A family from the travelling community has been attending Homework Club at HMP Oakwood FPC each Tuesday evening for 12 months; within the family are two boys aged 5 and 3. The elder boy would enter the centre initially quite boisterous, running in and out of the play area, around the tables where people eat, pushing his little brother around on a
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Mrs a and miss b brother was convicted and sentenced last week.
They were shocked and horrified to learn the details of his crimes and couldn’t reconcile the man that they had grown up with and the monster portrayed in court. There was no doubt as to his guilt and no denial on his part. They were heartbroken to be thrown into this new world of prison visits, and were scared of repercussions in the wider community and terrified to visit in case they were targeted due to their brothers crimes.
I spoke to mrs a at length on the phone, reassuring her, advising her and giving her general information. I explained that although she had a visit that was 2 ¾ hours long, she didn’t have to stay for the whole time if she didn’t want to. She only wanted to make sure her brother was coping, she didn’t want to stay with him until the finish time. I also said she could speak to me after her visit if she wanted, or ring us for a chat at any time.
Mrs a and miss b stopped for a chat after their visit. Both were tearful, scared and worried about the future. We calmed them both down, reassured them that people weren’t staring at them in the Visits Hall and gave them coping strategies to see them through this difficult time. Miss b was satisfied that the worst was behind them and was more confident about visiting in the future. Mrs a is still distraught and inconsolable. I told her she could ring us at any time, or come and see us whenever she felt she needed to. She left feeling reassured that there was someone she could talk to who wouldn’t judge her for the terrible things her brother had done, and that there was somewhere she could go if she wanted to get things off her chest.
Mrs c and miss d were visiting mrs c husband and had brought her 1 year old daughter along too.
The baby wasn’t down for the visit, had never been before and didn’t have a full birth certificate so despite appealing to the senior officer, wasn’t allowed in. they were able to purchase refreshments from our café whilst waiting as They had travelled with other visitors and so had to hang around for a couple of hours to wait for their lift home.
I talked to them at length about the visits process, ID requirements and the prison regime and then chatted more generally and played with the baby so they could have a break from holding her. We then chatted about how cute the baby was, how advanced she was for her age and played with some toys from the play area. By keeping the baby distracted and by chatting to the women, I was able to make their wait more pleasant, and was able to help them be more prepared for the next time they visit.
HALOW Case Studies & News
A young mother was observed with two small children. The eldest (2 years old) was seen to be running around, letting himself out of the doors, taking toys from other children and not responding to his mothers requests. The Children’s Worker (CW) talked with the mother and found out the child had autism – she explained he struggled wit
The Staff and visitors at HMP Oakwood Family Pathway Centre rasied a total of £253 during our Macmillan cake and coffee afternoons, “thank you for your support to a good cause”. for more information visit Macmillan’s website: www.macmillan.org.uk
Over the last few weeks, the children have been creating their own tree decorations for the HMP Oakwood Family Pathway Christmas Tree. Once dressed, the FPC tree took part in a Christmas Tree Festival at a local church near to Stafford. Over 40 trees were exhibited in the church over the weekend of the 2nd to the 4th December 2016. The FPC tree was
Over the past few weeks the children have been making and personalising their own stockings to display next to the Oakwood fire place in the Family Pathway Centre, create a warm relaxing display.
One of our prisoners has a family of 4 children, two girls and two boys. The oldest boy who is 7 years old suffers from severe Autism. Before we took up our posts as children’s workers his mother told us that he would become quite anxious waiting to be called through for the visit. He would listen for his group to be called and would get anxious wa
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