Book charity hails success of Serco prison pilot
UK literacy charity, The Children’s Book Project has hailed its Serco prison pilot a triumph, with 8000 books collected by Serco staff, and over 8800 books gifted to children of parents currently housed in Serco prisons.
Following a successful two-year trial in Serco-run prisons, the charity is now gearing up to roll out its book gifting programme ‘Share a Story’ across prisons in the UK.
Helping prisoners stay in touch with their families
Kirstin Knell, Corporate Partnerships Manager for The Children’s Book Project, helped develop the pilot with Serco.
She explains:“In 2021 in partnership with Serco, we began collecting books, setting up free bookshops, and allowing prisoners to come and choose books for their children, write an accompanying letter, and have them posted out.
“These books are often the only thing which a parent can send their child while they are in prison so the importance of them should not be underestimated.”
Reoffending rates are reduced
Kirstin continues: “The benefits of the scheme are immense. Government research shows that parents who stay in touch with their children while they’re in prison are 39% less likely to reoffend.
“Despite this, many prisoners dissociate themselves from their families on entering prison, either from a sense of shame or as a coping mechanism.
"Share a Story provides an accessible, low pressure means of engaging with family members and building / rebuilding relationships. It also helps promote greater levels of literacy in both the adults and their children.
“We had such a great response from prisoners and their families, and from Serco prison staff, that we decided to roll it out nationwide.”
Social Value in action
Frank Spraggs, Head of Social Value in UK&E for Serco, helped foster the partnership between Serco and The Children’s Book Project.
He said: “The success of the book pilot in our prisons demonstrates that Share a Story has wide reaching benefits for prisoners, their families, and the community.
“Through enjoyment of a shared activity, it helps to build a rapport between prisoners and their families, supports greater emotional connections, and also motivates prisoners to improve their own literacy as well as that of their children.
“This is very much echoed in the positive feedback from our prison staff, who felt a great sense of achievement in helping to deliver this scheme.
“We’re proud to be in partnership with The Children’s Book Project and look forward to continuing to support them in the important work they do.”
Tackling book poverty
Share a Story enables children who have a parent in prison to receive up to 10 books a year, which that parent can also read to them over the phone. The scheme aims to help tackle book poverty and bridge the gap between a child and their parent in prison.All prisons in England and Wales are eligible to sign up for the initiative which can be run via the family liaison team, library service, PACT team, resettlement team or other department.
Kirstin concluded: “We’re so grateful for the support from Serco. They’ve helped run book drives to collect books, built book huts, and run prison book shops. They’ve also gifted us a mobile van, which is called Betsy, named after the late Queen, which delivers books to primary schools around the London area.
“We’re delighted that Serco will be continuing to partner with us for another academic year, and we’re excited to build on our initial success so that we can help even more prisoners and their families.”
