Every year more children are separated from a parent by prison than by divorce and the government is failing in its duty of care for them a new alliance of prison charities will tell MP’s today.

Action for Prisoners’ Families, CLINKS, the Prison Advice & Care Trust and the Prison Reform Trust, are unveiling a joint Agenda for Action in Parliament today, calling on the government to reduce re-offending by providing more support for the children and families of prisoners.

The charities estimate that 160,000 children this year will see a parent locked up, and that the rising scale of imprisonment means that, within five years, the number of children affected could be 200,000 children a year.  The government’s own research shows that re-offending rates are dramatically reduced if prisoners can stay in contact with their families during their sentences.  Yet, MP’s will hear at the meeting that currently no reliable information is collected on the children of prisoners and there is no statutory body with a clear responsibility for supporting prisoners’ families and children. The charities will also warn that bureaucratic problems affecting the family visiting system are so serious they contribute to the break-up of many families. 

The charities’ agenda for government action includes:
• The Government must start collecting reliable information on children with a parent in prison to properly inform policy-making. 
• ‘First night in custody’ services should be present in all prisons to help new prisoners and their families cope with the often traumatic first week of imprisonment.
• A welcoming family and visitors’ centre must be available outside every prison as a place where families can wait in comfort and security and receive information and support.
• Every prison must have a family contact worker to provide advice and guidance to families regarding the welfare of prisoners.
• Major improvements must be made to prison visits telephone booking lines through which it can take many hours to arrange visits.

Launching the Agenda for Action, Lucy Gampell, Director of Action for Prisoners’ Families, said:
“Prisoners’ families hold the key to reducing in re-offending.  However, until the Government recognises that they need help, support and improved visiting arrangements if they are to maintain meaningful relationships with the prisoner, we will continue to fail them and society.”

Juliet Lyon, Director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:
“Ever-increasing prison numbers mean that, according to government figures, a staggering 7% of all school age children are affected by the imprisonment of a parent, most often their dad. While for a few this may come as a relief after years of difficulty, for most children and families this loss will be distressing and damaging. A government committed to putting children first must not forget about the children of unseen prisoners.”

Andy Keen-Downs, Director of the Prison Advice & Care Trust, said:
“Prisoners’ children are the innocent hidden victims of crime, and are far more vulnerable than other children to becoming involved in crime in later life.  Our campaign is based on the premise that when the state locks up a child’s parent, it has a duty of care to the child.  We are challenging the government to work with us to develop a compassionate and rational response to meeting the needs of children of prisoners.”

To read the briefing click here

Notes

1. The charities are launching their Agenda for Action at a Parliamentary briefing at 3.30pm on Wednesday 5th December.  It will be hosted by Andrew Dismore MP, chair of Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights, Baroness Linklater, and former Chief Inspector of Prisons Lord Ramsbotham.  Members of the media wishing to attend should contact Alison Beck on 020 7490 3139, alison.beck@prisonadvice.org.uk, or on 07841 289340.
2. The full recommendations are contained in the Agenda for Action, which is available from  any of the four charities (contact details below).
3. Two women who have personal experience of the prison system are available for interview.  Their stories are outlined below.
4. During their sentence 45% of people lose contact with their families and many separate from their partners. Home Office research has found that maintaining good quality family contact has a significant impact on the successful resettlement of, and likelihood of re-offending by, ex-prisoners.  Prisoners who received visits from their family were twice as likely to have employment on release and three times more likely to have accommodation arranged as those who did not receive any visits.
5. In recent years the number of prison visits has fallen despite an increasing prison population.
6. In 2005, divorce affected 136,332 children under 16, according to the Office of National Statistics.  
7. 7% of children will see a parent imprisoned during their school years and around 160,000 children a year have a parent sent to prison.  This is around two and half times the number of children in care, and over six times the number of children on the Child Protection Register.  Children of prisoners also have about three times the risk for mental health problems compared to their peers and experience higher levels of social disadvantage. 

Contacts

Directors of all four charities are available for interview by contacting their offices directly. A mother with recent experience of imprisonment and the mother of a prisoner who describe their experiences below are also available for interview.

Action for Prisoners’ Families
Lucy Gampell: 020 8812 3600
www.prisonersfamilies.org.uk

Prison Advice & Care Trust
Andy Keen-Downs: 020 7490 3139
www.prisonadvice.org.uk

Prison Reform Trust
Juliet Lyon: 020 7251 5070
www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk

CLINKS
Clive Martin: 01904 673970
www.clinks.org

An imprisoned mother
JW was convicted of theft by deception having stolen a substantial sum from her employers. She served three and a half years in prison.  At the time of her conviction her son was five years old.  JW does not argue that women should not be sent to prison.  She says that she accepts that she committed a crime which merited a prison sentence.  However, she argues, the sentence hurt her son and her family more than it did her.

JW was sent to prison just before her son’s sixth birthday.  Straight away, her son started to have terrible nightmares and wet the bed.  Over the following three years, he frequently had to miss school in order to visit his mother in prison.  He was told to lie to his friends about where his mother was.  He was very scared, confused and missed his mother; he was terrified that his father would leave him as well.

The pain of separation from her son, and her sense of guilt at having abandoned and betrayed him, led to JW feeling that he would be better off without her, and in her words to ‘shutting down’.  Ordinary prison visits were stilted and awkward, with no real communication.  Phone calls were even worse.

The one thing that made the difference to JW were the ‘family days’*.  These are special prison visits where imprisoned parents and their children can spend quality time together, where children are allowed to move around and play with their parents in a ‘normal’ way.  JW says that if it had not been for the special family days, her son would not be living with her today.

*The alliance of charities is calling for such family days to become regular features at all prisons for imprisoned parents and their children to maintain family relationships during custody.

Mother of a prisoner
YJ is a Londoner, and the mother of a grown-up son.  Her son recently spent six months in prison on remand for a very serious alleged assault on his father whilst under the influence of crack cocaine.

On the day that her son was sent to jail, YJ left the courtroom not knowing where he was being taken.  It took her 16 days to find out which prison he had been taken to.  It then took her a further four days to get through on the prison’s horrendously over-subscribed booking line to arrange a visit.  YJ says that the pain of not knowing he was okay was very hard to handle.  When she finally managed to visit her son in jail, she was horrified to discover he had been on suicide watch, convinced that he would never see his parents again.

Her son’s imprisonment had a devastating effect on YJ’s physical health and emotional state.  She cried constantly, stopped eating, and was suicidal.  She ended up in hospital and was put on anti-depressants and sleeping tablets.  YJ describes this period of her life is being “taken to the pit of despair”.

Her son’s case was dismissed and he has now been released.  He is in rehab.

YJ feels strongly that more needs to be done to support the innocent relatives of prisoners.  In particular, she believes that family-friendly visitors’ centres should be established outside every prison.  She also feels that better systems are needed so that families can find out quickly where their loved ones are being held*.

* The alliance is calling for welcoming family and visitors’ centres to be available outside every prison, as a place where families can wait in comfort and security and receive information and support.

The charities are also calling for information packs to be routinely sent out to families following a person’s reception into prison.