This privacy policy outlines the processes the Bent Bars Project follows when collecting, storing and handling personal data. We are committed to maintaining trust with visitors to our website and subscribers to our email mailing list, and will always do our best to keep your data secure.
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What data we collect

Penpal forms

The Bent Bars Project collects names and contact details, including email addresses, postal addresses and occasionally phone numbers if necessary. This information is collected in order to match outside (non-imprisoned) penpals with inside (imprisoned) penpals. By filling in the outside penpal form, you allow the Bent Bars Project to retain the information you provide in order to contact you, to send you project updates via our e-newsletter if you have requested this, and to manage the project including for the purposes of matching you with a penpal and maintaining your involvement in the project.

We never share outside penpal’s personal details (i.e. home address, email address or phone number) with inside penpals. Even if you are an outside penpal who choses to use your own address for correspondence rather than our PO box, it is up to you to share that information directly with your penpal.

Mailing List

With consent, The Bent Bars Project collects names and contact details (such as email addresses) for the purposes of our mailing list. We use that information to keep you updated about the project including upcoming events, updates about the project, or relevant news; to ask for feedback or input about the project; or to invite participation in aspects of the project. This is done primarily through a monthly e-newsletter. If you sign up to our mailing list, we’ll send you one newsletter per month, and then a few other emails throughout the year.‍

We use a third-party provider, EmailOctopus, to deliver our e-newsletter. We gather statistics around email opening and clicks using industry-standard technologies to help us monitor and improve our mailing list. For more information, please see EmailOctopus’ privacy notice. You can unsubscribe from our email list or update your preference or contact details at any time by clicking the unsubscribe or update preferences link at the bottom of an email newsletter or by contacting us directly at bent.bars.project@gmail.com‍

‍We won’t share your email address with any other organisations and businesses without your permission.‍

Visitors to our website

The Bent Bars Project uses third party services such as Google Analytics to help analyse how visitors use our site. We do this to find out information such as the number of visitors to various parts of the site, and what visitor behaviour patterns are like. We don’t use this information to identify anyone. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will be clear about when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it.

Tickets

The Bent Bars Project uses a third-party service Eventbrite for you to book tickets or reserve a place at our events. This allows us to collect information such as your name, email address and any other information you provide when booking. We only use this information to communicate with you about the event you have signed up for, unless you expressly give permission to be added to our mailing list. Eventbrite also automatically collects additional information, to learn more please see the Eventbrite privacy notice.‍

How we store your data‍

In order to store your data as securely as possible, we use a third-party database called Airtable. You can find information on Airtable’s security here. We also store basic information such as your name and email address in a database provided by EmailOctopus. Only a limited number of people have access to any data you provide and this is limited to the Bent Bars Collective organisers and volunteers. We do not share your data with any third parties.

We use appropriate technical, organisational and administrative security measures to protect any information we hold from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. Including password protection, anti-virus software, and lockable cabinets for any paper copies. Unfortunately, no company or service can guarantee complete security.

Unauthorised entry or use, hardware or software failure, and other factors may compromise the security of your information at any time.‍

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International Transfers

The Bent Bars Project is based in the United Kingdom and primarily collect and process data in the UK. However, we do use third-party processors who process data on our behalf and are based in the United States – namely Airtable and Eventbrite. All three are currently certified under the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework which means that they are regarded as meeting the standards for protection of personal data that comply with Data Protection Law.

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Requesting your data

To request access to the data the Bent Bars Project holds about you, send an email to bent.bars.project@gmail.com. You are entitled to view, amend, or delete the personal information that we hold.

Cookies

A cookie is a small text file that is placed on your computer or mobile phone when you visit a website. These cookies allow us to distinguish you from other users of the website, and to collect standardised anonymous information about how the website is being used – for example, how many visitors have come to the site, and how long they stayed for. This helps us provide you with a good user experience and to improve the site where necessary. We do not track any personally identifiable information about visitors to our site.

You can withdraw your consent to cookies or block them at any time, however, this may affect your experience of the site. If you wish to opt out of Google Analytics you can do so via this link.

This policy was last updated on 2 May 2023. We may revise this policy from time to time, if we consider the change to be material we will notify and the most up-to-date version will always be available on our Privacy Policy page.