WELCOME TO THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF OFFICIAL PRISON VISITORS.

"........No praise can be too high for the work of the voluntary National Association of (Official) Prison Visitors attached to every prison."

General Sir David Ramsbotham (now Lord Ramsbotham of Kensington), HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, 1995-2001, in his book "PRISONGATE" published by The Free Press 2003.

 

" Prison visiting is to do with friendship. It creates an informal friendly relationship which is concerned primarily with neither prisoners nor problems but with persons. Not only do Prison Visitors want to extend to those imprisoned something of the emotional and intellectual enrichment experienced through friends. They particularly try to encourage the development of a constructive use of a prison sentence whereby (inmates) gain both a sense of belonging to the community and the realisation that they themselves have the ability to contribute to society's wellbeing. The contact between the 'outside' and the 'inside' enables both to understand each other better."

 

(A Study of Prison Visiting. S.R. Lochhead, 1993)