New children’s role play area transforms visiting experience at Chelmsford prison

Photo: Lucy Huartson, owner of Little City Chelmsford

Families and young children visiting HMP Chelmsford recently received a more welcoming experience thanks to the inclusion of a new children’s interactive role-play space.

The prison joined forces with award-winning mobile role-play company Little City UK to facilitate a more child-friendly environment designed to reduce the emotional strain of prison visits. 

The visiting area of the prison was transformed into a child-friendly fun zone, where the only thing that participants needed to worry about was the scope of their own imaginations. Thanks to pop-up interactive little cities, young children visiting their family members in prison were able to feel safer, more supported and connected to their loved ones as they played together in harmony. 

Each city brought a new world into the prison, one where those in prison could safely play and interact with their children and become anything they wanted to be, from hairdressers, doctors, chefs and artists to vets. 

Oliver Norton, Custodial manager at HMP Chelmsford, said,

“We were keen to get something in place for the people to have a visit that was to help them in bringing families together and take them out of prison in their minds for an afternoon. The visit was really well run and delivered. All the items were clean and looked brand new. All families involved expressed that they felt like they were at a local community centre, and it was the best visit ever given to them. It’s something we’ll look to run again in the future.”

Vicki Fletcher, founder of Little City UK, says,

“This was an extremely unique partnership because it was the first time that HMP Chelmsford had been able to invite an external company to participate in its visiting processes. Our mobile role-play cities are ideal for situations like this because they can be set up almost anywhere. Children learn so much about the world through imaginative play, and it’s heart-warming to know that the role-play set up was able to make the visit feel more relaxed and supportive for younger children.”

Vicki’s thoughts were echoed by Lucy Huartson, owner of Little City Chelmsford, who attended the prison visit. She said,

“We understood that visiting a relative in prison could be extremely traumatic for a young child. The mobile play cities provided the perfect icebreaker and created a warm, family-fun environment for everyone involved. It was lovely to see such vivid, free play, and we hope that both the children and their families, and the individual currently incarcerated, valued having the opportunity to relax and play together in peace. It’s something we hope to do again in the future.”