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Newsletter Date: 4th February 2011 Volume 2, Issue 6

Find Us At:

Blog Account: http://bit.ly/ftGLHD

Facebook Account: http://on.fb.me/g6pbDf

Twitter Account: http://twitter.com/#!/InoMaguk

Youtube Account: http://www.youtube.com/inomaguk

Welcome to the sixth issue of Inside ’n’ Out Magazine.

New for 2011 is a bi monthly magazine instead of the quarterly edition.

We cover all Leicestershire and Rutland Probation establishments, Leicester City Libraries, Leicestershire County Libraries and we are now going into 26 prisons up and down the UK. Check in your prison library or any Leicester city library. The magazine can also be viewed at http://issuu.com/communitymediahub

We are currently looking for articles from prisoners/offenders or their families about positive experiences/interests they have had or experiencing of/about the Criminal Justice System.

Remember it is free to send in articles but there is a small charge for placing an advert.

Charges are as follows:

Quarter Page — £40

Half Page — £75

Full Page — £144

Anyone who is interested in making contact for an article, advert or just to get further information about what we are about ; please contact me using the contact details at the back of this magazine.

Mark

MAKING A POSITIVE CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIETY

INSIDE ‘N’ OUT MAGAZINEINSIDE ‘N’ OUT MAGAZINEINSIDE ‘N’ OUT MAGAZINEINSIDE ‘N’ OUT MAGAZINE

CSV up and 'through the gate' project Unlocking potential in Bradford

NEWHOPE There are harsh facts you must face on release from prison

THE BAD NEWS When you return to the family home, any insurance on the property Building or the Contents may become invalid as

soon as you step through the door!!

All that training will be pointless as you will not be able to get the PUBLIC LIABILITY insurance needed to

safely run your business nor EMPLOYERS LIABILITY needed if you trade as a limited company or take on staff!!

THE GOOD NEWS We offer a complete package of insurance policies for ex offenders. On full disclosure, we will offer you a sensible premium and will not penalise you, unlike the rest of the insurance industry who will probably say NO!!!! As

soon as you mention a conviction

TELEPHONE: 01206 821330

The Insurance Centre Clacton Road, Elmstead Market, Colchester Essex CO7 7AT

Allstyles is a Trading Style of T R Youngs Insurance Brokers who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

Prison votes 'will be kept to a minimum' BBC January 20th 2011

The government has promised to keep the number of prisoners given the vote to a "minimum", after being ordered to allow them to take part in elections.

After a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, ministers proposed allowing anyone serving less than four years the vote. But the BBC has learned that they now want to limit the right to those sentenced to less than a year. But lawyers representing prisoners say anything less than full enfranchisement for all inmates would "almost inevitably" be challenged in court.

The initial voting plans faced strong opposition from Conservative MPs. Prime Minister David Cameron recently said giving inmates the vote made him feel "physically ill" but warned that the government faced paying out more than £160m in compensation if it did not do so - a move which could be even more unpopular with the public than extending voting rights.

'Not arbitrary'

At present, all convicted prisoners are barred from voting,

Unlocking Potential is a mentoring project based in Bradford, West Yorkshire. CSV (Community Service Volunteers) recruits and trains volunteer mentors to support people who are returning to Bradford from prison, or who are serving their sentence in the community, such as on a community order or suspended sentence. CSV mentors offer one to one support in finding accommodation, employment and training, whilst providing an impartial listening ear for any issues their mentee may want to discuss. Mentees are referred to CSV via their probation officer and CSV matches people based on the needs of the mentee and the skills of the

mentor. CSV also takes into account hobbies and interests, so that mentors and mentees will get on well and have something in common. In the past, after getting to know each other over coffee, CSV volunteer mentors in Bradford have supported mentees to bid on properties, take part in cookery classes, attend college open days, visit employment agencies, and apply for Community Care Grants. CSV, is a charity that has over 30 years of experience working within the criminal justice system, recruits and trains volunteers who mentor offenders upon their return to the community. Each ‘pairing’ lasts for approximately four months; one month while the offender is still in

custody and three months post-release.

For more information, please contact Louise Allen, CSV UP: Unlocking Potential Project Manager, on 01274 737266 or lallen@csv.org.uk For more information about volunteering opportunities nationally, visit the CSV website at www.csv.org.uk

but the European court ruled in 2004 that such a ban was unlawful. A Downing Street spokesman said the government wanted "to ensure that the minimum number of prisoners get the vote". He added that a statement would be made "in due course". The decision to set a lower sentence limit for those voting is not as simple as it sounds and the government would have to prove in court that Parliament had not acted in an arbitrary way in choosing it. Lawyers had reportedly advised that a four-year limit would have been safe from legal challenge because it is the sentencing threshold for what are technically defined as "serious offences".

However, ministers are aware that many of those people below that level have violent, sexual assault, convictions and will seem too serious to many. They are also aware that a one-year limit could be tested in the courts and that they might lose again.

John Hirst, a prisoner convicted of manslaughter, had successfully argued in the European Court that his human rights had been violated by not being allowed to take part in elections. He told the BBC the government's

attempts to water down the plans did not "have a cat in hell's chance" of succeeding. "If I'd have gone to court and said I'm not accepting a judge's life sentence where would that put us’’ he said.

"You have to accept that the law applies to everybody and it applies to the government, and David Cameron is not above the law and he'll find out that very shortly." That was repeated by Sean Humber, a partner at law firm Leigh Day & Co, which is representing 550 prisoners suing over the denial of voting rights. "Any attempt to limit the right to vote to certain prisoners, while excluding others, is likely to be unlawful and almost inevitably lead to further legal challenge and claims for compensation," he said.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: "Removing the blanket ban on prisoners voting is not a choice but a legal obligation as a result of a court ruling. "Failure to implement the ruling would not only put the government in breach of its international obligations but risk paying out taxpayers' money in

compensation claims." Labour’s justice secretary Sadiq Khan welcomed the government's "U-turn". He said: "The government should be standing up for the victims of crime but instead they are slashing police numbers and giving dangerous convicted prisoners the vote." But the director of the Prison Reform Trust, Juliet Lyon, said the staff running the justic system now felt it was time to enfranchise convicts. "It's been described as 'nasty medicine'," she told the BBC, "when it should be

seen as people taking responsibility." The voting rights of prisoners is a UK-wide issue and will affect Scotland and Northern Ireland even though the administration of justice is

devolved. The Westminster government has said it will work closely with ministers in both regions before legislation is introduced.

So What do you think? Should everyone serving sentence below 4 years get the right to vote?

Let us know your thoughts. Disrespectful comments will not be published.

Taken from BBC Website http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12233938

Nacro

Change the record campaign

What is Change the Record?

Change the Record is a new campaign from Nacro, the crime reduction charity, to help ex-offenders back to work by tackling discriminatory practice and laws that prevent them finding a job. The campaign focuses on amending the Reha-bilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

What is the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act?

The 1974 Rehabilitation of Offenders Act was an important piece of legisla-

tion, designed originally to help people with criminal convictions move on from

their past.

The act allows people to stop declaring a past conviction to potential employ-

ers (except for jobs working with children, vulnerable adults or in some legal or

financial positions) after a set period of time. This

means the conviction has become ‘spent’.

However, since the law was passed in 1974 the world

has changed. Sentence inflation means that people

are now getting longer sentences for the same of-

fences, which means it takes longer for that offence to

become spent.

Because employers are so reluctant to employ people

who they know have a criminal record, it greatly re-

duces the chances of ex-offenders finding employ-

ment.

Why should it be changed?

The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act is widely accepted

to be out of date. It discriminates against ex-offenders

and is compounded by CRB checks which

are often used unlawfully to expose spent

crimes or non-disclosure where people have

been to worried to admit their past.

A Government Review of the act published

in 2002 stated: “There are no winners...not

those with a criminal record denied the

opportunity to put their past behind them.

Not employers who lose out on committed

and conscientious employees, and on re-

sources and skills that otherwise may not

be on offer. And certainly not our communi-

ties, because denying employment opportu-

nities to people with a criminal record in-

creases the risks of re-offending.”

The problems are:

• People who have committed offences, usually minor ones, are put off from apply-ing for jobs because they feel they will be rejected if they admit their unspent records

• The amount of time it takes for a record to be spent is disproportionate

‘Sentence inflation’ means that sentences are getting longer and as a result more people are having to wait longer before their offences are spent

How does this impact on the general public?

The act doesn’t just affect ex-offenders. The

current legislation also has a negative im-

pact on wider society.

This is because:

• Employment offers the strongest pro-

tection against reoffending. Reform will re-duce reoffending creating a safer society for everyone.

• One in four people in the working popu-lation have a criminal record[i], so the costs of their exclusion from work are substantial.

There are no winners: employ-ers and employees alike lose out.

How should it be changed?

The Change the Record campaign launched

a detailed report at the House of Commons

on 13 September 2010 making the case

for the act to be amended.

Put simply, we would like to see the length Put simply, we would like to see the length Put simply, we would like to see the length Put simply, we would like to see the length

of time it takes for a conviction to become of time it takes for a conviction to become of time it takes for a conviction to become of time it takes for a conviction to become

spent to be reduced, so that it is proportion-spent to be reduced, so that it is proportion-spent to be reduced, so that it is proportion-spent to be reduced, so that it is proportion-

ate to the crime committed and brings us ate to the crime committed and brings us ate to the crime committed and brings us ate to the crime committed and brings us

into line with the rest of Europe.into line with the rest of Europe.into line with the rest of Europe.into line with the rest of Europe.

What have criminal re-cords bureau (CRB) checks got to do with Change the Record? In theory, CRB checks are carried out for

posts where people are working in an unsu-

pervised capacity with children or vulner-

able adults. Some other posts including

some legal, financial and national security

roles.

CRB checks means that the employer has

access to an applicants records including

spent records. The trouble is that CRB

checks are so widespread, that the princi-

ple of the ROA - which is that people who

have committed offences can reform and

after a while should be given a second

chance - is undermined. Nacro has come

across examples of CRB checks being car-

ried out on dog walkers, administrators,

plasterers, car park attendants and many

others.

Very often, when a CRB check discloses a

spent offence, the applicant is rejected.

This undoes the principle of rehabilitation.

So many reformed offenders are finding it

increasingly difficult to find work because of

the growth of CRB checks.

Between 2002-2009, 19m CRB checks

were carried out.

The most commonly disclosed offences were for shoplifting and driving of-fences that didn’t result in third party injury. These are offences that most people grow out of.

• 75% of employers would treat a candi-date with a criminal record less favourably. One in seven said they would reject any applicant with a criminal record, whatever the offence.

• Half of male offenders and three quar-ters of female offenders have just one con-viction. 55% of men and 80% of women have an offending history of under one year.

By the age of 25 43% of men who have been offenders are classified as ‘desistors’ meaning that they have not offended for five years.

To download the report click here:

http://www.changetherecord.org/facts-and-stats/campaign-report,705,NAP.html

What is restorative justice? Restorative processes bring those harmed by crime or conflict, and those responsible for the harm, into communication, enabling everyone affected by a particular incident to play a part in repairing the harm and finding a positive way forward. Restorative practice includes using these processes formally (for example, a restorative justice conference involving victims and offenders, or in a care home following an incident of harm), or informally, in the course of daily work (for example as used by a police officer to deal with low level crime on the beat, or a teacher, to manage a conflict between young people in the classroom). In criminal justice, restorative processes give victims the chance to tell offenders the real impact of their crime, to get answers to their questions, and an apology. It lets offenders understand the real impact of what they’ve done, to

take responsibility and make amends. Restorative Justice holds offenders to account for what they have done, personally and directly, and helps victims to get on with their lives. Alongside criminal justice, restorative processes are increasingly being used in schools, care homes and the wider community to address conflict, build understanding and strengthen relationships with young people. In these contexts it is also known by the names 'Restorative Approaches' and 'Restorative Practices'. To find out more, click here: http://www.restorativejustice.org.uk/what_is_restorative_justice/

When Joanne Nodding met the man who raped her, the first thing she noticed, she says, was how scared he was. "He thought I was going to be angry," she says, "he was expecting me to shout and scream and tell him that I hated him. But if I had [been uncontrollably angry] they wouldn't have allowed me to meet him."

Instead she told the man, who cannot be named, how she had felt during the attack, and how it had affected her family. She explained that she had been terrified, while he was raping her, that he was going to kill her.

"That had a really big impact on him," she says. "He said 'sorry', and I did feel like it was a genuine 'sorry'."

The meeting between the two took place five years after the rape, part of a restorative justice programme that allows victims of crime to talk to the person responsible. For minor crimes the meeting can replace a custodial sentence, but for rape and murder it will never replace prison — and does not happen very often because of the strength of emotions involved.

Nodding is one of only a handful of rape victims to seek restorative justice, and the first in Britain to speak about it publicly. She had to fight to persuade the authorities to let the meeting take place as they were worried it would be damaging for both her and her attacker. Her persistence was partly driven by an unfortunate remark from the judge at the end of the case.

"He said [to the guilty man], 'you've ruined this woman's life'," Nodding says. "I can understand why the judge said it, but I didn't want [the man] to think he had ruined my life. Partly be-cause I didn't want him to think, 'ha ha, I've got this power over her'. But also I didn't want him to have that burden."

The offender was known to Nodding before the attack, which is why she was sure he would kill her. "That, and his look. Because of the look on his face, I just thought, 'there's no way he's going to let me walk out of here'."

But she did survive, with severe injuries, and reported the incident to the police. The man initially pleaded not guilty but changed that in the face of overwhelming DNA evidence. Because of this Nodding did not have to

appear in court, but she decided that she would.

"I wanted to face him and I thought that would be only opportunity," she says. Unfortunately, the court case left her with no sense of resolution.

The prospect of meeting him after the trial was mentioned to Nodding by her first victim liaison officer, a year after sentencing.

"I'd managed to face him [in court], but I hadn't had the opportunity to tell him how he'd made me feel. And my family – it wasn't just me."

After thinking about it for a while, Nodding mentioned the possibility to her second victim liaison officer, who explained that the meeting could only take place if the offender agreed – which was extremely unlikely.

But he did agree.

"I remember being told that he would meet me and I burst into tears," says Nodding. "If he'd said no, that would have been it for me. I don't think I would have ever got closure."

Both parties had to have extensive preparation separately before they were able to meet. They met at a secure facility, not at the prison, which Nodding visited first, so she could see the room and decide where they were all going to sit.

She decided that he should be there first, seated, so she could walk in and they would start straightaway. They agreed ground rules: "I said we should respect each other's silence, and we would listen to what the other one says. Both of us said that we needed eye contact. Both said that if we needed a break, we'd respect that, and that our support wouldn't speak unless we invited them to speak [she was with a close friend, he was with a family member]."

Knowing him already, she was not surprised by his appearance, but was unprepared for his fear of her anger. She was determined not to lose control, which she felt would amount to a victory for him.

"What I thought was, that day [of the rape] he had control, he controlled me for that short time. I don't want to let him control me any longer. He did for a little while, I just wanted to sit in the house. I didn't really want to do anything. I think it's the shock."

He also affected the behaviour of those around her.

"People tend to wrap you up in cotton wool. If there was anything about rape on the telly, my family and friends would say, 'we'll turn it over, we'll turn it over'. But I'm the kind of person who can talk about things. I processed that

anger with my family and my friends."

Being able to describe her experience calmly was extremely important.

"If you go in wanting to know why they did it, you can walk out feeling disappointed. So I didn't have any of that expectation. But he did say sorry. And I feel like it was a genuine sorry. He was relieved to hear that I was still doing what I do. That's what he got from it, the relief, 'oh my God, I haven't ruined her life'.

"I ended the meeting by telling him that I'd forgiven him and that I wanted him to forgive himself, if he hadn't, because I wanted him to go on to have a successful life. Hatred eats you up, and you can't change what's happened."

Nodding felt that being able to forgive this man, face to face, was integral to her own recovery. "I got complete closure from that meeting," she says.

"It lasted 120 minutes. I walked out of that feeling on top of the world. I thought, 'now you've seen me, you haven't ruined my life, I'm still here, I'm still doing what I love'. And you can't change the past. I had to release the burden so he could look towards his future. It may stop him doing it again".

• For further information about restorative justice visit the Restorative Justice Council website

Published by the Guardian on 27th January.

Restorative justice: Why I confronted the man who raped me Joanne Nodding asked to meet the man who had raped her, and told him that she forgives him

Fair cop for offenders at police stationFair cop for offenders at police stationFair cop for offenders at police stationFair cop for offenders at police station Just one Community Payback project run by Wales ProbationJust one Community Payback project run by Wales ProbationJust one Community Payback project run by Wales ProbationJust one Community Payback project run by Wales Probation

It’s been a fair cop for a team of offenders in Swansea.

They have been ordered to give a police station a facelift with a brand new car park for the officers’ vehicles.

For years the parking space in front of Penlan Police Station has been a sea of mud after heavy rain but not any more.

A team of offenders on a Community Payback project with Wales Proba-tion have transformed the area with the help of over 30 tons of material and plenty of hard graft.

A delighted Sergeant Bob Sanders, of South Wales Police, said: “I’ve been here for ten years and we’ve always had this problem.

“It was a grassed area but vehicles park on it and after rain it just be-comes a pond.

“It’s been on our ‘to do’ list for years but there’s never been enough money in the budget to get it done and in the current financial climate I wouldn’t have expected it to be done anytime soon.

“So we asked the Probation Service to help and they’ve come up trumps thanks to Community Payback which has proved an excellent option and I can see us coming back to them for more in future.

“The offenders here have done an excellent job and have really worked hard to get it done – this is a community project and it’s a community police station.”

One of the offenders working on the car park was Gavin, from Swansea, who said: “It’s hard work but it’s been good and very worthwhile – it’s better than the alternative and maybe working at the police station will earn me some bonus points.”

Ashley, also from Swansea, said: “It’s something we’ve got to do but it’s giving something back to the community so it’s worthwhile and it keeps me active and doing some-thing during the day.”

Wales Probation Supervisor Laurence Uzzell, from Bonymaen, in Swansea, said: “We’re very busy here with the Community Payback and a lot of good work is being done.

“We’ve got recycling schemes and school painting and we do a lot for charities as well.

Simon Morse-Jones, Community Payback Placement Officer for South Wales, said: “The police asked if we could have a partnership and we were delighted to do so and we had previous experience in doing a car park.

“We had a contractor dig the site out with a JCB and then we’ve put down over 20 tons of hardcore and spread it and used whacker plates and put down 13 tons of stone dust and when that sets it will be perfect.

We do work with lots of partners on a variety of schemes including one where we’re starting painting at a local secondary school and we helped with the Schools Challenge at Gnoll Park in Neath.

“These guys have realised they’ve done wrong and this is a way of paying something back to the community by doing something positive. In this case, you might say it’s been a fair cop.

“We’re doing a lot of work with recycling and last year we collected over 65 tons of paper in a partnership with Neath/Port Talbot Council and we hope to extend that to collecting cans and plastics as well.”

To nominate a project please visit www.walesprobationtrust.gov.uk

Community Payback at Penlan Police Station in Swansea with, front, Community Payback at Penlan Police Station in Swansea with, front, Community Payback at Penlan Police Station in Swansea with, front, Community Payback at Penlan Police Station in Swansea with, front, Sergeant Bob Sanders, of South Wales Police, Wales and Simon Sergeant Bob Sanders, of South Wales Police, Wales and Simon Sergeant Bob Sanders, of South Wales Police, Wales and Simon Sergeant Bob Sanders, of South Wales Police, Wales and Simon MorseMorseMorseMorse----Jones, Wales Probation Community Payback Placement Offi-Jones, Wales Probation Community Payback Placement Offi-Jones, Wales Probation Community Payback Placement Offi-Jones, Wales Probation Community Payback Placement Offi-cer for South Wales, and Probation Supervisor Laurence Uzzell, left, cer for South Wales, and Probation Supervisor Laurence Uzzell, left, cer for South Wales, and Probation Supervisor Laurence Uzzell, left, cer for South Wales, and Probation Supervisor Laurence Uzzell, left, at work with offenders.at work with offenders.at work with offenders.at work with offenders.

Community Payback Leicestershire & Rutland Probation Service talks how they see Community Payback.

Community Payback provides the opportunity for local people to have their say on how men and women on Probation supervision should make amends for the harm they have caused.

The Community Payback scheme enables the public to select projects of work that can be undertaken by teams of supervised offenders completing unpaid reparation work. The LRPT strives to ensure that its range of work reflects the cultural diversity of our modern society.

In a recent 12 month period local offenders undertaking Community Payback completed a total of 203,439 hours of work. This labour has benefited communities in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

The range of projects can include:

• graffiti removal

• street clean-ups

• ground clearance

• recycling projects

• building maintenance and landscaping

• improvements to park and community facilities

• environmental preservation programmes

• general gardening projects

• painting and decorating in community centres and meeting places

• making wooden furniture for sale in charity shops.

The Courts make the order

Sentencers refer to this particular interven-tion as Unpaid Work, one of the 12 require-ments in the Community Order. Magistrates and Judges can order offenders to under-take a specified number of hours, which can vary from 40 hours to 300 hours.

In the past this sentence has been called Community Service or, more recently, Com-munity Punishment.

Offenders are expected to undertake a minimum of six hours a week and to have completed their ordered hours within 12 months. The Probation Service supervises this work and provides opportunities for offenders to work during the week, at weekends - and in evening workshops.

Each offender is carefully assessed before they are assigned to a project of work. This assessment looks at an offender's criminal and personal history, the crimes they have committed - and the risk they pose to the public.

The Probation Service's number one priority is the protection of the public. Men and women who are assessed as being unsuit-able for work in the community, are man-aged in Probation Centre workshops. However, not all offenders in the workshops

are high risk, they may have mobility is-sues.

Small teams of offenders who work in the community are always supervised by fully trained supervisors working for the Proba-tion Service. They are transported to and from the project of work.

The Probation Trust provides the free la-bour, we ask that the community group or charity provide the materials for the job such as paint, plants or building materials.

The Community Payback campaign has been promoting the benefits to local com-munities of reparation work.

These are the rules that govern Community Payback:

We can only do work that would normally be undertaken by voluntary labour

The work must provide a service to the community

No-one must make a profit from the work

It must be challenging and demanding

It must be worthwhile and constructive

Offenders must be seen to be putting some-thing back into the community.

The Community Payback team will assess the project for suitability and for health and safety implications.

New way to consult for city residents

The Probation Trust is working with the Leicester City Council to manage the Citi-zens’ Panel Scheme that enables residents living in certain inner-city estates to request additional support from the Community Pay-back programme.

Members of the public consult with council housing and Probation rep-resentatives to identify and prioritize work that supervised offenders can undertake in their neighbourhood to improve public safety and the environment.

Local people can also go to the neighbour-hood housing offices and leave their sug-gestions, which are passed on to the Proba-tion team. The scheme is also regularly highlighted at community meetings.

During 2009-2010 LRPT agreed to initially provide supervised teams of offenders on 240 days for the Citizens’ Panel Scheme. However, the flow of work has actually gen-erated 281 days of work, which translates into 8,988 hours of unpaid reparation work for the benefit of local communities.

Tottenham Hotspur footballer launches Positive Futures project On 20 January Tottenham Hotspur first team player Benoit As-On 20 January Tottenham Hotspur first team player Benoit As-On 20 January Tottenham Hotspur first team player Benoit As-On 20 January Tottenham Hotspur first team player Benoit As-sousousousou----EkottoEkottoEkottoEkotto launched a new project to turn around the lives of launched a new project to turn around the lives of launched a new project to turn around the lives of launched a new project to turn around the lives of young people in the area.young people in the area.young people in the area.young people in the area.

Young people from the Campsbourne area of Haringey were given the opportunity to play football and talk to Benoit. Other guests included the CEO of Tottenham Hotspur Foundation,

Grant Cornwell and key representatives from the Metropolitan Police.

Positive Futures Tottenham is run locally by the Tottenham Hot-spur Foundation, the Football Club’s official charitable body and offers 14 to 16-year-olds in the Campsbourne area of Haringey a range of sports-based sessions in the evenings including foot-ball coaching, boxing, roller skating and street dance.

Gang-related issues The project will also run issue-led workshops to help tackle gang-related issues and contribute to the reduction of youth-associated crime and alcohol and drug misuse. All the young participants will be provided pathways into education, training or employment opportunities.

The project has been running sessions since October, and regu-lar competitions have been helping to breakdown gang-related issues by giving young people the opportunity to interact with

other young people from different estates and schools. One young person on the project, Luke Haynes has already achieved his FA Level 1 and is now a qualified football coach.

Luke Haynes said:

’I am very happy about the new project that is on the Camps-bourne Estate because we never had a professional football club come and do training with us on a regular basis. I did play football on a competitive basis but had to stop due to my injury but with Positive Futures I now have a future as a football coach. This project opens up so many more opportunities to young people in the area.'

Making a difference in the community Ciaran Porter, Neighbourhood Investment Team Leader from housing association L&Q, said:

'We are delighted to be involved in the project. L&Q is commit-ted to supporting the local community and this initiative pro-vides a fantastic opportunity for young people to get involved in a range of activities that are both fun and educational.'

Haringey Council’s Cabinet Member for Children and Young Peo-ple, Cllr Lorna Reith, said:

'Having Tottenham Hotspur involved in this scheme makes it

very attractive to young people on the Campsbourne Estate who might otherwise shun organised activities like this. Many of the youngsters are Spurs fans and they know they will get quality coaching and advice while having fun at the same time. Once involved in the project they then get access to all kinds of infor-mation and support to help shape their futures.'

Safer Neighbourhoods Inspector, Tracy Tempest, said:

'We are wholly supportive of this initiative. Sport is a positive way to help young people build their confidence and self-respect and in turn to make the right choices and the best of them-selves and their future.'

Currently 54 local young people are registered on the project.

Partners Other partners involved in the project include Haringey Neighbour-hood Management, Haringey Youth Service, Campsbourne Primary School, Hornsey Safer Neighbourhood Policing Team, housing as-sociation L&Q, Homes for Haringey, Circle 33 Housing Trust and TSG Building Services.

Find their website here:

http://www.posfutures.org.uk/index.asp?m=797&s=799&c=3154&t=Tottenham+Hotspur+football+star+la

Those first steps out of the prison gates are filled with relief, hope, expectation, but what about the next step? That’s where we come in. Serco’s Job Deal programme is focussed on offering ex-offenders a route back into the workplace, using local providers to help former inmates to develop the skills and habits that will boost your employability. David had been unemployed for a number of years. The boredom, loneliness and frustration that comes from being out of work led him to turn to alcohol, causing the break up of his marriage, and ultimately leaving him

behind bars. When he met his Job Deal case manager, Sally, David didn’t know what he wanted to do. Opportunities for unskilled workers were scarce and insecure, but after working through an Action Plan, Sally recommended a railtrack course. After such a long time out of work, it was crucial that they worked on his presentation and communication skills, but David also made the commitment to be drug and alcohol free, a key factor in preventing him from re-offending. David passed a drug and alcohol test and completed the course. His attitude and

willingness to learn impressed the tutors so much that he was recommended to a local railtrack firm and now has a steady job for the first time in three years. Over the next year Serco will work with more than 5,000 ex-offenders like David. We have already helped 450 people into training and 178 ex-offenders have been put back into the workplace. The solutions are tailored to the individual, and we strive to help anyone who wants to change to take those crucial first steps in changing your life for the better.

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Turning the tide of youth offending Ex-offender Charles Young tells Lynne WallisLynne WallisLynne WallisLynne Wallis how he's trying to give young people the chances that he never had Charles Young, is fast becoming one of London's most well-known ex-offenders, finds it hard to take a compliment. "Christ, black coat and white shirt, I look like a screw," he says with a toothy laugh.

It has been 17 years since Young's last stretch inside, six months in a single cell at Elmley prison in Kent. With over 40 convictions for robbery, fraud and burglary, he clocked up around 15 years behind bars between the ages of 19 and 40. Since his release, and inspired by a television programme he saw inside about an ex-con in Glasgow talking to schoolchildren about jail, Young has used his experiences of prison life to steer young people who may glamorise the criminal lifestyle towards a more fulfilling existence.

He conveys the brutality of prison life through presentations he takes to youth clubs, schools, colleges and, most recently, a naval college, during which an "inmate" sits locked in a mocked-up cell on a stage while Young hammers home what prison is really like. "Inmates" have included a former drug dealer, a vicar and a magistrate. Young shouts, uses raw language and doesn't pull any punches, and by the time his talk is over, some of the hardest-looking, most defiant kids look visibly shaken.

Young has been delivering his "prison's not worth it" message on a small budget since 1995. Now his efforts are starting to bear fruit. Last year, Young secured £30,000 of Home Office funding for his Laces (London Anti-Crime Education Scheme) project. A community interest company, Laces helps to educate young people at risk of offending about the realities of prison, the consequences of crime and how to make changes to avoid the wrong path.

But Young wants to do more. "I still feel so frustrated," he says. "There are people out there [in the criminal justice system] who have never been to prison and who talk to young offenders like they understand them, but they don't. You need to be patient and understanding, but a lot of people alienate these youngsters. You need to show respect

to them, give respect to teach respect, and lots of these kids don't respect anyone or anything because they have never had any respect themselves.

Perhaps Young's biggest success story is a 19-year-old man, Jason, a former drug dealer who was recently referred to Laces

by a crown court judge in Woolwich, south-east London. Jason has been crime-free ever since, has held a job down for a year, is in a steady relationship and has a baby named Lacey as a tribute to the project that turned his life around.

Young is incredibly proud of Jason and admits that when the judge agreed to revoke the youth offending team order and entrust Young to mentor Jason and keep him out of trouble, his eyes filled with tears. "I knew Laces was going to be a success and that one day this would happen, but it was still a big moment," Young says.

He has since been asked to address a group of six crown court judges about his work and a London probation team recently invited him to work with a newly released high-profile lifer who wants to turn away from crime for good.

So what does Young make of the government's plans for probation and prisons? Young says that while he is in favour of justice secretary Ken Clarke's prison and sentencing reforms, he does not believe that shorter sentences are going to reduce reoffending. "Recidivism is still high because most prisoners learn nothing inside and come out with no qualifications, no work experience and no realistic goals, so they end up falling back into the same old routine in spite of any initial good intentions. There are no avenues open to them to live a different life.

Channelling aggressionChannelling aggressionChannelling aggressionChannelling aggression

"Without parental guidance or a teacher to spot a talent and egg them on, what hope have they got? They need to be shown how to channel their aggression into something worthwhile. Instead, we've got kids who will kill over a postcode, a girl, a look, all because they want to be noticed. 'Look at

me,' they are saying.

"We have to encourage our young people to self-motivate, to believe in themselves, with parents and teachers working together. Instead, we've got parents and teachers blaming each other and teachers speaking to these kids with attitudes like shit."

Young says much more could be done to improve the job prospects for ex-prisoners. "Halving sentences just means career criminals can commit heavier crimes knowing he or she will get a more lenient sentence. It's no deterrent."

"Prisoners need to be made to go to work full time like we do, but there have to be employment opportunities when they come out. Someone has to give them a chance."

He would like criminal justice agencies such as youth offending teams, police, probation and the youth justice board, as well as social services, to work with chambers of commerce to persuade community-minded businesspeople to give ex-offenders a chance.

Young lives, breathes and sleeps Laces, but he does have a dream for his future. "I'd like to be filmed swimming an Olympic length, and then I'd get a mathematician to calculate my speed, take my age into account and work out what it would have been when I was 18 and tell me whether I'd have won a medal."

Find the Laces Website here:

http://laces.org.uk/page_1256933167334.html

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