'More people should be given this chance': The probation centres transforming offenders' lives
The combination of full prisons and tight public finances has forced the government to urgently rethink its approach.
Top of the agenda for an overhaul are short sentences, which look set to give way to more community rehabilitation.
The cost argument is clear - prison is expensive. It's around £60,000 per person per year compared to community sentences at roughly £4,500 a year.
But it's not just saving money that is driving the change.
Research shows short custodial terms, especially for first-time offenders, can do more harm than good, compounding criminal behaviour rather than acting as a deterrent.
This is certainly the case for Charlie, who describes herself as a former "junkie, shoplifter from Leeds" and spoke to Sky News at Preston probation centre.
She was first sent down as a teenager and has been in and out of prison ever since. She says her experience behind bars exacerbated her drug use.
"In prison, I would never get clean. It's easy, to be honest, I used to take them in myself," she says. "I was just in a cycle of getting released, homeless, and going straight back into trap houses, drug houses, and that cycle needs to be broken."
Eventually, she turned her life around after a court offered her drug treatment at a rehab facility.
She says that after decades of addiction and criminality, one judge's decision was the turning point.
"That was the moment that changed my life and I just want more judges to give more people that chance."
Also at Preston probation centre, but on the other side of the process, is probation officer Bex, who is also sceptical about short sentences.
"They disrupt people's lives," she says. "So, people might lose housing because they've gone to prison… they come out homeless and may return to drug use and reoffending."
Bex has seen first-hand the value of alternative routes out of crime.
"A lot of the people we work with have had really disjointed lives. It takes a long time for them to trust someone, and there's some really brilliant work that goes on every single day here that changes lives."
It's people like Bex and Charlie, and places like Preston probation centre, that are at the heart of the government's change in direction.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
33 minutes ago
- BBC News
Ex-Leicestershire Police officer barred after accessing confidential information
A police officer has been barred from serving again after covertly recording confidential Ellis, who has since resigned from Leicestershire Police, was found to have deliberately and secretly made six audio recordings on his personal phone, as well as taking pictures on the same device during a drugs raid, a misconduct hearing recordings, made between April and October 2020, captured the personal details of his colleagues and members of the public, including names and addresses, and details concerning criminal offences.A panel heard his colleagues said the former officer had "breached their trust by recording them in secret". Mr Ellis admitted to secretly making four recordings and taking photos without telling denied another three instances were done knowingly, with two of those ruled intentional by hearing chairman Steven Cooper, and the third Cooper accepted Mr Ellis required reasonable adjustments, but said this did not make the use of his personal phone "the correct course of action".He added the former officer had chosen "not to use those devices that were provided and recommended to him" and instead used one that was "insecure and had it been lost, would have contained data that was extremely sensitive".His actions were "clearly in breach of data protection rules" and he should have known this as he had only completed training on this a little more than two months before, the panel chairman Cooper ruled that Mr Ellis's behaviour, while not intended to cause harm to his colleagues or the police, was "inappropriate and inexplicable".He added that Mr Ellis should have "foreseen the risk of harm by storing personal and operational data on his personal phone".
BBC News
33 minutes ago
- BBC News
Layton Carr: Bikers pay tribute to boy killed in Gateshead fire
Bikers have paid tribute to a 14-year-old boy killed in a fire at a disused industrial Carr's body was discovered in a building on Fairfield Industrial Park, in the Bill Quay area of Gateshead, on 2 month, his family described him as a "cheeky, happy lad" with "an absolute heart of gold".Twenty-six children have been arrested and released on bail in connection with the blaze as Northumbria Police continues its investigation. The service was held at South Shields Crematorium before the youngster was laid to rest at Harton Cemetery. In a social media post last week, funeral directors said Layton had "a true passion" for motorcycles and they invited anyone with a bike to ride in tribute and "make some much-loved noise in his honour".They added: "He would've absolutely loved that." 'Bright and beautiful' Layton, a pupil at Hebburn Comprehensive School, "was loved by all that met him, and it showed", his family had said in their tribute."He was a family boy that loved his mam and sisters more than anything in the world."Layton, we love you more than any words can ever explain. You will be missed more than you'll ever know. Our bright and beautiful boy." Firefighters were called to the blaze shortly after 19:50 BST. Crews were met with "a severe fire within a section of one of the buildings".It was brought under control just before midnight having broken out in a large building on the estate, which has largely fallen into disrepair in recent than £21,000 has been raised via a GoFundMe appeal set up for Layton's mother. Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
44 minutes ago
- BBC News
Cornwall seagull sips man's coffee before stealing his mug
A gull has taken revenge on a man who was installing anti-bird spikes in a Cornish town - by drinking his coffee and pinching his worker Darren Pardoe had been bird proofing houses in Porthleven when he stopped at a pub for a coffee on 3 said he had been talking to someone before he turned around to find the gull helping himself to the hot brew. Before he could take action, the feathered thief flew off with the mug. "I think it had remembered me," he joked. Recalling the coffee heist, Mr Pardoe said: "I turn round and sure enough a seagull's got its beak in my coffee... next minute the bird picks up the coffee cup by its handle and takes off across the harbour with it."It flew round the harbour and then landed on the water, put the cup down, and the cup just sank."Mr Pardoe captured a photo of the bird in flight with his coffee mug.
