Change happens

As I type this week’s blog entry I am sitting in our new office in London. As I do I am reminded that things change. Often they change on a timescale not to our liking but they change nevertheless. For example, I had a foot-long sub in front of me just a few minutes ago and now I do not. Change is necessary and it will affect us all. Beyond the changes in the condition of my lunch, I face changes in my working situations as well. Charities the length and breadth of the country are facing increasingly difficult times due to the financial situation, and Prison Fellowship are not exempt from these pressures. This is why we are re-locating our central support office.

We are normally afraid of change and do everything in our power to stop it. It is only with hindsight that we ever appreciate it. Just 13 years ago Prison Fellowship were nervously tip toeing into our first ever Sycamore Tree programme. 15 prisoners (probably as nervous as we were) took that programme and it took us a year or two to find our feet. Since then the programme has changed both in structure and in availability. Now we expect over 100 courses each year. By the end of this financial year we will have run almost 1,050 programmes and taught around 16,500 prisoners. We even have a strategic plan to develop our provision to 200 and then 400 programmes a year.

It is a similar story with Angel Tree. 1994 saw our first attempt at this programme in just one prison, with 40 children receiving a Christmas present. Now we run in 76 prisons and almost 4,500 children received a Christmas present this year. In addition to this we now operate Angel Tree in two new ways, family fun days and Mother’s Day. Our strategic vision is to reach 20,000 children and to have Angel Tree, in one form or another, available in every prison in the land. I wonder what the volunteers buying those first 40 presents will have thought about that.

The plans we have for the future will require much change and even more courage, but we mustn’t forget who we serve. The prison scene has changed as well. The number of prisoners in this country has grown and grown, as a result the need to support their families has also grown. The only thing that doesn’t appear to have changed is our broad, societal approach to justice. We are still totally pre-occupied with those three eternal principles of justice: what law has been broken, who did it and how are we going to make them pay?

When oh when will this change?

As the country’s largest provider of Restorative Justice programmes, Prison Fellowship is pretty well placed to query whether this approach is at all sustainable. I have written before and I will write again, that the best way I know to reduce the ridiculous reoffending rates we have in this country, is to take up a Restorative Justice approach. Forget about retribution and think about restoration. Let’s think about: Who’s been hurt, what are their needs and who’s responsibility are they?

I’m not a nuclear physicist, or a member of MENSA. I was not a child prodigy and I don’t consider myself a genius. I am capable of some fairly rational thought however, and it is my humble observation that prison ‘aint working’. Perhaps Carol Vorderman might be able to explain how the reoffending rate increases the more people we put inside. Two and two makes four however much you claim to the contrary. Change is what is required. How many more years must we continue trying to force a square peg into a round hole?

We have heard much about a rehabilitation revolution, perhaps it is finally coming, though I shan’t hold my breath. It is currently possible to spend 20 or 30 years dipping in and out of prison and yet never truly understand the impact of your crimes. Until this changes, I’m afraid the results of imprisonment won’t either and as a result, you will have to listen to people like me complaining for a while yet.

Prison Fellowship will continue to facilitate change in the lives of offenders, families and victims, I will continue to embrace the changes to the way we do so and I will also continue to pray for the day we see real change in the way justice is provided in this country.

Incidentally I am not too unhappy about the change in my sub, it looked nice on my desk but it’s much better where it is.

Freedom and Fortune

Last week I talked a little about a TV programme I had watched. Actually I talked quite a lot about it. This week I am going to do the same because I saw a couple of things on TV that have given me a perspective re-boot. I’m not talking about England’s cricket world cup loss to Ireland, nor am I talking about the league cup final between Arsenal and Birmingham. Those of you following this blog will know why.

What I am talking about is a group of celebrities living in the slums of Kibera, Kenya. This is the largest slum in Africa measuring around 1.5 miles squared and home to a million people. The locals survive in conditions you and I can only imagine, in mud huts with open sewers outside, where 1 in 5 children will die before they reach 5 years of age and latrines are shared by up to 1,000 people. I’m not ashamed to tell you that I was in tears for much of this programme. It’s not a story of hope or of humanity. Things won’t really get better there it seems.

What this programme did for me is to reaffirm just how fortunate I am to be in the position I am in. Compared to the Kiberan people, I have never had a problem in my life. You can argue that life problems are relative and there will be an amount of credit in that, but my worries and concerns do not involve sharing a 12 foot mud hut, located at the foot of a mountain of refuse, with 8 family members mostly dying of some disease or another.

It also made me think about how fortunate we are in our culture in so far as the ability we have to help people in our own towns and cities. Given the nature of the issues people all over the world have to overcome, it is a nonsense that we should have homelessness, child poverty and social injustice at all in a country as rich as we are. I know that I sound idealistic and am probably dreaming but I really do believe that we have the power to change these situations. All we need is enough people who care. I don’t mean people who consider these things and feel some vague notion that something should be done. I mean people who recognise their responsibilities in their own communities to influence the lives of the people around them, and who possess enough get-up-and-go to act.

People like this make Prison Fellowship what it is. In 30 years of operations we have built a base of almost 1,400 committed volunteers who have influenced the lives of countless individuals. Since Sycamore Tree has been running our volunteer teams have taught over 15,000 prisoners and we know what impact we have had on their attitudes. So far as our records go back I can tell you that Angel Tree volunteers and supporters have sent over 30,000 Christmas presents to the children of offenders and we know what impact this has on family relations.

As we race toward the financial year end, we will have run 118 Sycamore Tree programmes which will have benefitted well over 2,000 prisoners once again. We managed to send 4,500 Christmas gifts with Angel Tree which represents our biggest year ever.

I have spent years in retail hospitality management and whilst it was fun and it gave me a massive collection of skills and experiences, it is simply not comparable to working for an organisation that actually makes a difference in people’s lives. I don’t know how many people I have told how proud it makes me to be doing what I do. I don’t know if you can tell!

I am also proud that I can openly talk about the fact that I do what I do in the name of God and for my faith in him. So many people who feel a spiritual duty to help are told they cannot talk openly about their faith. We have seen some high profile cases recently that prove my point, and I am glad that I can take advantage of my freedom, for the time being at least.

While I am enjoying this freedom I am also going to continue enjoying the lime torte my wife made for me for my birthday this weekend…