Closing the gates

In the past year, we have put a huge amount of effort into keeping our London Probation funded Through the Gates service up and running.  Funding for it originally came to an end last July but we were thrown a lifeline to keep a reduced service running for a further four months.

It came to what I hope is a temporary close on 1 December.  In the past 16 months, the team worked with nearly 1500 prison leavers, achieved over 1,300 positive housing outcomes and helped clients with many more issues such as finances and signposting to support with training and employment.  The team worked with prison leavers returning to 14 London boroughs from prisons across the country.  Their professional, effective reputation meant that reliance on the service from our partners in the Probation and Prison service was immense. We know from their many emails and phone calls to us that they are as dismayed as we are to see the service end.  There will undoubtedly be many prison leavers released homeless into London over the festive period.  Whilst we will try our utmost to help them, the gap left by Through the Gates will be keenly felt. I would like to thank the Team Manager Bernie Kastner for keeping the team motivated and finding new funding opportunities, and each team member acting with such care towards their clients.

Although the end is a blow, it also presents us with a challenge which we are keen to face.  Our frustration was often that we were only able to provide Through the Gates in 14 London boroughs, whereas the need is UK-wide.  Many prisoners are released alone with nowhere to go and no-one to guide them.  I passionately believe that each prison leaver across the country should be able to access support should they require it.  Early findings from exciting new research into Through the Gates from Frontier Economics clearly demonstrate that it dramatically reduces re-offending and brings about a huge saving for the public purse through reduced costs of crime, court and prison.  Once this report is launched next year, I will be ensuring that its findings are made loud and clear to Government.

This month, we launched an evaluation report by the Institute for Criminal Policy Research (ICPR) into our Peer Advice Project.  The three-year evaluation demonstrated that putting an offender at the heart of the solution can bring about massive benefits for all.  By enabling offenders to help others through becoming Peer Advisors, we mobilise their own rehabilitation and that of their clients who find them inspiring role models.  We have always known it works but harnessing the evidence to demonstrate this to funders and commissioners has been a real challenge. 

I was therefore extremely grateful to everyone who took the trouble to attend the launch of the ICPR report on 1 December at the Supreme Court in Westminster.  As ever, out of the many speakers at the launch, our current and former Peer Advisors were amongst the most engaging.  These include Harj Bansil, one of the first Peer Advisors we trained who now works for a training company in South London and serves as a Trustee on St Giles’ Board, Vicky Allen who has worked with us since her release and now provides vital support to young offenders in HMP YOI Ashfield and Erbay Safer who now works as a Trainer with us helping improve the skills of other offenders. 

A grande finale came in courtroom number one from our Team Leader Colin Lambert when he recounted that he had stood in the same dock a few years previously when it was the Guildhall Crown Court.  The judge sent him to HMP Wandsworth where he came into contact with St Giles Trust.  With his customary charisma and confidence, Colin stood in the courtroom thanking that judge for sending him to Wandsworth and transforming his life.  An ex-prisoner thanking a judge for giving him a lengthy prison sentence because he met St Giles – the irony was the most powerful endorsement for our work we could have had.

Along with many of our other staff, Colin has truly come full circle.  We didn’t wave a magic wand and convert him to a straight life.  We were simply there in HMP Wandsworth with the right solutions and opportunities for Colin when he chose to turn his life around. It isn’t rocket science but I wish we could be there for all the Colins currently behind bars. 

Merry Christmas and many good wishes for 2010 to everyone.
 
Rob Owen, Chief Executive