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Family Relations

The life of children is highly influenced by the fact that their parent is in prison and by the circumstances of the imprisonment, starting from the arrest, followed by sentencing and execution of the sentence. An estimated 800,000 children in the EU are separated from an imprisoned parent each year. The prison service should not take alone responsibility for providing opportunities for valuable contact between children and their imprisoned parent. A good cooperation of the prison service with the social network of the parents and social support organisations inside and outside of a prison are crucial for success. Family relations are also about the contact between partners that have been separated as a result of the imprisonment of one of them.

Duration: 2016-2018
Status: Complete
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The Family Relations workshop was organised in Vienna, Austria on 11-12 April, and it was kindly hosted by the Austria Federal Ministry for Constitution, Reform, Regulation and Justice.


Having a parent / family member in prison can have a significant impact on the lives of partners, children and siblings. From the moment of their parent’s arrest, and throughout the sentencing and execution of the sentence, especially children are affected. After two years of fruitful exchange and the publication of a comprehensive Good Practice Collection, the EuroPris Family Relations expert group presented their work at the workshop. The expert group aimed to discuss the following main topics:

  • Community involvement
  • Intervention programs
  • Visiting facilities
  • Staff training
  • Communication

Next to that, best practices from among others Italy and Wales, presented the Council of Europe recommendation on children with imprisoned parents, family strategies developed in Scotland and Ireland. Children of Prisoners Europe (COPE) has been a member of the EuroPris expert group and was also involved in the discussions and presented their latest work.
 
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On 6-7 April 2017, the Family Relations expert group had a meeting in Helsinki, Finland hosted by the Criminal Sanctions Agency (RISE). The group presented the recent progress on the issues related to family and prison in their jurisdiction and discuss a report based on best practices. There were experts present from Croatia, Ireland, Austria, Romania, Czech Republic, Norway, Finland, Catalonia, Sweden, Slovenia, and two participants from the organisation Children of Prisoners in Europe (COPE). On 7 April, the meeting continued in Vanajan Prison (open female prison) in Hämeenlinna, where the prison governor talked about the female prisoners in Finland, and afterwards the expert had a tour around the prison. The experts presented the latest developments in their Prison Services and it appeared that the last meeting had inspired many to introduce new ideas and tools, such as: improved child friendly visiting areas, training modules for staff, information materials and brochures. Further work was done on the report of the expert group that will deal with visiting facilities, communication, community involvement, intervention programs and staff training.

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On 18-19 May 2016, the Croatian prison service hosted the first Family Relations expert meeting in Zagreb, Croatia comprising of 11 experts from European National Agencies (Czech Republic, Croatia, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Catalonia, Scotland, Romania and Slovenia). Children of Prisoners Europe (COPE) were invited to attend this meeting to contribute ideas and experiences about the subject. The meeting was planned ahead of the COPE conference (20 May).


The experts presented their countries’ best practices, existing initiatives and projects in relation to the developments of family relations in prison services. The group concluded that it is essential to create European standards for prisons on family relations. A working group report will be produced based on a collection of best practices according to these five pillars:

  • Visiting facilities (physical structure)
  • Community involvement
  • Communication
  • Intervention program
  • Staff training