Durham Prison Hub opens to help re-integrate prisoners into society

A prison hub aimed at helping inmates as they try to reintegrate into society has been officially opened.

The hub at Durham Prison was officially opened by former prisons minister Lord Keith Bradley, who said the model should be replicated across the UK.

The Reconnect Hub provides health and wellbeing support to former inmates following release from prison. It also provides other services like housing and debt support to enable a smoother transition back into society.

Lord Bradley told ITV News: "This is a model that should be rolled out across the country to ensure that vulnerable people who find themselves in the criminal justice system, but then want to turn their lives around, are properly supported.

"This building shows what can be achieved with a relatively small sum of money and I believe that the range of services, that it is providing, will be of maximum benefit to the people of Durham and the surrounding area."

Kevin Francis is a former prisoner who has been supported by the hub as it has evolved over the past four years.

He now works as a peer mentor at the hub and said it gave him confidence to survive outside of prison at a time where all he wanted to do was go back into prison.

He said: "When you come out, you feel disjointed and you feel like the world has changed and you don’t feel like you really fit in. If I didn’t have the support that I had when I came out then maybe I would have either fell back into either depression or drug use, because I used drugs for a very long part of my life."

In 2021/22 81 of 98 public prisons in England failed to meet targets ensuring prisoners were housed on the first night following release, with 95 out of 99 failing to meet employment targets of ex-offenders. In Durham, only 6.2% of prison leavers were employed within six weeks of release.

The hub's holistic approach to former prisoner needs is what the organisers say is key to addressing the missed targets.

Jessica Readhead, NHS England's head of health and justice in the North East, said: "We have a number of team members on site who are substance misuse and mental health trained and they will help refer you into providers and into services. We also have things like Alcoholics Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous."

She added: "We have open session where people can come along to do things. We have the local authority using this building to do things to do with debt and housing, so it’s very much a collaboration of all different partners, not just health, trying to support and wrap round people who are leaving prison."

Kate Davies, director of health and justice nationally, said: "We want people to be well. We want them to be healthy. We want them to not commit crimes and it’s about bringing all those things together. We’re hearing time and time again how that has made that difference. It’s simple, but it actually is effective."

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