Broadcaster reverend to volunteer at prisons
BROADCASTER Reverend Richard Coles plans to volunteer in prisons to help people avoid going back into the justice system when he retires next year.
Richard, 59, was in ‘80s duo The Communards, who are best known for single Don’t Leave Me This Way, before he was ordained.
He was in the band with Scots singer-songwriter Jimmy Somerville who was born in Greenock.
In new podcast Justice, Disrupted, produced in association with Community Justice Scotland, Richard explained: “I did a bit of prison chaplaincy in my first parish and I’m retiring next year and I’m going to do a bit more prison ministry then as a volunteer.”
Speaking to host Byron Vincent, he said: “I think it’s very obvious if you spend any time in the prison system, you’ll get a sense really of how people’s lives are distorted as a consequence of misfortune and lack of opportunity, the amount of people who have severe mental health problems, and other people who struggle with literacy.
“So in a way for someone who’s looking at how the world might better conform to what it could be, prisons are good places to see where that work might lie I think.”
In the episode, which is released today, Richard said his main aim is to listen when he goes into prisons and he hopes he can help keep people out the justice system in the future.
He said: “What I want to do is to hear people really, talk to people, especially people who are a) not used to being heard, and b) might not be easy to understand.
“It’s an odd privilege you get with a dog collar, there must be some kind of sociological code, but people will talk to you.
“In prisons you can sometimes be vulnerable if you speak freely, so to have someone you can speak to freely is often quite a productive thing, I think.”
Justice, Disrupted is available to listen to now.