Church launches new strategies to counter re-offending rates
-18/09/06
New strategies
Church launches new strategies to counter re-offending rates
-18/09/06
New strategies to counter alarming re-offending rates will be launched at a church-led initiative next week.
The project, running in four Lancashire prisons, promotes days to allow families to meet informally, maintain relationships and plan for a crime-free future.
The project is sponsored by the Home Office- Government Office North-west, through a partnership led by social work experts in the Blackburn Diocese.
Success for the three-year pilot project could see a programme of Family Days adopted nationally.
ìWe are trying to change the prison culture to reduce re-offending,î said Peter Nowland, diocesan Family Life Projects Manager. ìAt present a dad gets arrested, but a mum is also doing a sentence on her own. Re-offending rates can reach 66%.
ìThis is the first such project led by the Church in recent times, linking with prisonersí families, and itís a really new thing for the Prison Service.î
National statistics show that up to 150,000 children every year are affected by a parentís imprisonment. Almost half sentenced prisoners say they lose contact with their families after leaving goal, and 22% who were married on entering prison become divorced or separated.
Prisoners who maintain good family relationships are six times less likely to re-offend than those who lost family contacts.
Church social work experts received 344 requests for help from prisoners and their families in the first year of the Lancashire pilot project, and are currently supporting 80 families.
Drug and alcohol treatment, accommodation needs and training and employment opportunities are among issues addressed through the Family Day contact programme.
The Diocese, through its Board for Social Responsibility, is seeking to recruit more volunteers to be trained by its professional staff in Family Day development, said Mr Nowland. Former prisonersí families are encouraged to consider becoming volunteers themselves once they no longer need support.
Around 100 delegates will attend the launch and day conference at HM Young Offendersí Institution Thorn Cross, Warrington on 26th September, with experts from the prison and probation services and the Bishop of Burnley, the Rt Rev John Goddard.
Church launches new strategies to counter re-offending rates
-18/09/06
New strategies to counter alarming re-offending rates will be launched at a church-led initiative next week.
The project, running in four Lancashire prisons, promotes days to allow families to meet informally, maintain relationships and plan for a crime-free future.
The project is sponsored by the Home Office- Government Office North-west, through a partnership led by social work experts in the Blackburn Diocese.
Success for the three-year pilot project could see a programme of Family Days adopted nationally.
ìWe are trying to change the prison culture to reduce re-offending,î said Peter Nowland, diocesan Family Life Projects Manager. ìAt present a dad gets arrested, but a mum is also doing a sentence on her own. Re-offending rates can reach 66%.
ìThis is the first such project led by the Church in recent times, linking with prisonersí families, and itís a really new thing for the Prison Service.î
National statistics show that up to 150,000 children every year are affected by a parentís imprisonment. Almost half sentenced prisoners say they lose contact with their families after leaving goal, and 22% who were married on entering prison become divorced or separated.
Prisoners who maintain good family relationships are six times less likely to re-offend than those who lost family contacts.
Church social work experts received 344 requests for help from prisoners and their families in the first year of the Lancashire pilot project, and are currently supporting 80 families.
Drug and alcohol treatment, accommodation needs and training and employment opportunities are among issues addressed through the Family Day contact programme.
The Diocese, through its Board for Social Responsibility, is seeking to recruit more volunteers to be trained by its professional staff in Family Day development, said Mr Nowland. Former prisonersí families are encouraged to consider becoming volunteers themselves once they no longer need support.
Around 100 delegates will attend the launch and day conference at HM Young Offendersí Institution Thorn Cross, Warrington on 26th September, with experts from the prison and probation services and the Bishop of Burnley, the Rt Rev John Goddard.