1882 The Durham Discharged Prisoners’ Aid Society was founded by a former chaplain of Durham Prison, George Hans Hamilton, and a group of clergy, magistrates and local worthies. It offered support to men and women leaving Durham Prison, appointed a welfare officer and acquired a house to use as an office and lodging house. It worked with the emerging Probation Service.

1962 The removal of government funding (developed over the previous 50 years) which was now administered by the Probation Service, was a blow to the Discharged Prisoner’s Aid Societies. The Durham Society began to develop its work in support of families of prisoners, first with caravan holidays, then in Visitors’ Centres and play projects. It also amalgamated with a number of neighbouring societies. Since the Society had grown beyond its original definition it became:

1962 The North Eastern Prison After Care Society. Steady growth and the development of new projects and functions followed, with a quickening pace in the 1990s. NEPACS was now responsible for several Visitors’ Centres and Play Areas, as well as its caravans and small grants it employed a number of part-time workers and was assisted by nearly 100 volunteers. Government funding had once more been secured for running most of the prison projects. It was felt that the Society’s size and responsibilities had outgrown the structures of the unincorporated Society, and:

2001 NEPACS, a limited charitable company, came into existence, committed to the aims, objectives and values inherited from the Society.