Churches Together in Westminster Prisons Mission

CHURCHES TOGETHER IN WESTMINSTER PRISONS MISSION

Pilot Project Progress Report to AGM

The Prisons Mission

Key facts
·  85,000 men, women and children are remanded or serving custodial sentences in England and Wales
·  This has doubled in 20 years and is extremely high by EU standards.
·  The National Offender Management Service employs 44,000 staff at 131 prisons
·  The cost of each prison place ranges from £35,000 to £200,000 p.a.
·  There are 14 prisons in the London region
·  More than 15,000 Londoners are held in prisons, many far from home

Most members of the public, including priests and churchgoing Christians, know very little about life behind the walls of British prisons, despite the fact that record numbers are being sent to prison in our name.

The Prisons Mission is predicated on the conviction that, in addition to supporting prison chaplaincies, it is important for church congregations to have greater knowledge and understanding of our often-forgotten prisons.

Pilot Project

The Churches Together in Westminster 2014 AGM agreed to a pilot of the new Prisons Mission. The following outcomes were envisaged:

·  For prison chaplaincies to receive support in areas they themselves had identified;

·  For participants to practise their Christian mission with a vulnerable and neglected section of society;

·  For the congregations of the churches to become better informed about prisons, prisoners, their families, prison, staff, victims of crime and issues of concern within the prison system.

After discussions with several churches, three decided to commit to a pilot project: St James’s Piccadilly and St George’s Hanover Square (CoE) and Farm Street Jesuit Centre (RC). Our pilot prison was HMP Wandsworth. Each church provided three participants.

The nine participants were briefed by the coordinator, John Plummer. They visited Wandsworth Prison for the first time in April to meet members of the Chaplaincy Team and tour the prison. It is significant that, in common with most church congregations, none of these men and women had ever before been inside a prison. They found the experience “daunting”, “hostile”, “unfamiliar”, “strange”, unexpected and “very, very different”. They were all keen to listen, learn and to try to find ways to put their personal ministry into action.

Activities and Outputs

Our pilot project has achieved some encouraging outputs in a relatively short space of time, with participants continuing to visit the prison and meet members of the Chaplaincy Team. Activities so far include:

·  Taking part in religious worship services and regular Bible studies sessions with small groups;

·  Gaining security clearance so that they are issued with keys within the prison to gain access to prisoners and assist chaplains;

·  Attending intensive training for the “befriending scheme” which assists prisoners with life after discharge;

·  Supporting events run by the Wandsworth Community Chaplaincy Trust and a participant has offered to serve as a Trustee;

·  Distributing materials to CTiW churches for special services during Prisons Week;

·  Communications have been established with the local CoE parish church, which has a long standing relationship with the Chaplaincy Team;

·  Regular reports of developments and concerns have been given to the managing committees of the three committed churches, with information updates, special intercessions, parish magazine reports etc;

·  The coordinator has maintained regular meetings and communications with members of the Chaplaincy Team to discuss progress and problems as well as maintaining links with chaplains at several other London prisons.

·  The CTiW Executive has been actively involved, considered an interim report and advised on developments.

·  Regular meetings have been held with all participants to exchange notes, learn from each other and share advice and information.

Challenges faced

The pilot scheme has faced challenges, which is to be expected when working in a difficult environment. The advice of Rev Tim Bryan, HMP Wandsworth’s managing chaplain is apt: “If I have learned anything about working in prison it is that you require resilience and persistence”. Challenges faced include:

·  The Chaplaincy Team is under extreme pressure of work. This has been exacerbated by the government-imposed cuts to prison officer numbers, increased inmate suicides and self-harm and the demands of “at risk” prisoners. In these circumstances the supervision of even good calibre and keen participants presents problems;

·  Travel time to HMP Wandsworth from central London and return is c. 3 hours. As all participants have work and other commitments this restricts the time available for service in the prison;

·  Gaining security clearance is a slow and bureaucratic process;

·  The Chaplaincy Team had been expected to make more specific demands about the nature of the services most required of participants;

·  Participants are concerned that their attachment with a chaplain is a burden rather than adding value;

·  The unfamiliarity of the prison environment makes learning slow.

Next steps

Following discussion with participants, churches and chaplains we judge that the pilot has been very encouraging. Despite some challenges, it has provided valuable lessons and demonstrated this project is of real value to both Chaplaincy Teams and member churches. We make the following recommendations for the future:

1.  The pilot project should be extended for a further year and be expanded to an additional three churches, preferably of several denominations, and a maximum of six participants from each committed church.

2.  It should also be expanded to include the Chaplaincy Teams of one or two additional prisons, preferably nearer central London.

3.  More effective means should be devised to communication information about the Prisons Mission to committed churches and to engage members of the congregation.

John Plummer

19 January 2015