Reoffending currently costs the British taxpayer over £10 billion per year, with 60% of ex-prisoners reoffending within two years of release. More locally, Bristol consistently ranks as a city with high crime rates, a significant percentage of these committed by ex-prisoners. 

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Our experience shows that many prisoners express frustration at so often being treated as problems to be fixed, rather than people with feelings. What they really need are people who are interested in them, people who will journey with them, support them and safely welcome them into their communities. 

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Prison – some facts

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• The imprisonment rate for the ten most deprived local authorities in England is ten times greater (307 prisoners per 100,000) than that of the ten least deprived local authorities in England (30 per 100,000)

• Prisoners who chose education in prison have a learning disability rate 13 times higher than the general population

• Boys taken into care as a child are twelve times more likely to go to prison

• 2.5% of the general population have two or more mental disorders, this rises to 73% for people in prison

• 51% of prisoners have the literacy skills of an 11-year-old

• Parental imprisonment approximately trebles the risk of antisocial behaviour by their children

• Bristol's crime rate places it in the worst 20% in the country with 102 recorded offences per 100,000 of the population - the national average is 63