The ground has been strewn with a moderately thick blanket of snow, and England has once again ground to a juddering halt. But despite the treacherous roads and indefinitely delayed trains, myself and a small group of guests slip and slide our way down the long and infinitely icy stretch of path which leads to HMP Belmarsh. By some small miracle everyone who got onto the final guestlist for the Family Man presentation (many were picked off by bureaucracy sharp shooters during the indefinitely prolonged clearing process, to which everyone visiting the prison must be submitted) has made it this far.
Entering the Visitors’ Centre only ten minutes late, glowing with cold, pride and a Duke-of-Edinburgh-like team spirit, we are greeted by Belmarsh’s fraught Family Support Worker; she was informed less than two hours previously that the presentation was to be cancelled due to lack of staff and has since had the unenviable task of informing family members that they will not be able to see their partners, husbands, fathers, brothers and sons.
One woman had flown from Spain to be here. Another man had come from Lincoln, spent the night sleeping in London bridge station and then walked, in the blistering cold, all the way to Plumstead. Even our guests have journeyed for up to two hours.
But, while being denied entry to the prison may be a minor irritation to us, the consequences are far more serious and the situation far more affecting for these families. A woman with a severe mental illness had made an exceptional trip. A three-year-old girl was going to see her father for the first time in 18 months. This is not uncommon; 45% of people lose contact with their families during their sentence, and for the other families who have been turned away today it may also have been their first visit in many weeks or months, encouraged by their relative’s progress during the course*.
It is nobody’s fault: for the prison, security must be the first priority, while England’s inability to cope with cold weather is an inexplicable but well-documented fact. It’s just a shame that when bad circumstances conspire, it is often those who are most vulnerable that must suffer the brunt of it.
* Statistic taken from Bromley Briefings Prison Factfile (July 2010) Prison Reform Trust p. 22.