Springhill Petition – Prisoners plea for children’s visits to be returned to two hours

The Howard League has received a petition from over a hundred prisoners at Springhill prison. It asks that their visiting times with their children be returned to two hours. Springhill has cut the visits from two hours down to one. This is totally unreasonable and the two hour visits must be re-instated says Howard League spokesperson Madeleine Rose.

Bonding time with children is essential for the child and the prisoner. Family bonding is a core part of the rehabilitation process. This is an operational matter and Corrections needs to fix it. Children should not be penalised because of an operational matter at Springhill Prison, says Rose. Many of these families travel hundreds of miles for these visits. It was bad enough that they had only two hours before having to turn around and travel home again.

The fact that so many have signed it highlights the pain it has caused. They say at the end of the letter “we are doing this for our families”. Children have a right to a decent amount of bonding time with their parents, Springhill needs to at the very least return the visits to two hourly.

The prisoners are to be commended for asking for this in a reasonable way through the petition.

ENDS

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