For people in prison, maintaining contact with family and friends can provide reassurance, stability and a connection to life outside custody. A message from home, an update about a child or a conversation with someone they trust may seem small, but regular contact can help relationships survive long periods of separation. Family contact has therefore long been recognised as part of rehabilitation, rather than something separate from the work of custody. In 2017, Lord Farmer’s review placed family relationships at the centre of prison reform, describing them as a “golden thread” running through efforts to reduce reoffending. Ministry of Justice material published alongside the review reported that prisoners who received family visits were 39% less likely to reoffend.
HMPPS has since set out a policy framework to strengthen relationships with family, significant others, and friends. It recognises that these relationships can support wellbeing, safer custody, successful reintegration and reduced reoffending.
Distance, cost, caring responsibilities, work patterns and prison routines can all make regular contact difficult. For some families, an in-person visit may involve hours of travel, time away from work or arranging care for children.
When visits cannot happen frequently, secure communication can help maintain the relationship between the person in custody and those waiting outside.
Communication that is suitable for the prison environment
Secure messaging provides a practical way to maintain contact between visits. Secure video sessions can also complement in-person visits, helping families stay connected when distance, cost or personal circumstances make visits more difficult.
For the person in custody, receiving a message from home can provide an important sense of continuity. For families, it offers a practical way to maintain contact around work, school and caring responsibilities.
Communication in a prison environment cannot operate the same way as it does in the community. Contacts must be appropriately approved, risks need to be considered, and communication may need to be monitored or moderated. Supporting family relationships and maintaining security are not competing priorities; both must be built into the service from the beginning.
The challenge is to make communication accessible without weakening safeguarding or operational control. Secure systems can help staff manage approved contacts, maintain clear records and respond appropriately where concerns arise, while allowing families to stay connected.
Supporting families when visits are difficult
In-person visits remain an important part of family contact, but they are not always easy to arrange consistently. Long journeys, travel costs and caring or work responsibilities can all limit how often families are able to visit.
Visits can also be particularly difficult for children, who may face long journeys and an unfamiliar or intimidating environment.
Secure messaging provides a practical way to maintain contact between visits. Other services, including telephone calls and secure video sessions, are available and can complement that contact.
These channels do not replace the value of an in-person visit, but they can make communication more regular when distance, cost or personal circumstances get in the way.
In Scotland, secure video sessions provide an additional way for families to maintain face-to-face contact when attending a prison in person is difficult.
Regular communication can help relationships remain active rather than becoming limited to occasional visits. It can allow parents to hear about school, partners to share everyday news and families to continue offering encouragement throughout a sentence.
Supporting secure communication in practice
Delivering secure communication in custody requires more than simply providing access to a digital channel. The service must fit within prison processes, local policy and safeguarding requirements, while remaining straightforward for families and people in custody to use.
Unilink’s U-Connect services have been developed specifically for custodial environments. They bring together secure messaging, payments and secure video sessions, where applicable, supported by staff tools for oversight, moderation, and audit.
Behind each communication channel sits a series of safeguards. Contacts can be approved, communication can be monitored or moderated in line with policy, and records can be retained to support consistency and accountability.
Bringing these services together can give staff a clearer view of how communication is being used, while enabling people in custody to maintain appropriate social, legal and professional connections.
A joined-up approach can also reduce fragmented processes and help staff manage communication more consistently across different channels.
Communication as part of rehabilitation
Strong relationships outside prison can provide stability during custody and practical support after release. Maintaining those relationships requires more than occasional contact; communication must remain possible between visits and within the practical constraints families face.
Secure communication helps prisons support that contact while keeping safeguarding, monitoring and operational control built into the process. It is not simply a convenience. It is part of the wider infrastructure that enables prisons to balance rehabilitation, family wellbeing, public protection and security.
Find out more about how U-Connect helps prisoners securely maintain social, legal and professional connections.