Supporting children and families of prisoners in the North East
| Author | Helen Attewell,Christopher Hartworth,Finola Farrant |
| Published date | 01 September 2016 |
| Date | 01 September 2016 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0264550516648391 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
The Journal of Community and Criminal Justice
Probation Journal
Supporting children
2016, Vol. 63(3) 310–319
ª The Author(s) 2016
and families of
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DOI: 10.1177/0264550516648391
prisoners in the North
prb.sagepub.com
East: A case study of
how the voluntary
sector and research
has driven the agenda
Christopher Hartworth
Barefoot Research and Evaluation, UK
Finola Farrant
University of Roehampton, UK
Helen Attewell
NEPACS, United Kingdom
Abstract
This is a reflective piece that explores how work to support children and families of
prisoners in the North East of England developed from very limited provision 10 years
ago to what is now a substantial and multifaceted programme. The success of the work
has been driven by the voluntary sector, with one key agency in particular taking a
lead, supported by research that has provided the evidence base to identify inter-
vention points and to demonstrate effectiveness and impact. We see that the persis-
tence and commitment of a key voluntary sector agency working in partnership with a
research organisation, backed up by strategy and a supportive prison environment,
has created strong children and families provision in the North East.
Corresponding Author:
Christopher Hartworth, Barefoot Research and Evaluation – Criminal Justice, 33 Forest Avenue, Newcastle
upon Tyne, Tyneside NE12 9AH, UK.
Email: barefoot@barefootresearch.org.uk
Hartworth et al.
311
Keywords
children, voluntary sector, research, families, reoffending
Introduction
This paper commences with a brief overview of the importance of independent
criminal justice research in supporting strategy and practice development and the
building of effective partnerships. Consideration is then given to the historical
development of rehabilitative work in the criminal justice system and the changing
relationship between the voluntary sector and criminal justice agencies in providing
such services, and particular attention is given to the role of the voluntary sector in
providing support to prisoners, their children and families.
Individuals in the Quaker movement, such as Elizabeth Fry, began the support of
prisoners and their families in the 1800s at Newgate Prison when all other services
were absent. Since then, the care and support of those affected by prison has been
predominantly provided by the voluntary sector. This continues today and this article
takes a reflective look at the development of provision for children and families of
prisoners in the North East of England over the last decade, which has been a
combination of research, strategy and voluntary sector provision with charitable
and government funding.
Traditionally, research has been considered an important element in the devel-
opment of policy and practice and links between researchers and those who work in
the criminal justice system have nourished and nurtured rehabilitative ideals and
supported innovation (Fitzgibbon and Lea, 2014). According to Nellis (2007) for
example, Radzinowicz’s (1958) study on the effectiveness of probation increased
the prestige of the probation service and ushered in a period of expansion and
diversification. More recently, organisations have sought to demonstrate their
effectiveness in terms of reducing reoffending in order to meet the requirements of
the Payment by Results (PrB) agenda. The development and maintenance of good
relationships between practitioners and researchers is essential in terms of shaping
practice, informing theory, offering policy insights and accessing funding.
Early charitable work with children and families and with those defined as
offenders largely came out of religious conviction and sentiment to deal with trou-
bled and troubling families (Le Mesurier, 1935; Nellis, 2007; Whitehead and
Statham, 2006). Although by 1935 it was no longer appropriate to refer to those
providing voluntary philanthropic work as ‘Ladies Bountiful bestowing indis-
criminate charity’ (Le Mesurier, 1935: 71), welfare work inside prisons continued to
be provided by volunteers until 1961, when the National Association of Discharged
Prisoners’ Aid Societies1 and the Home Office agreed that prison welfare officers
should be paid for their work. Following long-standing concerns with the quality and
ability of the Discharged Prisoners’ Aid Societies to provide systematic aftercare
services, a recommendation to merge the voluntary and statutory forms of aftercare
support into a single service run by probation was implemented in 1965 and the
Probation and Aftercare Service was formed.
312
Probation Journal 63(3)
As the probation service became increasingly professionalised so too did the
voluntary sector, as payment of staff and better training came to be seen as
important in working with offenders, prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families, no
matter what the bureaucratic context was within which that work took place.
Moreover, shared roots in private charity and engagement with the rehabilitative
aspect of the criminal justice system facilitated close relations between the probation
service and the voluntary sector, which frequently provided specialist services and
support to those with whom the probation and prison services worked. Indeed,
these forms of partnerships and relationships were seen as the crucial ingredients
of desistance work, before the concept of desistance became popularised and
then co-opted as part of the neo-liberal criminal justice agenda. Fitzgibbon and
Lea (2014: 28) argue that such relationships are an example of an old form of
privatisation that ‘embodied the idea of ‘‘localism’’, as locally-delivered and
locally-responsive services in tune with the demographics of particular areas’.2
Private...
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