A report released today by the think tank the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) has outlined how strengthening families and relationships is a central plank of prison safety and reform.[i]

Among a raft of other recommendations, the CSJ report outlines how the Government can build on their current work and ensure that supporting families is at the heart of prison reform, arguing that, ‘Families are often the main source of emotional and rehabilitative support for prisoners both during their sentence and after leaving the prison gate. Visits from relatives and loved ones can provide a foundation on which prisoners can build a new life when they leave prison.’

The report links back to the review[ii] conducted by Lord Farmer in 2017 which outlined how families of offenders potentially offer a support network that is personal and ongoing. Lord Farmer pointed out in his review that, ‘If prisons are truly to be places of reform, we cannot ignore the reality that a supportive relationship with at least one person is indispensable to a prisoner’s ability to get through their sentence well and achieve rehabilitation.’

The CSJ report also notes that research from the Ministry of Justice has found that prisoners who are visited by family members or partners are 39 per cent less likely to reoffend than prisoners who aren’t visited.[iii] This is not a small scale problem, with research estimating that as many as 312,000 children are affected each year by parental imprisonment.[iv]

One woman, Sarah Tighe, wrote very personally earlier this year how ‘The families of prisoners serve a sentence alongside the prisoner. Often the initial reaction is akin to a bereavement.’[v]

Find out more

Click here to read the full report.

Click here to find more about the Farmer Review.

References

[i] Control, Order, Hope: A manifesto for prison safety and reform. April 2019. https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/library/control-order-hope

[ii] The Importance of Strengthening Prisoners' Family Ties to Prevent Reoffending and Reduce Intergenerational Crime. August 2017. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/farmer-review-report.pdf

[iii] Factors linked to reoffending: a one-year follow-up of prisoners who took part in the Resettlement Surveys 2001, 2003 and 2004, London: Ministry of Justice. http://www.lemosandcrane.co.uk/dev/resources/Factors%20linked%20to%20reoffending%2008.pdf

[iv] Children of Prisoners: Fixing a broken system, Crest Advisory. February 2019. https://www.crestadvisory.com/post/children-of-prisoners-fixing-a-broken-system

[v] Prison photo booths have kept my husband and son’s bond strong. January 2019. https://metro.co.uk/2019/01/08/prison-photo-booths-have-kept-my-husband-and-sons-bond-strong-8322831