Charles Clarke MP, former Home Secretary, has stressed the importance of family in breaking the cycle of re-offending.  The Home Office national action plan has also acknowledged the link between good family ties and re-offending.  Press statements on issues surrounding prisoners and their families can be found here.

Key facts

• Home Office research has found that 66% of women in prison have dependent children under 18.  Of those, 34% had children under 5, a further 40% children aged from 5 to 10.  Each year it is estimated that more than 17,700 children are separated from their mother by imprisonment.
• Just 5% of women prisoners’ children remain in their own home once their mother has been sentenced.
• At least a third of mothers are lone parents before imprisonment.
• Only half of the women who had lived, or were in contact with, their children prior to imprisonment had received a visit since going to prison. 
• One Home Office study showed that for 85% of mothers, prison was the first time they had been separated from their children for any significant length of period. It also showed that 65% of mothers in prison were receiving their first custodial sentence. 
• An ICM public opinion poll, commissioned by SmartJustice in March 2007, found that, of 1,006 respondents, almost three quarters (73%) thought that mothers of young children should not be sent to prison for non-violent crime.
• There are currently 84 places in mother and baby units in prisons reserved for mothers who have children under the age of 18 months. In 2004, 114 women gave birth while serving a prison sentence.
• There are currently 39 children in mother and baby units.
• HM Prisons Inspectorate has found that 25% of women prisoners had their children’s father or a spouse or partner caring for their children. 25% were cared for by their grandmothers; 29% were cared for by other family members or friends and 12% were in care, with foster parents, or had been adopted.
• In 2004, for the first time the government announced that a record will be kept of prisoners’ children. Information will be recorded on the National Offender Management Information System. This commitment has yet to be implemented.
• Just over half (55%) of male prisoners described themselves as living with a partner before imprisonment  and a third of female prisoners described themselves as living with a husband or partner before imprisonment. 
• Research has found that 59% of men  in prison and two-thirds of women in prison have dependent children under 18. 
• It is estimated that 160,000 children have a parent in prison. During their time at school 7% of children experience their father’s imprisonment.
• Prisoners’ families, including their children, often experience increased financial, housing, emotional and health problems during a sentence. Nearly a third (30%) of prisoners’ children suffer significant mental health problems, compared with 10% of the general population.
• During their sentence 45% of people lose contact with their families and many separate from their partners.
• Charles Clark, when Home Secretary, stressed the importance of family. “As we consider the practical steps intended to equip offenders with the means to avoid re-offending we also need to remember the vital role of family, friends and community. I believe that we sometimes fail to give enough emphasis to the powerful impact of supportive relationships to prisoners – to realise that offenders often care deeply about letting down those closest to them, and want to show that they can change, but somehow just never get there. An offender is much less likely to re-offend if he feels part of a family and community, from which he receives support as well as owes obligations.”
• Home Office research has found that maintaining family contact is associated with successful resettlement. It found that prisoners who had at least one visit from family or partners were twice as likely to have an employment, education or training place arranged on release and three times more likely to have accommodation arranged as those who did not receive any visits. The frequency of visits also increased the likelihood of having a job or accommodation. The research report concluded that ‘opportunities for involving families in the resettlement of prisoners should be increased’.
• However, many prisoners are still held a long way from their homes. At the end of September 2006 the average distance women in prison were held from their home or committal court address was 58 miles. Men were held an average of 50 miles from their home or committal court address. Around 10,700 prisoners were held over 100 miles away. 
• In recent years the number of prison visits has fallen despite an increasing prison population.
• The government’s Social Exclusion Unit has found that many families have considerable difficulty getting through to prisons to book visits.

For full references, please see the Bromley Briefings Prison Factfile