Ex Prisoner support
- Amanda Jayne Jones
- Nov 5
- 1 min read
Updated: Nov 16
CIU knows the power of collaborations, and back in the summer, we held a few meetings, bringing together a network of organisations mostly led by people with lived experience of the prison service, and discussed ways that we could increase the support that people leaving prison get in Shropshire, to start their lives again.
What was the outcome?
The outcome was that release mates received a to contract support people leaving prison at Stoke Heath prison, and as a result, two people in the group gained paid employment.
Discussions are in hand between Release Mates and Stoke Heath prison about potentially initiating a formal departure lounge https://www.releasemates.org/
This short piece of work felt really important because without true holistic resettlement support the likelihood of people returning back to prison within days or weeks is between 48 and 70%
Not only does reoffending leave a trail of devastation in its wake for the victims of the crime, but it’s also a very expensive way of dealing with people who have committed the crime
In prison, it costs between £44,000 per year or you could double that for some juvenile detention centres.
If there is no reform, very little learning goes on in prisons. It’s a cycle of hurt and pain that needs passion and intervention to break.
These are some of the inspirational organisations who were party to this network:
I have met many more on my path including:
