Community Grant Partnerships: Prison Advice and Care Trust (Pact)

The Prison Advice and Care Trust (Pact) is a charity that has been around since 1898 and cares for prisoners, people with convictions, their children and families. They currently work in more than 60 prisons across England and Wales providing support at every stage of the criminal justice process: in court, in prison, on release, and in the community.

One of the main focuses of the work is helping families to maintain their relationships, which come under immense strain when a loved one goes to prison. Pact help families to stay together, working in prisons providing one-to-one support to families, and offering other services including befriending, peer support groups, casework, and relationship and parenting courses.

Working with 10 women’s prisons in England (there are no women’s prisons in Wales) they have a number of projects:

Visiting Mum, which helps to strengthen relationships between children and their imprisoned mothers at HMP Downview, HMP Styal and HMP Eastwood Park.

Journeys to Freedom, which offers a holistic end-to-end resettlement support for women leaving prison in London and Kent.

Together a Chance, a project which is piloting two prison-based social workers at HMP Eastwood Park in Gloucestershire and in HMP Send in Surrey for the first time, one of the recommendations made by Lord Farmer in his report for the Ministry of Justice about the importance of strengthening women’s family ties to prevent reoffending and reduce intergenerational crime.

“These grants support the resettlement of women – if the grant wasn’t available, women might go to a payday loan company, or end up in a much worse financial situation, or even go back to an inappropriate relationship as a source of survival. The grants are for essential items that women need to get back on their feet – whether this be a kettle, some bedding, nappies or school uniforms for children” Pact’s Development Manager, Sophie McKane, and Welfare Grants Officer, Sarah Lange.

For more information on Pact please visit: https://www.prisonadvice.org.uk