On Friday Dr Rosie Meek and the 2nd Chance team presented the results of 3 years work at the RFU Headquarters,Twickenham Rugby Stadium. The event was well attended by academics, heads of foundations and leaders in criminal justice and the third sector. Many of the young men involved in the research were also present and articulated brilliantly, the positive impact the project has had on their lives

The report by Dr Rosie Meek, summarises the evaluation findings of the 2nd Chance Project football and rugby academies, a two year initiative at HMP Portland which used sport as a way of engaging with young adult male prisoners in identifying and meeting resettlement needs and facilitating the transition from custody to community.

After a glowing introduction from the President of the RFU Willie Waldash, MD of 2nd Chance, James Mapstone introduced the background to the academies which began following the TV programme “Football behind bars” presented by Ian Wright. 2nd Chance and Portland staff continued to lead the resettlement and mentoring of the young men and subsequently set up a football academy in partnership with Chelsea FC. In the second year the academy ran a rugby academy, this time partnering with the RFU. Justin Coleman, Director of Transistions, 2nd Chance talked about his approach and the mentoring and resettlement element with the young men which resulted in Justin winning a Criminal Justice Award namely the ‘Una Padel Award 2011’. We also heard from the prison staff, the coaches and the young men themselves.

Dr Rosie Meek gave a summary of the findings of the report before leading a panel of questions. Over all  81 young men were involved in the academies and  all agreed to participate in the research. Dr Rosie Meek conducted numerous  in depth interviews with the participants before, after and an average of six months after participation.

The results were overwhelming. On January 1st 2012, 50 had been released: nine for over a year; 15 for six months – 1 year. Of these, nine (18%) have been recalled for breach of license or convicted of a new offence. This is compared with the much higher recidivism rates that the prison recorded themselves. Of the 542 prisoners released from HMP Portland in 2009, 48% reoffended within one year.

Not only that but all agreed that the value for money of the programme spoke for itself. It currently costs an average of £47,137 (Ministry of Justice, 2011c) per year for each prisoner to be held in a Young Offender Institute (under 21 years of age) in overall resource expenditure.  The total cost of delivering the academy over two years is £183,000 (£1,130 per prisoner, per year) suggests if just two individuals who would have reoffended are prevented from doing so in one year, the project will have more than saved the initial expenditure.

At a time where “Payment by Results” is the phrase on every funders lips, the results here speak for themselves. 2nd Chance hope to continue and extend their work with Portland and other prisons over the coming months.

A PDF of the report is available here

Posted: 23.01.12 10:31