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Families of prisoners want “In”

A survey before and after the vote shows drastic shift in opinions towards Brexit

Unilink – a world leader in prisoners self-service and offender management asked the users about their view on Brexit before and after the vote

  • 42% of the surveyed declared that they want UK to Remain in the EU a year after the vote, as opposed to 25% before 23rd June 2016
  • Only 37% of the people want UK to Leave now, while in 2016 before the referendum 44% wanted out of EU
  • Before 30% were uncertain but today only 20% say that they do not know

Friends and family of offenders serving time in British prisons want UK to remain part of the European Union. This shows a survey on pre and post Brexit vote opinions carried out among people who are in a regular contact with inmates. Unilink, which is the world leader in prisoner self-service and offender management, carried out the survey. One of the Unilink’s services is Email-a-Prisoner which helps inmates stay in touch with their loved ones, proven to lower the chances of re-offending. The service operates in 98% of all UK prisons for over nine years and delivers over a million messages per year. Unilink asked its users – the friends and family of prisoners, on their view on Brexit just before the Referendum and now a year after the official results are known.

42% want UK to remain part of the European Union, only 37% want the country to leave the union and 20% are uncertain. A year earlier the situation was much different – only 25% wanted Britain to stay in EU, 44% supported Brexit and 30% said they do not know. This shows a drastic shift in opinions among the surveyed.

80% of the interviewed participants are female. The majority of them – 40% are in the age group between 25 and 39 years, followed by 40 to 60 years old. The results also show that most of those participants are on a very low income. 29% declared that they earn less £10 000 per year, and another 27% survive on less than £20 000 annual income. Only 5% of the participants pointed that their earnings are around or over £60 000 per year.

Unilink’s secure email service allows messages to be sent to and from prisons rapidly, while ensuring that security requirements are maintained.  This works with Unilink’s prisoner self-service system that enables messages to be delivered securely to and from prisoners through biometric kiosks, in-cell devices and tablets.

Email-a-prisoner, which helps family and friends communicate easily with prisoners to maintain relationships that are key to reducing reoffending, has also been awarded ‘Best Citizen App’ and has also been recognised with the award of the overall 2015 Digital Leader.  In 2016 Unilink won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation.

What our customers say about Queen’s Award Winning Email a Prisoner:

“I find both email-a-prisoner and the secure payment service fantastic. I mainly use the email system and at HMP Kilmarnock my partner was able to reply which was a great way of keeping in contact. More Scottish prisons should have the reply service as it promotes family contact and also gives longer serving prisoners an insight into modern technology!” (LM, Ayrshire)

“I found this service fantastic as we could correspond with each other very easily and quickly and Kilmarnock had the reply service which helped me hugely as I suffer from depression and we could email each other back and forward and it was more private that speaking on a phone. 

He has now moved to Addiewell and not having the reply service there has put a huge strain on us emotionally.” (CS, Glasgow)

“I thought the service was brilliant, it was fast and emails were normally exchanged the same day unless after a certain time at night. This service was more ecologically valid than writing letters to prisons and could be said to be a more sympathetic approach for young adults and kids who want and need to keep in contact with parental prisoners.” (GB, Ayrshire)

“Another great idea, it is a fantastic and lovely way for my children to keep in contact with their father. It saves all the unnecessary anticipation waiting for the postman with your next letter.” (KH, Greater Manchester)

“I would just like to say thank you for providing such an amazing service, my husband went to prison last week and I missed his reception phone call, that night I found your service emailed him and he received it the next morning. He was absolutely delighted to hear from me and know I was OK. It’s such a good service I have used it every day and it’s so good to be able to keep in contact with my husband being able to pass information on quickly without waiting for the post. He also loves receiving these messages everyday too!!” (LW Bedfordshire)

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For enquiries and support on Email a Prisoner, Secure Payment Services, Video Sessions, neatPhone and Patient Mail, contact support@unilink-technology-services.com