Prisons Week

Prisons Week aims to encourage prayer and awareness of the needs of prisoners and their families, victims of offenders, prisons staff and all those who care.

Sunday 13 October – Saturday 19 October 2024

The theme this year is ‘Jesus looked at him and and loved him’ (Mark 10:21), and he looks at you and loves you too.

Prisons Week was founded by Bishop Victor Guazzelli in 1975. Since then, the Prisons Week group has prepared resources to enable the Christian community to pray for the needs of all those affected by imprisonment. 

For nearly fifty years now, Prisons Week has prepared prayer literature to enable the Christian community, through individuals and churches, 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 on the inside and outside of our prisons.

Prisons Week raises awareness and generates prayer. It motivates volunteers to step forward and give their time and gifts, in prisons and in their own communities. It provides an annual focus and reason for Christians to work together, building capacity and motivation to make a difference for people who are out of sight and often out of mind.

Prisons Sunday – the second Sunday in October – marks the beginning of the week of prayer each year, running through until the following Saturday.

This year you are invited to remember that He looks at you and loves you, as He looks at them and loves them.

Prisoners' Sunday

Prisoners’ Sunday marks the first day of the ecumenical Prisons Week, a week of prayer which raises awareness of issues faced by those affected by the criminal justice system.

Prisons Week Prayers

Each day of the week, a new prayer brings into focus a different group affected by prison or criminal justice.