Partnership Finder

BLAST Foundation is a Christian "Through The Gate" Resettlement organisation, working with prisoners and ex-offenders and their families of all faiths and no faiths. BLAST aim to be provider of choice, for prisons and probation trusts wishing to reduce recidivism and improve resettlement for prison inmates who want to transform their lives and break their cycle of re-offending. BLAST achieves this through our transformation, employability & business programmes delivered in prison. These programmes combine and are supported by BLASTs mentor and resettlement services, to support ex-offenders and their families in the difficult task of re-integrating in society

Criminon UK is a registered charity delivering distance learning life skills courses in many UK prisons. We are members of LASER Learning Awards (formerly the Open College Network South East Region), and have four courses accredited. Our accredited course "Understanding and Overcoming Addiction", aligns with learning outcomes of the NOCN National Qualification Unit's 'Introduction to Drug Awareness', Level 1. Our other accredited courses deal with literacy at Entry Level 2 and Level 1 and a simple guide to better living and self-respect at Entry Level 2. Further life skills courses we offer deal with Parenting, Communication and Personal Integrity. We also offer a Mentor Course which gives the offender the skills to help others with their literacy and allows them to give something back, helping them achieve greater confidence and self-respect.

Fine Cell Work trains and pays prisoners to do craftwork in their cells to encourage motivation, improve mental health and build employability skills. FCW is geared to long-term, male and female, high risk offenders who stay on the programme for 2 to 10 years. Our goal is to enable prisoners to gain social and employment skills so they can desist from re-offending in the future. Prisoners on the programme work for 20-40 hours a week in their cells.

We have a workforce of approximately 250 prisoners across 30 prisons. The apprenticeship training is done by 50 skilled volunteers. The prisoners make hand-embroidered quilts, cushions, clothes, rugs and furniture covers which are sold internationally and to museums and designers.

Our aim is to enable prisoners to gain motivation and “work-readiness” by doing cellwork and to follow on with further employment preparation in workshops where they can do accredited training in soft furnishings, machine embroidery and upholstery.

Geese Theatre Company is a team of professional theatre practitioners who present interactive drama and facilitate workshops, staff training and consultation in prisons, secure mental health settings, young offender institutions, and in the community with probation services, youth offending teams and related agencies. A registered charity based in Birmingham, Geese works throughout the UK and overseas and has gained an international reputation for innovative work with vulnerable and socially excluded groups, becoming widely acknowledged as one of the key organisations championing the role of arts in the criminal justice system and wider social welfare arena. Our work provides solutions to a range of criminogenic issues, primarily focussing on attitudes, thinking and behaviour and addressing themes such as domestic abuse, sexual offending, violence, resettlement, substance misuse and offending, self-efficacy, and employability.

Good Vibrations runs gamelan (Indonesian bronze percussion) courses, in prisons and secure hospitals and with offenders and ex-offenders in the community, helping people develop crucial life- and work-skills such as communication, teamworking, creative thinking and concentration. Participants are then also more motivated to engage in other constructive activities.

We work to organise a network of pastoral support for Muslim Chaplains and staff; to prepare, produce and recommend teaching materials and accredited courses; to provide mentoring and job shadowing services for Muslim Chaplains; and to engage the communities for the resettlement of prisoners and help to reduce reoffending. We also raise funds in order to pursue the MCA's activities.

No Offence! facilitates open access to and exchange of crime and justice information, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.

No Offence! is a social enterprise, community interest company, not driven by private profit.

Our innovative and engaging approach facilitates the sharing of this information by instigating, supporting and encouraging communication and debate, which promotes wider understanding of complex criminal justice issues across society. By challenging barriers to positive change and influencing future policy, our objective is simple: to make a difference.

We have created a criminal justice information exchange service, which has become a centre for excellence, for the significant benefit of all who engage within the criminal justice sector.

Pact is a national charity that provides support to prisoners, people with convictions and their families. We support people to make a fresh start, and minimise the harm that can be caused by imprisonment to people with convictions, to families and to communities.

Pact works in over 65 prisons and 8 CRCs and provides prison-based family engagement workers, Visitors’ Centres, visitor support, supervised play, catering and family activities, relationship and parenting education programmes, court and community family support, ‘Through the Gate’ family resettlement support and community based mentoring and befriending programmes.

We also run the HMPPS contracted national Prisoners' Families Helpline which can be reached seven days a week on 0808 808 2003.

Prison Fellowship aims to support prisoners by coming alongside them and supporting them through practical programmes and prayer.

We seek to help, support and develop a Christian ministry to prisoners through Sycamore Tree, our victim awareness programme; Angel Tree, where we support prisoner's children at Christmas; Letter Writing and other practical support through chaplaincy.

We do this through our network of volunteer members, and currently have over 1,800 members across England and Wales.

The PPT supports prisoners, ex-prisoners and prison staff in their spiritual lives through meditation, yoga, silence and the breath. We recommend breath-focussed stretches and meditation sensitively tailored to students' needs. To this end, we send free books and a CD to prisoners so they can start a practice in their cell, we have a team of specially trained volunteer letter writers who correspond with prisoners who want support in their practice; we offer taster workshops so prisons can judge if they want to include weekly yoga classes as part of their regimes; and we train qualified yoga teachers for the specific challenges of working in prison.

There are currently 143 weekly yoga and meditation classes in 75 institutions across the UK and Ireland. Most of these are prisons, though we also work in approved premises, IRCs and secure hospitals. 32 of these classes are for prison officers and staff.

We maintain contact with over 5,766 prisoners in 223 institutions.

Prison Reading Groups helps to set up and run reading groups in prisons. It runs groups in over 40 prisons, providing funding for books and helping find volunteers. It also provides books for Family Visit Days. It is part of the charity Give a Book.

We make it possible for volunteers in the community to write letters to prisoners, and to receive letters in return, and to do so in safety.

The Prisoners' Advice Service provides free legal advice and representation to adult prisoners in England and Wales regarding their rights, and regardless of the individual prisoners' means. PAS aims to educate and empower prisoners regarding the law and their legal and human rights.

REACH INSIDE is a charity that has been set up to help friends and family members of prisoners to REACH INSIDE and communicate easily with their loved ones.
Our POST–2–PRISON project allows anyone with online access to send a photo and a message to any UK prisoner completely free of charge.
All you need to do is visit our website (its mobile friendly too) and send your message, we will then print it and post it directly into prison.

Samaritans provides confidential emotional support to prisoners, either by telephone or face-to-face. The organisation also selects, trains and supports prisoners, known as Listeners, to offer confidential, emotional support to their fellow-inmates.

Sing Inside takes day long singing workshops into prisons around the country, working with groups of student volunteers and creating a larger choir with participants from within the prisons we visit. We teach a series of songs by ear to everyone at the same time, avoiding distancing prison volunteers from external volunteers, and everyone performs together at a short concert in the afternoon. our workshops aim to encourage self-confidence and self-worth, and a belief in the positive impact prison residents can have on group activities, by allowing them a liberating creative and social space in which to work towards a goal. Sing Inside utilises the power of group singing to draw together a community quickly, improving relationships between residents and external volunteers, as well as including prison staff. Our workshops encourage faith in supportive external communities and hope for positive contribution to group activities upon release through group singing.

SMART have been developing and delivering innovative drug and alcohol services since 1996 when we launched an Arrest Referral Service in Oxford. We have grown to become one of the most trusted providers of recovery services in the South East.

We believe everyone has the ability to change. True innovation starts with listening to the people we work with. Our client is instrumental in designing, implementing and evaluating their own recovery journey; in collaboration with their family, their community, our workers and partners.

Reaching and maintaining recovery requires much more than absence of drugs or alcohol; we are experienced in meeting the many challenges that people face; such as access to secure housing, education and employment opportunities, and a supportive community.

Established in 2000, Synergy Theatre Project works with prisoners, ex-prisoners and young people at risk, towards rehabilitation, through theatre and related activities, while placing the wider issues surrounding criminal justice in the public arena.

Our group provides Trans Awareness and Equality Training to the Prison and Probation services, provides training on the PSI and guidance for the Care and Management of Trans Offenders. We visit prisons to support Trans and Gender Diverse offenders, give support upon release and occasionally provide accomodation in our Trans Community House to suitable Trans Offenders on release.
Our chair person also serves as a member on the Transgender advisory Board to the prison and probation service and is also a member of the Inside Gender Identity NHS England T&F group for improving the health care and support of Transgender Offenders, including secure accomodation.

Unlock is an independent award-winning national charity that provides a voice and support for people with convictions who are facing stigma and obstacles because of their criminal record, often long after they have served their sentence.

Firstly, we help people. We provide information, advice and support to people with convictions, including running an information site and confidential peer-run helpline. We help practitioners support people with convictions by providing criminal record disclosure training. And we support employers and universities in treating people with criminal records fairly.

Secondly, we advocate for change, working at policy level to address systemic and structural issues. We listen to and consult with people with criminal records, undertake research and produce evidence-based reports to inform policy makers and the public. We challenge bad practice, influence attitudes and speak truth to power. We co-founded and support the Ban the Box campaign.