Sir, David Scott’s comments hint at frustration at an apparent shift in the key priorities away from rehabilitation and public protection to ticking boxes and checking balance sheets (“Probation chief who quit accuses Straw,” June 10).
St Giles Trust has been working alongside the London Probation Service for the past ten months providing “through the gates” resettlement support to prisoners returning to London. Our work does not replace that of the Probation service, but supports it by relieving pressure on officers and dealing with the practical issues faced by prison leavers such as accommodation and benefits. Despite being a huge success — helping more than 1,000 prison leavers to get back on their feet — this service is due to have its funding ended next month.
Failing to fund services such as this and properly supporting the Probation Service flies in the face of logic and raises serious questions about the Government’s commitment to tackle crime. An insistence that services are “economically advantageous” fails to grasp that tackling reoffending needs sustained investment. There is nothing economically advantageous in someone reoffending and returning to prison at a cost of £30,000 a year.
Now is the time for fresh thinking and a renewed impetus on tackling reoffending and keeping our communities safer. Although consequences such as the tragic and appalling murders of Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez are thankfully rare, my fear is that we will see more victims if the current complacency within the Government continues.
Rob Owen
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Chief Executive, St Giles Trust