A CENTRE for families visiting relatives at Dartmoor Prison is to have its running costs met, thanks to a £139,000 Community Fund grant to the Prison Advice and Care Trust.
The grant will mean managers can be recruited at visitors? centres in the three South West prisons ? Dartmoor, Exeter and Channings Wood ? and training for volunteers.
The centre at Dartmoor opened less than a year ago, in October.
Development worker for the Prison Advice and Care Trust, Suzanne Caley, said the centre at Dartmoor had received very positive feedback from visitors, who on average had to travel 125 miles, often with children, to see their partners.
?Relatives normally have to get to the prisons an hour early to go through all the security checks and, in the past, there has been nowhere for them to wait but out in the cold,? said Suzanne.
?We entered an agreement with the prison governors that they would provide the building if we provided the running costs, the staff and volunteers.?
Sixteen of the 60 volunteers recruited by the trust have been working at Dartmoor Prison and the job of centre manager is currently being advertised.
?We wanted to give relatives a friendly environment where they could wait in the warm, a place for the children to play and advice and support if they need it,? added Suzanne.
She said with the current overcrowding in prisons, it was now impossible for prisoners to be located near their homes and many people had to wait weeks to find out where their partners had gone.
?We are frequently told that in the South West there is no support for families of people in prison and that is something we are trying to change,? she said.
?Over the past two years there has been a lot of work to strengthen links with families because after accommodation and employment a supportive family is the most important factor in preventing re-offending.?
Specialist volunteer mentors to address problems like bullying in schools and loss of income are being funded and a family support worker is being provided in Plymouth, as 40 per cent of people released from prisons in the Westcountry go to the Plymouth area.
Family days and projects which strengthen relationships between inmates and their children are also arranged at Dartmoor Prison.
Suzanne said in the past Dartmoor prison had received some negative press but things had changed in recent times not least because of the new resettlement unit, which families felt very involved with.