Written evidence submitted by the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales (RAR0079)

Executive Summary

• The Catholic Church is a longstanding advocate of criminal justice reform and is actively involved in the criminal justice system through chaplaincy and the provisions of services to families of prisoners.
• The Catholic charity Prison Advice and Care Trust (Pact) is the largest national provider of services for prisoners and their families across England and Wales.
• Prisoners who do not receive family visits are 39% more likely to reoffend. Pact facilitates more than 100,000 family prison visits a year. Barriers to family visits include prisoners being placed in prison that are far away from families and prisoner access to a dedicated safer custody telephone lines for families to get in touch.
• Chaplaincy plays a crucial role in the rehabilitation of prisoners. There are 150 Catholic prison chaplains working in England and Wales, but pressures on staffing can be a barrier to prisoners accessing these chaplaincy services.
• Catholic charities and Catholic parishes provide a supportive community for prisoners on release. Existing projects enable probation services to be physically embedded in a local community to support ex-offenders to be part of and give back to their local community.

The Catholic Church’s work in the criminal justice system

1. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales is the permanent assembly of Catholic bishops across the two member nations and also acts as a national representative body of the Catholic Church.
2. We have a longstanding interest and involvement in criminal justice. The Catholic community provides around 150 full-time and voluntary prison chaplains across England and Wales and many more chaplaincy volunteers. The national Catholic prisons charity, Prison Advice and Care Trust (Pact), works with the Government to support positive relationships between thousands of prisoners and their families.[1] The Bishops’ Conference has  published five significant documents on criminal justice in the past twenty years, most recently Remember Me: A Catholic Approach to Criminal Justice (2024), which have set out the principles of Catholic social teaching on criminal justice and recommended concrete reforms to our courts, prisons and probation systems as well as calls to action for the Catholic community to contribute to a more just, merciful and effective criminal justice system.[2]
3. Our vision is of a criminal justice that is truly restorative, combining care for victims, just punishment of offences and the reform, rehabilitation and redemption of offenders. This vision of criminal justice is grounded in the inherent human dignity shared by each human person, including both victims and offenders.

Section 2: Rehabilitation in prisons

The role of families in rehabilitation

4. Many of those who commit crimes face personal and relational difficulties which can both hinder employment opportunities and undermine the return to right relationships with their family and society more generally. There is a crucial role to be played by families, supported by charities and voluntary associations in the rehabilitation of offenders.
5. Ministry of Justice research has revealed that those who did not receive family visits while in prison were 39% more likely to reoffend after release than those who had been visited by their families.[3] The reports on prison reform produced by Lord Farmer for the Ministry of Justice in 2017 and 2019 underlined the importance of positive familial relationships in the rehabilitation process, from personal communication on sensitive issues such as bullying and medication to effective interventions in addressing problems of addiction.[4] Settled accommodation is critical for successful rehabilitation and that fewer than half of people released from prison had access to settled accommodation upon release. Supporting strong and healthy relationships between prisoners and their families during their time in prison is crucial for ensuring that more prisoners integrate back into the family home and local community.[5]
6. Tremendous work in this area has been carried out by the Prison Advice and Care Trust (Pact), the national Catholic prisons charity. Working in 68 prisons, Pact is the largest national provider of services for prisoners and their families across England and Wales, including prison visits and a prisoners’ families helpline.[6]  Each year, more than 100,000 prison visits are facilitated by Pact, over 40,000 calls a year are answered by their prisoners’ families helpline, and more than 2,000 people on probation are supported to make a fresh start in life.
7. Barriers to families maintaining positive relationships are numerous. Pact’s survey of families of prisoners found that 38% said that they spent a quarter or more of their monthly income supporting a loved-one in prison.[7] Due to the pressure on prison places, prisoners are often located in prisoners far away from their families. It is estimated that men in prison are held on average, 50 miles from their home, and women 65 miles.[8] However, many families face a round trip of well over 100 miles. Families of prisoners have raised with Pact the cost of fuel but also costs such as car maintenance incurred through frequent, long journeys.[9]
8. In 2019, Pact had found that, of the 119 prison establishments in England and Wales, 44 appeared to have no functioning dedicated safer custody telephone lines for families to get in touch.[10] Of the 44, half of prisons had no publicly advertised number for a dedicated safer custody telephone line. The remaining 22 prisons advertised a dedicated line, but when called the number either was unoperational, was not answered, or went through to a general prison switchboard. Of the 75 dedicated safer custody telephone lines that went through to Safer Custody Departments, only 13 were answered by a member of staff. 62 of the 75 dedicated safer custody lines that went through to Safer Custody Departments put the caller straight through to an answer machine.
9. Alongside the Church of England and Pact, the Catholic Church has repeatedly raised concerns about the lack of understanding of and support for children who have a parent in prison.[11] The latest estimates indicate that around 193,000 children have a parent in prison and that 55% of female prisoners and 53% of male prisoners have children under the age of 18.[12] However, many children fall between the gaps of the criminal justice system and fail to receive the support they need. Greater support for families of prisoners would benefit these overlooked victims of crime whilst also reducing reoffending rates.

The role of chaplaincy in rehabilitation

10. The Catholic faith and practice can be especially valuable in the redemption of offenders and the healing of the community. Catholic chaplaincy within prison, and Catholic parishes outside prison, offer opportunities for offenders to come to a deeper understanding of the reality of their actions and the truth of their human dignity. The voluntary experience of prayer, formation and fellowship can have a transformative effect on the thoughts and actions of those who have committed crimes, helping them to atone for their mistakes and believe in a better future.
11. Prison chaplaincy offers a lifeline to those suffering imprisonment and plays a pivotal part in prisoners’ lives. As well as supporting the practice of the Catholic faith through the sacraments and spiritual direction, prison chaplains provide wider pastoral care for prisoners of all faiths and none. Chaplains inhabit a unique position within prisons whereby they are respected as authority figures yet seen as separate from the punitive prison institution.[13] Their independent authority creates a helpful space in which prison chaplains and prisoners can build relationships of trust and support, which can help to heal the damaged relations with authority figures that offenders often experience.
12. There are challenges faced by Catholic chaplaincy in prisons. Recent reporting by the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons recorded that 30% of prisoners could not attend their religious services, and there remain significant vacancies in prison chaplaincy.[14] Given the significance of chaplaincy for the well-being of prisoners, we would urge HMPPS to ensure that prisoners are informed and supported to attend faith-based activities on a regular basis and without detriment to other purposeful activities.
13. There are challenges around the lengthy appointment process for prison chaplains. The Catholic Church urges HMPPS and the Government to create a more expediate system for both the interview process and security checks required for the appointment of prison chaplains since this will facilitate effective chaplaincy provision across the prison estate.

Section 3: Resettlement services and alternatives to custody

The role of Catholic charities and parishes in supporting prisoners post release

14. Civil society has a critical role to play in supporting the redemption of offenders and the wider community following the rupture of crime. Charities and voluntary associations, in tandem with the criminal justice system, can provide a physical space for the healing of personal and social relations, grounded in shared human dignity and the value of local knowledge and experience of the needs of the people and communities involved.
15. A notable example can be seen in the HMPPS Wales Grand Avenues project in Cardiff, Wales.[15] A ten-year pilot project, Grand Avenues is trialling a new approach whereby people on probation are supervised and supported by local community hubs and charities, such as the St Vincent de Paul Centre in Ely Bridge, Cardiff.[16] The project is premised on the view that the challenge of rehabilitation has a significant relational aspect which is often underserved by current probation services. By physically locating probation services within community settings, those on probation can be assisted in a way which recognises their gifts and talents as well as their crimes. The early signs of the ten-year project have been promising, particularly regarding the personal, social and relational development of those serving on probation.[17] Peer mentoring, practical advice, and opportunities to use their skills to support the community can all combine to provide a renewed sense of identity and community for those on probation, so that ex-offenders can make new and positive contributions to the community.

January 2025