HMP Barlinnie Governor inspires Community Wealth Support Network
On the 2nd of May, at only the second meeting of this new network, the Community Wealth Support Network was privileged to hear arresting insights from Mike Stoney, the Governor of HMP Barlinnie, reflections on social inclusion in large projects by Jim Johnstone from Morrison Construction and from Arlene Callan, the Director of PeoplePlus Scotland, who outlined the purpose of the group, which is to come together to create opportunities for inclusive recruitment.
Governor Stoney shared his vision of how the Scottish Prison Service can deliver more benefit for society - underpinned by architectural and infrastructure design ambitions for the new HMP Glasgow that have rehabilitation built into every element of the campus.
He invited the Community Wealth Support Network (CWSN) to mobilise on the challenge of helping prison leavers into work - a core goal of this progressive coalition - which requires interventions to begin with individuals long before they approach their release dates, commenting, "Relationships are everything." To achieve this, he and his team need the knowledge and understanding of employers, specialist organisations and people with lived experience of prison life. The discussion moved on to explore how we can create opportunities for all through direct and indirect support, with Jim Johnstone from Morrison Construction observing, "This is not ticking a box, this is the right thing to do."
The potential for alignment with the CWSN's ambition is clear. The CWSN intends to enable organisations to enrich as many communities in Scotland as possible by helping prison leavers to enter employment and break cycles that can persist for generations. While prison leavers are just one of the groups of individuals with unique disadvantages in the coalition's sights - they have disproportionately experienced so many of the disadvantages that can block opportunity, such as trauma, addiction, disability, debt, adverse childhood experiences, mental ill health, undiagnosed and unsupported neurodiversity and more.
An exciting range of organisations were represented, including employers Morrison Construction, Morrison Water Services, Galliford Try and Kier, alongside employability and service providers the Lennox Partnership, Capability Scotland, Solvd, Into Work and Families in Trauma and Recovery, and Local Authorities North Lanarkshire and Glasgow City Council, among others.
The Governor concluded by saying, "We can't change everything, but if we work together, we can change something."
Are you interested in getting involved? The next session is tabled for the Summer, possibly in Edinburgh. You can get in touch via [email protected]