Hello there reader! Below is a summary of what Unlocked Graduates does, and how their fantastic work is helping bring change to our prison system. I am running for Unlocked, as I feel their work is invaluable, both to the inmates' lives, as well as to our economy long-term. Give as generously as you can - it will change lives!

In the UK today, 44% of adult prisoners are reconvicted within a year of their release and this statistic rises to 59% for those serving sentences of less than 12 months. This reoffending rate costs the UK taxpayer £15 billion per year.

Unlocked Graduates aims to change this by attracting high calibre graduates from top universities to work as frontline prison officers for two years and challenging them to inject new ideas into the prison service that reduce reoffending. We are currently incubated by the youth justice charity Catch22. 

We have placed 150 prison officers in 14 prisons in London and the South East across both adult and youth estate. They work in almost 15 per cent of all prisons in England which house a population of over 10,000 prisoners. Next summer our third cohort of officers will join the programme and we will launch our second region in the North West. 

We believe our prison officers can be the agents of change in a prisoners life but to truly change the prison service we need your support. You can help us achieve an independent voice, increase innovation and give our prison officers the opportunity to pilot bold ideas that can create lasting change for prisoners.

Prison officers work with some of the most vulnerable people in society who have likely faced multiple disadvantages. Almost one-in-four people in prison have previously been in the care system and one-in-three have family members in prison. At Unlocked Graduates we believe that great prison officers have the potential to be an agent of change in prisoners lives but to truly change the prison service we need your support. You can help us achieve an independent voice, increase innovation and give our prison officers the opportunity to pilot bold ideas that can create lasting change for prisoners.

Please give what you can to facilitate needed change. The work Unlocked Graduates does helps break the vicious cycle of reoffending, and with your support, has the potential to overhaul the prison system as it stands.

Thank you,

Ollie

xox