For forty years, Prisons Week has prepared prayer literature to enable Christians to pray for the needs of all those affected by prisons: prisoners and their families, victims of crime and their communities, those working in the criminal justice system, and the many people who are involved in caring for those affected by crime inside and outside our prisons. The prison population in England and Wales in October 2016 is 85,639, and 96,993 children have a parent currently in prison. On Wednesday the Prison Governors’ Association asked the Government to set up an independent public inquiry into the state of prisons in England and Wales, due to an ‘unprecedented’ rise in prison violence and suicides. Last week Justice Secretary Elizabeth Truss promised an extra £14m to recruit more prison officers to change a ‘brutal environment’. For a prayer leaflet to help you intercede go to: