In Finland, a new prison for women opened in November 2020 that features the installation of a smart system, with the aim of promoting a new approach to imprisonment that fosters rehabilitation, education and reintegration through access to digital services. Each prisoner will have access to a personal cell terminal (laptop) that can be used … Read more
Poland’s Probacja Foundation has organised an annual Christmas theatre event in both of Krakow’s prisons, Nowa Huta Prison for women and Montelupich Prison for men. In both prisons, imprisoned parents worked with volunteers to prepare a play for their children, offering a space for parents to be creative and devise theatre of which they are … Read more
The Prison Advice and Care Trust (PACT) developed the Visiting Mum program in HMP Eastwood Park, a women’s prison in Gloucestershire, southwestern England, in response to the fact that a number of imprisoned mothers were not receiving visits from their children, which was resulting in high levels of depression, anxiety and self-harming. The location of … Read more
In cooperation with the University of Utrecht, Exodus offers parenting training programmes for fathers imprisoned in 18 prisons throughout the Netherlands, benefitting some 120 fathers and their children through eight sessions held once a week. The goal of these sessions is to contribute to the recovery and development of the relationship between parent and child … Read more
Through collaboration with the prison administration in Limerick, Ireland, Bedford Row Family Project has helped to introduce a Parenting Under Pressure programme for mothers imprisoned at Limerick Prison. Originally developed in Australia and implemented internationally, Parenting Under Pressure is devised to help ‘multi-problem high-risk families’ with children between two and eight years of age towards … Read more
Since 2014, Bambinisenzasbarre has organised La partita con papà—a football match played by children and their imprisoned fathers held annually in 70 detention centres across Italy. Organised in collaboration with Italy’s National Penitentiary Administration, the event unites around 2,900 children and 1,700 fathers, bringing families together in an attempt to humanise the experience of imprisonment … Read more
NIACRO’s visitor centres aim to keep families and their loved ones in prison connected. They provide information to families and children, as well as guidelines for families. During the pandemic, the visitors centres had to adapt to the context. They did so by reaching out into the communities and linking the family and loved ones … Read more
Video visits and mobile phones were available starting the end of the month of June 2020 to people held in every prison in Scotland for the first time. Uptake has not been high, however, and Families Outside is currently undertaking research on behalf of the Scottish Prison Service to understand the barriers to uptake of … Read more
Soon after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Relais Enfants Parents Belgium (REP Belgium) launched a photo and video exchange between children and their parents in prison. With the consent of the participating children, REP Belgium printed photos of children and sent them to their imprisoned parent. Moreover, the organisation also organised a … Read more
In November 2020, COPE member in Finland KRITS published a book for children age 3-8 to help them cope with the emotions related to having a parent in prison. The books are distributed free of charge to children with an imprisoned parent, to professionals working with these children and their families, including NGOs and the … Read more
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