By Karen Lloyd, Director of Justice and Health Services

It's fantastic to see HMPPS dedicating a week to families and relationships.

At Pact, we work every day alongside HMPPS colleagues to support people in prison and the families who stand beside them. Family and Relationships Week is a valuable opportunity to shine a light on that work, share good practice, and encourage a wider conversation about why relationships matter so much.

It's also an opportunity to recognise how much family services have evolved in recent years. Supporting relationships is about far more than facilitating visits. Across prisons, communities, schools, courts and healthcare settings, innovative approaches are helping people maintain family ties, reduce isolation and prepare for a more positive future – with a wide range of positive effects.

Why relationships matter

The experiences of families affected by imprisonment can often go unseen. When someone goes to prison, it is not only they who face major, life-altering challenges. Yet time and again, we see the remarkable strength, commitment and resilience that families show.

For many people in prison, families are a lifeline. A familiar voice on the phone. A reassuring presence on a visit. A reminder that they are loved, valued and connected to a future beyond custody. As Lord Farmer described, relationships can be the "golden thread" running through rehabilitation: helping people maintain hope, strengthen their sense of responsibility, and build positive futures.

Of course, families come in many forms. Not everyone in prison has family support, which is why the role of trusted friends, volunteers and wider networks is equally important. Through services such as our One-to-One Peer Visits and programmes that help people build positive connections, we see how meaningful relationships can reduce isolation and improve wellbeing.

Central to prison life

Supporting relationships isn't a nice added extra. It is increasingly recognised as good prison practice. HM Inspectorate of Prisons recently highlighted the "untapped potential" of family contact in prisons, identifying its contribution to safety, wellbeing and hope.

In my role as Pact's Director of Justice and Health Services, I regularly see the difference that strong partnerships between HMPPS, voluntary sector organisations and families can make. Beyond individual impacts, the benefits are felt by everyone, helping ensure safer prisons, a better working environment for prison staff, and reducing reoffending following release.

Across England and Wales, Pact works with HMPPS in 62 prisons, supporting hundreds of thousands of family visits each year and providing tailored help to people in prison and their loved ones. Last year alone, Pact Family and Visitors' Centres welcomed more than 522,000 visits, while our family engagement services helped thousands of people strengthen family relationships and improve their wellbeing.

Beyond visits

But supporting relationships isn't just about delivering high-quality visits, important though they are. It is also about finding creative ways to help people stay connected to those who matter most and ensuring families themselves receive the support they need.

Across Pact's services, this means supporting families in courts at some of the most difficult moments in their lives, helping children affected by parental imprisonment through training and resources for schools, and delivering specialist services such as Visiting Mum, which helps women in custody maintain positive relationships with their children. We are also working with healthcare providers our Listen to Families initiative, helping families and carers play a greater role in supporting the health and wellbeing of their loved ones in prison.

Family and Relationships Week is an opportunity to celebrate this work and the many activities taking place across the prison estate. It is also a chance to learn from one another and continue strengthening the partnerships that make this work possible.

I look forward to hearing about the innovative work taking place across HMPPS during the week, joining some of the Insights Sessions, and continuing our partnership to support families, strengthen relationships and create more hopeful futures for those affected by imprisonment.