The Lord Mayor of Leeds, Gerry Harper, recently praised the work that projects like Leeds Rhinos Foundation’s new Onside project is doing for inmates at HMP Leeds to prevent them from re-offending.
The visit aimed to highlight the prison’s work to stop the “revolving door” of people returning to jail after committing the same crimes after release. Following a tour of the site Coun Harper said: “People all too often just want prisoners locked up and to throw away the key. It’s never going to change people’s lives.”
The Onside project, which is funded by the Safer Communities Fund, is one of several initiatives HMP Leeds is offering to help inmates develop new skills and be better prepared when they are released so they are less likely to re-offend.
Onside was launched last month with the aim of using sport and the engaging values of sport to cover a range of areas including barriers and stereotyping, relationships, behaviour and consequences, aspirations and goal setting responsibility, motivation, teamwork, respect and discipline. These values will be linked to real life skills such as healthy living, employability and being a champion citizen.
The Onside project is delivered by Leeds Rhinos Foundation staff and involve a mixture of classroom and physical activity in the gym. The nine-week course is delivered in partnership with Tempus Novo, an award-winning charity that helps ex-offenders into employment and is reducing reoffending rates by more than 90%.
Adam Lunn, project officer for Leeds Rhinos Foundation, who works on the project said: “The lads we have worked with have been enthusiastic and positively engaged on the project. In the classroom they are developing their employability and personal skills which involves areas such as conflict resolution, communication and well-being, all these aspects will support their individual plan for the future.
“In the gym we are delivering a range of sports such as circuit classes, touch rugby and bench ball. We build on the classroom activity with sport to demonstrate that in life skills can be transferable to different settings.
‘’Working in partnership with Tempus Novo and HMP Leeds on this project is extremely valuable in terms of potentially securing employment upon release and offering a support mechanism to enhance the opportunity of success’’
For more information on the Onside Project contact janet.sylvester@leedsrhinosfoundation.org