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

有什么问题吗？英国每所学校至少有一个孩子的父母在坐牢。父母一方在监狱的儿童和青少年（CYP）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。他们也更容易受到羞辱、孤立和排斥，并经历反社会或犯罪行为。加强与家人的联系可以保护服刑人员的福祉，减少再犯。对于是否（以及如何）定期接触可以保护CYP的健康和情感健康，我们知之甚少；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。探访监狱的经历对家属来说可能是个问题。限制探视时间和远离家庭住所的地点可能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。2019冠状病毒病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于2020年3月底暂停。虽然许多监狱在第三次全国封锁后开始恢复探视，但在过去一年中，大多数家庭与监狱中的亲人几乎没有联系。安全虚拟探视的推广进展缓慢，涉及司法的家庭最有可能经历健康、社会和数字方面的不平等，这意味着很大一部分家庭无法获得维持这种接触所需的技术。因此，一些青少年在超过12个月的时间里没有与被监禁的家庭成员直接和/或面对面接触。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。相反，这个项目的目标是：1。1 .了解CYP关于减少和/或改变监狱社会探视对其心理健康、情感健康和家庭关系的长期影响的观点；运用青少年保护计划的实际经验，共同制定以儿童为中心的监狱社会探访权利框架。这项研究将如何进行？本研究将使用许多不同的研究方法：1。在9个月的时间里，我将对英格兰东北部和苏格兰涉及司法的家庭进行多次采访，以了解CYP在监狱探访和家庭接触减少和变化方面的生活经历。定性的文献分析将描绘英格兰、威尔士和苏格兰的监狱如何应对COVID-19限制，以及他们在此期间如何与家人沟通。利用访谈和文献分析所得的信息，我将与涉及司法的家庭、创意艺术家和利益相关者合作，通过一系列研讨会共同制定基于权利的监狱社会探视框架原型。将与来自整个监管环境的政策制定者和从业者举行一系列进一步的研讨会，以探索和最终确定我们的原型框架。公众参与和社区参与支持涉及司法的家庭的组织已经参与了这项研究的发展——这些组织将组成一个利益相关者小组，由学术界和实践者共同担任主席。我还将建立PICE参考小组（RGs），利用现有的组织和家庭，他们将在整个研究过程中发挥有意义的作用，帮助我做出有关研究的决定，并制定传播策略。这项研究的主要成果将是建立一个以儿童为中心、以权利为基础的监狱社会探视框架，希望它将提供强有力的人性化见解，并将“健康权”置于监狱探视系统的核心。文章将发表在学术期刊上，研究摘要将提供给决策者和更广泛的公众，结果将在一些会议和活动上展示。

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.