'Divided Households': Developing a Co-produced, Child-centred, Rights-based Framework for Prison Social Visits

有什么问题吗？在英国的每所学校中，至少有一个孩子的父母在监狱里。父母在狱中的儿童和年轻人更有可能面临心理健康问题，生活在贫困地区，在学校表现不佳。他们也更容易受到污名、孤立和排斥，并更容易遭遇反社会或犯罪行为。加强与家人的联系可以保护那些在狱中的人的福祉，减少再次犯罪。关于定期接触是否(以及如何)可以保护CYP的健康和情感健康，以及更广泛的家庭监禁，如兄弟姐妹和祖父母，可能对CYP产生的影响，我们知道的要少得多。探监经历可能会给家庭带来问题。有限的探视时间和远离家人家的地点可能会导致昂贵或糟糕的交通选择。探视室也缺乏隐私和适合儿童玩耍的安全空间。新冠肺炎给这一系统带来了相当大的额外压力，英格兰、威尔士和苏格兰的监狱探访活动在2020年3月下旬暂停。虽然许多监狱在第三次全国封锁后开始恢复探访，但在过去的一年里，大多数家庭与监狱中的亲人联系很少。安全虚拟访问的推出一直很缓慢，涉及司法的家庭是最有可能经历健康、社会和数字不平等的家庭之一，这意味着很大一部分人无法获得保持这种联系所需的技术。因此，一些CYP在超过12个月的时间里没有与被监禁的家庭成员进行直接和/或面对面的接触。这项研究的目的是什么？以前的大多数研究都是从成年人的角度进行的。定性的文献分析将绘制英格兰、威尔士和苏格兰的监狱如何应对新冠肺炎限制，以及在此期间它们如何与家人沟通。利用访谈和纪录片分析的信息，我将在一系列研讨会上与参与司法的家庭、创意艺术家和利益攸关方合作，共同制定监狱社会探访的基于权利的框架原型。论文将发表在学术期刊上，研究摘要将向政策制定者和更广泛的公众提供，结果将在一些会议和活动上公布。

What is the problem? At least one child in every UK school has a parent in prison. Children and young people (CYP) with a parent in prison are more likely to face mental health difficulties, live in disadvantaged areas and do less well at school. They are also more vulnerable to stigma, isolation and exclusion, and to experiencing anti-social or criminal behaviour. Strengthening ties with families can protect the wellbeing of those in prison and reduce re-offending. Much less is known about whether (and how) regular contact can protect the health and emotional wellbeing of CYP; and the impact that wider family imprisonment, such as of siblings and grandparents, can have upon CYP. Prison visiting experiences can be problematic for families. Restrictive visiting times and placements far from the family home can result in expensive or poor transport options. Visiting rooms also lack privacy and suitable, safe spaces for children to play. COVID-19 has placed considerable, additional strain upon this system, with prison visits across England, Wales and Scotland suspended late March 2020. Whilst many prisons have begun to resume visits following a third national lockdown, most families have had very little contact with a loved one in prison over the past year. Rollout of secure virtual visits has been slow, with justice-involved families amongst the most likely to experience health, social and digital inequalities, meaning a large proportion lack access to technology needed to maintain this contact. As a result, some CYP have not had direct and/or face-to-face contact with an incarcerated family member in over 12 months.What does this research aim to do? Most previous research has been conducted from the perspective of adults. Instead, this project aims to:1. understand CYP's perspectives on the long-term impact of reductions and/or changes to prison social visits on their mental health, emotional wellbeing and familial relations;2. apply the lived experience of CYP to co-produce a child-centred rights-based framework for prison social visits.How will this research be carried out?This study will use a number of different research methods:1. I will conduct multiple interviews with justice-involved families in North East England and Scotland over the course of 9 months to understand CYP's lived experience of reductions and changes to prison visits and familial contact.2. Qualitative, documentary analysis will map how prisons across England, Wales and Scotland have responded to COVID-19 restrictions, and how they have communicated with families during this time.3. Using information from interviews and documentary analysis, I will work with justice-involved families, creative artists and stakeholders across a series of workshops to co-produce a prototype rights-based framework for prison social visits.4. A further series of workshops will be held with policy-makers and practitioners from across the custodial environment to explore and finalise our prototype framework.Public Involvement and Community EngagementOrganisations who support justice-involved families have been involved in developing this research - these organisations will form a stakeholder panel with an academic and practitioner co-chair. I will also establish PICE Reference Groups (RGs), drawing on existing organisations and families in situ, who will play a meaningful part throughout the study, helping me make decisions about the research, and develop the dissemination strategy.DisseminationThe main outcome from this research will be creation of a child-centred, rights-based framework for prison social visits, which is hoped will give a powerful humanising insight and place 'right to health' at the heart of prison visiting systems. Articles will be published in academic journals, summaries of the research will be made available for policymakers and the wider public, and results will be presented at a number of conferences and events.