Doing Time-Outside

St Nicholas’ Trust

Support for Prisoners’ Families

A Conference on the Effects of

Imprisonment on Families

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May 13th, 2011. Cork

Programme

9.30 – 10.00 / Registration
10.00 – 10.30 / Welcome and official opening by
Mr Brian Purcell, Director
General of the Irish Prison Service
10.30 – 11.30 / Ms Farida Anderson, MBE,
CEO of POP (Partners of Prisoners, UK)
Farida Anderson founded POPS in 1988, starting with a small grass roots support agency which has since developed into one that employs over 100 staff and 30 volunteers. Her work is informed by personal experience in this area.
11.30 – 12.00 / Tea/Coffee break
12.00 – 1.00 / St Nicholas Trust – Support for Prisoners Families, Cork
St Nicholas Trust was established in 2008 to identify the needs and issues which concern prisoners families and to provide support and assistance to them, so that relationships can be maintained during the sentence and afterwards. The group provides practical information to families and offers a safe, confidential environment for open discussion and support.
1.00 – 2.00 / Lunch
2.00 – 2.45 / Bedford Row Family Project, Limerick
The Bedford Row Family Project seeks to facilitate the families of prisoners, as a group sharing common interests, to identify the needs and issues which are of importance to them, to develop strategies to address those issues and needs, to carry those strategies through to implementation and to monitor and evaluate progress. Their Research Report entitled 'Voices of Families Affected by Imprisonment' was published in Feb 2008.
2.45 – 4.00 pm / Workshop/Discussion Groups
1. Prison and the child – The effects of imprisonment on children, the research, and the rights of the child
2. Prison and relationships – Going Home – How imprisonment affects relationships, how to maintain those relationships and learning to live together again on release.

Introduction

Lisa, Chairperson, St Nicholas Trust.

When we think of a crime, we think of the victims and their families.

We sympathise with them and understand the pain and suffering they experience as a result of the crime committed against them.

When the perpetrators of these crimes are caught and sent to jail, these victims and their families hopefully get some kind of closure.

However the consequences of a crime can be far reaching and crime touches the lives of many people whom at first glance one would not think of as being a victim of crime but in a way they are. Among these are the families of the offenders. These family members – partners, spouses, parents, grandparents, children, brothers, sisters – have done nothing wrong and yet they also experience feelings of despair, loss, isolation, shame, anger and the stigma of being associated with the crime.

All of these problems seem even greater when it is the first time these families come into contact with the Gardaí, the Courts, the Legal System and the Prison System. They are entering a world new to them.

What can prepare someone for this? The answer is nothing. But help and support can be offered.

Before St. Nicholas Trust was set up there was no official support service or agency specifically designed to meet the needs of family members. When they needed some advice or even just a shoulder to cry on. When they had lots of questions to be answered, they didn’t know who to ask or who to turn to.

It was because of this that in March 2008 a group of people made up of family members of people who were in prison for the first time, a member of the probation operating within Cork prison and members of the Education unit came together with the common aim of setting up a support group. All of these people work on a voluntary basis with this project, outside of their normal working hours.

In a way it happened like lots of good things happen, when a certain group of people were in the right (or wrong) place at the right time. The family members had specific needs to be addressed, the professionals had experience and much needed access to information and prison personnel. All of them simultaneously recognised a gap in services.

Our support group met regularly in a city centre location and at the beginning, it was simply but vitally, a place where people could feel free to talk in a safe, confidential environment with others who in effect were in the same boat as they too had found themselves. Like a lot of support groups, only the other people in the group can truly understand what the others are going through. Many felt there is a stigma involved in even speaking about prison, let alone have a loved one there. They found solace in the fact that they were not alone and that everybody there could relate to what they were speaking about.

This group became known as St Nicholas Trust. St Nicholas is a patron saint of children.

Our primary objectives are to facilitate the families of prisoners as a specific group, sharing common interests.

We try to identify the needs and issues that cause concern, to provide practical information to families when a loved one is sentenced to prison and to implement strategies that would address their needs.

We work on Community Development principles, to facilitate self-development, empowerment and full participation in all decision-making processes.

We also work on the basis that the more a prisoner maintains his ties with his family, the more he is motivated to change and stay out of prison. Family ties are strained when someone goes to prison. The ones who are left behind feel hurt and betrayed by the offender, while at the same time they fear for them, and that fear is worsened by simply not knowing what is happening from the moment he is taken from the court until they meet again. Many of our members describe the first night after the prisoner is taken from the court, being unable to sleep and wondering they their partner, husband, father, son was safe. Not really knowing what the next day would bring.

Another of our aims is to increase public awareness of the experiences of prisoners’ families and to be an advocate for the rights of children of prisoners. The rights of these children to maintain a relationship with their fathers or mothers while they are in prison and the right to be free from judgement themselves.

Our early meetings were mainly

support meetings.

After a period of time, having come to terms with our situations and learning to manage our lives, it was decided to take a new direction and along with the continuing to support existing and new members, it was decided to share our experiences with other groups and to try to improve the services for people who are visiting Cork prison.

The first project we undertook was the production of a booklet, Visiting Cork Prison, which has been warmly welcomed by the Governor of Cork Prison Mr. Jim Collins and also by the Irish Prison Service. This booklet is based on all the questions our group wanted to ask when they were in the situation of going to visit the prison for the first time.

It contains information about where the prison was, how to get there from perhaps the bus or train stations, prison visiting times, what the daily life of the prisoner would generally entail, what services and courses were available to them and also some personal heartfelt inputs from members of St. Nicholas Trust. This booklet was very kindly printed by Arbour Hill Prison. We continually distribute this booklet to numerous agencies and also make it available in the waiting room in the prison.

We have other plans too. But I’ll speak about those at the end of our presentation.

In the meantime, our members have put together some words describing the experiences of the people who have come to the group. These stories are both personal and general. They’re based on the journey we’ve been taken on over the last few years. We didn’t ask to go on this journey but we’ve done our best to make the most out of it, and to use what we have learned to help anyone else coming down this road.

Summary of Opening address by Mr Brian Purcell, Director General of the Irish Prison Service.

When a person is committed into custody, it affects not only that person but also a

wider network of others. Everybody sentenced to prison is somebody’s son, daughter, brother, sister, relative or friend. For prisoners and their families, the feeling of separation is one of the most painful effects of imprisonment. Imprisonment is the greatest penalty that the state can impose on its citizens and the effects are very difficult for both the prisoner and their families and this is why family contact, such as letters, phone calls and visits are so important. Research has shown that the maintenance of these contacts is important in aiding in the re-settlement of these prisoners and accordingly help in reducing the risk of re- offending.

The families of prisoners can face emotional, financial, relational and even physical hardships. They can often feel isolated and lost, in strained circumstances for which they are often ill prepared. This can particularly apply when prisoners arrive in prison for the first time. They can often feel shocked and stunned and at a loss about where to go for help.

For this reason I want to congratulate the people who are involved in setting up St Nicholas Trust. The Trust fills a gap in the provision of these types of services and is uniquely placed to support families of prisoners with information comfort and solace based on the personal experiences of its members, and respect and understanding for those who get in touch with them. It allows the sharing of experiences and the recognition that the families are not alone. We in the Irish Prison Service are aware of the impact that prison can have on families. Our primary responsibility and remit must be in relation to the prisoners who are committed to prison by the courts, but we are mindful of the difficulties experienced by families and seek to ease their burden at least so far as their contact with the prison is concerned. I’m not saying we have the answers to everything but we are very interested in trying to provide any help or assistance we can to help with this. So I am happy that we were able to assist in the production of the booklet (“Visiting Cork Prison”), it was printed in the prison at Arbour Hill.

I also fully support the Trust to allow them to offer a welcome at the visiting facilities at Cork Prison and I know that the Governor, Mr Jim Collins, has been hugely supportive of the Trust. And I acknowledge the work done by others in providing this service in other prisons in Ireland. It’s important that where families have had to travel a long distance to visit, they have a chance to gather their strength and perhaps their thoughts before progressing with their visits.

Prisoner care and rehabilitation is a core aim of the Irish Prison Service. We endeavour to achieve a balance in our function regarding both care and security.

I know that the fears of the families of prisoners can be the fear of the unknown but also the fear of exposure of their family member to violence or drugs within the prison. Let me assure the people here that levels of violence are very low and limited usually to specific types of situations. Contrary to frequent media portrayals, Irish prisons in general and maybe Cork Prison in particular, have a reputation for good staff/inmate relations. Staff generally looks out for the welfare of those in their charge. We make strenuous efforts to keep drugs out of prison and to help prisoners with their addiction problems. We have a large contingent of health and welfare staff working within the prisons – doctors, nurses, medical staff, addiction counsellors and others who assist and develop the ongoing healthcare provision within our prisons.

Some of you will have experienced the security procedures and the drug dog screening. This can be sometimes a shock, particularly for first time visitors but the vast majority of families coming into the prison appreciate the necessity of the provision of this type of security. It’s there to protect both prisoners and staff but it also there to try to ensure that the difficulties associated with drugs are limited. This has a negative impact, we know, but the overall benefit is keeping drugs out of prisons.

I am acutely aware of the limitations of the physical infrastructure of the visiting area in Cork Prison and it certainly is a long way behind the visiting facilities we are in a position to provide in other prisons. We are looking at ways of improving the system in general, by enhancing the phone systems and offering extra entitlements on prisoners on enhanced regimes. Indeed one of the core elements we are looking at in terms of the “transformation agenda” as a result of the Croke Park agreement is the provision of an incentivised regime system and this will facilitate what I’m referring to here. The system of “booked visits” has been received very well by families and one key benefit is that it reduces waiting time at visits.