Ex-offender work
Examples of work undertaken by volunteers from Leyhill
Trinity Community Arts supports findings that when people leave prison, they are much less likely to re-offend if they have a home and a job.
We have a long-standing partnership with Leyhill HMP - a CAT D, open prison - and provide long-term work placements to individual life-prisoners for between 6-18 months, in order to help improve their chances of successful release.
Many prisoners come into prison unemployed and 73.5% return to unemployment on release*
If an ex-offender is able to come out and find work, somewhere to live and develop a support network, this greatly reduce the chances of them re-offending.
Many prisoners are released with nowhere to go and support from friends or family is not always available. Therefore, in our commitment to providing services for the whole community, it is vital that organisations such as Trinity provide support in the form of work experience placements for ex-offenders.
“I am currently serving a prison sentence at Leyhill prison. As part of my resettlement I go to Trinity Centre where I help out with all aspects of keeping this community centre up and running for all the people in the area. This has given me a lot of confidence to help me move forward in my rehabilitation, meeting new people and giving me a new view on how to be more open and to give me more options for when I do get released from prison.” Statement from an individual on placement from Leyhill HMP, who has been successfully released, 2013
The Trinity Centre is a large, converted, Georgian, grade II* listed former-church building, so ongoing maintenance and upkeep of the building and grounds is a constant challenge.
Our Leyhill volunteers bring with them skills including plastering, painting, carpentry, brick-laying, gardening and cleaning, including COSHH. The placements allow individuals to gain practical work experience, whilst also helping us to carry out essential repairs and maintenance that we otherwise wouldn't be able to afford.
Providing ex-offenders with the opportunity to apply their training within a real setting provides individuals with valuable experience to enable them to secure employment on their release.
“Thank you for making me feel part of the team and treating me like a human being again.” Statement from an individual on placement from Leyhill HMP, who has been successfully released, 2016
Want to read more? See: In memoriam: Phil, a story of change.
Our placements are provided on a case-by-case basis, where individuals are not shown to be on the Child Protection Register or Protection of Vulnerable Adults Register. A full disclosure is undertaken, where individuals are assessed to ensure that offering a placement will not pose a threat to either Centre users or other staff and volunteers. We also have an Ex-offenders Policy that we use to train staff and volunteers in working with ex-offenders. Lehyill HMP regularly monitor placements as part of their “Through The Gate” scheme.
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*HoC Work and Pensions Committee, Support for ex-offenders Fifth Report of Session 2016–17, p5
