Sam Hart (CF 2015), from Brighton in East Sussex, is Communications Director at Sussex Prisoners’ Families, a charity that helps families to navigate the criminal justice system. Over the past year, the organisation has been speaking with former prisoners, who have reported great difficulty in fitting back into family life in the midst of a pandemic.

Sam will use her grant to work with colleagues to provide a package of support to prepare prisoners and their families for release in a world with Covid-19. This will include a guide written by former prisoners and their families, outlining some of the difficulties faced on release as well as advice and tips on reintegrating into family life. The guide will also provide self-care techniques and links to outside agencies to help prisoners and their families and support their wellbeing. Alongside the guide, Sam will deliver a training package to prisoners and their families which will help them to discuss their past and future difficulties. Drawing on trauma-informed principles, Sam intends the support package to empower prisoners and their families, so they can develop their own solutions and prevent family breakdown.

Sam’s Fellowship to the USA in 2015 explored trauma-informed responses in working with prisoners' families. It was supported by the Prison Reform Trust.

David Morgan (CF 2018) from Bolton in Greater Manchester is director of Entrepreneurs Unlocked CIC, which he founded as a result of his Fellowship. Entrepreneurs Unlocked enables prisoners and people on probation to develop their entrepreneurial talent and live a crime-free future. In December 2020, David received a Covid-19 Action Fund grant to develop digital resources to enable people released from prison to set up as self-employed.

He is receiving a second Action Fund grant to develop and extend this digital offering to people in custody, so that they can learn about the benefits of self-employment and how they might achieve this upon release. This is in line with a current government review of prison education services and guidance to offer a blended approach that incorporates in-cell digital learning. David will review, adapt and upgrade current resources to a format that can be used in custody, and will develop marketing material to promote the offer to prisoners. In addition, he will provide support for prison staff to enable them to manage and monitor programme referrals and progress. David will deliver this pilot to two prisons in the Northwest, and will evaluate the results in an impact report which will be shared with other prisons that may want to commission the service in future.

David’s Fellowship to the USA in 2018 explored entrepreneurial opportunities for offenders. It was supported by The Rank Foundation.