News details
To return to the main news listing page, follow the link at the bottom of the news article.
07 May 2008
The gatekeepers
A scheme is employing ex-inmates as volunteer mentors to help stop prisoners re-offending on their release
The idea that ex-offenders can be some of the best-placed people to help prepare prisoners for life "outside" underpins an innovative new mentoring scheme set up by the Prince's Trust.
The scheme, the first of its kind to recruit exclusively former offenders, came out of a high-powered meeting in December 2006, involving leaders in the criminal justice system - including the home secretary, attorney general and the head of the Probation Service - and young offenders. It is working in three prisons in the South West region.
Martina Milburn, chief executive of the Prince's Trust, says: "This was a chance for offenders themselves to say what they wanted and what would help them stop re-offending. They did not want any more well-meaning professionals; instead, they wanted contact with people who had been through what they were going through and had come out of the other side."
For the full article, go to the Guardian.co.uk
The scheme, the first of its kind to recruit exclusively former offenders, came out of a high-powered meeting in December 2006, involving leaders in the criminal justice system - including the home secretary, attorney general and the head of the Probation Service - and young offenders. It is working in three prisons in the South West region.
Martina Milburn, chief executive of the Prince's Trust, says: "This was a chance for offenders themselves to say what they wanted and what would help them stop re-offending. They did not want any more well-meaning professionals; instead, they wanted contact with people who had been through what they were going through and had come out of the other side."
For the full article, go to the Guardian.co.uk
[Return to Latest news ]
