Totnes charity Landworks dubbed 'fantastic' by MP

Chris Parsons created Landworks after taking on ex-prisoners for his landscaping firm

An offender rehabilitation project which started in a shed has been called a "fantastic charity" by an MP.

Landworks was created in 2013 to help prisoners, former prisoners and those on community sentences into jobs and back into the community.

Totnes MP Anthony Mangnall, speaking in the House of Commons on 3 November, invited prisons minister Lucy Frazer to visit, which she said she would.

The charity claims those attending its courses are less likely to reoffend.

Landworks, based on about three acres of the Dartington Estate near Totnes, welcomes inmates and teaches them skills in woodwork, pottery, and growing their own food.

Fifty-five of the 126 trainees which have come to Landworks are prisoners on day release, or they are on licence after being released from prison, while the rest have been given community-based court orders.

Produce is sold to the public to raise funds for the charity and give a link to the local community

Ryan Gooding, 23, who came to Landworks after being given a community work order five years ago, remains a regular visitor.

He said: "This place is what I needed, the compassion, the open ears, you're not judged, you're an individual that makes mistakes.

"As long as you're willing to accept, own and take responsibility then there's not a lot they won't help you to get on with."

It all started when founder Chris Parsons took on ex-prisoners at his landscaping firm.

He said: "It was then that I started to realise you had to have this halfway house between prison and the real world, which is essentially what Landworks is."

Mr Parsons said Landworks has helped workers to find accommodation and has offered them long-term support.

Lucy Phillips-Kassanis, one of the staff at Landworks, tends to the chilli plants in one of the many polytunnels

He said the "family" spirit of the organisation was key to its success.

"Today I have had two phone calls and a couple of texts from people just to check in."

He called it a "hub of support", with agencies like Citizens Advice and JobCentre holding sessions at Landworks.

Landworks produces food, wood products as well as compost for sale to the public

"Critically, we [also] weave the softer skills, social skills where we sit down to lunch, we eat together, there's always a communal lunch here," he said.

"A lot of people describe it as a sense of family here and if you haven't had a strong sense of that in your life, to find that here is unusual."

Earlier in 2020, former chief inspector of prisons Nick Hardwick called it "quite simply, the best project of this kind that I am aware of anywhere in the UK".

According to Landworks, just 4% of its trainees have reoffended.

In England and Wales, latest statistics show more than 36% of adult offenders who have either been released from prison or served a community court order have reoffended, according to the Ministry of Justice.