life-sentenced prisoners may represent inside a prison, and the principle of normalisation requires that life-sentenced prisoners can at least associate with other long-term prisoners who have a predetermined release date. The, albeit limited, turnover this can create refreshes the experience of prison for those who are to be incarcerated for a very long time. Concentrating life-sentenced prisoners in a specialised prison also necessarily results in many such prisoners being kept very far from their families and outside contacts. A life sentence will in any event put a good deal of pressure on these relationships; compounding that by locating the prisoner a significant distance away from home reduces the possibility of maintaining what is a crucial element in promoting resocialisation. Further, no additional restrictions should be imposed on life-sentenced prisoners as compared to other sentenced prisoners when it concerns the possibilities for them to maintain meaningful contact with their families and other close persons. During the first years of imprisonment in particular, restrictions on contacts are likely to disrupt or even destroy such relationships. It is also important that life-sentenced prisoners have genuine access on as regular a basis as possible to visits, telephone calls, letters, newspapers, radio and television to maintain their sense of contact with the outside world. 79. Life-sentenced prisoners should have access to as full a regime of activities as possible, and normally in association with other prisoners. Work, education, sports, cultural activities and hobbies not only help pass the time, but are also crucial in promoting social and mental health well-being and imparting transferable skills which will be useful during General Report of the CPT, 2015 ► Page 40 and after the custodial part of the sentence. The involvement of prisoners in these activities, in addition to their participation in offending behaviour interventions, represents a significant factor in the ongoing assessment of each person’s performance. They allow staff of all grades to better understand prisoners and enable the staff to make informed judgments as to when it would be appropriate for the prisoner to progress through the regime and be trusted with lower security conditions. The possibility of such progression is crucial, for the management of the prison and for the prisoner. It motivates and rewards the prisoner, providing staging posts in their otherwise indeterminate world, and ensures a deeper relationship between the assessing staff and the prisoner, which contributes to dynamic security. Indeed, the effective implementation of dynamic security should make a crucial contribution to the process of assessing when it is safe to allow the individual prisoner access to the community, initially in the form of escorted short leave, then moving on to unescorted overnight leave and finally to conditional release into the community. Good staff will have developed an in-depth understanding of the individual, which they can share with decision-making bodies and with those who will take over responsibility for supervision and support in the community. Many existing systems make poor use of staff, especially basic-grade security staff who usually spend by far the most time with the prisoners. They are often discouraged – or forbidden – from getting to know the prisoners and thus a great opportunity for developing positive relationships between staff and prisoners is lost. Such relationships, within appropriate parameters, not only enhance security