Funding boost for service to help prisoners adjust to community life
A free service in Sussex dedicated to supporting people coming out of prison and back into the community, has received a funding boost from the Police and Crime Commissioner.
Katy Bourne has awarded £4,000 to the Community Chaplaincy organisation Ford Forward from her Safer in Sussex Community Safety fund, which was launched in 2013 for initiatives relating to crime reduction and community safety.
Ford Forward’s key workers include a community chaplain, a volunteer coordinator and a trainer. They offer mentoring to those resettling locally upon release from prison, with the goal of contributing to reducing reoffending.
In the UK, 75 per cent of ex-inmates reoffend within nine years of release and 39.3 per cent within the first 12 months. Trustee Anthony Oehring believes this can be attributed to the challenges prisoners face in resettling and re-establishing personal, family and community connections, including linking with statutory services like social housing. He said: “Voluntary services, like Ford Forward, complement the range of statutory services available and mentoring helps prisoners gain selfconfidence and self-esteem to reconnect and establish life in with the community – if this is successful then it reduces reoffending and reduces victims.”
Chaplain Andy Kerr added: “We are very grateful to receive some funding from the PCC. Everyone at FFCC works hard to support prisoners, alongside statutory partners, through the gate to resettle into their community in the best possible way. This funding will enable our valuable work to continue in and around Sussex, increasing desistance, and lowering levels of crime and its impact on victims and the wider society.”
Of the 39 clients Ford Forward has supported through to release, only one has reoffended and several serial and serious offenders have also been able to resettle successfully.
Simon was a prisoner in HMP Ford and has been in and out of prison a few times over the years. Ford Forward chaplains helped him during his release in lockdown. They assigned him a personal volunteer mentor who got to know him in prison ahead of his release then worked with the prison resettlement teams and local charities to apply for housing for Simon and to secure him a job.
Simon has since settled back well into the community, saying: “I have never been given so much support on release and you have done it all for me and believed in me and my future. Your charity is doing great work. I’m very grateful.”