Offender volunteering provides benefits like developing skills, confidence, and a pro-social identity which can help with employment and reduce reoffending. Typical examples of volunteering include peer support, community placements, and democratic engagement in prison life. Volunteers reported that it helped them develop life skills, brought out new qualities, and gave them a sense of achievement and perspective. However, barriers include the stresses of prison making additional responsibilities difficult, and concerns that a criminal record could prevent future volunteering. Effective support and training are needed for prison volunteering programs to succeed.

1. Offender Volunteering:
Opportunities and Challenges
Dr Rosie Meek

2. The Benefits of Volunteering
• Promotes positive, pro-social identities
• Develops skills and confidence
• Prepares for employment
• Evidence for reduced offending
• Free-up officer time

3. Typical Examples
• Peer support schemes
• Democratic engagement in prison life
• Community placements

4. Developing Skills
• “I’ve got a job when I go home, so I’m going to
have to go straight into work. And I think, if I
hadn’t done this, that would be hard for me.
This has given me a little bit of confidence”
• “I mean I’m not happy I ended up in a prison
obviously but I’m happy that I am here where I
learn to be more open-minded and where I
learn some life skills that I can use”

5. Personal Development
• “It brought out qualities in me that I didn’t even
know I had”
• “I enjoy it, I find it very satisfying when you help
people out, I do think it’s exceeded my expectations
really. I feel that it’s made me a little bit more
confident, and approachable”
• “It helped me to put my problems in perspective.
Being a listener helps people to see people
differently. You’re less judgmental, you’re more
accepting. You learn about confidentiality when you
talk to people and that’s a transferable skill. It’s a life
skill. You think before you talk. It’s really great”

6. Cultivating a Pro-Social Identity
• “It was a way of giving something back to the
community, the prison community”
• “If I can do anything to prove myself and to
erase this shame, it is great. I want people to
see that I’m not a common criminal”
• “It gives me a sense of achievement, knowing
that I’d help somebody”

7. Barriers to Volunteering
• “The only thing that I can think of is that you
have enough stress on your plate as it is, so it’s
sometimes difficult to cope with all the stuff
that’s thrown at you”
• “It’s something that I definitely want to do but
having a previous conviction on my record
might stop me so I don’t know”

8. Questions to consider
• What training and support mechanisms are
necessary for prison volunteering to work
well?
• What are the implications of providing peer-
led vs. professional led services?
• What are the key barriers to volunteering and
how can they be overcome?
• Promoting diversity Vs a ‘civic core’?

9. Discussion
Engaging with offender volunteers:
Observations from The Samaritans, 2nd Chance
Project, CPP, and Work this Way