Erlestoke Prison is at the forefront of moves to prevent the children of offenders following in father’s footsteps.

Wiltshire’s only prison, which has gained a reputation for the quality of its education courses for inmates, has been selected to host a family intervention unit, where officers and education specialists will work with the children of prisoners to ensure they do not follow their parents into a life crime. The unit will open in January.

Prison governor Andrew Rogers said: “The statistics are chilling. Over 200,000 children in the country have a parent in custody and it has been estimated that two thirds of boys who have a parent in prison will end up in prison themselves.”

The prison will be working with children’s charity Barnardos with parents’ evenings and homework clubs for children of offenders, while the offenders themselves will be offered classes in how to be a better parent.

Mr Rogers said: “They will be shown how to be a role model for their children – in the right way. There is space on the unit for 40 prisoners.”
Although the prisoners come from all over the country, contact will be established in between visits using video conferencing techniques.

During prison visits, prison officers will ensure that the children spend quality time with their fathers.

The prison is also the preferred site for a personality disorder unit, which will also come on stream next year.

Mr Rogers said: “Erlestoke is more and more being seen as a national resource prison and is the only rehabilitation prison in the South West.”

Like every other prison in the country, Erlestoke has its problems with illicit drugs but the prison has a robust testing procedure in place and there have been no positive drug tests there for the past three months.

Mr Rogers said: “We are working well with the police and the local community and the parish councils of Erlestoke and Great Cheverell have been very supportive.”

Pop star Midge Ure visited the prison during the recent National Suicide Prevention Week to open a new sensory garden at the prison.