Last year 23 of us  - mostly biking beginners, got ourselves up and cycling for the Sheriffs’ and Recorder’s Fund London to Paris Ride.  200 miles in three days.  We all made it to the Eiffel Tower in one piece.  And best of all, we raised £63,000 thanks to our generous supporters. Of this, £50,000 went to support a programme “Out for Good” at HMP ISIS.  

This year we are biking from
Waterloo (station) to Waterloo (the battlefield) to continue our support for this life changing prison training scheme. 

Meanwhile at HMP ISIS, the inmates will be matching us mile for mile on static bikes in the gym, as well as raising money themselves through friends and family.

Below you will find Emily Thomas,  the inspirational Governor’s, explanation of how
Out for Good works – and the impact it has already had. 

We visited the prison this year and were incredibly inspired by the work being done by the governor, team and indeed the prisoners to sort out their lives, which had often been a mess since the day they were born  

Please may I ask you to
support me again this year on this 220 mile ride?   Once again, I am daunted by the challenge and am training every week to make sure I am ready  

Out for Good is a resettlement and employment scheme
run by the Bounce Back Foundation.

 Out for Good is an innovative end to end solution to sentenceplanning combining employer engagement and case management with the objective that people leave prison with a job to go straight into. 

The programme targets prisoners who are six months
prior to release to prepare and support them into the employment opportunities offered by a diverse range of prospective employers.  Employers come into
the prison numerous times to meet and interview candidates giving them the
opportunity to build a relationship with the prisoners prior to release and
vice versa easing participants’ apprehension of attending interviews and work
post release.

The programme is run under the full support and
guidance of our case managers to ensure expectations are managed on both sides
and the process is as seamless as possible.  Employers come from a diverse
range of industries and participating employers have:

The Out For Good team will offer support to both
parties for up to a year post release to ensure the transition and the ongoing
relationship continues as smoothly as possible.

93 prisoners at Isis participated in a previous Out
for Good programme with 72 of them being offered jobs on release.

  Emily Thomas

Governor

HMP/YOI Isis