Introduction

This chapter explores women’s and families’ experiences of navigating the criminal justice system (CJS) once ‘a loved one’ (Masson and Booth, 2018) is arrested and imprisoned. We draw on our experiences as frontline community workers within Himaya Haven CIC – a leading Birmingham-based organisation specialising in supporting families with someone in prison and/or custody. We explore and highlight the multi-layered and complex realities families of prisoners face. As discussed later, our support is accessible to all, but we find that most of our clients belong to groups situated within the category of Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and are women. Therefore, this chapter draws attention to both cultural and gendered issues regarding blame and stigma, financial difficulties and children and young people’s experiences. Academic scholarship and data from third and public sectors consistently illustrate how the social, domestic, financial, health and psychological hardships of families are often exacerbated by imprisonment (Murray and Farrington, 2005; Arditti et al, 2010; Dickie, 2013; Farmer, 2017). Not only does this place enormous pressure on loved ones supporting an imprisoned person, but it has ripple effects throughout society. Quoting Lord Farmer (2017), family bonds are ‘the golden thread’, playing a pivotal role in reducing and, to a degree, stopping reoffending and inter-generational crime. Supporting previous research (Codd, 2008; Masson and Booth, 2018), our frontline practitioner experiences have highlighted that who constitutes ‘prisoners’ families’ is not clear cut, and not all family bonds are supportive and positive. Accordingly, we identify two types of prisoners’ families requiring support:

• • ‘Those supporting a family member in prison and are struggling practically and emotionally’ (Bibi, 2021, np);

• • ‘People who need the CJS to help shield themselves from [a] family member in prison’ (Bibi, 2021, np).

Presently, 98 per cent of families who seek support from Himaya Haven are from the first category and so our services are often targeted towards this group (Bell, 2021). Our frontline work highlights the real issues that need to be considered at the intersection of race, culture, faith, gender and age when looking at prisoners’ families. Such factors pose an experience of the CJS that is individual to each family member.