Don’t forget the prisoners…

For a while now I have been what is known as an Official Prison Visitor (OPV), a voluntary position which links up a regular person like myself with an inmate who otherwise wouldn’t get any visitors. The scheme is generally organised by the Prison Chaplaincy team and involves an initial visit, a relatively small amount of paperwork, an interview and a security brief. Becoming a OPV is fairly easy and once completed you commit to meet with a prisoner a minimum of once every six weeks. The prisoners you visit are those, as I’ve said, who would otherwise not get a visitor (my bloke hadn’t seen anyone from outside for 6 years) and helps the prisoner on an emotional level and thereby helps the staff who guard the prisoner. The routine in prison is pretty much the same everyday so any change is welcome and a visit seems to be a highlight for him. The guy I go and see, and he suggests this is similar for many of the prisoners, is a story of a difficult childhood, with few people who cared for him, a rebellious adolescence with few real possibilities for him and a spate of crimes usually fueled by drugs or alcohol. Now that he is inside, he has completed a drug rehabilitation course and now is qualified to help others with their own drug problem. None of this excuses his past crimes, which he recognises as mistakes, but I often wonder if given similar situations I wouldn’t have ended up in his positions. There but for the grace of God go I!

I’m writing because from my experience there do not seem to be that many OPV’s and it’s something which I want Christians to really consider. Now at first glance I admit it is a little daunting, particularly if like me you’ve never visited a prison before. But having been a few times now it isn’t actually all that bad. The staff at my prison are helpful and the prisoners are just glad to have someone to talk too. As Christians we are called to serve our community and be a light to all those around us and this will include for many of us a prison somewhere within driving distance. The role of an OPV is not evangelistic and is certainly something which people of any or no faith can do, but given that in meeting with a prisoner is about sharing lives our faith is guaranteed to come up. I’ve had a number of good conversations with my guy, who is very happy to talk about almost anything and is genuinely grateful for the time I’ve given to him. As Christians we need to be caring and reaching out to everyone and prisoners are no exception!

If this is something you have time to do then why not visit the National Association of Official Prison Visitor’s website which you can find here!

For an amazing insight into life behind bars from the point of view of a Prison Chaplain read ‘The Cross Behind Bars’ by Jenny Cooke which you can find here!