THROUGH THE GATE

LONDON - THROUGH THE GATE

New Bridge was awarded a three year grant by Big Lottery Fund in 2008 to develop the befriending service in London, specifically helping short term prisoners with the transition back to life in the community.

The project had been a year in development, going through the Big Lottery two stage application processes. Research included working with short term prisoners in HMP Brixton. The focus groups were asked if they would welcome and use the support of a volunteer. 75% of prisoners felt they had no-one on the outside to support them. All but one was on at least their second prison sentence. One prisoner was starting his seventh!

The overwhelming message from Brixton was if a volunteer got to know someone when they were inside, it could really make a difference to how they will get on once outside.

In August 2009, the project had helped 42 short term prisoners.