Would you like to go to Prison?

Who would choose to go to prison?  One Bath resident goes once a week and finds the experience very rewarding.
            ‘It has been an incredible learning experience from which I've gained enormously,’ says Tony from Lansdown.  It is four years since a friend suggested that Tony should consider becoming an official prison visitor and he is presently Chair of the Visitors to Leyhill Open Prison in Gloucestershire.  Although Leyhill is an open prison where inmates have various opportunities to mix with the general public, there is still a high demand for visitors like Tony.  An Official Prison Visitor is someone who visits prisoners regardless of whether they have visits from family and friends. It is someone who has time to assist, listen in confidence and show respect to a prisoner.   
‘We all live in the same world and need to communicate and help each other,’ says Tony.   ‘One of the things I have learned is nobody is all good and nobody is all bad.  I have met people who have committed horrendous crimes but who also have some sterling qualities.’  It has also been an education for Tony to learn that between 30 – 50% of the prison population in the UK is functionally illiterate.  As a result, he argues that it is understandable that on release, most have little option but to return to a life of crime.  He believes passionately that it is in society’s interest to train and educate prisoners to help them find an alternative. There must also be an effort to change prisoners’ attitude to education and remove the resistance among some to learn.  As a result, Tony  has become heavily involved with the work of The Shannon Trust, a charity established to help teach prisoners to read.  The Shannon Trust has a presence in most British prisons with mentors trained to pass on reading skills.
‘When a prisoner learns to read, he becomes empowered and it changes his life,’ explains Tony.  ‘We must do more to help these men take charge of their lives in a positive way.’  He recognises that we must have prisons and the ability to remove offenders and dangerous people from society.  But he equally feels that simple incarceration serves no purpose; inmates need rehabilitation to stop them re-offending.  He has been impressed with what is offered at Leyhill and the manner in which it is managed. It has a courteous and positive atmosphere which is conducive to learning and Tony believes it to be fairly successful.  However, although he recognises the effort made in prison to educate and train the inmates, he equally feels that there must be some form of follow-up support after prisoners are released. 
Another area of prison visiting is for the a large number of foreign nationals, often drug couriers who spend a proportion of their sentence in the UK before being deported back to their country of origin.  These are often sad individuals from very poor backgrounds and little grasp of the English language. Without official visitors, these people would not have any contact outside the prison.
Tony hopes that, in some small way, he is putting something back into a society that he recognises has treated him well.  But in no way does he consider it a one-way experience. He feels extremely fortunate to have met so many interesting and intelligent people that he would not have met in his everyday life. 
‘I enjoy my weekly trips to Leyhill.  There is an optimistic feel to the place where everyone is respected.  As long as we concentrate on training and education, this has to be the way forward.’

Becoming an Official Prison Visitor
Either visit the website: www.naopv.com
Or contact your local prison by letter expressing an interest in becoming a visitor. You will then be contacted by a liaison officer to explain and arrange the procedure.  You will be vetted but a criminal record or prison sentence is not necessarily a barrier to success.  Men and women can become visitors to all types of prison and young offender institutes.

© Judith Cameron