COMMENT No Going Back T


here’s a lot to get worried, upset and angry about in the news at the moment. So much that it’s hard to know where to begin. Instead, allow me to find and share with you something good. Something worthwhile, which is all about giving back and trying, in one’s own small way, to make the world a better place for someone else, and, by extension, for all of us. A stretch in prison can be seen as punishment for crimes committed, a loss of liberty and freedoms curtailed. It can also be seen as an opportunity for rehabilitation, for a fresh start, a new chance.


Bounce Back is a project that works inside and outside prisons, offering offenders training and helping to get their lives back. It’s focused on the training and employment of people in and leaving prison. It works with the prison service and the probation service as well as companies and organisations in the outside world getting inmates ready for their new lives. The aim is to provide people leaving prison with a package of support including training, qualifications, work-readiness and early engagement with employers, to ensure that the journey out of prison is as smooth as possible. Some of those outside organisations are in hospitality, horticulture, transport and construction.


There is also the No Going Back programme, which has partnered up with Bounce Back. It’s a programme of support, training and employment opportunities funded by a number of Livery Companies, designed to get people into employment on release. The idea is that if you get the journey out of prison right, by providing the training the qualifications, the support and opportunities needed, then the likelihood of re- offending is dramatically reduced.


The Worshipful Company of Builders Merchants is one of the Livery Companies involved in No Going Back – we wrote about this last year – and it was as part of the programme that I was


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invited to visit HMP Brixton last month to see how the programme works. I was there with people from Encon, Knauf UK and Lawsons, who are all involved in the programme, whether it be by providing materials, help with training courses or employment opportunities. It was eye-opening and uplifting. Chatting to the inmates about their training, in this case a dry-lining course and a painting and decorating course, was fascinating. Many of the courses are construction based, and will lead to City & Guild qualifications, but that doesn’t mean that the programme is simply churning out dozens of plasterers, handy though that might be. By giving these people a structured training course, leading to a qualification that employers will recognise, you aren’t just giving them a certificate and a tick in the box. You’re giving them the confidence to make something else of their lives. You’re giving them the opportunity to take a look at what they can achieve, given the chance – if I can train to be a plasterer, a chef, a decorator, a mechanic, a gardener, whilst I’m in prison, and get a job using those qualifications, what else could I do if I put my mind to it? That mindset can be a powerful motivation. From an economics point of view, it make sense. Re-offending costs the taxpayer money. It’s in society’s interest to try and help people who may have simply taken a wrong turn, made some poor choices along the way or simply never realised that there was another way, to achieve something solid. Helping people to change their mindsets from “what’s the point, what chance have I got” to “I’ve got this. I can do this” and supporting them along their journey is what giving back is all about surely. I don’t have enough space here to do this justice. If you’d like to find out more, and maybe see if you could get involved, have a look at the website www. bouncebackproject.com/ngb BMJ


Fiona Russell-Horne Group Managing Editor - BMJ


Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one


less traveled by. And that has made all the difference.


May 2022 www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net


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