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Children and prison

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helpneeded1

Member since
August 2021

27 posts

Posted Mon August 21, 2023 9:26amReport post

Does anyone have any experience with taking their children to see their dad in prison?



For various reasons I decided to not tell my son his dad was in prison straight away. I had multiple people support groups support my decision, but he recently just found out.

My person had a ban on seeing or speaking to our son in the first prison he was in (he just got moved somewhere else) but was trying to get this removed. Apparently was very common for them to be able to do.



The prison he is in now has a blanket rule of no children visitors for the first 14 days regardless of the offence. Im not entirely sure if this will be automatically lifted after the 14 days or if it will remain and will have to apply to be lifted like in the previous prison.

Does anyone have any experience with this? My son is now desperate to be able to see his dad. Also, if you did take your children to prison how did they find it? Im worried how it will effect him mentally but also want him to see his dad if that's what he wishes. My son is just about to turn 8 so very aware of what's going on around him.

Just to add, prior to prison there was no issues with his dad having supervised access to our son.

Edited Mon August 21, 2023 9:36am

Wildflower2022

Member since
December 2022

27 posts

Posted Tue August 22, 2023 7:59pmReport post

Hi,



hopefully I can help shed some light, although different circumstances somewhat.

My person is in prison and I take our young child to see him. My child is too young to know what is going on, so it is important to me that I take him in and he still remembers his father for when he is released. My stance is that is if any point I feel that is not in my sons best interest to go, we won't.

the prison my person is in is cat c and it is a little like going through airport security. The staff are very friendly, and the visit room is set up to be as child friendly as possible. There is a specific play area for the younger ones and the prisoners come out with their normal clothes on and a high vis tabbard. I guess what I'm trying to explain is that I believe it's designed to be as un - intimidating as possible. The guards are wandering around but very much in the background. Hope that helps if you do decide to take him.

oh also - same applies to all prisoners with convictions surrounding children, they have to apply to be able to have access. You will get sent a form asking for your stance on it. Social care then have their input so the level of contact can be assessed. It took 3 months for ours to be approved.