Major Lottery investment at HMP Swansea to keep prisoners in touch with family and reduce reoffending

• £425,000 investment from the National Lottery Community Fund will support families in south Wales to stay in touch with loved-ones in prison.  
• Children in the area to get extra support to stay in touch with their fathers in HMP Swansea. 
• Keeping families together supports efforts to reduce reoffending – prisoners who get visits from families are 39% less likely to commit another crime.   

Hundreds of prisoners’ families from across Wales are set to benefit from a £425,000 Lottery grant that will support them in staying in touch with their loved ones inside.  

Over the next five years, the funding will allow the Prison Advice and Care Trust (Pact) and HMP Swansea to work with families to make the prison as family-friendly as possible, as well as reaching out to dozens of schools in the local area where children have a father in the prison.  

The pilot scheme has already been running for a year with National Lottery Awards for All funding. This has allowed Pact to establish a regular forum between prison governors and families and to make changes to how visits are run. This major new investment will allow the scheme to expand significantly over the coming years, supporting ever greater numbers of families and children affected by imprisonment in South Wales. 

The project brings prisoners’ families together with senior prison staff in special Family Forums. The forums allow HMP Swansea to place the views of family members at the heart of the way it operates, in particular, making visits easy and appealing for families and children.   

Pact will also deliver an outreach programme with dozens of schools in the local area, training and upskilling school staff so they are better able to respond to children who have fathers in HMP Swansea.  More help will also be provided to families at Swansea Crown Court, and trained Pact ‘befrienders’ will provide dedicated and tailored advice and support to families.  

Nadia Emblin, Pact Head of Service for Wales, said: “Many families struggle financially and emotionally when a loved one is sent to prison. They often lose household income but also suffer the social stigma of having a family member in prison. It’s particularly tough for children who can be confused and bewildered by the new reality without their dad."

“Keeping families and children in touch with their loved-ones inside supports everyone through a sentence. However, it also significantly reduces the likelihood that prison leavers will reoffend – that means less crime, fewer victims and safer communities for everyone.” 

Governing Governor Chris Simpson from HMP Swansea, said: “Building and maintaining positive family relationships is one of the proven ways people in prison are less likely to commit crimes when they leave prison. We are proud to work with Pact so together we can make family visits to HMP Swansea a more positive experience.” 

A mother whose son has recently been convicted said: "We would have been completely lost without the help, knowledge and care provided, everything relating to the court proceedings and what to do next when we visit him in prison, the support has been so vital to us.  I'm 83 and I could not have done this on my own.”