Prisoners Week Workshop

held at Greenbank Parish Church Edinburgh
Thursday 14th November 2024

A report by Hazel Macaulay

In 2021 Greenbank Church was one of the first churches to become a signatory of the Prisoners Week Charter (above).  In doing so we, as a congregation, made a commitment to support those affected by imprisonment and help raise awareness of the impact of the justice system on individuals, victims, prisoners, families, and communities.  Since signing the contract, we have done very little to expand on our work despite the fact that Greenbank has a strong history in relation to prison visiting.

On Thursday 14th November 2024, just prior to Prisoners Week (17–23 November), the Rev Dr Sheena Orr, Chaplaincy Advisor for the Scottish Prison Service, and Greenbank’s Social Justice Action Group ran a workshop.  The workshop was well attended by people from Greenbank and other interested parties.

Sheena introduced the session by presenting an eye-opening overview of Scotland’s prison community: 17 prisons and 8,500 prisoners in Scotland, with Scotland coming second-highest in the list of Western European Countries for number of prisoners per 100,000 of the national population (2023).

There followed four presentations, with each speaker speaking from their own perspective and giving a revealing and authentic view of life and work within the prison service.  They definitely managed to bring the inside out for us to see in detail.

The speakers introduced by Sheena were:

Charlotte Riley, Families Outside  Support & Communications Manager

Charlotte explained that Families Outside is the only national charity working in Scotland that supports families affected by imprisonment. They give practical help, support and advice to help with the many difficulties prisoners’ families experience specifically with children and young people in mind.
 

Maureen Phillips, SACRO, Volunteer Driver

Maureen had worked as a driver for many years with SACRO, Safeguarding Communities – Reducing Offending (formerly Scottish Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders). This service in Edinburgh and Lothian helps residents to travel to Scottish prisons and state hospitals which generally are not particularly accessible. She spoke in detail about her time with relatives as they travelled to and from different prisons all over the country.  SACRO offers many volunteering activities and this was just one.
 

John Nonhebel, Prison Fellowship Scotland, Executive Director

John has worked with disadvantaged people most of his life.  Recently he was urban minister leader for SU Scotland, until this current post.  Prison fellowship has served in all 17 prisons with groups of volunteers from church connections. Work with individuals and groups on spiritual issues form the most part of his work.  Training and support are provided in this area. Volunteers are always being sought for this role.
 

Ewan MacKenzie, Prison Inspectorate Scotland, Independent Prison Monitor

Ewan spoke about the role of the Independent Prison Monitor scheme in ensuring that prisons meet safety, health and human dignity standards.  HMIPS conducts regular prison inspections and recruits volunteers, who were always needed, from local communities to monitor conditions and treatment in prison.  Ewan also recommended books and television programmes which gave some insight into life in prison:

Television
  Time: BBC Drama
  BBC Parole
  BBC Inside Barlinnie

Books
  Criminal: How Our Prisons Are Failing Us All, by Angela Kirwin
  Behind These Doors, by Alex South

Discussion and Plenary

Each speaker left time for questions and answers after their presentations. Then a plenary session afforded us an opportunity to speak together with Greenbank attendees to see how we might become involved and what we could do as individuals and as a congregation to support the many-faceted work of our impressive speakers.  Each speaker made us aware of many different volunteering opportunities for individuals or groups.

In discussion, the Greenbank group outlined a number of possibilities; these are listed below under subheadings.  We hope other opportunities will present themselves as we contemplate the content of the workshop further.

Volunteering

  ●  Publicise within the church the need for volunteers, as illustrated by the workshop talks with details.

Awareness Raising

  ●  Improve awareness of child poverty issues.

  ●  Include a copy of the Prisoners Charter on the Greenbank website.

  ●  Run a relevant film night, with focus for discussion and social interaction.

  ●  Check out any links with the Safe Listening project.

  ●  Improve communications on this topic within the church.
 

Giving

  ●  Choose Families Outside for the Easter appeal.

  ●  Remember to emphasise and build on our Christmas giving to Prisoners’ families.
 

Lobbying

  ●  Lobby MP Ian Murray on prison issues.  Remembering the choice of one key topic.

  ●  Lobby MSP Daniel Johnson – prisons are a devolved matter.
 

Prayer

  ●  Keep victims, prisoners and the justice system as a prayer focus.
 

Communications

  ●  Awareness of the Guild’s Sunflower Garden / CrossReach.

  ●  Feedback for the Work Party on donations.

Hazel Macaulay
(For Social Justice Action Group)