An announcement posted on the prison website yesterday gives details of the arrangements for prison social visits over the Christmas period. Visits from those living in tier 3 areas will be permitted.
Resumption of Social Visits
HMP Peterborough has announced that social visits are to be re-introduced now that the period of national lockdown has ended. Some restrictions will apply and visits will not be possible by anyone from a tier 3 area. Further details can be found on the Sodexo website here.
An Update on Social Visits
A notice on the Sodexo website this morning announces the suspension of social visits during the current phase of national restrictions up to 2nd December. Full details can be found here.
Annual Report
The FOPP chair’s Annual Report for 2020 has been added to the Members Area of the website under Reports. You will need to login to view that page.
New Items
Two new items have been added to the website today. The first update is a new section under the COVID-19 tab, entitled How to Wear a Face Covering. Any of our employees/volunteers going into the prison from now on should refer to this guidance.
The second update is the addition of our COVID-19 Risk Assessments for those going into the prison. They can be found in the Reports section under our Members Area tab and you will need to login to view them.
Update from the Director General of Prisons
The latest message from the Director General of Prisons, concerning the operation of visits in the light of increased COVID-19 restrictions across the country, has been posted today on the Sodexo prison website.
New Section Added
We have added a new section to the website today. It can be found in the Members’ Area, under Reports. This is where we will accumulate such items as annual reports and statements of accounts. You will see that we have started off with the accounts and explanatory notes for the financial year ending 30th June 2020. You will need to login with your membership details to view these items.
Message to Volunteers from our Chair
Today, volunteers have received an email from our Chair of Directors, Jen, which reads as follows:
Dear All
I hope you’ve had a good summer, even if it has been limited by coronavirus.
I am disappointed to tell you that the other FOPP directors and I have decided to cancel the annual meeting due to be held on 13th October. You are probably not surprised by this, but it is a shame that we are still not able to meet up. Government guidance still discourages/prohibits gatherings of large groups, unless it is necessary for work, voluntary or charitable services, and I do not think that we can argue that the meeting is necessary. In any case, I think there would be practical difficulties in holding it. I will, however, send something round giving you a round-up of the year – it might be quite short as half of that year has been in lockdown. Having said that, things have been going on, which I will be pleased to update you on.
As I hope you know, I regard FOPP as an organisation made up of all of you. We would not exist without you and your willingness to give up your time for people who often have very little. I know we’ve not been able to do this for the last 6 months, but I much appreciate your continued support and interest. I’m sure lockdown has not been easy for you, but we know that it will probably have been much harder for the residents of HMP Peterborough.
It is so difficult to say when we will be able to return and how that return will be managed to reduce risk to volunteers, residents and staff. However, I do feel confident that it will happen and that the Director, Damian Evans, wants it to happen.
I will put more information in my report, but for the time being keep well and stay safe.
Very best wishes,
Jen.
Website Change
Those eagle-eyed among you may have spotted that we have moved our website over to a secure server (https://foppweb.co.uk). This means that visitors to our site should no longer get warnings from their browser about the connection not being secure. It should not impact on your browsing experience in any other way.
Prison introduce Video Calls
An announcement today on the HMP Peterborough website gives details of the new Purple Visits scheme (video calls) that are being introduced this week.