Families of prisoners: pathways to policy impact

Following a recent review (Farmer Report 2017) on the importance of prisoners' family links, it has become clear that prisoners' families play an important role within the prison system. However, on a policy level, prisoners' families are often invisible and their needs unaddressed.

Principal investigator: Dr Anna Kotova

This programme of activities seeks to bring together Early Career Researchers (ECRs), senior academics and key policymakers in order to create a toolkit for policy engagement in this often politically unpopular context. In doing so, it aims to equip ECRs with the skills necessary for generating policy impact, and to ensure policymakers also have an opportunity to inform academics as to how best to generate such impact. The collective wealth of research on prisoners' families will be, in turn, used to inform discussions with policymakers. The publications generated, moreover, will be of use to other ECRs working in areas of research that have little political support.