Self help

Just a glance at the statistics will tell you why prisons are high on the priority list for the government. Overcrowding, understaffing and struggling regimes– the headlines make for grim reading. But the appointment of James Timpson as prisons minister has been met with a sigh of relief from experts. With a minister who has a deep understanding of what it takes to set people up for success on release, now is the time to rethink the way we ‘do’ rehabilitation.

This is particularly true for young people. In 2024, there were almost 14,000 young people in prison – and this looks set to increase by 50 per cent by 2026. Young adult wellbeing in prison is significantly poorer than for older people in prison – with worse experiences of mental health, higher rates of self-harm and lower engagement in education or employment, young people are consequently more likely to reoffend.

Oddly, tailored support for young people in prison is extremely limited, despite the many reasons to target this group. Whileyoung people in custody have distinct needs, they also possess unique strengths. As the prison and probation service argues: “late teenage years are… the time when a young adult is most likely to desist from crime. Young adulthood is a crucial opportunity for… the right interventions.”

Coaching, like that provided by SparkInside, is a particularly powerful tool for young people. Coaching is a facilitated conversation designed to allow individuals to find their own solutions to their own problems. Unlike mentoring, for example, coaching offers very little advice or guidance, on the basis that each person is the expert on their own life.

Instead of telling them what to do, coaching empowers people to make their own, more positive decisions and to start building the future they want. It is focused on their potential, and the tools gained can enable them to achieve their goals in the most difficult of circumstances. We can see this through both our impact data and direct feedback. In 2024, 98 per cent of young people we coached reported making progress in their lives. Seventy-five per cent made progress in work or education, giving them the opportunity to move away from crime into productive futures.

There is clear evidence – including the Ministry of Justice’s analysis of our programme – that coaching of young people reduces reoffending. We think this is because it gives young people the skills and mindset to make the most of their talents and opportunities and escape the ‘revolving door’ of prison. All of which has a ripple effect beyond prison walls – taking one of our programmes as an example, every £1 invested generates at least £5.94worth of benefits to society. As Labour seeks to achieve its five missions in an unforgiving fiscal climate, this is exactly the sort of low-cost, high impact intervention ministers should be exploring. Prisoners are not the only ones who can benefit from a coaching-centred approach. In environments that are increasingly overcrowded and chaotic, it’s more important than ever to invest in staff, who, as the 2021 prisons white paper said, hold “the greatest potential to make prison safe, secure and decent… places that help prisoners turn their lives around.” They are the key to creating rehabilitative cultures that support change and progression.

In 2020, during the height of Covid-19, we started coaching prison staff. Five years on, we’ve coached more than 100 staff, from officers to governors. An evaluation by The University of Lincoln showed our coaching enabled prison staff to build resilience, manage stress and improve their wellbeing, with participants welcoming the opportunity to speak to someone independent from the system.

We hope the Labour government brings fresh thinking about our prisons and how we approach rehabilitation. We believe now is the time to make coaching mainstream in criminal justice, and we urge the government to invest in this powerful, proven approach so that many more young people, prison staff and prison cultures can benefit from it.

Image Credit: Neil Theasby via Creative Commons