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More help for young people just out of prison
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
read this article and thought it was quite sad really ..
http://society.guardian.co.uk/youthjustice/story/0,,2157576,00.html
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Jade Saunders was a model prisoner, yet since her release has considered reoffending and attempted suicide
[/FONT]For Jade Saunders, in Medway, for 10 months for her involvement aged 15 in a knife-point robbery, a sheaf of the euphemistic certificates testify to a life turned round. There are awards for scientist of the week, achievement and effort in music, an array of credits for sports, art, poetry and even, poignantly, for baking a Victoria sponge.
But if Saunders, now 18, thrown out of school and neglected at home, managed to transform herself within the walls of a child jail, what happened after threatened to undo that progress and return her to the path she had left. Released two months early as reward for her good behaviour, she found herself - far from being protected - classified by her local authority as homeless and dealt with by its homeless persons unit rather than children's services.
Just a week before leaving the STC aged 17, she was told she would be sent to a hostel for homeless women up to the age of 39, many of them drug users
.
On the day of her release, Saunders was taken to the hostel, given £50 to cover expenses, and left to sort out her life. The months since have seen her struggle with a paralysingly complex and inept benefits system, consider reoffending in order to return to the security of custody, and even attempt suicide by swallowing all of her anti-depressants.
According to the Howard League for Penal Reform, which has successfully challenged Saunders' treatment by the London borough of Sutton in the court of appeal, there is a systematic failure by local authorities to meet the welfare needs of vulnerable children leaving custody, exacerbating the already high risk of reoffending.
http://society.guardian.co.uk/youthjustice/story/0,,2157576,00.html
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Jade Saunders was a model prisoner, yet since her release has considered reoffending and attempted suicide
[/FONT]For Jade Saunders, in Medway, for 10 months for her involvement aged 15 in a knife-point robbery, a sheaf of the euphemistic certificates testify to a life turned round. There are awards for scientist of the week, achievement and effort in music, an array of credits for sports, art, poetry and even, poignantly, for baking a Victoria sponge.
But if Saunders, now 18, thrown out of school and neglected at home, managed to transform herself within the walls of a child jail, what happened after threatened to undo that progress and return her to the path she had left. Released two months early as reward for her good behaviour, she found herself - far from being protected - classified by her local authority as homeless and dealt with by its homeless persons unit rather than children's services.
Just a week before leaving the STC aged 17, she was told she would be sent to a hostel for homeless women up to the age of 39, many of them drug users
.
On the day of her release, Saunders was taken to the hostel, given £50 to cover expenses, and left to sort out her life. The months since have seen her struggle with a paralysingly complex and inept benefits system, consider reoffending in order to return to the security of custody, and even attempt suicide by swallowing all of her anti-depressants.
According to the Howard League for Penal Reform, which has successfully challenged Saunders' treatment by the London borough of Sutton in the court of appeal, there is a systematic failure by local authorities to meet the welfare needs of vulnerable children leaving custody, exacerbating the already high risk of reoffending.
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Comments
From the looks of it you get more help in prison then out of it.
in prison she got qualifications, a roof over her head, etc .. out of it you get sod all!!
You can see why people would want to commit a crime just to go back .. there really should be some kind of scheme to help people get on their feet, get a decent job and into their own place.
IF not all we're doing is inviting people back into prison .. worse for them and more costly to the rest of us.
at a local community centre where i used to volunteer we had people from the young offenders institute come to volunteer as part of their timetable..a few after being released haven't left the community centre and a guy i know has even acquired a job now..it's not all bad but i think they made a major error with her by just leaving her to 'get on with it'.
Don't know why this is up to councils - I think this should be tackled at national level.
I think they did help her INSIDE - her problems seem to begin once they let her out .
But if they gave her nothing on release they might as well not bothered, its only half of whats needed.
Trouble is when they release you - you're int he hands of the local council or whatever other agency is next in line- there's no one overall body incharge with a global budget.
Wow, thanks so much for coming to share Jade. It's really nice to hear how you're doing and to know you are feeling pleased about how things are now. Fingers crossed on the job front - keep us posted!
Good luck with things in the future Jade
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