Barnardo’s says male prisoners are being denied visits from their children either as punishment or because they have not ‘earned’ right
By Eric Allison: Thousands of children are being denied visiting rights to see their fathers in prison because of changes to the prison discipline system, according to a report.
The report, Locked Out, by the children’s charity Barnardo’s, says 17,000 children a month visit a parent in prison, and changes to the incentives and earned privileges (IEP) scheme mean that prison visits are being used as a way to enforce discipline.
The new regime has resulted in male prisoners being denied visits from their children, either as a punishment or because they have not “earned” the right. The report estimates that there are 200,000 children with a parent in jail.
The rules do not apply to women’s prisons, where official guidance explicitly states that children of prisoners should not be penalised in effect for their mother’s actions.
Family visits are increasingly limited to two hours a month as punishment for prisoners falling foul of changes to the IEP scheme. The report also cites cases of children undergoing intrusive searches during visits.
The IEP scheme was introduced to prisons in England and Wales in 1995. It governs four levels of living standards for prisoners: basic, entry, standard and enhanced. New prisoners start at entry level. The different levels impose restrictions including access to phone calls, letters and visits.
Under IEP rules, prisoners can have their level reduced on the word of one prison officer and without going through an adjudication process. There is an appeal system, but it is regarded as slow and unwieldy.
Prisoners on basic level can be visited for only two hours a month and in many jails are not allowed “family visits”, which tend to be orientated towards children. Prisoners on enhanced status can have weekly visits, including family visits.
The report cites a case of a week-old baby being strip-searched before a visit and her mother’s sterilised bottle of expressed breast milk being opened and sniffed by staff. The mother was said to have felt humiliated.
The prison service guidance for women’s prisons states: “Losing a parent to imprisonment is often an extremely damaging life event for a child and it is one of the international rights of a child to be able to keep contact with a parent. Children should not be penalised from visiting their mother because of the mother’s behaviour.”
The Barnado’s report makes several recommendations. They say all jails should see visits as family interventions aimed at reducing re-offending, rather than as a security risk, and that children’s visits to male prisons should be separate from the IEP scheme, as they are in female prisons.
Barnado’s chief executive, Javed Khan, said children with a parent in prison were the innocent victims of someone else’s crime, and often struggled with having a parent taken away. “Intensifying that loss by taking away precious visiting hours or making visits unnecessarily uncomfortable will only punish the children,” he said.
A spokesman for the Prisoners Advice Service, which offers free legal advice to prisoners, said: “The lack of legal aid since 2010 means that prisoners struggle to challenge unfair or unlawful decisions, which can have a huge impact on their access to family visits above the statutory minimum.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said family visits had not been cut and that convicted prisoners could have two hourly visits a month. He added that fewer one in 20 prisoners were on basic regime, which limits visits to the minimum.
“We absolutely agree that maintaining family ties, including through visits, plays a vital role in helping prisoners turn away from crime,” the spokesman said. “We are carefully considering how family ties can be strengthened as part of our wider prison reforms.”
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The report, Locked Out, by the children’s charity Barnardo’s, says 17,000 children a month visit a parent in prison, and changes to the incentives and earned privileges (IEP) scheme mean that prison visits are being used as a way to enforce discipline.
The new regime has resulted in male prisoners being denied visits from their children, either as a punishment or because they have not “earned” the right. The report estimates that there are 200,000 children with a parent in jail.
The rules do not apply to women’s prisons, where official guidance explicitly states that children of prisoners should not be penalised in effect for their mother’s actions.
Family visits are increasingly limited to two hours a month as punishment for prisoners falling foul of changes to the IEP scheme. The report also cites cases of children undergoing intrusive searches during visits.
The IEP scheme was introduced to prisons in England and Wales in 1995. It governs four levels of living standards for prisoners: basic, entry, standard and enhanced. New prisoners start at entry level. The different levels impose restrictions including access to phone calls, letters and visits.
Under IEP rules, prisoners can have their level reduced on the word of one prison officer and without going through an adjudication process. There is an appeal system, but it is regarded as slow and unwieldy.
Prisoners on basic level can be visited for only two hours a month and in many jails are not allowed “family visits”, which tend to be orientated towards children. Prisoners on enhanced status can have weekly visits, including family visits.
The report cites a case of a week-old baby being strip-searched before a visit and her mother’s sterilised bottle of expressed breast milk being opened and sniffed by staff. The mother was said to have felt humiliated.
The prison service guidance for women’s prisons states: “Losing a parent to imprisonment is often an extremely damaging life event for a child and it is one of the international rights of a child to be able to keep contact with a parent. Children should not be penalised from visiting their mother because of the mother’s behaviour.”
The Barnado’s report makes several recommendations. They say all jails should see visits as family interventions aimed at reducing re-offending, rather than as a security risk, and that children’s visits to male prisons should be separate from the IEP scheme, as they are in female prisons.
Barnado’s chief executive, Javed Khan, said children with a parent in prison were the innocent victims of someone else’s crime, and often struggled with having a parent taken away. “Intensifying that loss by taking away precious visiting hours or making visits unnecessarily uncomfortable will only punish the children,” he said.
A spokesman for the Prisoners Advice Service, which offers free legal advice to prisoners, said: “The lack of legal aid since 2010 means that prisoners struggle to challenge unfair or unlawful decisions, which can have a huge impact on their access to family visits above the statutory minimum.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said family visits had not been cut and that convicted prisoners could have two hourly visits a month. He added that fewer one in 20 prisoners were on basic regime, which limits visits to the minimum.
“We absolutely agree that maintaining family ties, including through visits, plays a vital role in helping prisoners turn away from crime,” the spokesman said. “We are carefully considering how family ties can be strengthened as part of our wider prison reforms.”
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