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Review calls for focus on prisoners’ family ties to help cut reoffending (10 August 2017)

Date: 10/08/2017
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Review calls for focus on prisoners’ family ties to help cut reoffending

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has welcomed a new study by Lord Michael Farmer, which calls family relationships “the golden thread” to help reduce reoffending.

In September 2016, Lord Farmer – in partnership with the membership charity Clinks – was commissioned by the government to investigate how connecting prisoners with their families could improve offender wellbeing, assist in keeping the public safe and reduce reoffending.

The Farmer Review listened to more than 1,000 men in prison and their families – as well as voluntary organisations across the UK, prison staff and academics.

The review concludes that quality family services will help people turn away from crime and will also support families to cope.

The MoJ said in a statement that voluntary organisations had pioneered best practice for decades – and now was the time “to spread it far and wide”.

The government has secured an additional £100 million a year investment for an extra 2,500 prison officers, which will make more time available for prison officers to directly supervise offenders, provide one-to-one support and increase the number of visits.

This – alongside the creation of Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service – will put offender management at the centre of the government’s reform agenda and create a necessary cultural change, said the MoJ – bringing with it stability and security and ultimately reducing the risk of reoffending.

Research shows prisoners who receive visits from a family member are 39% less likely to reoffend – and close ties between prisoners and key family members can also significantly reduce the risk of reoffending, which costs society £15 billion every year.

In the landmark review Importance of strengthening prisoners’ family ties to prevent reoffending and reduce intergenerational crime – published on Thursday (10/08/17), Lord Farmer identifies family as the “golden thread” running through the reforms across the prison estate

Lord Farmer said:

“My report is not sentimental about prisoners’ families – as if they can, simply by their presence, alchemise a disposition to commit crime into one that is law abiding.

“However, I do want to hammer home a very simple principle of reform that needs to be a golden thread running through the prison system and the agencies that surround it: that principle is that relationships are fundamentally important if people are to change.”


The MoJ has already started to develop a strategy which will take forward recommendations from the review – and says that progress is being made on a number of the recommendations, including giving governors the budget and flexibility to spend their resources appropriately, to help prisoners keep important family ties.

The government has also started piloting significant relationship performance measures, which will provide crucial guidance to deliver more consistent services in areas such as visitations across the entire prisons estate.

The recommendations have been welcomed by Justice Secretary David Lidington, who has set out his commitment to creating calm and ordered prison environments to deliver more effective rehabilitation.

“Families can play a significant role in supporting an offender and I am grateful to Lord Farmer for his dedication and research on this important issue,” said Mr Lidington.

“We are committed to transforming prisons into places of safety and reform – and we recognise the need to provide those in our care with stable environments and opportunities to change their behaviour.

“There are numerous examples of good practice in this area – and we will continue work on a strategy to best support offender needs.

“That has to start with the numbers of prison officers available to support offenders, which is why we are increasing staffing number by 2,500.”


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