Charli is a 26-year old Office Manager. She became involved with the Prison Advice and Care Trust (PACT) following the imprisonment of someone she knew. This is her story about the voluntary work she does with PACT,and the rewards she has gained from her experiences

I had been interested in volunteer work for a long time but I couldn't find anything that I thought I would be any good at, or would be interested in. I didn't want to work in an old people's home or in a shop, as I am quite impatient, and I felt that I needed to do something that I could give something of myself to.

I became involved with PACT because I knew someone who had been in prison, so I had experience of what it was like to have someone on 'the inside' and had been a visitor to prison on a number of occasions. I immediately felt that it was a charity that I could identify with.

PACT works with both prisoners and visitors, and it was the latter that I was involved with at HMP Holloway. Before PACT, people visiting friends and relatives would have to go straight up to the prison door and deal directly with the guards. For a first visit, prison guards can seem a bit intimidating and have little or no training in how to deal with the needs of people arriving at a prison for their first time.

PACT has currently set up visitors' centres in four UK prisons so that visitors can come an hour or so before their assigned visit time, and spend a while with understanding, impartial people who can prepare them for what to expect. There are creche facilities for kids and the opportunity for visitors to sit down and have a cuppa with someone who can give help and lend a sympathetic ear.

We help with the simple things such as ensuring that visitors empty their pockets beforehand; too many people queue up at the door, only to be sent back to the beginning of the queue for having something minor like a piece of chewing gum on them, things that you may not know are contraband in prisons.

The application process was similar to that of a normal job. I filled out an application form and was invited for an interview. They ran a police check on me and asked me how I would cope in various situations, plus they asked me quite a lot of personal questions, I think they just wanted to find out what sort of person I was, it was very friendly and pretty informal.

I have been in a couple of situations that have been pretty challenging, which is to be expected when you work in an environment where people are emotionally charged, and often angry and frustrated. Afterwards I felt a great sense of satisfaction that I had dealt with the situations well and had helped in some small way; you don't often get that sense of pride and achievement with your day job, well I don't anyway!

Learn more about the Prison Advice and Care Trust at www.imprisonment.org.uk/

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