Prison visits and desistance: a human rights perspective

The important role of family contact in the desistance process is almost universally acknowledged and enshrined in policy on prison visits in England and Wales. In the first instance, this chapter challenges these dominant narratives and questions the extent to which such a discourse is legitimate and appropriate. This chapter then argues that the system of linking visits entitlement to prisoners’ incentive and earned privileges status is misguided and pernicious policy. Rather than fostering the Article 8 right to respect for private and family life of prisoners’ and their families, this policy fundamentally undermines it and the right to rehabilitation that is central to the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights.