.
  4. Pay as you Learn / complimentary books / The Prison Oracle: The Institute operates the Certificate of Competency in Prison Law, it is an eight-module, 32 unit course, the fee for which must be paid for in full prior to commencement of study – regrettably we are unable to offer a ‘pay as you learn’ option. Those who enrol on the course and pay either the full price (2024=£1450+VAT) or the inmate discount price (2024=£999+VAT) are eligible while stocks last to receive a complimentary copy of the current editions of both The Prisons Handbook and Prison Law Index; these free books are wholly complimentary, they are not a part of the course, they are available only while stocks last and are not required to study the course.  Additionally, registered students are also given 12 months (from the date of enrolment when issued with a username and password) Enhanced Membership of The Prison Oracle – the definitive prisons website for England and Wales. Links in the course materials all lead to The Prison Oracle from which all necessary rules and regulations are available – we seek to update the Prison Oracle daily and it is not unusual for policy updates on official Ministry of Justice websites to takes weeks, or a month or longer, to appear there after they are placed on the Prison Oracle. 
  5. Cancellation: Once you have paid the course fee, cancellation thereafter is not possible as we incur costs in connection with your online registration and administration but in exceptional circumstances a short delay in commencing the course may be possible at our sole discretion.
  6. Examinations: Each of the eight modules has a multiple choice examination associated with it, and each examination must be taken at the end of each module – we will not process an examination for marking until the previous modular examination has been submitted; you cannot submit multiple tests for marking. All eight examinations must have been received for marking within 12 months of the date shown on the Course Payment Receipt (subject to the extended student provisions above) and the Certificate is only awarded to those who complete the course by passing all eight examinations with a minimum of 80% in each module. The examinations are multiple choice and students must provide a single letter answer to each multi-choice question – any additional text added by way of explanation to an answer will result in the question being marked incorrect. Examinations will be marked within 14 working days of receipt and often much sooner. The examiner’s decision on any examination paper is final and cannot be inquired into. 
  7. Resits: Where a student has not achieved a pass mark of at least 80% in an examination the student is able to resit the examination on a maximum of two further occasions subject to payment of a resit fee on each occasion of £24.99 plus VAT. Students who do not wish to take a resit will be told which answers they provided were wrong – they can thereafter continue to study the course but will not be eligible for the award of the Course Certificate. Resit fees must be paid within 14 days of examination failure date or the opportunity to resit the examination will be withdrawn. We reserve the right to suspend students from the course where they or their designated agent (prison education for students in custody) fail to pay the resit fee or otherwise fail to respond to legitimate enquiries and questions within what we consider a reasonable period. 
  8. Students in Custody should seek permission from an appropriate custodial authority (ie Head of Learning and Skills) confirming they can register for the course pursuant to Prison Service Instruction 32/2012 (for students located in Wales) and the Education and Library Services Policy Framework for students located in England. 
  9. De-registration: Students who share their Prison Oracle login details with third parties, allowing them to access our copyrighted material without permission, can be removed from the course. Our detection system is robust and if it detects any login from different geographical locations which it considers an abuse it will temporarily block access from that account while an investigation takes place and the student’s explanation sought. Thankfully such occasions are exceptionally rare but we must protect our intellectual property – all registered students have paid for the course and should not risk being removed from it by allowing others free access to it. Similarly, we reserve the exclusive right to remove from the course any student who we consider at our sole and exclusive discretion has been abusive, threatening, or otherwise persistently and unreasonably demanding and to do so without notice. In such cases we will refund that part of the course fee that represents the proportion of the course materials yet to be supplied to the student – if all materials have been supplied then no refund will be made. Our staff have the right to work in a safe environment and we have a zero tolerance policy in respect of abuse.


2. BOOKS / DELIVERY / REFUNDS: What’s The Policy?

1A. Delivery: If we send the right book(s), correctly addressed as shown on your order, and our courier (we only use Royal Mail or Parcel Force) confirms delivery has taken place by proof shown on their website then, at that point, our contractual obligations are fully and finally discharged, and we CANNOT become involved with what happens to an item after we have delivered it; we have no control over what happens to it after that. If the item is delivered to a prison for a prisoner please bear in mind:
prisons are busy places, it takes time to issue items, applications may have to be made by the inmate in some cases;
in large prisons, particularly at special times of year such as Christmas, New Year, Mother or Father’s Day, there can be additional delays.
Once you see from the courier web site that your parcel has been delivered, our advice is to provide the prisoner with the Proof of Delivery screenshot from the courier website showing delivery details – you can then use emailaprisoner.com to send this screenshot straight away by attaching it to an email addressed to the inmate, asking them to submit a Request Application Form for the item to be issued.

We repeat that, apart from th above advice, we cannot become involved once the item is shown as delivered – that is then a matter for the prison.  

1B: Refunds: Once you place your order with us we immediately incur costs in terms of among other things credit card payments, payment gateway commissions and staff time in order processing – for that reason, other than where we have made a mistake as explained in sub-paragraphs 2 and 3  below (and please note especially sub-paragraph 4 below) we will NOT issue refunds. If you have placed an order partly in error, or completely by mistake, then that is not something we are responsible for because we act solely on your given instructions.
So it is vital that you check, and then double-check, your Order details before ticking the box during check out confirming you have read and agree to these strict conditions. We will fully discharge our obligations in respect of your Order, and we expect you to do the same. That said, we reserve the right to refund any transaction at our complete discretion, and without explanation. Notwithstanding that, we will generally only make a refund where we have made a mistake – and once we accept it is our fault we will move quickly to put things right as set out below

(2) If we send the wrong book to the address shown on your order contact us and we will give you instructions on how to proceed. We will arrange for the return of the wrong title at our expense, and re-supply you with a replacement product with the correct title.

(3) If we send the right book (or even the wrong book) to an address other than that shown as the delivery address on your Order, contact us and we will give you instructions on how to proceed. Once we have confirmed that we have in error sent the book to the wrong address – that is an address other than that shown on your order – we will send you the right book, addressed as shown on your order at our expense.

(4) If we send the right book(s), correctly addressed as shown on your order, and our courier confirms delivery, at that point our contractual obligations are fully and finally discharged, and we will NOT accept any returns, nor action any refunds, or enter into any correspondence in relation to it, under any circumstances.


3. CONFERENCE REFUNDS: What’s The Policy?

We will only make a refund where we we have received written notice of cancellation (sent to cancellations@prisons.org.uk). If this notice is received at this email address more than 28 days before the events takes place a refund will be issued within seven days minus 25%. Where the notice of cancellation is received at the cancellation email address less than 28 days before the event no refund is given but we will accept substitutions on the day. Cancellations sent to any email address other than the cancellations email address will not be actioned


4. BOOK / MAGAZINE / NEWSPAPER / DAMAGED ON ARRIVAL / RETURNS: What’s The Policy?

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are buying for a prisoner and we deliver the book and obtain a signature on delivery at the prison without any notification of damage on arrival, from that point forward any damage sustained is the responsibility of the prison; the signature on delivery, without notification of damage, discharges ALL our contractual obligations.

(1) If we send you a product which is DAMAGED ON DELIVERY AND IS NOTED ON THE DELIVERY RECEIPT, then please contact us and we will give you instructions on how to proceed; all damaged products must be returned to us within seven days so our insurers can inspect the damage and decide where the damage occurred – either in or after transit. If damage is found to be in transit we will immediately replace the book and refund the postage. If a claim is found to be fraudulent, in that damage said to have occurred in transit actually took place after delivery then our insurers have a policy of reporting all such cases to Action Fraud – we are Ministry of Justice Approved Book Retailers, as such we have secure processes in place to check the contents before they leave and on arrival; one customer claimed a book had been subject to water damage when tests by our insurers proved the ‘water damage’ was alcohol that must have happened after delivery and denied the claim.


5. BOOK / MAGAZINE / NEWSPAPER DELIVERY & NON DELIVERY: What’s The Policy?

UK orders for books can take up to 28 working days, though will often be much less. Books are sent out by tracked courier – unless you select Special Delivery when ordering.

Once our courier delivers (or attempts to deliver if the item is refused, or no one is at home to sign for it) on ONE occasion only at the address to which we are authorised to deliver or attempt delivery, this fully and finally discharges our contractual obligation to deliver.

It is not our responsibility to ensure the book is accepted at the address to which we are asked to deliver it, nor to ensure someone is in the property to receive it – that is your responsibility because we have no control over these things – our obligation ends when delivery is made or attempted on one occasion only.

The status of a delivery or attempted delivery will be evidenced by the delivery status shown on our courier’s web site in relation to deliveries other than special delivery and the tracking number relevant to the item concerned – if that status is disputed that is an issue for our courier and the customer – it is not an issue we will become involved with. The courier delivery status is definitive from our point of view on the subject of delivery. We will not entertain, examine, or enter into correspondence regarding complaints about non delivery of an item ordered from us more than 60 (sixty) days from the date of online order or cheque clearance.


6. BOOK / MAGAZINE / NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING: What’s The Policy?

6A – General: All applications to advertise in our publications are submitted to us, and are only accepted by us, on the basis that advertisers agree that all the following conditions apply and that no departure from these conditions is valid unless that departure is in writing and signed by a Director of PRISONS ORG UK LTD.

A1 – Legal Advertisers: we only accept advertising applications from law firms that are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and all applications to advertise are subject to robust due diligence checks that may include among other things credit reference checks.

A2 – Artwork: It is of vital importance that artwork supplied by advertisers is supplied both on time (seven days prior to publication as a minimum) and in the correct format. Where the advertiser supplies the artwork it must be delivered to us in acceptable hi res PDF (CMYK) format (we also accept .jpg 300dpi files) and reach us a minimum of seven days before publication. If artwork supplied is not in an acceptable format, either technically or is late in terms of punctuality (ie is delivered less than 7 days prior to publication we expressly reserve the right to continue to publish the last provided acceptable artwork for all or any advertisements of the advertiser until further acceptable artwork is provided. If previous artwork is not available we reserve the right to substitute the unacceptable format or provide late artwork for one supplied by us, without obtaining prior approval of the customer, at our sole discretion. In all such cases the substitute artwork will as a minimum display the name, address and contact details of the advertiser and other such information that we at our discretion consider positive and accurate. 

A3 – Payment: Unless we notify you differently prior payment is not required where the booking form is signed by a Partner of an SRA Regulated law firm, our terms are 14 days from publication: if payment is late we reserve the right to withdraw credit facilities and insist on payment prior to publication.

6.1 Late Payment. If you are late making your payments to us and we are required to remind you that we reserve the right in cases of persistent late payment to impose an administration fee of £49.99 in addition to statutory late payment interest. You are required to pay your invoices on time and if you persistently fail to do so we shall apply the admin fee and Late Payment interest.

6.1.1 Cancellation of advertising: Contracts of 12 or more insertions attract significant discounts because of their duration, therefore these contracts must run to their full duration and early cancellation is subject to a surcharge of 25% of the monthly fee for each of the remaining months. Example: If you book 12 insertions, at £400 a month, and wish to cancel after three months you will incur a total surcharge of £900 plus VAT – this is calculated on the basis of £100 being 25% of £400 for each of the remaining nine months of the contract.

6.1.2 Cancellation of advertising: Contracts of 11 insertions or less are subject to a one month notice period emailed to directors.office@prisons.org.uk. It is a Strict Term that Cancellation must be in writing to directors.office@prisons.org.uk and “Notice of Cancellation” must be in your email subject line. For example: Email your Notice of Cancellation between 1st and 31st of August and the September edition will be your last advertisement.

6(2). Publication & Printing: all publication dates, for all publications, are approximate and non-binding.


7. BOOKS: CANCELLATION/UNDER PAYMENT/ NON-PROVISION OF INFORMATION: What’s The Policy?

(1) CANCELLATION: Once you place an order with us we incur costs, both in terms of online charges from shopping cart agents, our secure online payment gateway and we also incur administration costs in terms of staff time.

Therefore, we do not allow cancellation once the order has been placed and paid for and you specifically agree to this when confirming your agreement to our terms and conditions on purchase.

This is why we specifically require you to agree to these terms and conditions, including specifically this one, before you can place an online order with us.

Once you have agreed to these terms and conditions, by ticking the box showing your agreement, and placed and paid for the order, then the order cannot be cancelled.

However, we will consider cancellation applications in exceptional circumstances, this is at our sole discretion – such as where the intended recipient has passed away for example – but the circumstances must in our sole view be wholly exceptional and allowing a cancellation is always at our sole discretion and subject to conditions such as written application and the provision of proof that we deem appropriate.

(2) UNDERPAYMENT – NON-PROVISION OF REQUESTED INFORMATION:

Because we offer discounts to prisoners we insist on delivering copies bought using the prisoner discount direct to the prison ourselves – we are one of very few Ministry of Justice Approved Book Retailers.

Additionally, we also require the prisoner name and prisoner number to ensure that the discounts we offer are enjoyed only by those for whom they are intended.

Where a book is bought purporting to be for a serving prisoner, but either the prisoner’s name or the prison address of the prisoner is not provided, we will issue an email STOP NOTICE which means that the order will be stopped from being processed until either the correct amount has been paid (to have the book sent to an address other than a prison) or all details of the prisoner (name, prison address) are provided. If you provide a prisoner’s name and prison address we will send the book to that named person at that prison address.

If no such details are provided within 7 days of the date of the Stop Notice, the purchaser expressly agrees to our applying a £29.99 administration fee, per book, we will then cancel the order and refund the remainder of the money paid – so it is vital to provide the requested information when ordering to avoid this consequence.

We process refunds promptly, usually within five to seven business days of the date of the Stop Notice (or the date of publication of the book whichever is later) and it is made only to the card used for the purchase.

We will send you confirmation of the refund once we have processed it.

(3) DELIVERY UK orders for books take 28 days, though will often be much less. Delivery is dependent on the correct carriage being paid – applies to all orders but especially to those that are sent outside the UK Mainland. Books are sent out tracked courier service – unless you select Royal Mail Special Delivery when ordering – signature of receipt at the address to which we are authorised to send the book fully and finally discharges our duty to deliver. Where a book is ordered for a serving prisoner we reserve the right to, and you agree to, us sending details of the purchaser to the prison so they can be assured it has not been sent by someone with whom the prisoner is not allowed contact. Overseas orders for books can take 48 days but often much less

Where you are purchasing electronic items the sending by us to the email address provided when ordering fully and finally discharges our duty to deliver.

(4) PUBLICATION. Our publication dates are always approximate and should be interpreted as being within 28 days of the stated publication date

8. PRISON ORACLE WEBSITE MEMBERSHIPS, CANCELLATIONS & DISCOUNTS: What’s The Policy?

Prison Oracle Terms of Use (Cancel Membership)

The Prison Oracle (“TPO”) provides a personalized subscription service that allows our members to access content on the TPO site (“TPO content”) over the Internet to certain Internet-connected devices (“TPO ready devices”).

These Terms of Use govern your use of our service. As used in these Terms of Use, “TPO service”, “our service” or “the service” means the personalized service provided by TPO for all content associated with our service.

Membership

1.1. Your TPO membership will continue until terminated. To use the TPO service you must have Internet access and a TPO ready device, and provide us with one or more Payment Methods. “Payment Method” means a current, valid, accepted method of payment, as may be updated from time to time, and which may include payment through your account with a third party. Unless you cancel your membership before your billing date, you authorize us to charge the membership fee for the next billing cycle to your Payment Method (see “Cancellation” below).

1.2. We may offer a number of membership plans, including special promotional plans or memberships offered by third parties in conjunction with the provision of their own products and services. We are not responsible for the products and services provided by such third parties. Some membership plans may have differing conditions and limitations, which will be disclosed at your sign-up or in other communications made available to you. You can find specific details regarding your TPO membership by visiting our website and clicking on the “Account” link available at the top of the pages of the website.

Discounts and Discount Price Trials

2.1. Your TPO membership may start with a free or discount trial price or period. The duration of the trial period of your membership will be specified during sign-up and is intended to allow new members and certain former members to try the service at a reduced price.

2.2. Some memberships may come with a discount price trial period at the end of which unless cancelled you will be charged the full price applicable at that time. If we change the price we will always email you in advance so you have the opportunity to cancel. We believe in transparency and we treat our subscribers in exactly the same way as we ourselves would want to be treated – with openness and honesty. Discount trial eligibility is determined by TPO at its sole discretion and we may limit eligibility or duration to prevent discount trial abuse. We reserve the right to revoke any discount at any time and put your account on hold in the event that we determine that you are not eligible. We may use information such as device ID, method of payment or an account email address used with an existing or recent TPO membership to determine eligibility. For combinations with other offers, restrictions may apply.

2.3. We will charge the membership fee for the next billing cycle to your Payment Method at the end of the free trial period unless you cancel your membership prior to the end of the free trial period. To view the membership price and end date of your free trial period, visit our website and click on the “Account” page.

2.4 Any offers that we may extend from time to time, that act so as to reduce the normal product or membership price for a limited period, cannot be combined with any other offer whatsoever and we specifically reserve the exclusive right to withdraw each and every offer, at any time, without notice, at our sole and exclusive discretion and without reason. Further no offer can be claimed retrospectively. To utilise any offer you must no later than the time of purchase (which for clarity is at the completion of the payment checkout process) fully qualify for that offer, in all its conditions and enter the appropriate offer code directly at the time of purchase or the discount will become invalid ab initio.

Billing and Cancellation

3.1. Billing Cycle. Once you subscribe you authorise us to rebill your account, at the end of each subscription period going forward, using the payment method you have set up, until you cancel the subscription – cancellation is very easy, it takes around one minute to complete and we fully explain it here with a graphic showing exactly what you need to do – if you do not cancel your subscription then autobilling will continue until you so, note also that you must use this process to cancel your account we cannot and will not accept cancellations by email of any kind. Note especially unsubscribing from daily news emails, which are a complimentary service and not part of any membership plan, will not cancel your account; to cancel your account you must follow the steps we fully explain here.

The membership fee for TPO and any other charges you may incur in connection with your use of the service, such as taxes and possible transaction fees, will be charged to your Payment Method on the specific billing date indicated on your “Account” page. The length of your billing cycle will depend on the type of subscription that you choose when you sign-up for the service. In some cases your payment date may change, for example if your Payment Method has not successfully settled or if your paid membership began on a day not contained in a given month. Visit our website and click on the “Account” page to see your next payment date. We may authorize your Payment Method in anticipation of membership or service-related charges through various methods, including authorizing it for up to approximately one month of service as soon as you register. In some instances, your available balance or credit limit may be reduced to reflect the authorization during your free trial period.

3.2. Payment Methods. To use TPO service you must provide one or more Payment Methods. You authorize us to charge any Payment Method associated to your account in case your primary Payment Method is declined or no longer available to us for payment of your subscription fee. You remain responsible for any uncollected amounts. If a payment is not successfully settled, due to expiration, insufficient funds, or otherwise, and you do not cancel your account, we may suspend your access to the service until we have successfully charged a valid Payment Method. For some Payment Methods, the issuer may charge you certain fees, such as foreign transaction fees or other fees relating to the processing of your Payment Method. Local tax charges may vary depending on the Payment Method used. Check with your Payment Method service provider for details.

3.3. Updating your Payment Methods. You can update your Payment Methods by going to the “Account” page. We may also update your Payment Methods using information provided by the payment service providers. Following any update, you authorize us to continue to charge the applicable Payment Method(s).

3.4. Cancellation. If you want to cancel your subscription of course we’ll be sorry to see you go – but we also want to make it as easy as possible. You are the person who created your subscription, only you can cancel your subscription. Just click the following link, follow the steps shown (note particularly Step 3), and it all takes less than a minute https://prisons.org.uk/update-card/ You will continue to have access to TPO through the end of your billing period. Payments are non-refundable and we do not provide refunds or credits for any partial membership periods. You create your account and only you can cancel it.

Questions or queries?

Email customer.services@prisons.org.uk for queries about publications, or membership.services@prisons.org.uk in relation to The Prison Oracle

Or write to us at

PRISONS ORG UK LTD, PO BOX 679, BURY. LANCASHIRE. BL8 9RU

We do not accept service of documents by Email

E&OE
Following completion of the prison law course successful students may display the OK logo and details of this and its terms and conditions are sent on course completion.

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