Prisoner puts young
criminals on the straight-and-narrow
Youths who have committed
serious offences are changing their ways with the help of a
prisoner.
I Can is being piloted by Newham Council - a scheme led
by reformed drugs importer Gifford Sutherland.
The 33-year-old, who trained as a youth worker and offending
behaviour consultant at Coldingley Prison, in Surrey, leads
workshops for 14 to 17-year-olds at Stratford Advice Arcade.
Their crimes range from firearms offences, robbery and GBH to drug
abuse. They may have only broken the law once, but the offences are
so serious they are classed as prolific offenders.
Either that or they are persistent offenders and need to learn the
consequences of their actions and the alternatives that they have
for a better way of life.
Gifford, who was working as a business development director for a
telecommunications company when he was sentenced to nine years in
prison, said: "We need to teach them to think about what they're
doing and how to cope with their feelings and emotions.
"As someone who has been involved in serious crime and comes from
the streets, they look up to me, so I can get the message across to
them better."
Gifford, who has a BSc honours degree in sociology and psychology,
also works for the Damilola Taylor Trust's 'respect your life, not
a knife' campaign, now that he is out on licence.
While inside he went through mental health, child protection,
enhanced thinking skills and behavioural therapy courses as well as
the youth worker training, when he specialised in group sessions.
He's also a qualified first aider and personal training and gym
instructor.
Gifford ran Coldingley Prison's crime diversion scheme for two
years and now he continues to work for it as a volunteer through
the foundation youth offending consultancy.
He uses testimonials from real life victims and perpetrators of
crime, drama, role-play, group discussions, games, videos and
photographs to get his point across.
One of his students, a 14-year-old girl, said: "I think it's a
good thing they're doing here, trying to help us.
"It's taught me there's more things in life for us than doing
crime and I haven't re-offended since being on this course."
Another young offender, a 16-year-old boy, said: "The course is
good because it keeps us out of trouble and helps us change.
"It puts a different perspective in our minds."
If the course is found to be successful it will continue to run,
under the guidance of the council's youth offending team's priority
crime programme co-ordinator Nasir Mannan, intensive supervision
and surveillance programme case manager Sharon Waldron and priority
crime co-ordinator Stephen Brown.
Executive member for crime and anti-social behaviour Councillor
Ian Corbett said: "It's not always easy to get through to teenagers
and conventional methods don't work for everyone, especially those
who are already on the wrong path.
"Sometimes you need to open your mind to other ways around
problems in order to find their solution."