Manager, The Croft Visitor Centre at HMP Barlinnie
Welcoming, Connecting and Supporting Families and Visitors is at the core of what we do here at the Croft!
Providing practical and emotional support, information and advice to the families impacted by a loved one’s imprisonment at HMP Barlinnie to help make their visiting experience the best it can be under the circumstances.
There are many issues that impact families affected including emotional, financial and very practical issues. You can CLICK THE VIDEO LINK or SCAN THE QR CODE BELOW to hear it directly from Tracy who has experienced the justice system both as someone who has been subject to a sentence and, who has experienced first-hand the impact on herself and her children when her partner went to prison.
Over the last year, we have continued to build on existing partnerships and developed new partnerships to deliver the best wrap around support for the families we engage with amidst the on-going challenges of the cost-of-living crisis. It has been an extremely difficult time for families with the rise in energy bills, and the cost of food shopping increasing week on week.
We have focussed our support to alleviate the impact on our families who are already struggling financially due to unforeseen circumstances. We accessed funding to provide ongoing funds to the Wise Group https://www.thewisegroup.co.uk/ for fuel top up vouchers along with information and advice on cost effective energy management and debt advice. Shopping vouchers for food and essential clothing has also been supported by this funding.
Our ongoing subscription with Fareshare Fareshare (Move On) Glasgow and the West of Scotland has enabled the distribution of food parcels on a weekly basis with recipe ideas to help make healthier choices whilst cooking on a budget. Case Study 1 below is just one example of some of the difference this support has made.
Case Study 1
“You don’t understand how much the support from The Croft has helped me, and you probably never will.”
Introduction and Summary of Case Study: Visitor has been coming regularly to the prison to visit their partner with their young adult child. Visitor had expressed to us on multiple occasions how much they are struggling with paying rent and bills. Visitor’s young adult child has additional support needs and finds it difficult to feel comfortable while visiting the prison. In addition to this, the Visitor has been struggling with an injury to their foot but has continued to work regardless as they wanted to have a steady income.
Action Taken: The Croft has continuously given support to the Visitor and provided them with vouchers. The Croft staff have built rapport with both the Visitor and their child and have done our best to ensure that they feel comfortable before and after their visit. In addition to this, we have provided the Visitor with food parcels whenever they are visiting.
Result: The Visitor has since expressed to us they have started to get their bills back on track and are feeling more positive now. The have said that with our help and support they have been able to provide their child with some extra treats (through getting the food parcels) and kept their morale up. They have also said that their child now looks forward to coming in and seeing us and feels comfortable and supported before and after their visits.
Next Steps: We will continue to help and support the Visitor and provide them with food parcels when required. We are also in the process of turning our Family Room into a quiet room for those with additional support needs. This means that we will have additional facilities to support the Visitor’s child and ensure that they continue to feel comforted and supported while they are here.
Any Other Information: We asked the Visitor if they would feel comfortable speaking at our 2023 Roadshow, and they were happy to do so.
You can read more about the financial impact on families through research carried out by Dr Briege Nugent and Families Outside
https://www.familiesoutside.org.uk/families-are-paying-the-price-of-imprisonment-2023
We have also continued our programme of focus weeks, tying in where possible with national focus topics, ensuring that our families are represented and where possible their voices heard and acted on.
We hosted awareness raising weeks of activity and sessions to provide additional support across a range of subjects including Mental Health, Volunteer’s Week, Pride Week and Healthy Eating. We were also delighted to receive a donation of books to help celebrate World Book Day. These were well received by the children and especially when Josie – our sessional support worker – dressed up for the occasion making the children’s visit lots of fun. Some children commented it was the Best World Book Day Ever!
In the last year we have supported just over 16,000 visitors, providing emotional and practical support, to information on prison procedures or signposting to specialist services in the local community.
Case Study 2
“Thank you for everything you do, your support has been invaluable.”
Introduction and Summary of Case Study: A visitor who had been coming to Barlinnie to visit their son had been attending alone as the family didn’t want to come up with them. The visitor was originally quite closed off when coming to visit their son.
Action Taken: Due to their circumstances, the visitor wasn’t in need of financial support or food packages. Instead, we were able to provide emotional support and build rapport to help with initial engagement. When first coming to Barlinnie, the visitor had not wanted to engage or seek support, but we were able to slowly help and encourage uptake. We were then able to refer the visitor on to Families Outside, who have been able to give additional support.
Result: The visitor now feels comfortable visiting, and as well as engaging with us, has also made friends with some other visitors. Each time the visitor is in, they come to our office and have a cup of tea and a chat with us prior to the visit and are also extremely grateful for the help from Families Outside and have mentioned how much the support has meant.
Next Steps: We will continue to help and support in a way that benefits the visitor the most. So rather than offering any financial support or food packages, we will continue to provide support by talking to and listening to them.
Accessing specialist services by making referrals to our partners at Families Outside, the Citizens Advice Bureau, Govan Law Centre and Glasgow Life has been invaluable by enabling families to access 1-1 intensive support, benefit advice, housing support, employability support and much more.
So What’s New…Building on the success of the Croft over the years, further funding has enabled the Croft staff team to grow, helping to increase our reach within the prison setting and in the community with the development of local Peer Support Groups, Awareness raising sessions, and Mental Health and Well Being workshops. These activities will be supported by our specialist support workers aiming to help reduce stress and anxiety to cope with any challenges each day brings. We have also been building relationships with Glasgow Helps and are planning to host members of their newly established Outreach Team on a weekly basis here at the Croft, I will bring you an update on these pieces of work next year – WATCH THIS SPACE!
Another exciting new development has been the making of our new video ‘Visiting HMP Barlinnie’. Recognising that visiting HMP Barlinnie can be daunting – particularly the first time – the video provides a walk-through, including how to get there, what to expect and the process during the visiting experience. We hope that this will help relieve some of the anxiety and stresses that visitors can go through. To watch the short video, you can CLICK ON VIDEO LINK below or visit our website https://www.barlinnievisitorscentre.org/
We will be attending more community events, sharing valuable information and activities available for you to access. So please look out for us in your community and check out our revitalised – JUST CLICK THE ICON or LINK BELOW – for further information on where we are and what we are up to!
The Croft Visitors’ Centre, HMP Barlinnie | Glasgow | Facebook
If you are interested in finding out more in-person, please get in touch or pop in for a coffee where you will always be welcomed with a smile!
“Always wear a smile, because your smile is a reason for many others to smile!” — A.A. Milne
Margaret Smith, Chair of the Board commented:
“It has been a busy year at the Croft. We have secured additional funding – most notably £165k over 4 years from The Corra Foundation – which has allowed us to welcomed additional staff to the team and welcome a new Manager (Margaret) in a full time role. Margaret’s leadership has breathed new life and ideas into the work that the Croft has been able to achieve. We will now be able increase our reach and impact beyond the walls of Barlinnie, building on our earlier outreach work, making links into the community, and building a network of peer support that will continue far beyond direct support from the croft.
The Board has also welcomed several new members following a needs assessment and period of recruitment. This has allowed us to build the skills base and talent pool within the Board – strengthening our ability to meet the ambitious outcomes we have set ourselves going forward. Over 2023-24 the Board will work towards the development of a new 3-5 year strategy and delivery plan, ensuring that we continue to move the work forward with defined goals in mind.
The addition of new Staff and Board members is already paying dividends, with our values now reflected in our new branding, a programme of refreshed policies well underway, a staff training and up-skilling programme progressing and a clear vision driving that work.
I have no doubt the year ahead will bring with it difficulties as the cost- of- living crisis bites even deeper and the families we support, who are already disproportionately disadvantaged, are further impacted. We will make every effort and take each opportunity to alleviate some of that impact. We are reviewing our priorities with the financial impact on families elevated to our main focal area with a delivery action plan in development to further progress this work.”