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Prison qualifications scheme launched in Manchester

05/02/2007

A project which has been described as Europe's largest offender resettlement programme has been launched in Manchester.

Dubbed Prison Service Plus (PS Plus), the scheme provides offenders with the opportunity to gain qualifications suitable for the workplace and will be available in prison and under the supervision of the Probation Service, the BBC has reported.

It is hoped that offenders will be able to use the qualifications to enter the job market, thereby cutting down reoffending rates.

Those who are enrolled in the scheme will receive self-confidence tips, careers and housing advice and motivational training.

According to the BBC, Ian Lockwood, from HM Prison Service, said the scheme was the "best chance [prisoners] have ever had".

The scheme follows a two-year pilot project which worked with more than 16,000 offenders from 28 prisons in England.

New government figures have revealed that violence in prisons has soared by almost 600 per cent in ten years, which some experts have attributed to overcrowding.


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