Directory

We’re taking groups through mindfulness programmes designed around accredited good practice guidelines from interventions studied previously. Such intervention improves self-regulation, and reduces anxiety, depression, stress psychological precursors to criminal behaviour.

We intend the Mindfulness in Prisons Project (MiPP) to develop a more mindful community in UK prisons, bringing people together in a challenging environment to create personal, practical strategies for engaging with better mental health practices.

Through MiPP we're building strong support between inmates and staff, by including
staff in training groups so they can continue to build upon the principles MiPP will help
introduce. This combined approach will contribute to improved prison communities,
guiding people to use their sentences as a potential for personal development. In-turn
we envisage an overall reduction in re-offending rates and incidents of mental health.

We collect books from publishers, libraries, shops and individuals, sort and stamp them and redistribute them free of charge to organizations working with homeless people, prisons, offenders and ex-offenders, womens refuges, refugees,asylum applicants and others with limited funds. We want to see more Borderline Books groups in other locations - it is an excellent project for ex-offenders to run. We can offer an 'office in a box', plus initial supply of books and a wealth of experience. The project is very flexible and could be combined with literacy classes or writing groups as well as giving useful job-training skills. We sometimes have to turn down book donations as we don't have funds to bring them up to Gateshead so local editions would be great.

We are particularly interested in working with more prisons. Do get in contact.
We are also providing free books to custody suites in the North East. Enquiries welcome.

We are a project of the Kittiwake Trust charity number 1165318

CGL is a criminal justice, health and social care charity working with individuals, families and communities across England and Wales that are affected by drugs, alcohol, crime, homelessness, domestic abuse and anti-social behaviour. Our projects, delivered in communities and prisons, encourage and empower people to regain control of their lives and motivate them to tackle their problems. We also offer volunteering, peer mentoring and employment opportunities across England and Wales

Criminon UK is a registered charity delivering distance learning life skills courses in many UK prisons. We are members of LASER Learning Awards (formerly the Open College Network South East Region), and have four courses accredited. Our accredited course "Understanding and Overcoming Addiction", aligns with learning outcomes of the NOCN National Qualification Unit's 'Introduction to Drug Awareness', Level 1. Our other accredited courses deal with literacy at Entry Level 2 and Level 1 and a simple guide to better living and self-respect at Entry Level 2. Further life skills courses we offer deal with Parenting, Communication and Personal Integrity. We also offer a Mentor Course which gives the offender the skills to help others with their literacy and allows them to give something back, helping them achieve greater confidence and self-respect.

Daylight Christian Prison Trust exists to see prisoners' and ex-offenders' lives changed from the inside out by advancing the Christian faith amongst prisoners, through supporting prisoners during their sentence and by providing practical post-release support to ex-offenders after release to reduce the likelihood of reoffending.

We offer all prisons a "free" service which enables family, friends and all concerned in a prisoners' welfare the option to convey their correspondence via email, for less than the cost of a second-class stamp.

English PEN believes in safeguarding the freedom to read and write. Its Readers and Writers programme brings writers and books into closed and neglected communities in particular prisons. We work in partnership with education, libraries and writers in residence.

Fine Cell Work trains and pays prisoners to do craftwork in their cells to encourage motivation, improve mental health and build employability skills. FCW is geared to long-term, male and female, high risk offenders who stay on the programme for 2 to 10 years. Our goal is to enable prisoners to gain social and employment skills so they can desist from re-offending in the future. Prisoners on the programme work for 20-40 hours a week in their cells.

We have a workforce of approximately 250 prisoners across 30 prisons. The apprenticeship training is done by 50 skilled volunteers. The prisoners make hand-embroidered quilts, cushions, clothes, rugs and furniture covers which are sold internationally and to museums and designers.

Our aim is to enable prisoners to gain motivation and “work-readiness” by doing cellwork and to follow on with further employment preparation in workshops where they can do accredited training in soft furnishings, machine embroidery and upholstery.

Geese Theatre Company is a team of professional theatre practitioners who present interactive drama and facilitate workshops, staff training and consultation in prisons, secure mental health settings, young offender institutions, and in the community with probation services, youth offending teams and related agencies. A registered charity based in Birmingham, Geese works throughout the UK and overseas and has gained an international reputation for innovative work with vulnerable and socially excluded groups, becoming widely acknowledged as one of the key organisations championing the role of arts in the criminal justice system and wider social welfare arena. Our work provides solutions to a range of criminogenic issues, primarily focussing on attitudes, thinking and behaviour and addressing themes such as domestic abuse, sexual offending, violence, resettlement, substance misuse and offending, self-efficacy, and employability.

Good Vibrations runs gamelan (Indonesian bronze percussion) courses, in prisons and secure hospitals and with offenders and ex-offenders in the community, helping people develop crucial life- and work-skills such as communication, teamworking, creative thinking and concentration. Participants are then also more motivated to engage in other constructive activities.

Inside Time is a newspaper provided to every prison in the country. We also publish Inside Information, a comprehensive guide to prisons, legal fact sheets and support organisations for prisoners and their families.

Since 1962 the Koestler Awards have played a unique, national role in motivating prisoners, secure hospital patients and immigration detainees to take part in the arts. The Koestler Awards are simple and powerful – we reward achievement, build self-confidence and broaden horizons for some of society’s most disadvantaged and marginalised people.

Our work harnesses the uniquely transformative power of the arts to help individuals learn the skills and gain the confidence to live creative, positive and productive lives. Each year we receive more than 7,000 entries from over 3,500 entrants across the UK in 52 categories. More than 2,000 Awards are granted by over 100 esteemed judges, and each year culminates in a curated exhibition at Southbank Centre which showcases the incredible power of the arts to transform lives, as well as regular exhibitions and displays across the UK.

We also run an Arts Mentoring project partnering talented Koestler Award winners with professional artists.

Leap works with young people aged 11-25, training them to understand and manage conflict in their lives and communities. We also train the adults who work with them.

New Bridge supports a national network of volunteers who befriend and mentor people in custody and in the community. We particularly support short sentenced prisoners in London and Merseyside and befriend longer sentenced more serious offenders throughout England and Wales.

Ormiston Families is a charity supporting children, young people and their families across the East of England, including children and families affected by imprisonment. We work in 11 of the region's prisons and young-offender institutions, offering community support for children and young people in Bedfordshire and Essex.

A4e delivers a range of services to help people who are leaving prison, serving a community sentence or who have a criminal record, to find and sustain employment. It also delivers legal advice, skills training, money and debt advice, and support for those interested in self-employment.

Prison Fellowship aims to support prisoners by coming alongside them and supporting them through practical programmes and prayer.

We seek to help, support and develop a Christian ministry to prisoners through Sycamore Tree, our victim awareness programme; Angel Tree, where we support prisoner's children at Christmas; Letter Writing and other practical support through chaplaincy.

We do this through our network of volunteer members, and currently have over 1,800 members across England and Wales.

The PPT supports prisoners, ex-prisoners and prison staff in their spiritual lives through meditation, yoga, silence and the breath. We recommend breath-focussed stretches and meditation sensitively tailored to students' needs. To this end, we send free books and a CD to prisoners so they can start a practice in their cell, we have a team of specially trained volunteer letter writers who correspond with prisoners who want support in their practice; we offer taster workshops so prisons can judge if they want to include weekly yoga classes as part of their regimes; and we train qualified yoga teachers for the specific challenges of working in prison.

There are currently 143 weekly yoga and meditation classes in 75 institutions across the UK and Ireland. Most of these are prisons, though we also work in approved premises, IRCs and secure hospitals. 32 of these classes are for prison officers and staff.

We maintain contact with over 5,766 prisoners in 223 institutions.

Prison Voicemail is a social venture with a mission to improve communication channels between families and their loved ones in prison. Its voicemail service enables families and prisoners to exchange voicemails at times convenient to them.

Research on the Prison Voicemail service by Lincoln University, published in August 2017, found:

* Both families and prisoners were extremely positive about the service, reporting significant impacts on their health and well-being, relationships, and ability to resolve practical issues.
* Prisoners reported positive impacts on their behaviour and likelihood of reoffending. 63% said voicemails help them to behave better in prison.
* 96% of prisoners and 97% of families said voicemail makes them feel better.
* 83% of prisoners and 93% of families said their relationships are better as a result of voicemail.

Prison Voicemail is currently working on a number of other complimentary innovations including secure video calls.

We make it possible for volunteers in the community to write letters to prisoners, and to receive letters in return, and to do so in safety.