Inspired to act?
Visits to my local prison are invariably both saddening and also inspiring. Sad because I meet people who know well that they messed up and yet completely ‘fixing’ and putting right what went wrong is obviously impossible. Some want to make some form of amends but doing so is hugely challenging. Even then they often haven’t thought through the implications for the victim(s) or their family… Prison is a place where people think a lot but cannot do much to make a difference. Or can they?
My frequent visits are also deeply inspiring because despite lingering regret, some prisoners manage to pick themselves up, showing real determination to take their life in a different direction. Recently I met ‘Dan’* who once worked in motorsport. He will be released shortly and has been writing a business plan to establish a community enterprise working with young people to learn about maintaining and racing motorbikes. This was not some 5-minute whimsical daydream but a thought-out proposal based on long years of experience of the industry. This, on top of the inevitable need for him to gain employment in order to support himself. Dan plans to hold down a full-time job and run a community scheme for the benefit of others. Imagine, a stand-out citizen doing good for our young people, yet he has a criminal record. Of course we know nothing of this man’s crime and we may take the view that his particular crime disallows him from being anywhere near young people. But we need to careful with a sweeping response since approx. 9 million people in the UK have a criminal record and so we, and our young people are all inevitably meeting such people every day. Far better, if it is possible, that we support such a man and implement safeguarding so that the young people are protected from any individual who may seek to harm them - whether previously convicted or perhaps as yet undiscovered.
Another prisoner spent all his spare time making artificial flower arrangements, selling them through friends (and me!) to the public. 100% of the profit went to a road victim charity. This was his way of making some form of amends.
So whilst prisoners stories are frequently sad, their potential is equally often inspiring and I am regularly impassioned on their behalf (and those already released) who are self-aware enough to see their failures and want to make changes both to themselves and to their community.
This latent potential was the inspiration for CF in the first place. We must help men such as this change his life, fulfil his dreams and become a valued citizen of his community. Such a reality of men and women with potential languishing in our prisons demands a response. Will this society lend a hand or just stand by?