PRISONERS and staff at HMP/YOI Portland have joined forces to raise funds for charity.

Prison officer Graham Butler is taking part in the Beards for Babies campaign on behalf of The Lullaby Trust.

Staff and prisoners will be growing their beards this month as part of a hair-raising campaign to raise £5,000 for the charity.

The Lullaby Trust is a baby charity working to promote safer sleep and support families who have experienced the death of a baby.

The Trust supports research into why babies die suddenly and unexpectedly and campaigns to prevent sudden infant death.

Graham said: “I’ve done Movember a couple of times but I’ve never had a beard. It’s interesting getting used to it.”

Last year Graham ran the London Marathon, raising £8,716.22. Following this success, Graham was asked to get behind the ‘Beards for Babies’ fundraiser. Graham was keen to use the campaign as a good opportunity to strengthen the relationship between staff and prisoners.

Graham said: “It’s a wider community to speak to and it was to get them involved and build up the rapport with them. A lot has gone on in the prison recently that’s been well documented. It was a way of building the relationship back up again.”

Graham said he had received a brilliant response from all involved and he was looking forward to raise as much as possible.

He said: “The charity is very small. With regards to the marathon they only had 72 people running for them.

“They are only looking to raise £5,000 nationally from this. If we can get 10 per cent of that, at least £500, it will give them a good boost.

“If we can raise anywhere near that, that would be great.”

In addition to those at HMP/YOI Portland, staff at Tesco on Portland have also shown their support by growing beards.

The store’s community champion Debbie Lindoe said: “We’re supporting it because it is such an important charity. You just never know it might happen to someone you know or someone you are close to. 

“Tesco is quite a big employer on the island and the YOI is another big employer on the island. We’ve come together to do as much as we can.”

Graham will be fundraising and raising awareness in the Tesco foyer today, June 25. 

For more information about the campaign or if you would like to make a donation, please visit justgiving.com/fundraising/beardsbehindbars