PROBATION OFFENDERS HELP TO DELIVER NEW COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT CENTRE AT HMP PRESTON
23 Dec 2011
Lancashire Probation offenders are completing unpaid work to help HMP Preston to deliver a new Community Engagement Centre in Ribbleton Lane.
The Community Engagement Centre (CEC) will be used to help people released from prison, the families of offenders, ex offenders and the community.
Offenders sentenced to complete unpaid work as a punishment by the courts will attend the former visitors building every Saturday until February to convert the facility from a former waiting room into the new centre. All the materials for the renovation are being supplied by the prison’s works department.
Once the work is completed, the new centre will be operated by Signposts, a charity working to empower the community in Lancashire, with the aim to break down the barriers that exist between prison, outside agencies and the community.
The centre will be there to offer help to anyone who may require it in the community. The CEC will have information on a vast amount of topics and there will be internet access for people to use to complete claim and application forms.
Community Payback supervisor Colin Bradshaw said:
“Offenders completing unpaid work are creating a new facility to be used by the community. We are doing renovations, building a dividing wall, redecorating and putting in a kitchen.
“This is hard work, but we are teaching the offenders new skills and at the same time they are paying back to the community for their crimes.”
Barry Bishop, Principal Officer at HMP Preston is responsible for developing the centre. He said:
“The work is going very well in the centre, I am very impressed about how hard the offenders are working.
“The centre will be operated by Signposts who have all the skills and knowledge to help people complete their pathways to reducing reoffending that they could not achieve whilst in prison. Many outside agencies have already shown an interest in working with the CEC so the community approach to offering help is will on the way.
“My vision is that it will break down the barriers that exist between the prison, outside agencies and the community and I plan on holding theme weeks looking at different subjects such as domestic violence, youth crime and drug misuse for example. The offenders completing unpaid work in the community are helping us to achieve this goal.
”The CEC is there fore the whole of the community and I cannot thank the Community Payback supervisors and their team’s enough for all the help they have given this project.”
Community Payback is a punishment handed out by the courts. It is demanding work carried out by offenders in the community as an alternative to a prison sentence.
In Preston alone between April 2011 and the end of November offenders have completed 21,078 hours of Community Payback.
If paid at the minimum wage (£6.08) this is worth almost £128,160 to the economy.
Do you have an idea for a project that offenders could work on for the benefit of your community? You can nominate a project for offenders to undertake at www.lancashireprobation.co.uk
