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A national prison charity in the UK has outlined a different approach to rehabilitation in its new five-year vision based on Catholic social teaching and the inherent dignity of every human being.
The Prison Advice and Care Trust (Pact), which provides support to prisoners, people with convictions, and their families, says the concept of the inherent dignity of every human being arises from their “living roots”.
They “are firmly rooted in the Christian faith and Catholic social teaching” they say.
In a video released on Wednesday, the charity said:
“As human beings we are not defined by the bad things we have done in our lives. We can all hope for a narrative of redemption.”
Speaking after the video’s launch, Pact CEO Andy Keen-Downs, said “Having grown and developed our range of services very significantly over the past 5 years, we have reflected on our vision, mission and values, and set out our ambitions and goals for 2019 – 2024 based on listening to our services users and our staff.
“[The video] ‘Routes to Change’ replaces ‘Growing to Serve’ as our new strategic guide, offering a clear set of pathways for our staff, volunteers, supporters and friends to work together for the Common Good.”
Over the next five years Pact says it will “show the way forward for rehabilitation by focusing on good relationships” between ex-prisoners, family members and wider communities.
They note statistics released by the Ministry of Justice show people who have family contact are up to 40 per cent less likely to reoffend.
This will mean doubling the numbers of volunteers from 500 to 1000 and supporting “service users” to tell their own stories. These will help inform and shape the prison services that are designed for them.
Pact says the term “offender” is unhelpful and taking a risk-based approach to reoffending and reintroducing ex-prisoners – or “service users” back into society is not effective.
Source
- The Tablet
- Pact
- Image: Wikipedia
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News category: World.
