Coronavirus: Children denied contact with parents in prison

Despite lockdown easing across the UK , thousands of children have still not seen their parents for four months. An estimated 310,000 children have a parent in prison, and Oxford-based charity Children Seen and Heard have said their needs for contact with their parents are being overlooked. Visits for prisoners have only just restarted in a few prisons, meanwhile video calling remains limited elsewhere. A report from the Human Rights Committee in June stated that disrupting the parent-child relationship of imprisoned parents risks an infringement of children's rights.

Dr Shona Minson appeared in an interview in a BBC News item on this issue, she can be seen sharing her insight and expertise. Her decade of research, studying the impact of parental imprisonment on children, has examined the experiences of children and she raises concern that the lack of contact between children and their parents in prison during the pandemic may have lasting repercussions.