Coding skills for young ex-offenders

We continue to improve on our project for ex-offenders. We are now using them as Mentors. They are able to, tell their stories of crime and show their coding skills to younger students at risk.

 We still need help to resource our training of these students. The donations pay specifically for the cost of the training and our link to friendly employers.

The project aims to avoid homelessness through the provision of housing advice and support to prisoners and their families. The project also provides through care support for those offenders with more complex needs to assist them to access specialist agencies in the community to address their needs. The project provides supported accommodation through an approach based on the adult placement model (which has traditionally been used for supporting adultswith learning difficulties).

The young person is placed in a family home, and the mentor supports the young person to develop life skills, to engage in family and community activities, and to participate in employability training to build a prosocial lifestyle.

Research suggests that holistic interventions that address multiple criminogenicneeds are more likely to be effective in reducing reoffending, but there is strong evidence that provision of practical support in prison is unlikely to have a lastingimpact on the risk of reoffending unless it continues upon release. These approaches therefore follow a throughcare model, with on-going support in the community s to access and co-ordinate the services that ex-offenders require to meet their needs. We now adopt a throughcare model – with Technology skills as a key for our young people to re-join the world.

What needs to be done: - Almost half of all prisoners say that employment (48%) and skills deficits (42%) are most important to their sentence - A recent PET survey showed that only 18% of offenders felt supported by prison officers in their learning- 76% of prisoners do not have paid employment to go to after release- Half of all prisoners do not have the skills required by 96% of jobs. - Only one in five prisoners are able to complete a job application form.

What ideas do you have on ways to integrate ex-offenders back into society? How do you think we can tackle the stigma, that many employers have about this group?