Earlier this week I joined a programme called In their Shoes run by a charity called Welfare Kingston whose aim is to support families affected by imprisonment. I was able to go on this as I have volunteered with a local charity, Paradise Co-op, who help to facilitate a monthly Family Day where children are able to visit fathers in Wandsworth prison.
There are several things to say about Family Day. Only 25 prisoners and their families can be accommodated. There are 1600 prisoners in Wandsworth Prison. Prisoners do not automatically get onto these days and must earn the right. The day allows for four hours rather than the usual one or two, and inmates do not have to wear any uniform. The day is deliberately designed to be more relaxed and family friendly than usual visiting times.
In their Shoes was conceived to give people working with families a glimpse of what it feels like to visit someone in prison. We went through a different process entering the complex, compared to the usual way for volunteers. What is immediately apparent is the whole process can be immensely tiring and stressful, and especially on Family Days when 25 families are entering at one time. You must wait in a small centre before anything happens, then when staff are ready you will go through a biometric registration. You have to queue on the steps outside and then in small claustrophobic corridors as this takes place. Next you go through security where you are searched, and any contraband clothing or items are removed; then you’re made to wait again. If you’re wearing the wrong thing you might be turned away, or offered prison tracksuits to wear instead. Once staff are ready you are then taken to another holding pen with no windows (and when were there a very strong smell of cleaning products). A large TV was on and the volume loud. Eventually you are taken into the visiting hall. On usual days the prisoners are not allowed to get up from the table but on Family Days it is more relaxed and they can interact with young children. There is a play corner but it is often locked and so not accessible. A charity provides a small refreshment shop and visitors often queue for some time on busy visits to get a drink or snack. This can significantly eat into visiting time. Visitors with young children are compelled to use the shop if their children need anything as they cannot take items in. After seeing the visitor hall we walked through the centre of the prison to a chapel, which families would obviously not experience. Once there we met and spoke with five prisoners who expressed some of their frustrations about being separated from their families. The process of entering often takes an hour or more with waiting, and sometimes eats into the visit. The snack shop is expensive and has limited (unhealthy) stock. The queue can be long, also eating into the visit time. Prisoners also talked about keeping the fact they were in prison secret from young children, which Welcare Kingston does not encourage, and of the impact in the community on their families.
I was extremely grateful to Welcare Kingston who provided such an interesting and educational programme, as well as Paradise Co-op. I am looking forward to the volunteering days. The staff at Wandsworth Prison who guided us seemed exceptionally good at their job; humane, firm, but friendly and respected by the prisoners we interacted with.
I have long been interested in prison, the way in which it exists in the community but is hidden from society. When I was on TAOP I wanted to do a project that explored prison but soon learned that getting inside prison, never mind with a camera, was not all that easy. Everything I’ve learned about photographing people in the last couple of years means I have little desire to exploit people already in a hideous situation, although I do think there are plenty of stories worth telling and possibilities that would be beneficial in some way. I do eventually want to do some work related to prison and volunteering is a way of discovering more about this hidden part of our society, as well as providing a tiny jot of support to a sector which is struggling immensly with government cuts.
Looking at Foucault last year on UVC was useful as was this BBC short news documentary. I will write more as and when necessary.
Finally, one of the Welcare Kingston social workers said that more people were affected by prison than divorce which is a statistic I need to verify. It is surprising but if true something that is quite astonishing. Am looking into it. (See below for document from Barnardo’s which has details of numbers of children affected sourced after first publishing this blog).
Image (c)SJField 2016
Ref:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-36327325/seven-days-inside-wandsworth-prison
Click to access everynightyoucry_briefing_final_double.pdf
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/feb/25/norwegian-prison-inmates-treated-like-people