Today (13Th March 2024) our Director of Criminal Justice and Women’s Services, Nicky Park, gave evidence to the Welsh Affairs Committee as part of their inquiry into Prisons in Wales.
Nicky gave evidence about the high level of demand for support from St Giles in prisons in Wales.
“There are so many people that want to give back and want to provide support and want to do something purposeful with their time while they’re there, especially those who are serving slightly longer sentences.
And so often because our programme is not funded through government, it is funded either by ourselves or charitable trusts, so we can only provide a certain number of courses and we always have a waiting list of men that want to do it.”
Nicky went on to explain the value of our Peer Advice work in custody and how it supports people both in prison as well as out in the community.
“[The St Giles Peer Advice Programme] is something really valuable for them to do with their time while they are in custody and then we also have links to communities where we have either employed them ourselves, 60% of staff at St Giles have similar lived experience and 40% of that have criminal convictions, so we are an active employer and we provide that support when they come out into the community.
To know that there isn’t just support in custody but that there is real valuable tangible opportunity when they are released and the support that wraps around that is really valuable to them.”
Watch the clip in full below:
The Welsh Affairs Committee evidence session can be watched in full here.
Our role is to work in collaboration with other agencies to support the wellbeing of prison leavers, using our peer-led approach to ensure clients stay engaged with support services, have a positive structure and stay motivated on their journey to rebuild their lives.
Journalists seeking more information should contact media@stgilestrust.org.uk or call 07770 017368 / 07387 410993