Prison rehabilitation scheme helps more than 1,500

A scheme helping prisoners in Kent find employment is approaching its tenth anniversary, having helped more than 1,500 inmates.

A training centre at HMP Standford Hill, on the Isle of Sheppey, aims to provide inmates the chance to gain a Level 2 NVQ or diploma, through learning trade skills.

The programme, a partnership between East Kent Colleges (EKC) and the prison service, aims to reduce reoffending.

A prisoner who is soon to be released, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "It's really helped me to progress in my life and my future."

Prisoners who attend the sessions are on Release on Temporary Licence (ROTL) from an open prison and can engage in a variety of courses including plumbing and bricklaying.

The prisoner, who will be leaving the prison with multiple qualifications, said: "I have got a job to start upon my release doing refurbishment.

"All the skills that I have learnt here, the plumbing, the carpentry, the electrics, will all come in handy going forward doing that."

Another prisoner, who began attending the Eastchurch training centre in January, said the plumbing course was vital in "creating better people".

"You can just waste away being locked up, but if you're learning something that would actually help society, that's really what I would call rehabilitation," he said.

The latest government figures, which are measured by quarter, showed the overall proven reoffending rate was 27.5% from April 2023 to June 2023.

Staff at EKC, which runs the courses, said the focus of the scheme was to reduce reoffending.

Since 2019, it has helped 1,604 prisoners to find a job upon their release from prison.

Katie Fewtrell, lecturer in employability skills, said: "We're helping them to reintegrate into society, to do something purposeful while they're here and to give them the skills that they need to then go and get work and hopefully not reoffend."

Dean Gardiner, the governor of HMP Standford Hill, added: "We've got lots of spare space, so very keen to extend where we can.

"We are keen to build that partnership working between the prison service and the college, and actually give the men in our care and our custody the opportunity to prepare for release."