Chaplaincy
Prison chaplaincy teams in England are made up of full time chaplains and volunteers from the major world faiths. They work to help build bridges between the community and those working or serving sentences inside the prison, as well as offering spiritual support to prisoners and their families.
They are involved in leading worship, teaching, visiting, counselling the beareaved and providing advice where appropriate. In some cases they participate in developing parenting classes, preparing prayer resources and a
Prisoners can experience spiritual and emotional problems, in the same way as other people, which can be intensified by the feelings associated with loss of freedom or their own response to the experience that led to them being placed in custody. Chaplains have an important role to play in helping to deal with some of these issues and in providing spiritual and emotional support to prison staff.
The Revd Kevin Northover, was involved in establishing a chaplaincy team in the Les Nicolles Prison, Guernsey, where he was a prison chaplain for five years until 2007. Within this period with the encouragement of the Bishop of Winchester, a chapel was established at the prison and the prison authorities accepted that a substantive post within the establishment for a chaplain was needed. The chaplaincy team included a Church of England priest. a Methodist Minister, a Salvation Army Captain and a Roman Catholic Priest. The team was also able to cater for the needs of any Muslims through contacts with HMP Chaplaincy Services.
One of the chaplaincy projects was to involve the prisoners making wooden, hand held crosses in a Mothers' Union initiative in the Diocese of Winchester. The crosses were designed to be held comfortably between the fingers and serve as a perfect aid to prayer for people with arthritic hands or poor vision.
Churches in Guernsey and the local Mothers' Union have also been involved in serving refreshments to prison visitors since 2004. There is also a befrienders scheme where church people volunteer to collect and transport children who need to visit a parent in prison.
Winchester Cathedral was involved with a scheme to engage prisoners in making wooden chalets for its Christmas market held in the Cathedral Close in 2007, as part of their City and Guilds carpentry course.
More information
> Purpose of Prison Chaplaincy (HM Prison Service)
> The role of Prison Chaplains (HM Prison Service)