Families of prisoners can be left stigmatised and isolated at Christmas, according to a charity aiming to help them.
The Prison Fellowship NI is a faith-based charity that focuses on supporting those families left behind when a member is serving time.
Its CEO Robin Scott said they were helping hundreds of families this year as part of their Christmas Hope initiative, which also sees a Christmas card sent to every prisoner.
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"At Christmas time, we are very aware that so many people are impacted by the challenges of not having a loved one at home," Robin said.
"Prisoners as you can appreciate, a man or woman breaks the law, justice is right that that man or woman is punished, however it leaves a partner, children and family at home who are not guilty of a crime.
"That brings stigma, it brings shame, it brings fear, many of them feel exceedingly isolated in their own communities or even amongst their own families sometimes.
"The other side of that is that folk think 'you do the crime, you do the time'.
"They don't think about the implications it has on the family circle, that child or partner is simply guilty of being a member of the family, nothing else.
"We often say the family serves a silent sentence, they serve a sentence that no judge ever hands down."
One of the ways that PFNI helps is through sending out hampers and toy parcels to those families struggling.
"This year we've had over 560 hampers and over 720 parcels of toys and that is being delivered across the province," Robin added.
"We have involved volunteers to make that happen, to ensure every item is checked as the hampers are put together.
"And we ensure under our GDPR obligations that everyone who receives a hamper is happy to receive one. This year, the NI Prison Service and Probation Board NI, as in other years, have got behind us."
Robin told Belfast Live that although the support provides a short-term boost for families it also serves a long-term purpose as well.
"The reality is that if a man or woman in prison has reasonably a decent relationship with their family, the chances of rehabilitation are significantly improved post-release," he said.
"Part of our goal is to support those relationships as far as is possible. We're not able to transform every situation but we will endeavour to."
The PFNI CEO said that their work can be immensely satisfying at times and is taken to heart by those they help.
"We pick up referrals from prisoners we are working with on the inside, we pick up details about their family, the ages of their children and that, so the gift is very specific to the child or children we're supporting," he said.
"We had a scenario where we phoned a family and the mother was just blown away and said 'I can put my head on the pillow and sleep knowing that somebody has thought about me and my children'."
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