Leeds charity's success at giving prisoners a chance

Richard Welsh said he was grateful for the freedom from jail and having money in his pocket

A charity which helps prisoners find a job after leaving jail is set to expand after success in cutting reoffending rates.

Former prison officers Steve Freer and Val Wawrosz set up Leeds-based Tempus Novo in 2014 and have helped more than 800 ex-convicts into employment.

Richard Welsh, who spent more than 10 years in and out of prison, said the charity saved him.

Mr Wawrosz said out of the criminals helped, only 4% had reoffended.

Mr Welsh, who works at an air conditioning company in Bradford, said when he left prison there was no support available and without the charity's help he "would not be here today".

"They got me on the ladder and gave me a chance.

"I work hard now and I don't have to worry about people knocking on my door because when you're messing about, you've always got that in the back of your head."

Steve Freer and Val Wawrosz are founders of the only prison officer-led charity in the UK

His employer Paul Fletcher described Mr Welsh as "very, very conscientious" and said it was important that everyone was given a chance.

With 60 years experience between them working at HMP Leeds, the former prison officers said it was conversations with inmates that led them to forming the charity.

Mr Wawrosz said: "After talking to these lads, thousands and thousands of them over the years, I used to say 'you come into prison, you go into hot, sweaty kitchens and do a 12 hour shift, six days a week, why can't you do that on the outside?'

"The stock answer I always received was, 'well, to be honest, I can't get a job for love or money because of my record.'"

According to the Prison Reform Trust, about 47% of adults reoffend within one year of leaving prison.

That rises to almost 57% for those who have served a sentence of less than 12 months.

The charity said it had placed 878 people who had left prison into work with 33 of them being sent back to custody within two years.

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Mr Wawrosz added: "Our figures show that without a doubt work actually works and these people need a job to keep them on the straight and narrow."

The charity is now working in partnership with Sheffield Hallam University with the aim of developing a business model which can be used to expand its reach.

Jia Liu, the university's academic lead on the Tempus Novo partnership, said: "Placing more ex-offenders into sustainable employment leads to more savings on prison cost, less benefit payments, more national insurance contribution, more tax collected, safer streets and has positive impacts on ex-offenders and their families."