Prison Family Centre wins Butler Trust Award
John McFadden OMI
On the 16th November, the St. Margaret's Family Centre was opened. This centre, dedicated on the feast of St. Margaret, Patroness of Scotland, is situated in the prison Chapel of Cornton Vale female prison in Stirling.
In the early part of 2004, Cornton Vale's then Governor expressed the desire to build a family centre in the grounds of the prison. This uniquely new initiative to the Scottish Prison Service would provide a dedicated space in which female prisoners could interact with their children and families relatively free from the normal security constraints of prison life.
Having been Chaplain to the prison for some four years at this point, I had always been most grateful for the beautiful chapel space that was at my disposal. It was a place that was special to the women prisoners and was regarded by them as different to the rest of the prison. As one woman said to me, ?it?s the place that I go to on a Sunday for Mass and the place I go to remember - to remember my family, my life with and without them!"
In essence, however, I was also acutely aware that the chapel space was very much under used. With the exception of Sundays, the chapel was usually used for staff security training and even at one stage, an exercise area for prison sniffer dogs! With all of this in mind, I began to consider that this sacred space could be extended to nurturing the sacredness of the women's family relationships. I approached the Governor and suggested that we transform the chapel into a family centre. St. Margaret's is now staffed by two chaplains, three dedicated family contact prison officers (FCOs) and one health visitor. There is now a wide range of activities that take place in St. Margaret's 7 days and nights a week:
Child bonding visits with mums/grandmothers
Family case conferences for new prisoners and those preparing for family life again upon release
Story Book Mums, where a mother can record CDs of bedtime stories which the family can take home and the children can hear their mum tell them bedtime stories
Family days for prisoners serving a life sentence, where prisoners can spend a day with their families, sharing meals and significant time together
Panel and custody hearings which mothers can attend despite their incarceration
Video conferences, where video links mothers with their children who are too far distant to visit
Christmas and Easter parties for children with Santa and the Easter Bunny
Children's sports and fun days
Play garden for children and their mothers and
Inter-prison phone calls between family members
Oh yeah and, of course, Mass and various other liturgical celebrations.
At the end of 2006, the St. Margaret's family initiative was nominated for a Butler Trust Award. The Butler Trust was set up in 1985 in memory of the reforming Home Secretary RAB Butler. It is an independent registered charity funded by charitable trusts, corporate support and some statutory support. Butler Trust awards are given independently of the Scottish, English & Welsh and Northern Ireland Prison Services and the Probation Services which support them by allowing award winners special leave to develop their work. On the 22nd of December 2006, the St. Margaret's Family Centre was successful and was awarded the Wates Foundation Award for work with female offenders.
John McFadden OMI