North East Prison After Care Service

MORPETH ROTARY AND THE FAMILIES OF NORTH EAST PRISONERS

Liz Arthur of the North East Prison Aftercare Service (NEPACS) has a background as a youth and community worker and in child management. She works with His Majesty's Prison Northumberland and has spent the last 8 years with the NEPACS charity. It began in 1882 as the Durham Discharged Prisoners Aid Society. Some of the work was taken over by the Probation Service in 1962. NEPACS took over responsibility for a number of prison visitor centres and prison play areas and provided some short caravan holidays and small grants. It took on some part time workers and had 100 volunteer helpers. They now also do independent prison visits and help look after children in the care system, to give them stable role models. Children who were in care are over represented in the prison population. There are seven prisons in the region. As well as HMP Northumberland, the only privately run prison, the others are Frankland, Low Newton the only local prison for women, Durham, Kirklevington Grange, Deerbolt and Holme House at Stockton. The NE prison population is 5,500 men and 340 women. The oldest prisoner in the UK is 104. 

HMP Northumberland has many visits from families on Teesside. For a 2.30 pm visit by bus and train a mother with three young children would need to leave home at 7.30 am to arrive on time. One woman regularly travels from Penzance. Liz played a very moving DVD of children with a parent in prison, about their feelings and what their lives were like.