Britain: An official handbook > 1977

JUSTICE AND THE LAW
Privileges and
Discipline
Welfare
Discharge and
After-Care
95
treatment and the selection and training of staff. The focus of their work is
primarily upon tasks involving design, development and evaluation.
All prisoners, from the beginning of their sentence, have a general right to write
and receive letters and to be visited by their relatives at regular intervals. They
also have such privileges as additional letters and visits, the use of books,
periodicals and newspapers, and the right to make purchases from the canteen
with money they have earned in prison. Depending on the facilities available,
they may be granted the further privileges of dining and recreation in association
and watching television in the evening.
Breaches of discipline are dealt with by the prison governor, or board of
visitors (visiting committees in Scotland), who have power to order, among
other penalties, forfeiture of remission and forfeiture of privileges.
Welfare in prisons is the general concern of the prison staff as a whole and in
particular of the chaplains and assistant governors, but special responsibilities
attach to prison welfare officers—probation officers seconded by the probation
and after-care service (in Scotland, social workers from local authority social
work departments). The functions of these officers include helping the prisoner
in his relationships with individuals and organisations outside the prison, and
making plans for the prisoner’s after-care, working closely in this connection
with colleagues in the probation and after-care service and with other agencies
in the community whose help the prisoner or his family may need either during
sentence or after release.
Prisoners may also receive visits from specially appointed prison visitors
whose work is voluntary and in England and Wales is co-ordinated and guided
by the National Association of Prison Visitors.
For the spiritual welfare of the inmates, a chaplain of the Church of England
(in Scotland of the Church of Scotland, and in Northern Ireland of the Church
of Ireland and of the Presbyterian Church), a Roman Catholic priest and a
Methodist minister are appointed to every prison. Ministers of other denomina¬
tions are appointed or specially called in as needed. The chaplaincy programme
not only provides for worship, group work and pastoral counselling, but covers
involvement with other members of staff in treatment and in management.
Prisoners granted parole may have preparatory leave. After-care begins at the
commencement of a prisoner’s sentence, and probation officers arrange inter¬
views for offenders in the cells at court immediately after sentence. Officers
often visit prisoners families to discuss problems and in some areas set up
prisoners wives groups which meet informally and provide a source of mutual
companionship and support.
All prisons in England and Wales arrange pre-release preparations for
prisoners, varying according to the needs of the inmates concerned. At many
prisons they take the form of open discussion groups at which experts
consider with prisoners the domestic, social and employment problems with
which they are likely to be faced on release. For adult prisoners serving not
less than two years and for women and young prisoners serving not less than 18
months, home leave is extensively granted towards the end of their sentences
to enable them to re-establish links with their families and friends or to make
new contacts with people, including potential employers, who may be able
to assist them on release. For some male prisoners serving four years or more
and for some women serving 18 months or more there are special provisions
for work outside the prison before release.