National prison charity, Pact, has outlined a different approach to rehabilitation based on Catholic social teaching and the inherent dignity of every human being, in a video released on Wednesday.
The charity, which supports people with convictions and their families to make a fresh start, describes the term offender as “unhelpful” and says taking a risk-based approach to reoffending and reintroducing ex-prisoners – or “service users” - back into society is not effective.
“As human beings we are not defined by the bad things we have done in our lives. We can all hope for a narrative of redemption,” staff members say in the nine-minute clip.
According to statistics released by the Ministry of Justice, people who have family contact are up to 40 per cent less likely to reoffend. The charity says, over the next five years, it will “show the way forward for rehabilitation by focusing on good relationships” between ex-prisoners, family members and wider communities.
In order to achieve this aim, they will double the numbers of their volunteers to 1000 and support “service users” to tell their own stories and to help inform and shape the prison services that are designed for them.
The charity says this concept of the inherent dignity of every human being arises from their “living roots”.
"We are firmly rooted in the Christian faith and Catholic social teaching,” they say.
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