Voluntary Work in Prisons: Providing Services in the Penal Environment

The role of voluntary sector organisations (VSOs) is well established and rapidly developing, both in prison settings specifically and in criminal justice more broadly. In this chapter we examine the role of volunteers as service providers in prisons in England and Wales. We contextualise this field of study with some of the policy changes that have been introduced in England and Wales in recent years, and then present data derived from a national study of VSOs working in criminal justice based on interviews with over 250 offenders, criminal justice staff and VSO representatives. We focus in particular on the benefits and limitations of voluntary work in prisons from the perspectives of those directly affected by such work, as well as exploring the specific features and challenges of the partnerships between VSOs and criminal justice personnel that evolve in such prison settings. We examine how these in turn can impact upon both voluntary sector work and prison cultures, for example, in the perceived legitimacy of voluntary sector services. Although in this chapter we make reference to ‘voluntary sector organisations’ (VSOs), it is important to note that many of these organisations will have paid employees, if only in small numbers, who are employed to provide support to volunteers. Where a situation or experience that is specific to unpaid volunteers is discussed, they will be described as ‘volunteers’. Where the context requires a discussion of both paid employees and volunteers, they are referred to as ‘VSO staff’ or ‘VSO workers’.