Prisoner Visitation and Support

Prisoner Visitation and Support (PVS) is a volunteer visitation program for people incarcerated in federal and military prisons throughout the United States. We were founded in 1968, carrying forward a Quaker tradition of caring for prisoners. Over 300 PVS volunteer visitors see thousands of prisoners a year in 102 Federal prisons and 4 Military prisons across the nation. No other organization in the U.S. has achieved the same level of access, on a nationwide scale, to the prison system, and with over 50 years of service, PVS continues to play a unique role in the field of prisoner assistance.

Prisoner Visitation and Support (PVS) is the only organization authorized by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Department of Defense to visit any prisoner in the Federal and Military prison systems. The primary focus is on seeing those prisoners with an acute need for human contact -- those prisoners without regular visits, those serving long sentences who are far from home, those in solitary confinement and on death row, and those who are frequently transferred from prison to prison. PVS visitors let the prisoners set the agenda for what they discuss. Common concerns are: lack of contact with family, untreated medical problems, work or educational plans upon release, current events, literature, etc.