Changing ways: Voluntary sector's role in rehabilitation
The voluntary sector has a unique role in helping people turn away from crime, says Ellie Cumbo, policy manager at Clinks, including the ability to generate new ideas by focusing on individual needs.
“I’m very clear that there is a level of expertise to be found in the voluntary sector that cannot be found elsewhere.” So said secretary of state Chris Grayling in a speech to the Centre for Social Justice, as his proposed reforms to the probation service got underway last summer. The programme of reform, Transforming Rehabilitation, will see probation services for low to medium risk offenders outsourced to 21 new community rehabilitation companies next spring, mostly from the private sector.
Clinks is a charity that supports, represents and campaigns for voluntary sector organisations working with offenders and their families, and we’re inclined to agree that they have a unique role to play. Our members work across an extraordinary range of initiatives to help people turn away from crime. Many of these are localised, with staff and volunteers driven by the specific challenges of their own communities. Services provided include housing and employment advice, treatment for substance abuse, and help with damaged relationships. Serco have experience of working with our members including in HMP Doncaster, where a payment-by-results programme to reduce reoffending by former prisoners is being run by Serco with Clinks members Catch22 and Turning Point.
A key aspect of our sector, which arises from its primary focus on individual needs, is its potential to generate new ideas. One example is the success of our arts interventions, inspired by the idea that creating a new and different mode of expression is fundamental to an individual’s rehabilitation. Voluntary programmes that deliver music, creative writing and other arts opportunities to offenders have demonstrated how people can develop a more positive identity and sense of purpose. This has been linked to reduced reoffending as well as an improved willingness to engage with prison regimes. Arts intervention programmes now enjoy significant support from prison and probation colleagues...
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Ethosis aimed at public sector leaders, politicians, academics and policy specialists debating the future of public services today.
