Booklet offers advice to partners, spouses and children of prisoners

“On the night it happened I was in my nan’s house. Gardaí came and my mam collected me and took me to my auntie’s house. I heard one of them saying my dad was in prison. I was very sad. I was heartbroken. I will always remember that night.”

Those are the words of a 9-year-old boy recalling the trauma of having his father sent to prison.

That child is not alone, as volunteers with St Nicholas Trust attest. The trust, based in Cork, was set up in 2008 in response to the needs of relatives of people sentenced to prison.