Inside: February 2025
Welcome to February's edition of inside, featuring news and updates on our work, as well as the real-life stories which influence everything we do.
Digital skills training
Over the Christmas and new year period, you helped us raise over ￡16,000 to give our resettlement service users the financial skills and literacy to reintegrate into society - and we're already putting those funds to good use. In mid-February, a group of returnees came to our office for?a session on setting up and using an email account.?What may?seem?simple can be a huge barrier for our service users, many of whom went to prison before the digital world. This knowledge can pave the way for people to use online banking, set up appointments, and apply for work.
Update on University of?Cambridge research project
In August last year, we announced a new research project in partnership with the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge, funded by the Dawes Trust, to improve?our understanding of desistance from crime after an overseas prison sentence. The project is now well under way; we sent out questionnaires earlier this month?to 900?past and present resettlement service users and have already seen responses that will shape the next stages of the research.
Student Volunteering Week 2025
For the last three years, we have provided casework experience for a student studying an international or criminal justice-related degree and we are thrilled to have our current casework assistant, Emma, with us. Emma is studying Criminology and is on a placement year between her second and final years of study. She joined the team back in September 2024 and has written our latest staff story for Student Volunteering Week, which took place from 10th-18th February.
A tax efficient way to give
February is Payroll Giving Month! If you are thinking about setting up a regular gift to support our work, you might like to consider doing so via a Payroll Giving scheme.?By donating straight from your salary, before tax deductions, your gift costs you less and generates more for us, making Payroll Giving one of the most efficient ways to help us deliver our life-changing work.
Thank you for being a part of our vital work,
The Prisoners Abroad team