Putting Prisoners to Work

Back in the prison yesterday. As part of our project’s commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) I facilitated a “Groundworks” workshop for 16 prisoners.

Feedback from both the prison service and the prisoners themselves was encouraging and I’m more than happy to encourage this CSR initiative.

This is the second time I have presented at this particular prison and from a personal basis I enjoyed the prisoners, their honest feedback (dare I say their sense of fun) and I must confess that it awakened in me an honest desire to improve their future scenarios. This for a number of reasons;

1) Because they’re human beings and deserve a 2nd chance
2) Because each one of them is currently costing society £40,000 per year

I spoke to one prisoner who informed me it was his 1st time in prison and he’s only been there 13 weeks. His sentence is eight years (four years in prison and four years on license once released). He has a two-year-old son. Another one I spoke to last time confessed to me it was his 4th time inside and, whilst he had no intention of returning, with his record he had little hopes for the future. Another I spoke to will be allowed out on “work leave” next year and would relish the opportunity to take advantage of this with a company who respects his situation and has a genuine desire to support him in becoming a useful member of society.

I’m under no illusion that some of these people are villains, and some may have a history of violence, and I have to always bear in mind that I have less authority than I do on site, but it’s still worth the effort. Talking to these men, they are very open as to where they feel their future may lie. This is not meant to be fun, and presenting to prisoners must be done for the right reasons and with the end goal in mind. If it were to become anything else then I wouldn’t be interested.

There is a short video that is REALLY worth watching on the website below (it should play immediately but if not click on the play button top left). They interview a girl who’s half way through a nine year sentence and who they’ve taken on under special license to learn to be a plasterer.

http://www.beonsite.org.uk/en/what%20is%20beonsite.aspx(link is external)

The other success story “David” (a former prisoner) is well worth a read.

There are serious logistical problems with employing a prisoner, not least of which is organising transport to and from the prison (although salary isn’t an issue, of course). The civilian instructors I talked to believe that if given the chance a prisoner on work-leave is unlikely to ‘blow it’ by causing trouble or attempting to smuggle drugs into the prison. If such a situation arose that person would never, ever be given another shot.

So my personal feelings are that it’s worth working towards. The national reoffender rate runs at about 70% - mainly because people blow it while on license – but organisations that are working with ex-prisoners report just a 7% reoffender rate, and whichever way you look at it that’s phenomenal.