When someone is sent into prison, justice is done, there is some relief for the victims and the state takes on responsibility for feeding, clothing and rehabilitating the prisoner. But Helen Attewell asks who is there for the family members who are left behind?

NEPACS is a North-East regional charity that tries to promote a positive future for prisoners and their relatives by supporting family ties at every stage of the criminal justice system.

Founded in 1882 as the Durham Discharged Prisoners Aid Society, NEPACS now has a presence at courts in Teesside and Durham and at the seven prisons in the region, as well as providing some small hardship grants and caravan holidays for prisoners’ families.

We provide prison visitors centres and play and refreshment facilities in prison visits halls. We are there to support people when a loved one is sent to custody in those anxious early days when visiting into prison remains a mysterious and foreboding prospect. We offer reassurance in the most challenging of circumstances and can make sure that families can link in with support in their home area.

Much of the support we provide is only possible with the help of charitable funding and there are three times as many volunteers as paid staff working on the frontline. Our organisation is a vital source of kindness and friendship in a sometimes harsh and bureaucratic system. We can act as interpreters or guides through a complex set of hoops through which families need to jump in order to visit a prison. We can advocate and raise concerns about the wellbeing of a relative inside jail.

Surprisingly perhaps, there is no state responsibility for the impact of imprisonment on families. New barristers or probation workers are astounded when told that our court services are not available in every location and that the Government plays no part in ensuring that a prison sentence will not have a knock on impact on someone’s caring responsibilities.

NEPACS’ volunteers often have to pick up the pieces and liaise with extended family or even social services to make sure that children or vulnerable adults will have the help they need when someone is sentenced to prison. The emotional impact on the child is not considered, schools are not routinely alerted and there is certainly no additional finance to compensate for the costs of sudden single parenthood when a partner is sent into prison.

This experience is more common than you might think. Some 9000 children are affected by parental imprisonment each year in the North-East. One of the great comforts that our visitors’ centres can bring is the knowledge that you are not the only one who is serving a ‘hidden sentence’ and our visitors’ voice groups are a vital way of enabling family members to speak out about their needs, the problems they face and what helps them to cope from day to day.

NEPACS recently brought together families from across the region to create a manifesto for change. They included the likes of the older long-term visitor who is not sure what will happen to her isolated son if they are no longer able to make that long journey to offer company and emotional support.

Then there was the young mum who has already decided to split with her partner in prison, but recognises how important it is that he continues to see his child on a regular basis and sees how this could give him a reason to turn his back on crime when he comes out.

And the friend and confidante who has stuck by an angry young man whose response to a childhood of abuse has been to kick out at those around him, but remains vulnerable and fragile, prone to suicidal thoughts.

It was clear that families need more support and it was agreed that more Government funding is required. In particular there were concerns about booking facilities for visits, facilities for people with mobility difficulties or sensory impairment and worries about prison health care facilities and the level of staffing within the jails.

The manifesto produced also flagged up some ideas which could be implemented without any additional costs – for example consistent ID requirements across the prison estate, involvement of family members in sentence planning reviews and a courtesy call to families if a prisoner is moved to another jail or there are healthcare concerns.

The manifesto has been circulated to recently elected MPs and we are hopeful that it will be picked up by the Ministry of Justice and Police and Crime Commissioners. Ministry of Justice figures show that a prisoner who has family visits through their sentence is 39 per cent less likely to re-offend. Surely an investment in family support and in improving the experience of visiting a prison would pay dividends in reducing the cost of crime?

Helen Attewell is chief executive of NEPACS, which is based in Durham