to the establishment of the International Office of the Dutch Probation Service and Epafras. Consular assistance and NGO assistance to Dutch nationals abroad have developed in close cooperation with the Dutch Parliament. The two basic principles of providing consular assistance by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are to ensure that Dutch nationals are treated correctly in accordance with the rules, and that they are held in humane prison conditions. The main aim of the Dutch Probation Service for providing assistance is to limit the damaging effects of detention and to prevent recidivism.18 Epafras provides assistance in order to guarantee that Dutch nationals in foreign detention can receive pastoral care. Evaluation of consular assistance According to data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the International Office of the Dutch Probation Service and Epafras, more than 14,000 visits were carried out to Dutch nationals in foreign detention in 2010. This is on average more than 5.5 visits per prisoner. Practically all Dutch prisoners who responded to the questionnaire said they received assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Most frequently representatives from these organisations visit Dutch citizens in prison (on average two per year), provide them with information about legal proceedings in their country of confinement and, in the case of the consular staff, make contact with their relatives to notify theme of the arrest and in case there are emergencies. Consular staff bring along a monthly gift of €30 to those detained outside Europe and, when necessary, toiletries and medicines. Around half of the prisoners are visited by volunteers of the International Office of the Dutch Probation Service. These volunteers live abroad and visit Dutch prisoners every six weeks in order to maintain contact and to monitor their situation. They further help, in cooperation with staff at the International Office in the Netherlands, to arrange matters at home in the Netherlands and to prepare them for release. In some countries prisoners can follow an educational course, which is provided via the Dutch Probation Service. Chaplains of Epafras travel on a voluntary basis abroad to visit Dutch national prisoners to have a personal conversation with them once or twice per year. Epafras further publishes a magazine that is sent periodically to all Dutch nationals in foreign detention. Prisoners are, in general, highly appreciative of the assistance they receive from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In particular, they value the visits by consular staff, the information they provide about the legal proceedings of the country of confinement and assistance with regards to transfer procedures. In terms of the work of the Dutch Probation Service, prisoners singled out the visits by the volunteers and the attention these volunteers paid to their personal situation. They were also happy with the magazine and chaplaincy visit organised by Epafras. The content of the magazine varies from news stories to interviews to stories from other prisoners and advertisements to become pen-pals. Prisoners report reading the magazine ‘to pieces’ due to the information it provides about what is happening in the world and in the Netherlands. Several prisoners explained that the stories from fellow Dutch prisoners in other countries had made them more accepting of their situation by placing it in perspective. Dutch prisoners who receive assistance are less negative about their experience of imprisonment compared to those who do not receive assistance from the Netherlands.19 This noteworthy outcome is true for all aspects of their incarcerated that were measured. One could expect that receiving assistance has a positive influence on the well-being of the prisoner and that providing information about judicial proceedings makes prisoners more aware about the rules. However, an unexpected positive outcome was greater participation in the prison regime and better integration with other prisoners and staff. Assistance had a positive effect on how prisoners perceived matters of hygiene and medical care, feelings of safety and their involvement in activities. Prisoners were particularly impressed that visits by the Dutch Probation Service and Epafras were carried out by volunteers. The fact that someone they did not know beforehand made the effort to visit them on a regular basis and show real interest without being paid for it, was very powerful. Prisoners appeared to be also very positive about the impact of assistance on the needs that are identified in literature as ‘characteristic’ for foreign Prisoners are, in general, highly appreciative of the assistance they receive from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 18. 19. Annual Plan 2010 ‘Bureau Buitenland’, p 5. The fact that the differences are small is likely to be the result of the limited number of prisoners who had not (yet) received assistance from any of the organisations. Issue 205 Prison Service Journal 55