Rehabilitation homes will keep communities safe - PCC

Donna Jones said working with criminals early was the best way to reduce reoffending

A new residential facility to rehabilitate offenders coming out of prison will help "keep communities safe", a police and crime commissioner (PCC) has said.

The new Integrated Offender Management (IOM) house in Basingstoke, Hampshire, is the fourth of its kind in the county and is primarily designed for offenders leaving prison with a history of substance abuse.

The homes are unique in that they provide residents with substance misuse treatment as well as training, volunteering and employment opportunities whilst also providing them with somewhere to live.

"David*, who stayed in one of the facilities after a four-year prison sentence for burglary and fraud, said his life changed "from the day I moved in".

"That was on a Tuesday, and on the Wednesday I was active doing volunteering," he said.

"It's a complete turnaround for me."

Now, he is employed full-time with substance abuse charity Society of St James (SSJ), which helps operate the IOM homes, and has secured his own flat.

"Without IOM, I wouldn't be here now," he said.

Ms Jones with (L-R) SSJ project manager Mark Gray, SSJ operations director Nicky Wilsenham and SSJ chief executive Tania Marsh

The houses are part-funded by the PCC and are a collaboration between SSJ, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, and the Probation Service.

The Basingstoke facility opened earlier this year.

"The best way to keep communities safe is to be... working with these kind of criminals as early as we possibly can," said PCC Donna Jones.

"If you spoke to someone who'd had their house burgled and said 'do you wish there'd been more money in the system... to get [the perpetrator] the help and support they needed before they burgled you', their answer would almost always be 'yes'."