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Churches across England & Wales will mark Prisoners’ Sunday this weekend, offering people across our community of faith with an opportunity to consider how we, as individuals and as a Church, are serving our brothers and sisters affected by imprisonment.

Our prisons are in crisis with record numbers of people behind bars. Inspectors regularly report instances of violence, self-harm, vermin and people languishing in cells with nothing to do. At the same time, too many people are released with no home, no job, no family, and no hope.

The ripple effects of this crisis are felt well beyond the prison walls.

The lives of hundreds of thousands of families and children are impacted as they serve a hidden sentence. Having a mother, father, husband, or wife in prison can have a devastating impact – more than half of families report that they are struggling to afford basic necessities for themselves and their children.

Prisoners’ families, prisoners and people with previous convictions often find themselves on the margins of society due to the social stigma associated with imprisonment. They are often forgotten or come lower down on the list of causes to ‘hold a hand out to’.

Catholic charity Pact has been helping prisoners, their families, and their children for more than 125 years, offering them hope and the chance to turn their lives around.

Pact’s work draws on the values of our faith: dignity, solidarity, and subsidiarity. Pact charity operates in sixty-seven prisons in England and Wales - including five in our diocese - and is attached to courts and probation services working across the criminal justice system. To find out more about Pact’s work and mission click on the button below.

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