A CUMBRIAN woman has started a support network to help what she sees as the 'unseen victims' of people's crimes - the families of those who are convicted.
Often these victims are never considered, although they are completely innocent. Millom woman Emma Wells found herself in this situation when her ex-partner was jailed seven years ago for a serious offence, and she felt alone.
She reached out to different support groups during this time, but last year, she sold everything and went travelling whilst writing a book about the situation called 'Unseen Victims' which she published on Amazon. She also started her own support group with the same name.
The support group now has a crisis telephone number, a live chat feature and a Facebook group.
Emma has helped hundreds of people with her group, and covers a range of scenarios as, she says, you are never taught what to do in these situations.
Topics covered have included death in custody, attending court, moving between prisons, how to make prison telephone calls, and answering questions like 'do people have affairs?'
Her group also tools people with knowledge about how you can help a jailed friend or relative from the outside, such as approaching the prison chaplain who can do a welfare check.
Emma said: "You name it, we help. You would have a million questions running around your head."
Emma spoke about what she helps people with further. She said: "We teach people to be proactive in this situation, not reactive.
"When this happened to me, I was in a well-paying job but I was spending so much on prison visits, I had got myself into debt.
"We create a safe space and help people who are incredibly vulnerable. We help a lot of people, but often some of them are already in crisis and we want to help people pre-empt something that can happen and tool these people up."
Emma, who lives two miles away from Haverigg prison, explained that she wants to be able to create crisis payments in the future for people to be able to claim expenses such as petrol.
Often families and close ones of those sent to prison are met with stigma due to their relationship with a prisoner. Emma said: "Not many speak on behalf of the unseen victims. I am using this as a springboard. We have millions of articles about prisoners, but the unseen victims deserve a voice too."
Emma is also passionate about the prison and justice system in the UK.
She said: "There are 86,000 in prison right now. Prison statistics predict that by 2027 there will be 106,000. That is 20,000 people who haven’t even committed a crime yet. Some of these people will go to prison for 28 days and lose everything."
You can buy Emma's book 'Unseen Victims' on Amazon or visit her website under the same title.
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