Background
The aim of the IMPACT (Innovation Means Prisons and Communities Together) DP was to deliver a holistic model of working with ex-offenders, ensuring effective access and return to the labour market for this multiple disadvantaged group who traditionally have difficulty being reintegrated into the labour market.
The project, based in the North West of England, researched innovative ways of working with offenders both during custody and post release in order to increase offenders’ prospects of employment and social inclusion.
In total, 420 offenders were selected to assist with the research, working in focus groups with employers and other professionals, trialing new methods and systems. Alongside this, participants have been piloting new systems to increase their individual life chances particularly in gaining employment on release.
Aim
The overall aim was to review the effectiveness of current resettlement approaches and pilot for change; mainstreaming the findings to employers and those in the statutory sector who have responsibility for organising resettlement for offenders.
Objectives
The objectives of the project were to:
- Develop (Yr 1), pilot (Yr 2) and implement (Yr 3) an ‘Employment Charter’, which built links between the private/voluntary sector and those whose criminal record deters them from forging this relationship.
- Develop (Yr 1), pilot (Yr 2) and implement (Yr 3) a nationally recognised ‘Prison Portfolio’, which evidenced steps taken by the beneficiary towards rehabilitation and detail relative skills and qualifications
- Develop (Yr 1), pilot (Yr 2) and roll-out (Yr 3) a multi-agency shared case management system consisting of both paperwork and a database, facilitating the sharing of information across the Criminal Justice Agencies and Employment Sectors
- Introduce (Yr 2) an automatic communication link between the Prison Service and New Deal that ensured immediate access for unemployed ex-offenders on release from custody
- Develop (Yr 1) and implement (Yr 2) strategies of working with ex-offenders and employers together, to combat stereotypical views of employers, the general public and all statutory bodies.
- The DP would test for change and research the outcomes (Yr 3)
- Pilot and test (Yr 2) approaches that enable multi-agency staff to work with individual beneficiaries whilst in a local prison (HMP Manchester) and in the local community post-release
- By the end of Action 2, in co-operation with other DP’s, pilot transferability of methods and systems used with ex-offenders to other socially excluded groups facing similar discrimination
Specific areas of innovation include:
- GOAL - A major goal is to convince the Prison Service that a custodial sentence should be an apprenticeship to employment rather than just a means of reducing re-offending and that these principles become adopted as core objectives throughout the Criminal Justice sector.
- PROCESS - Development of a process, which proves that employment is achievable through openness and disclosure, and demonstrates to employers that despite a criminal record, employability advances have been made evidenced by the beneficiary in the ‘Prison Portfolio’
- PROCESS - Involvement of ex-offenders in the design, planning and consultation of the DP, whilst current Prison Service culture discourages this approach.
