Each prison has a Chaplaincy team composed of Chaplains from the main World Faiths. They are often complemented by volunteers who make a valuable contribution to the work of Prison Chaplaincy.

What?

Volunteers bring with them a variety of specific skills and gifts. They may:

• Assist with services of worship
• Help to lead religious instruction classes
• Participate in human relationship and parenting classes
• Counsel the bereaved
• Befriend selected prisoners
• Undertake administrative duties and prepare prayer letters
• Arrange visits by external groups
• Help prisoners' families and friends in the Visitors' Centre (see Visitors' Centres)

One of the most distinctive contributions a volunteer can make is by providing a link with the local community (see Community Chaplaincy).

The work is both challenging and rewarding. Most volunteers find that it provides an opportunity to make a positive difference to the lives of some of the most vulnerable and marginalised members of the community.

Who?

Volunteers come from a variety of backgrounds and religious traditions. All volunteers should have the endorsement of their own faith community or sponsoring organisation and should be prepared to undertake training. Clinks (info@clinks.org) has produced a training pack 'Volunteering in Prison' which contains useful information.

"I became involved through attending the Carol Service ... There was an urgent need for people to whom prisoners could talk fairly freely ... It has made a big difference to my perception of prisoners ... So many have begun life with everything against them ... Our job is not to moralise, only to listen ... We can only be there; this may be enough".
A Chaplaincy volunteer at a prison in Yorkshire

How?

Contact the Chaplains' office at your local prison. You can find contact details at the Prison Service web site (www.prisonservice.gov.uk). If necessary, you can obtain contact details from Chaplaincy Headquarters (See Addresses).