Prison & IRCs

Having a family member in prison or detention is stressful for anyone and especially children.  Research shows that it can have a negative impact on their physical, mental and emotional health.  Strong, positive, relationships help improve their chances and reduce the likelihood of reoffending by prisoners.

We use play activities in prison to provide familiar activities in what can otherwise be an unfamiliar and sterile environment and a stressful experience.  Play offers the opportunity to do something fun and interactive with a parent or relative.  It provides a positive shared experience that can break down barriers and help people to cope.   Good play opportunities enable children and parents to experience a range of emotions in a safe way, build their resilience and strengthen their relationship. 

HMP Stocken

Children’s Links and HMP Stocken near Stamford have been lucky enough to secure 3 year funding from BBC Children in Need to support a project specifically within the prison.

In 2002 a report by the Social Exclusion Unit demonstrated that if a prisoner maintained and developed their links with their close family then they were less likely to re-offend after their release from prison. The aim of the project within Stocken is to strengthen these ties by providing positive experiences during the regular domestic visits.

For the duration of the visit the prisoner is not allowed to move from his chair, but his visitors are.  Two hours is a long time for a child of any age to be kept entertained at a small table, so in the Visits Hall at HMP Stocken the Children in Need funding is providing a well stocked play area that is supervised by a Children’s Links play worker.

The Children’s Links play workers are assisted in the play area by a group of regular volunteers who help the children with storytelling, craft activities and playing. As an extension to the play area the play workers are also designing and making play packs for use by the prisoners and their families at their table. These packs not only provide entertainment for the family, but also provide a medium through which the family can communicate without having to “force” a conversation.

“Family contact has been identified by government research as having a significant impact on successful resettlement and reducing re-offending by former prisoners.” CLINKS report – “Constructive responses to crime” 2008.

Having children occupied in a meaningful way during the visits session has the knock on effect of reducing the stress during visits for the prisoners and their partners, giving them the opportunity for a more positive and enjoyable time, as well as developing and strengthening the family bonds, which are so important to any child’s development and the family stability.

Children’s Links is now also supporting the visiting families outside in the Visits Centre prior to their visits and over lunchtime. This gives some continuity of face from the Visits Centre through to the play area in the Visits Hall for children and their parents/carers.

For further information about the project at HMP Stocken please contact: Judy Brett, Senior Family Visits Officer, HMP Stocken.  judy.brett@childrenslinks.org.uk or 07947720735 

Together Project

This Big Lottery Funded project saw us working with prisons across the East Midlands to help them develop their family visits and so strengthen relationships between offenders and their families.

We supported family visits through play trained staff working with the prison visits team to offer a wide range of physical and craft activities, designed to get the children and their parents playing together.

To support the visits to run even without our input we developed a playwork training session for prison staff.  This has also been successfully delivered to other voluntary sector agencies.

The project was a great success due to effective partnership working and being flexible enough to adopt our approach to meet the needs of individual prisons.

The prisons involved were:

HMP Glen Parva
HMP Lincoln
HMP Lowdham Grange
HMP Morton Hall
HMP North Sea Camp
HMP Nottingham  
HMP Ranby
 

HMP Nottingham

Following the end of the successful Big Lottery Together Project HMP Nottingham decided to fund a further year of Children's Links support.  We are working with the team at Nottingham to two monthly family visits and develop their skills to that by next summer they will be able to go it alone. 

Parenting in Prisons

Children's Links developed bespoke training for prisoners around parenting.   This has been delivered in HMP Glen Parva, HMP Morton Hall and HMP New Hall.

We have also delivered one-off sessions on the importance of play for parenting as part of wider resettlement programmes in HMP Ranby and HMP Lowdham Grange.

Morton Hall Immigration Removal Centre

Children’s Links is providing family support for detainees and their families at IRC Morton Hall.  We are supporting the Visitors Centre, providing positive play activities in the Visits Hall and providing individual support for detainees and their families.