Introduction

Drawing from current literature, policy and recent reviews of family engagement services (FES) in prison, this chapter explores the role and challenges of implementing FES in the public prison sector. Situating current services in a neoliberal context, the chapter examines barriers and potential for delivering high-quality and caring FES in the women's prison estate.

FES in prisons are defined as ‘a specialised casework service based in prison which aim to build and maintain contact between prisoners and their family members’ (Dominey et al, 2016, p 7). They offer emotional and practical support to prisoners and their families, intending to improve wellbeing and minimise the trauma of family separation as far as possible, as well as aiming to increase life chances for prisoners’ children (Dominey et al, 2016). FES were identified by prisoners as lifting moods, offering hope, reducing self-harm and providing consistent care and support (Dominey et al, 2016). In recent years, the perception of FES by prisons has shifted from an optional, albeit useful, service (Hucklesby and Corcoran, 2016) to one that is essential and contributes to prisoner safety and wellbeing (Dominey et al, 2016) in a prison landscape severely affected by overcrowding and understaffing (Prison Reform Trust, 2019). While this recognition of the benefit of FES is evidence-based and valued by family service organisations, the necessary integration of family service organisations into prisons can pose practical and ideological challenges, as this chapter examines.

This chapter explores the role of FES predominantly from the view of the Prison Advice and Care Trust (Pact). Pact was founded in 1898 (as the Catholic Prisoners Aid Society) and was integral to the development and implementation of FES in prisons. This chapter utilises my own experience as a Pact employee in groupwork and family roles across the prison estate. Literature examining family services in prisons is limited, therefore the chapter draws heavily from recent research commissioned by Pact, Bridging the Gap: A Review of the Pact Family Engagement Services (Dominey et al, 2016).