December 2009, an Essex Dad calls BBC Radio Essex saying his Son Daniel is to be released from prison on New Years Eve. He states that his son has no job, he doesn’t have housing or other support services so why release him ‘at all’ as he will just reoffend ending-up back inside as on 26 previous occasions! Generally you might argue that there are support services but the key point is that we heard a desperate family message of no hope.
Wingspan managed to positively input to the news item stating that when ex-offenders have served a sentence, paid the agreed price, some will want to change their ways and again play a positive role in society. It is for these people that there must be hope and opportunity. Looking at the Facts below you can see employment is a key part of that hope and opportunity as it provides an income, self respect and an opportunity to turn away from crime and or a reliance on benefits.
The Vision
From April 2010 Wingspan will make available to suitable applicants a number of new jobs in grounds maintenance. They will be gardening, landscaping, rough ground clearing, fence installing and maintaining, leaf clearing and even pavement salting in the winter. The initiative will be for both the long-term unemployed and ex-offenders [often one in the same people]. These will be real jobs, earning real wages, in a real commercial company, securing real contracts and delivering a quality service to clients via the following delivery framework:
Wingspan employment will have the single greatest impact on these guys likelihood of re-offending and or on the shedding of social stigma associated with unemployment. For the ex-offenders, turned away by many employers, this will be an opportunity to gain a clean period of employment and a good reference.
Special points of note
The company sees its business model as scalable and at some stage in the future aspires to replicate operations into other channels of trade such as decorating, catering, auto repair, building and numerous others areas.
- Simultaneously the scheme will provide mentoring and life skills training and thereby helping participants hold down employment long term. Following a minimum six months employment some participants will be employed as peer supervisors whilst others will be helped to find permanent employment with local business partners.
- Facts (from a 2002 Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) report)
· Chelmsford has a category B local prison for 695
· The Social Exclusion Unit noted 90,000 prisoners were released per year
· 60% re-offended within two years
· Re-offending costs the public purse over £11 billion per year
· 75% of prisoners are unemployed at release
· A stable job cuts the probability of re-offending by up to 50%
Neither the financial nor the social costs associated with these facts can be acceptable and without doubt ‘lasting social change’ can be achieved by the breaking of this re-offending cycle through the genuine creation of employment opportunities.
- Referee Assessment Criteria
All Referees will be interviewed and rigorously assessed for suitability to work for the company.
Commitment to the aims and objectives of the programme are paramount for each participant, however, ex-offenders will additionally be assessed for suitability against a strict criterion, the ‘basic’ elements of which include those listed below:
· non admittance of violent ex-offenders unless an independent source, say the Probation Service, confirm that the violent element has been addressed
· non admittance of sex offenders
· not a current drug user
· methadone user with an up-to-date declaration, on the record, of ‘wanting’ help
· potential employees must be 18 or over
- The Company’s Objects
The Memorandum and Articles of Association include:
· to promote the care, resettlement and rehabilitation of offenders, ex-offenders, those at risk of offending and the long-term unemployed to support their families and dependants, in particular (but without prejudice to the generality) by providing, promoting, supporting or organising the recruitment, employment, education, training and mentoring of offenders, ex-offenders, those at risk of offending and the long-term unemployed, and to thereafter assist them in finding employment and accommodation and in rehabilitating themselves;
· to promote the prevention of crime and social exclusion by supporting or carrying on either alone or in co-operation with any other body, authority or person any project or scheme and by accepting or providing money for such purposes whether by loan, grant, wages or otherwise;
· to trade or carry on any other trade or business whatever which can in the opinion of the Board be advantageously carried on;
· to purchase or by any other means acquire or take options over any property whatever, and any rights or privileges of any kind over or in respect of any property.
