Prison Advice and Care Trust (Pact)

A partnership to support people in prison who use English as a second or additional language (ESL) to engage with Pact’s learning interventions.

Project Objectives

The Building Bridges project aims to address the underrepresentation of people in prison who use ESL in Pact’s relationship, parenting, social and emotional education courses.

Key deliverables include:

• Development of a screening process with The Bell Foundation (and partners) to identify service users that speak ESL.
• Development and testing of a suite of learning materials with and for people that speak ESL to support their relationship skills and social/emotional behaviour.
• Delivery of high-quality training to Pact staff members focused on how to support the family needs of prisoners who speak ESL.
• Launch of a training module for Pact staff to be completed as part of their induction.

Project Partners

“Pact is a pioneering national charity that supports prisoners, people with convictions, and their children and families. They provide caring and life changing services at every stage of the criminal justice process: in court, in prison, on release, and in the community. Their work supports relationships, improves health & wellbeing, and builds safer communities by reducing the likelihood that prison leavers will reoffend. For more than 120 years, Pact has supported people affected by imprisonment to make a fresh start”.

About the Project

Pact delivers a range of relationship, parenting, social and emotional education courses in prisons, designed to support the rehabilitation of people in prison. With funding from the Foundation, Pact’s Building Bridges project seeks to enhance the accessibility of these courses for ESL speakers in prison.

In an initial one-year exploratory phase, Pact will work with prospective learners to understand the key barriers to participation and engagement. The findings from this phase will shape the project activities in years two and three.