The Outstanding Security Performance Awards (OSPAs) have announced The Clink Charity as their charity partner for the next 12 months.
Commenting on the partnership Martin Gill, Founder of the OSPAs and Director of Perpetuity Research has said “Our longstanding relationship with understanding offending to facilitate better responses is quite fitting – we are delighted to be working with The Clink Charity. Channelling offenders into meaningful work streams is key in helping them to desist from crime.”
The Clink Charity trains prisoners in the last 6-18 months of their sentence to obtain accredited City and Guilds qualifications in catering to improve their employability upon release. This takes place in The Clink restaurants and training kitchens in HMP High Down, HMP Brixton, HMP Cardiff and HMP Styal. The restaurants are open to the public and designed to simulate a professional working environment. By inviting the public to dine inside the prisons it breaks down barriers and change attitudes towards prisoners.
The Clink’s 5 step training programme helps offenders break the cycle of crime, by nurturing self-belief, through learning work place skills and offering nationally recognised qualifications. The 5 Steps: Recruit, Train, Support, Employ and Mentor dramatically reduces the rate of reoffending of those who have completed the programme.
Re-offending costs the economy up to £15bn a year. 49% of adult prisoners are re convicted within one year of release. The Clink’s aim is to reduce this and have succeeded with Clink graduates being close to 50% less likely to re-offend when compared to a similar cohort of prisoners in gender, race and criminal conviction.
Chris Moore, CEO of The Clink Charity commented “we are delighted that the Outstanding Security Performance Awards have chosen The Clink as their chosen charity this year. Through their generous support we can continue to demonstrate what can be achieved when society collectively engages to help those who want and deserve a second chance.”
Other Clink initiatives include: The Clink Gardens at HMP Send and High Down – for training towards an NVQ Level 2 in Horticulture, Clink Events – external catering services offering NVQ Level 1 in Hospitality and The Clink Café (Manchester) for training towards NVQ Level 1 & 2 Food & Beverage Service, Food Hygiene and Barista Skills.
Entry to the 2019 UK OSPAs is open until the 15th October 2018.
The Clink Charity Website