Recently I applied for a volunteering role with Unlock.

I filled in my application form, had an interview and was invited along to do a couple of ‘taster days’. The purpose of these are for Unlock to understand your skills but, more importantly, for you to decide whether the role is right for you.

I turned up at the office on my first day and can honestly say that it was a real eye opener for me. Meeting the other volunteers and staff and hearing some of the calls that were coming into the office made me appreciate the depth of knowledge that I would need. Navigating around the websites and reading some of the case studies was quite daunting but I could wholeheartedly relate to each and every one of them. I guess that’s why the helpline is run by people with convictions.

I received my conviction in 2001 for a sexual offence and got a short two month custodial sentence. Upon release, I went to visit my probation officer and can vividly remember her telling me that:

You shouldn’t assume you’re a free man, you’ll just be serving the remainder of my sentence in the community

More importantly, I recall her telling me that my sentence “would never be spent” and that “I would always have to disclose it” to any employer in the future. I never thought to question her. Why would I? She was my probation officer – an expert.

As I sat in the Unlock office on that first day looking through the information site and reading about the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, I started to think that the information I’d been given by my probation officer all those years ago may not have been right. It looked as though my conviction might be spent after all. I realised that the only thing I could do would be to have a chat with one of the guys in the office. Sure enough, they confirmed my understanding. My conviction was indeed spent and I had no need to disclose it to most employers. In fact, I hadn’t needed to disclose it since 2008.

I left the office that night and this new information threw me right back to when my criminal justice journey started. It also made me realise that I hadn’t dealt with some of the issues regarding the process of coming back into a social life.

I didn’t realise that my conviction had been spent in 2008 and I felt let down that nobody back then had told me that I didn’t need to mention it on most application forms. I felt that I could have bettered myself and my life rather than ‘festered’ over the past 8 years. I can’t get that time back and it feels as though it’s been an extension of my original prison sentence.

I spent a long time that night chatting to my wife about my feelings and eventually came to the conclusion that I needed to concentrate on me. Unlock does a fantastic job and I believed their helpline deserved somebody fully focused on helping others – I didn’t feel that was me. I contacted Unlock’s advice manager and explained the situation. She was really understanding and gave me some great advice:

Spend some time getting your head around what’s happened but don’t let it blight your future. Concentrate on moving on. You won’t need to disclose your conviction for the majority of jobs and if an employer does a basic criminal record check, nothing will show up.

Well that’s exactly what I’ve done. Instead of dwelling on the ‘what might have been’, I’m looking to the future much more positively. Its a whole new experience for me ticking the ‘no’ box to the question about convictions on application forms and in many ways this has massively increased my confidence.

Unlock is an amazing charity, fighting for the rights of law abiding ex-offenders. I now know that I’m not alone in the problems that I’ve encountered and Unlock are addressing this issue by providing training to people that work with offenders – prison and probation officers included. It’s a shame that the training wasn’t around for my probation officer.

I appreciate everything that Unlock has done for me – the faith they had in me by initially offering me a voluntary role and then helping me to deal with the fall out after discovering that my conviction was spent. I’m pretty sure that as I no longer have to disclose my conviction, one of my job applications will soon be successful – I can’t wait. I’m still young and still have many years to make a success of my life.

By Isaac (name changed to protect identity)

Useful links

• Comment – Let us know your thoughts on this post by commenting below
• Information – We have practical self-help information on volunteering and details of volunteering opportunities at Unlock
• Discuss this issue – There are some interesting discussions related to this issue on our online forum.

Prison isn’t a nice place to be, let’s be honest. I was told so many times that I ‘stuck out like a sore thumb’ due to my diction and mannerisms. I just didn’t fit in, which in turn often attracted the wrong kind of attention.

So, I decided to concentrate on my studies which turned out to be a study of the British legal system. I soon earned the name ‘the barrister’ as my head was always in a legal book and I was always writing letters. This in turn led to one of the prison officers asking me if I could help one of the other guys write a letter to his solicitor. Well, one thing led to another and before long, I was teaching several guys to read and write via Toe by Toe, which is a system used in prison to assist those who have weak reading skills or dyslexic difficulties. This was my first taste of volunteering.

I earned the respect of the guys on the prison wing who’d previously been looking at me askance, as I clearly wasn’t ‘from their manor’ (‘or any other manor they were aware of …’). I later found out that my popularity had risen due to the fact that I didn’t judge or criticise anyone, I just tried to help where I could. I became a Prisoner Representative (basically a ‘mediator’ between prison management and prisoners). In some areas this went down well as I’m not known for being a ‘yes-man’. The authorities, however, were not so chuffed due to my habit of challenging the rules and regulations. With my sales skills, I sometimes had management helping the lads in way’s they’d never expected to, just because ‘I talked them into it’.

As part of my prison rehabilitation plan, it was necessary for me to do a period of charity work. The prison were able to offer several manual roles but, as anyone who knows me will tell you, I’m much more at home with a keyboard and a phone than a drill and a shovel. I decided therefore to start looking for opportunities to volunteer for an organisation where I could give my time and my skills but also get something in return. That’s why I chose to volunteer for Unlock. I wanted to learn all I could about what my life would be like outside, an ex-offender on licence. I knew that I had to know what the rules and regulations were going to be and I couldn’t think of a better place to learn.

Prior to joining Unlock I thought I knew a lot about prison and life for an ex-offender on licence in the community. On joining Unlock I discovered how little I actually knew and to be honest, at first I wasn’t sure what to make of it all– there’s so much to learn and my mind struggled to take in the mine of information that’s on Unlock’s information hub. I’ve found the pages contained on Unlock’s information hub is akin to having a hotline to the Ministry of Justice but written in a way that ‘Joe Public’ can understand. I even find myself gravitating to Unlock’s sites in my spare time. I spend time reading sections on subjects that I’m not too clear on and I never fail to find new links that I’ve not looked at before. It’s a mine of information.

In the early days I must have driven the staff mad with my constant questions – I can remember asking the same ones over and over again but Deb, Unlock’s Advice Manager, was very patient and the information gradually sank in.

I know that my criminal record will affect almost every facet of my life once I’m released but unfortunately for those in prison, there is very little help available on the issues that ex-offenders will be faced with once they leave prison. Of the many charities that do exist to help ex-offenders on their journey to reintegration, I never realised how much Unlock challenge and petition the authorities and the commercial world, testing the boundaries in a bid to reduce the obstacles and stigma that prevents ex offenders becoming positive contributors to society once again.

The staff, management and trustees at Unlock are quite unique. Many have a criminal records themselves as do all the helpline advisors. Due to our own experiences, we are well placed to be able to relate to the problems of our callers. We have the advantage of having been through the trials and tribulations that our callers are experiencing and many of us have emerged from the criminal justice system ready to put our knowledge to work for the benefit of others.

Volunteering at Unlock has been a great experience but I don’t mind telling you that listening to people’s stories and giving them the best information and advice I can, means that at the end of the day my brain is screaming ‘no more please’. The work can be hard emotionally, especially when you answer a call to somebody in tears who believes that their world is imploding as a result of their conviction. But I’m always back at my desk ready for my next ‘shift’; I get a real buzz out of the work and I love the satisfaction of knowing that I’ve helped somebody and sometimes even put a smile on their face.

Each day I’m in the office, I take or make calls, reply to emails and conduct research. Believe me, if you put in a full day on the phone, properly listening to callers and their problems, you will be mentally exhausted by the end of it but – you’ll feel extremely satisfied with your efforts.

I believe that prison can either make you or break you – it’s a journey from the date of arrest, to court, trial and sentence but then the main journey through the system really begins. You survive prison. No two people have exactly the same experiences, everyone has their own perspective. I chose to learn as much about the system as I could and that’s why I sought out the helpline role with Unlock – to learn more about the next part of my journey.

I’ve now been at Unlock for 9 months and it has been an enlightening yet draining experience at the same time. The staff at Unlock are hard working and real committed (although they do have a jovial side).

Volunteering has given me knowledge and support in a way that I’d never previously imagined. As anybody who’s ever been in prison knows, you’re constantly watched, judged and assessed. It’s important that the authorities know how you’re likely to deal with problems and issues when you leave – will you take them in your stride or will you ‘flare up’. Whatever you do, it’s logged in your prison record. I take it all in my stride but I’ll often come into the Unlock office and ‘let off steam’. Deb always allows me to ‘vent’ my grievances when things get too much.

As a volunteer at Unlock I’ve never felt alone, left out or lost. There’s plenty of encouragement and nobody is afraid to say ‘ah, I didn’t know that’ or ‘ how do you …..’.  We are in essence, all in the same boat.

I can safely say that I’ll be volunteering for Unlock as long as I can. My friends in prison mainly talk about their aspirations or issues on release. They talk about financial matters, disclosing their convictions to an employer, what kind of jobs they’ll be able to do, probation, insurance etc,etc. Due to my work at Unlock I find myself saying to myself (subconsciously) I know the answer to that, or at least, I know where I can find out the answer – it is such an empowering feeling and long may it last.

By Rodney (name changed to protect identity)

Useful links

• Comment – Let us know your thoughts on this post by commenting below
• Information – We have practical self-help information on volunteering and details of volunteering opportunities at Unlock
• Discuss this issue – There are some interesting discussions related to this issue on our online forum.

We’ve recently been sent this blog by Paula who was keen that we share it to let people know how important volunteers in prison and fellow prisoners are in supporting others to survive.

It was the anniversary of my release from prison yesterday and these words came to mind:

It’s time to build a bridge and walk over it.

This was my first introduction to solution focused thinking.

I lay on my bed broken by the realisation that I had been sentenced to eight years in prison and would miss numerous Christmas celebrations and birthdays with my five children. The pain paralysed me as I lay in bed, tears streaming silently down my face. I wasn’t getting out of bed, I wasn’t moving, I was dead but still alive in a prison cell.

It was a desperate, broken moment in my life; the moment when I realised the enormity of the punishment which lay ahead and how it impacted on not only me, but my kids and that I was the person responsible.

How to live with that guilt, that shame, that fear, that lack of hope?

Maureen, another woman sentenced to a long period in prison, but who was acting in the role of a volunteer peer supporter was my saviour.

It’s time to build a bridge and walk it over.

Don’t collapse, come out fighting, better and stronger, this is when you’ll find yourself; trust me, I’ve been where you are – I’ve got four kids but together we will get through it. Here’s a cup of tea, and here’s your tracksuit; let’s go for a walk around the perimeter’.

She didn’t let me argue. I needed help and here was help. I reached out and took it.

Thank goodness I did and I lived to tell the tale.

Thanks Maureen. Thanks for supporting me as a volunteer in the midst of your own challenges. I believed in you and then I believed in myself.

By Paula 

There are many Maureen’s out there. Some are part of organised schemes run in prisons but others are women who just want to provide informal help and support to others.

Peer support can be really important in prison and for many it is preferred to the formal support provided by psychologists and counsellors. Shared experiences mean that peers can offer judgement free support and understanding that’s different to the support provided by professionals. In addition, it’s often much easier to find a peer to speak to.

Peer support isn’t just one way traffic. Evidence states that becoming a peer supporter can have a positive effect on prisoners sometimes enhancing confidence and self-esteem, improving communication skills and generating a more positive self image.

Unlock’s own helpline has been peer-led since it started 7 years ago – we recruit volunteers from both the community and from nearby local prisons. A recent comment from somebody who spoke to one of our helpline advisors recently seems to bear out the research into peer support which was:

I felt that whatever question I asked, I’d get a straight response and know I wouldn’t be judged.

Useful links

• Comment – Let us know your thoughts on this post by commenting below
• Information – We have practical self-help information on volunteering and prison issues
• Discuss this issue – There are some interesting discussions related to this issue on our online forum.