No Easy Journey - Supporting Families at HMP Addiewell Visitor Centre

At Cyrenians, we work to support and meet people where they are rather than wait until things are at crisis point - which is exactly why a homelessness charity is based within a prison. At Addiewell visitor centre, our core work is to support families who visit a loved one in prison. We can signpost families to the support they need in their community, when they need it, and all from a place that they visit regularly. This is just a brief description of what we do on a day-to-day basis.  

The experiences I hear from families around the challenges they face day in, and day out are enlightening. Each day I speak to families who could be visiting for the first time, or who might have visited many times before - each one has their own unique story to tell about how they got to where they are now. 

We support each family to visit what is a difficult place to be in for all concerned. These families are at Addiewell through no fault of their own and are looking to maintain contact with their loved ones while they are completing their sentence. The support we provide s as individual as they are, with our focus being around practical and emotional support.   

To be able to fully support families we work in partnership with other organisations such as Sodexo who manage the prison, and Families Outside who are the only national charity working on behalf of families affected by imprisonment.  

The challenges of poverty, travelling far distances, and a government ‘Help with prison visits’ scheme that isn’t fit for purpose due to limitations on who can apply and what costs are covered, make it difficult for families to stay connected while their loved one is in prison. This is why we signed Families Outside’s letter to the Cabinet Secretary for Justice & Home Affairs, Social Justice and Transport asking for change, calling for urgent cross-portfolio recognition and response to the challenges facing families when travelling to visit loved ones in Scottish prisons. 

 Visitors to Addiewell often have to travel long distances from their own localities to see their loved ones. Although HMP Addiewell is based within the local authority of West Lothian, many families who visit their loved ones are based within North/South Lanarkshire and the Glasgow area, and this is where the difficulties start.  
 
Using public transport to get to Addiewell is tricky. To get to Addiewell, families both have to get onto the correct train line and be able to catch the hourly train. Missing your inward or outward train can mean a long wait for the next. For example, a trip from Airdrie to Addiewell via public transport will take a family over 5 hours, travelling station to station at a cost of £16 return just for an adult. This cost of course does not include the cost of children’s fares, or the costs of feeding the family during their long travel time. 

Recently I spoke to a family member who usually travels to Addiewell by train but found herself struggling to arrive at Addiewell. Due to an unexpected closure at their local train station recently, she had had to get off at the wrong station and then try to travel by bus - even though the bus from that train station did not stop at the prison.  The bus driver offered to let her off at a point where she could walk to Addiewell, and although he meant well, she then had another 15-minute walk down a one-track road with a pram and 2 children. This was dangerous for her and her children, but with the cost of a taxi too high, she had to opt for public transport, or else have it impact her ability to purchase food and other essentials for the family for the rest of the month. The stress and anxiety that this family member went through because of the travel disruption which meant that she and her family might miss their time slot to visit was a lot for her to deal with. 

 This is just one example of the impact that transportation infrastructure, timetables, costs and last-minute cancellations of services can have on families. What about those who don’t get out of a visit on time and miss the train home to pick up their children from school, or those who head home on a winter’s night to learn that the last train has been cancelled, or those who have to travel by car but can only claim so many pence per mile on their fuel costs? The costs of these journeys are high - putting a financial strain on families and causing stress.  

Visits are important for everyone involved. As stated in the ‘No Easy Journey’ report, ‘meaningful connection between children and families with the person in prison, where appropriate, can support the health and wellbeing of all involved.’ We see this every day in the work we do, speaking to families about how they are doing and offering them kindness and compassion on what may be a difficult day.  

In addition to supporting the health and wellbeing of all involved, visits from loved ones can also support the rehabilitation of the prisoner and reduce repeat offending, as stated in government research by Lord Farmer in 2017; ‘meaningful family ties are vital for preventing prisoner reoffending (reoffending rates are 39% lower for a prisoner who receives visits from a partner or family member during their sentence than for a prisoner who does not receive such visits)’.    

Prison visitor centres like ours work hard to support families with a wide variety of needs in their journey to the prison, including help accessing the government ‘Help with prison visits scheme’.  

We can help families to complete these applications while they are in the prison digitally, or even in paper format if necessary. We regularly contact the scheme around support payments for families who need payment in advance, or if there are any issues around payment. Visitor centres also support families to access additional support in the community - mostly by making referrals to external agencies who can support them in the community such as Families Outside, health care organisations, benefit agencies and even food banks.   

As a manager I am proud of the work my team does each day to support families who are visiting a loved one in prison. As a team we are always looking at new ways to make things easier. It is important to look at the whole visit experience for those who travel distances to visit their loved one and how to make this a more relaxed experience. One of these initiatives is to look at how this travel would impact someone who is neurodiverse and how these challenges could make them feel by the time they arrive at the prison; this is why we have introduced several support aids. These range from our cuddly alpaca teddies to support children moving through the prison, to offering ear defenders and ear buds to those who are over-stimulated by noises and need to be able to self-regulate once they arrive.  Working alongside our partners Sodexo who manage HMP Addiewell, we aim to bring more opportunities for all and to make that journey that they have come on a far better visit experience overall.