| Description | In 1952, Warwickshire Monthly Meeting received a letter from Leonard A. Bromfield on behalf of several members of Monthly Meeting relating to their concern that Friends were not involved in more active service among prisoners at Winson Green Prison. As a result, the Prisoners' Aid Committee was appointed. Its initial purposes was to explore the possibilities of work among prisoners, ex-prisoners and their dependents and provide Friends with information regarding prison visiting, to encourage suitable Friends, in particular men, to become prison visitors and to identify what help was required by the Birmingham branch of the Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society (established in 1947) so that this could be made known to Friends. Over time, these widened to include monitoring and commenting on legislative and other official proposals relating to the local criminal justice system, informing local Friends about penal issues, uniting local Quakers involved in different disciplines of the criminal justice system to develop a Quaker view of the philosophy of criminal justice, and supporting Quaker Prison Ministers and other Friends involved in the criminal justice system. The Committee went through several name changes as its remit widened.
In the first year, concerned by the lack of occupation for the prisoners at Winson Green, the Prisoners' Welfare Committee asked Friends to donate books, and wool, cotton and fabric for knitting and sewing classes. They also asked for donations of good clothing which could be given to the Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society for ex-prisoners and compiled a list of potential employers who might consider employing ex-offenders. They encouraged Friends to volunteer as tutors for evening classes, to become Prison Visitors for the male section of the prison, to take on the role of prison chaplain or take up the work of warders. 12 Friends gave lectures to prisoners on subjects such as music, art, literature, and put on 2 evenings of films.
By 1957, the Committee had increased to include 5 Prison Visitors and members of the Committee were taking an active part in the Discharged Prisoners Aid Committee and the Prison Visitors Committee attached to Winson Green prison, as well as prison visiting on a weekly basis. The Quaker Prison Chaplain held Meeting for Worship every two weeks, and Friends had donated books, leaflets, periodicals and chess boards which in some case opened up opportunities for Prison Visitors to engage more easily in discussions with prisoners, with one Friend regularly playing chess with inmates. Talks for women prisoners continued each summer. The Committee made suggestions for improvements in the general running of the prison such as improved sanitary conditions, better lighting, the installation of radios for prisoners, increased pay for the little work the inmates were allowed to undertake, and the need for information about the appeals procedure to be made available to prisoners under threat of execution and so on.
Concerned by the lack of occupation provided for prisoners at Winson Green, Friends took the initiative and formed the first of several committees composed of leading industrialists and others to consider how inmates could be given work and the issue was raised with MPs who brought the matter before the House of Commons. After negotiations with the prison authorities, Leslie G. Harris, of Harris Brushes Ltd. who was a Quaker Prison Visitor was given permission in 1958 to install a brush bristle reclamation plant in the prison grounds in that year which provided 55 prisoners with 19 hours per week of employment. This continued into the mid-1960s. Although many attempts were made to encourage other industries to follow the example of Harris Brushes Ltd., negotiations with the Prison Commission were difficult and permission for this and other work related tasks for the prisoners was refused. Finding a solution to the lack of work for prisoners continued to be something the Committee campaigned for throughout the 1960s and 1970s but little progress was made.
Other areas in which the Committee made practical contributions were housing provision for ex-offenders and help for prisoners' families. From the late 1950s, the Committee was involved in establishing Birmingham's first hostel for ex-prisoners who had no home or employment. Under the auspices of the Margery Fry Memorial Fund (later Trust) which had been established after the death of the prisoner reformer, Margery Fry (1874-1958), sufficient funding was provided for a site to be obtained at Forrest Road in Moseley. Local Friends helped to renovate and prepare the building for use as a hostel and in 1961 Newell House opened. Four Friends were on the Committee connected to the running of the hostel which was financed by residents of the hostel and contributions from the public. By 1964, Friends had established other hostels for ex-offenders in Acocks Green, Coventry and Selly Park.
In 1962, the Committee made an appeal for Friends to donate toys which could be distributed at Christmas to the children of those in prison. Following a generous response from Friends, it was observed when delivering the presents that many of the families were living in poverty and so food parcels were arranged. This was the start of the annual Christmas Parcels event which Central England Quakers still run. By 1967, 120 parcels were delivered and over the next decade this continued to increase. Due to the large quantity of parcels, in 1970, responsibility for the Christmas parcels appeal was taken over by Young Friends.
Also in the 1960s, Friends opened a Wives and Families Centre opposite the prison gates at Winson Green, which was funded by money from a Friends' Trust and operated by a team of 46 volunteers from a range of organisations. The Centre allowed families to share their experiences and support one another. They were also involved with St Leonards Housing Association Ltd. which provided homes for ex-prisoners and their families.
As well as practical help, Committee members aimed to ensure that they kept themselves informed of developments within the prison service so that they could raise awareness of prison conditions, the need for rehabilitation for ex-prisoners and so on amongst the wider public. They did this by ensuring that their members sat on other committees such as the Discharged Prisoners Aid Committee, the Prison Visitors Committee, the Newell House [hostel for ex-offenders] Committee, the Committee for the Abolition of the Death Penalty and the national Quaker committee, the Meeting for Sufferings Penal Affairs Committee. They visited other prisons, the magistrates courts, and once introduced, the newly created hostels, organisations working to rehabilitate prisoners, and the probation service.
To publicise the issues surrounding prisoners and prisons, Committee members visited rotary clubs, guilds, adult schools and other organisations giving talks and once a year they organised a public meeting where issues surrounding prisoners and prison conditions, penal reform, the work of prison visitors, the need for rehabilitation of prisoners, etc were discussed. When they thought it would be helpful, they wrote letters which were published in the local and national press, and they contacted Members of Parliament to raise issues for debate in the House of Commons. They campaigned on issues such as the abolition of the use of strait jackets, birching and dietary deprivation as forms of punishment, the abolition of the death penalty, and called for improved sanitary conditions, the need for meaningful employment, rehabilitation and support for ex-offenders, and support for the families of prisoners. They also campaigned for a reprieve when executions at Winson Green were imminent.
From the 1970s, Friends turned their attention to detention centres, young offenders, and prisoners with mental health issues and learning difficulties. In the 1980s and 1990s, they worked to raise awareness of issues such as the treatment of female and ethnic minority prisoners, young offenders, restorative justice, mental health and crime. They continued to be involved in work as Quaker Prison Ministers and Prison Visitors at local prisons.
Known as the Community Justice Group by the late 1980s, it was laid down in 1999 and then subsequently reconvened. |