'Ditch egos to end ex-prisoner homelessness'

Steve Gallant (left) and Darryn Frost opened their hostel to residents in Northampton in 2023

Two heroes of the London Bridge terror attack are trying to prove their model of housing for former prisoners can cut reoffending and reduce costs for taxpayers. At a time when the government's own figures show a rise in the number of people who are homeless on release, they say they cannot understand why their scheme is facing resistance.

The main aim of Darryn Frost and Steve Gallant is clear - to provide former inmates with stable accommodation from which they can start to rebuild their lives through work, education and reintegration into society.

Mr Frost says that although the problem seems complex "it can be solved... as long as we leave egos and politics at the door and just help the men; I'm sick of egos and politics".

Steven Gallant, Darryn Frost and John Crilly apprehended Usman Khan on London Bridge using a narwhal tusk and fire extinguisher in 2019

The terraced property in Northampton, where the pair's Own Merit community interest company project is based, was already owned by Mr Frost.

Some 12 men have lived there in its first year, and it currently has four residents.

Revenue comes via the housing element of Universal Credit that residents are entitled to, Mr Frost's own savings and small grants from a local charity.

It is fitted with CCTV cameras, but is unstaffed, which keeps costs low compared to other post-prison facilities.

The men are responsible for supporting each other, and resolving their own disputes, with concerns raised at weekly house meetings.

However, it has not been without setbacks. One resident was recalled to prison for breaking the terms of his release licence.

Mr Frost also said the jail they had been working with - HMP Five Wells in nearby Wellingborough - had "disengaged" with the scheme part way through the year.

'Released on Christmas Day'

Ben Hellon says he is grateful for the support he has received at Own Merit

For Ben Hellon the project has been life-changing.

He was among the first residents to arrive at Own Merit and says he "didn't really have a plan" for his release because he had "burned bridges" with friends and family.

Mr Hellon said he did not know "until the day before" that he was definitely being discharged from prison and he was "so stressed about the whole situation".

"I would have been released on Christmas Day, with nowhere to go," he said.

Having served 16 months for drug possession offences, he said he had got clean while inside and was determined to stay that way.

"I don't know what I would have done without this place," he said, adding if he had ended up homeless or in short-term accommodation, surrounded by others who were still using drugs, things "could have been very different".

He is now completing his personal trainer and fitness instructor qualifications, funded by the Department for Work & Pensions.

He says the gym has replaced his previous addictions and he is starting to reconnect with former friends and family.

He hopes the model can be expanded so others can benefit.

(Left to right) Steve Gallant, Ben Hellon, Denzel, and Darryn Frost look at a new initiative to help Own Merit residents into employment

Mr Frost and and Mr Gallant forged a bond as part of a group men who tackled the terrorist Usman Khan on London Bridge in 2019, with Mr Frost widely pictured wielding a narwhal tusk.

The pair were attending a prisoner rehabilitation conference - Darryn Frost was a communications officer for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and Steve Gallant was on day release while serving a life sentence for murder, which was later commuted by the parole board.

Both were later awarded a Queen's Gallantry Medal for their actions on a day that saw Cambridge University graduates Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones murdered, before armed police killed Khan.

The name Own Merit is inspired by Jack Merritt.

Steve Gallant (left) shakes hands with the late Jack Merritt after they completed the Learning Together course

Mr Frost and Mr Gallant believe the need for such a prisoners' release scheme is clear.

A recent report by the charity Clinks, using MoJ data, showed that from March 2022 to March 2023 the number of prisoners released in England and Wales without first night accommodation increased from just over 11% to nearly 14%.

But those overall figures mask large discrepancies between jails.

The latest HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) report for Peterborough's men's jail, run by the private firm Sodexo, showed that in the past 12 months, 333 men were discharged into homelessness - a third of all those released.

And Peterborough is not unique in the east of England.

Nearly a third of inmates were released from HMP Bedford and HMP Chelmsford with no onward accommodation, according to recent HMIP reports.

Even for those who have first night accommodation, it is often temporary.

MoJ figures for March 2023 show there is a 10% drop between those housed on release and those still in accommodation three months later.

Steve Gallant receiving the Queen's Gallantry Medal from the Princess Royal

Professionals in the prison and probation sector acknowledge the importance of housing as part of an individual's rehabilitation, and the MoJ says stable accommodation can reduce reoffending by as much as 50%.

Mr Gallant says he has witnessed first hand how a lack of information about post-prison accommodation causes "huge anxiety" for inmates.

"To get identification you need an address, you need it to open a bank account, to get work, all those basic things," he said.

Mr Frost said there is both a financial and moral argument for their model.

He says if probation had provided this service through an approved premises "it would have cost around £180,000 per year" and if the men were released homeless and recalled to prison "for each one that would have been £50,000 a year" to jail them again.

"So we are saving the government money; we just hope they'll look and listen to what we have to offer," he says.

He argues releasing people into homelessness is "setting them up to fail" as they can return to the old associates and habits that led them to jail in the first place.

"It just doesn't make any sense. We need a change, a reset, and that's what we're trying to do," he says.

Steve Gallant (left) and Darryn Frost receiving their Queen's Gallantry Medals

A spokesperson from Interventions Alliance, the firm contracted to run housing resettlement services at HMP Peterborough, said: "Unfortunately our service at the time of this inspection was impacted by local recruitment challenges and securing timely vetting."

It said it had since appointed a "suitably qualified dedicated accommodation support officer".

The Ministry of Justice said it had taken "unprecedented action" to help prison leavers through a scheme providing 12 weeks of temporary accommodation and support to find a permanent home.

It said it had supported 5,796 former inmates through a project which began as a pilot in 2021 and was rolled out across the country last July.

It added it had also changed the law to end Friday releases, so people could "access the urgent support they need" on leaving jail, rather than have to wait until services reopened on a Monday.

The MoJ did not respond to the BBC's questions about the claim HMP Five Wells had "disengaged" from Own Merit, or whether the government would look into Mr Frost and Mr Gallant's model.