What does it take to create truly family-friendly prisons? What skills and mindset shifts are needed by those working inside?
Family support can be a vital rehabilitative lifeline – offering emotional, practical, and financial assistance to people in prison, and helping them navigate their return to the community. But staying connected is rarely easy. Conflict, fear, stigma, and a host of social, logistical and financial barriers make it difficult for families to stay close.
Professionals working in the justice system – both in and outside of prisons – need specialised training to respond to these challenges. Whether it’s understanding the rights of the child, addressing the everyday difficulties faced by families with an imprisoned parent, or learning to mediate conflict, ongoing professional development is essential in this evolving field.
In this short interview, Kim Schlangen of Bremen Prison (Germany) explains how her team reinvented their prison’s family area through collaboration with local organisations. She shares how targeted staff training and exposure to good practices from across Europe gave her new insight into supporting children, families, and the fathers in her prison wing.
Watch the video interview below and discover how PROMOTE supports the development of the skills that make prisons more inclusive and family-oriented.
