Reoffending projects given government funding

The Prison Leavers Project is a cross-government project that works to improve the re-integration of prison leavers back into society.

Eleven new projects will be supported by the £20 million initiative, which itself comes from the £220 million package aimed at reducing crime.

The Prison Leavers Project has been split into three different approaches; cross-sector teams, Local Leadership and Integration Fund and Prison Leavers Innovation Challenge.

The 11 pilot projects come under the ‘Local Leadership and Integration Fund’ which totals £6.7 million.

Seven of the pilots have been running since last autumn and the remaining four will begin in May of this year.

A focus has been placed on abused women, drug addicts and those serving short sentences.

The various pilots include a scheme in London which provides employment training and works with offenders to re-establish familial links, as well as a peer-mentoring programme in the West-Midlands which works with men who have grown up in care to provide mental health support as well as advice on accommodation and finances.

The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for the Thames Valley will also receive funding to provide a package of staff training and support for prison leavers in the Thames Valley.

The pilots will be evaluated through their delivery as well as up to 12 months after leavers have been released.

Reoffending is estimated to cost the taxpayer £18 billion, while 80 per cent of offenders have at least one previous conviction or caution.

Offenders who are released with nowhere to live are 50 per cent more likely to re-offend.

Crime, Policing and Probation Minister Kit Malthouse said: “These schemes cut straight to the heart of the reasons for reoffending – allowing us to find new and innovative ways to keep some of the hardest-to-reform criminals on the straight and narrow.

“We know that having a job on release, a safe place to stay as well as supportive family and friends are some of the vital ingredients for a crime-free life.

“Our pilots will provide support and hope, while helping us to reduce the £18 billion cost of repeat crime and better protect the public.”