Half of prisoners have at least one person in their close family who visits them monthly, even weekly. Conversely, one in ten prisoners have no contact, whether is be visits, telephone calls or letters, with their family. This isolation is not compensated for by regular contact with other people from outside the close family circle. The prisoner's age and their length of time in prison play against regular family contact, as does having a severe disablement. On average, only two members of the prisoner's close family visit him at least once a year. Relationships with partners and children are very often very strained: only half of the prisoners receive a visit from their partner at least once a month and a third of them see their children this frequently. The geographical distance to the prison is inversely proportional to the frequency of visits.