Virtual Visits – A Family Sees Their Loved One for the First Time in 15 Weeks
This week as part of the launch of the new Scottish Prison Service (SPS) virtual visits scheme one of the families we support had the opportunity to see their family member for the first time in 15 weeks. Virtual Visits are an SPS facilitated scheme, which lets prisoners see their children and families using video […]
Virtual visits are crucial for the mental wellbeing of families affected by imprisonment
Families Outside, the only national charity in Scotland working exclusively on behalf of families affected by imprisonment, welcomes the Scottish Prison Service’s plans to introduce video visits, with Scotland finally acting in compliance with the recommendations from the Council of Europe and UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. According to Nancy Loucks, chief […]
‘Catscape’ Reading Activity Challenge
Families Outside are really excited to be partnering with Scottish author Mike Nicholson who wrote our ‘My Diary‘ booklet, to share the exciting resource and activity for his prize-winning novel ‘Catscape’ with children affected by imprisonment. Sharing his love of reading and literacy learning Mike Nicholson partnered with Lasswade Primary School to read his book in […]
Not my crime, still my sentence: Children of Prisoners Europe launches annual pan-European campaign
Today (2 June 2020) Children of Prisoners Europe (COPE) launches its annual Not my crime, still my sentence advocacy campaign to support efforts to safeguard the rights of children who have a parent in prison. This year’s campaign follows on the heels of the publication of ‘It’s Time to Act,’ a child-friendly version of Council of […]
Update on the Independent Review Into The Handling Of Deaths In Prison Custody
In November last year, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Humza Yousef announced that he had asked me, in accordance with section 7(2)(d) of the Prisons (Scotland) Act 1989, to undertake a review into the handling of deaths in prison custody. The review was instructed to enable the identification of and to make recommendations for areas […]