The National Association of Official Prison Visitors (NAOPV) is a British
charity
Charity may refer to:
Giving
* Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons
* Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing
* Ch ...
which coordinates the work of United Kingdom Official
Prison Visitors (OPVs) and provides them with training and support.
The Association was formed in 1924, but traces its origins back to 1901, when prison visiting was first officially recognised. The Association became a registered charity in 2003.
Structure and functions
The
Lord Chancellor
The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...
is ex-officio President, and the Association is run at national level by a small
Executive Committee
A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...
elected by OPVs, and also by a General/Membership Secretary who may be an OPV and a member of the Association.
The Executive Committee maintains regular liaison with
Prison Service
His Majesty's Prison Service (HMPS) is a part of HM Prison and Probation Service (formerly the National Offender Management Service), which is the part of His Majesty's Government charged with managing most of the prisons within England and Wale ...
staff at national and regional level; contact is also maintained with agencies working with offenders and those having interest in penal affairs. A regular newsletter is sent to all OPVs.
The NAOPV is often approached by the media for information on prison visiting matters and has several times been asked to testify to a House of Commons Committee.
Branches
The NAOPV has a Branch in each prison.
The NAOPV sees Branches as strengthening the application and independence of OPVs by giving them group identity. Liaison with prison staff widens experience on both sides. The Branch Chairman and Secretary are points of contact for OPVs, prison staff and other Branches in the region. Branches have joint-strength, and receive support at regional and national level.
History
The first prison visitors in English and Welsh prisons were probably the family and friends of prisoners who came into prison bringing food and clothing, and this continues today with V.O. (Visiting Order) visits. Ministers of religion also made visits, as did officials carrying out inspections, but for many years there were few others. Early visitors included
John Wesley
John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...
who wrote of visits to
Newgate Prison
Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey Street just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, t ...
in London by Sarah Peters and Silas Todd and others who began visiting in October 1748. Sarah Martin of Yarmouth began prison visiting in 1810 and was mentioned by the prison inspectorate to be still visiting in 1835. Many names of these early visitors were not recorded.
John Howard (prison reformer)
John Howard FRS (2 September 1726 – 20 January 1790) was a philanthropist and early English prison reformer.
Birth and early life
Howard was born in North London, either in Hackney or Enfield. His father, also John, was a wealthy upholster ...
's 1777 book ''State of the Prisons'' and his testimonies in Parliament had raised awareness of prison conditions. It was, however, with the advent of
Elizabeth Fry
Elizabeth Fry (née Gurney; 21 May 1780 – 12 October 1845), sometimes referred to as Betsy Fry, was an English prison reformer, social reformer, philanthropist and Quaker. Fry was a major driving force behind new legislation to improve the tr ...
's visits to
Newgate Prison
Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey Street just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, t ...
in 1813 that prison visiting became something of "a cause". To enable co-operation between prison visitors she and others formed the "Ladies Association for the Female Prisoners in Newgate". In 1901 this organisation became a national one, the Lady Visitors' Association.
By 1900 members of this Association" were visiting young male prisoners in addition to females, and in 1922 this was officially recognised at the Boys' Prison at
Wandsworth
Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan
The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Gre ...
(subsequently transferred to
Wormwood Scrubs
Wormwood Scrubs, known locally as The Scrubs (or simply Scrubs), is an open space in Old Oak Common located in the north-eastern corner of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London. It is the largest open space in the borough, ...
). Gradually Lady Visitors began to visit adult male prisoners too, although for many years this was without official sanction.
It took far longer for men to become involved in the voluntary visiting of male prisoners in any official way, and it was not until
Herbert Gladstone
Herbert John Gladstone, 1st Viscount Gladstone, (7 January 1854 – 6 March 1930) was a British Liberal politician. The youngest son of William Ewart Gladstone, he was Home Secretary from 1905 to 1910 and Governor-General of the Union of South ...
's Committee on Prisons of 1895
[Christopher Harding, ‘'The Inevitable End of a Discredited System'? The Origins of the Gladstone Committee Report on Prisons, 1895’, Historical Journal, 31 (1988), pp. 591-608] that the idea gained any credence. Even then it was to be many years (the 1920s) before adult male prisoners were able to have the benefit of a male visitor on anything like a regular basis. This was because the presence in prison of a male chaplain was thought sufficient. In 1922 an organisation was formed, at first named "Men Visitors Association to Men"; this was soon changed to "The National Association of Prison Visitors" (NAPV).
This organisation was at first for men only, but in 1944 the two single sex groups amalgamated and kept the name of the National Association of Prison Visitors.
In 2003 the Association became a registered charity and changed its name to the present "National Association of Official Prison Visitors" (NAOPV), and at the present time promotes and encourages visiting by several hundred Official Prison Visitors in English and Welsh penal establishments.
References
External links
Official NAOPV websiteOfficial Prison Visitors HM Prison Service, February 2013 (archived)
{{Authority control
Prison charities based in the United Kingdom