Prisons as Communities
This web page brings together resources to support you to apply for the ‘Prisons as Communities’ element of the Bereavement Charter Mark for Prisons.
Procedure on supporting families at times of bereavement.
You should consider the needs of families who are choosing to inform the resident of the death of a friend or relative themselves, and not asking prison staff to do so. For example this could include identifying:
- an appropriate space within the visits area to enable privacy and dignity to be maintained
- how visits staff, and/or the FCOs, can enable sensitive use of this space
You should also consider what support can be provided to families of staff, for example ensuring chaplains are on hand to support and work with colleagues and their families.
Opportunities for families and residents to share solace following a shared bereavement.
Consider how you can provide opportunities for families and residents to connect after a bereavement has happened. For example, HMP Edinburgh run quarterly Waterfall Cafes for residents and their families. The Waterfall Café in HMP Edinburgh is a structured, guided event with refreshments to support people talk about their loss and continue to share memories, which uses these resources:
The To Absent Friends festival takes place 1-7 November each year, and can provide an opportunity and a reason to focus on remembrance activities. Their website provides resources that can support a variety of different group remembrance activities at any time of year, including:
The prison signposts families to sources of information and support following a bereavement
These websites provide bereavement information more specifically of relevance to bereavement and prisons:
This website provides several useful links to sources of information and support after a death:
These resources provide information and support specifically relating to bereaved children:
- Children who are Bereaved | Support Around Death
- When Someone dies - Talking with children about death.pdf
- How we can support you | Child Bereavement UK
- Winston’s Wish - Bereavement Support for Children
- Cruse Scotland
Visitor’s Centre staff know how to signpost families to bereavement support and have the opportunity to attend training and awareness sessions provided to staff in the establishment.
To support Visitor’s Centre staff you should:
- enable them to attend bereavement training sessions being run for the FCOs and visits staff.
- ensure staff are able to signpost bereaved visitors to relevant suppory organisations. (See weblinks in section above.)
