NCJ Number
138973
Journal
Social Policy and Administration Volume: 26 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1992) Pages: 151-158
Date Published
1992
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This article on prison visiting bases its conclusions on personal experience, written and verbal comments provided by prisoners and prison staff, and official statements in the limited available literature.
Abstract
Prison-visiting principles follow closely the Woolf- Tumim recommendations in the area of prison affairs and support the need to provide a link between the community and life in prison. By concentrating on the individual prisoner, prison-visiting services makes a special contribution toward treating the prisoner as a citizen. Regular visits are made to individual prisoners only at the request of the prisoner, and both parties may withdraw at any time. Reasons prisoners give for wanting a visitor may vary considerably but most mention their appreciation of contact with the outside world. Prison visits serve as a complement to family visits. Prison-visiting services are successful despite a labeling of visitors as "those religious" or "stuffy middle-class." Currently, the total number of prison visitors' personnel is small: 921 in England and Wales as of October 1991; Scotland and Ireland maintain separate organizations. The average number of prisoners attached to a prison is about 10. 5 references