16th August 2006
A three-year European project entitled V.I.P. (Visiting in Prisons), part of the European Commission’s Grundtvig adult education and life-learning program, has begun involving partners from Portugal, Spain, Italy, Finland, Denmark, Poland, Germany and the UK Prisons H.M.P Winchester and The Wolds.
This project aims to address offender and child relationships by improving visiting experiences in prisons and by helping the offender to better understand the needs of the child. The project also aims to encourage the prison authorities to have a better understanding of the importance of safeguarding the family bond. These aims will be achieved by the sharing of experiences between countries, encouraging parenting education and involving offenders and their children in writing books that will subsequently be translated for use in the partner countries. Project participants hope that this initiative will provide an opportunity for the voices of prisoners’ children and families to be heard.
The project, launched in August 2006, came from a European meeting for prison educationalists in Lancaster organized by the British Council.