User Voice in the Media
- Watch Paula Harriott being interviewed on Channel 4 News
Paula Harriott talks to Jon Snow on Channel 4 News, giving reflections on her personal experience of first entering prison.
Channel 4 News, 11.03.2013 - Public prisons give us nothing and plenty of it
Phil Hall writes from HMP Birmingham outlining the positive work of the private G4S management, including cooperation with and positive effects of the User Voice- led Prison Council
Inside Time, March 2013 - We need to listen to what prisoners are telling us if we are serious about reducing re-offending
Labour MP Khalid Mahmood speaks with prisoner on prison council at HMP Birmingham, condemning future ‘payment by results’ probation policy
The Birmingham Mail , 28.01.2013 - Prison inmates have donated their wages to help young cancer sufferers at Birmingham Children’s Hospital
Members of Birmingham Prison’s newly-formed and elected prisoner council came up with the plan to raise cash for the hospital before Christmas and are now planning a permanent fundraising partnership
The Birmingham Mail , 21.01.2013 - For young people, a criminal record should not be a life sentence
It is perverse that Bob Ashford has to withdraw his police commissioner candidacy because of a minor offence in 1966, writes Mark Johnson
The Guardian , 09.08.2012 - Response to last summer’s riots ‘criminalised young people’
Response of the Government and Courts to August 2011 Riots ‘Criminalised Young People’ says Mark Johnson
Children & Young People Now , 07.08.2012 - What happens to young offenders once they have served their convictions?
Mark Johnson, founder of User Voice interviewed by The Youth Agenda
The Youth Agenda , 06.07.2012 - Ex-offenders enlisted to tackle youth offending
Crispin Blunt, Justice Minister says that ex-offenders are “uniquely placed” to offer support to offenders
Children & Young People Now , 04.07.2012 - User Voice Mentioned in Q&A in Parliament
A group of young people from User Voice give evidence to the Justice Committee for its youth justice inquiry.
They Work For You- Young Offenders, 03.07.2012 - Offenders to help stop crime cycle
Offenders in Kent are to be involved in designing programmes to make it more likely they will turn away from crime….
Lancashire Evening Post, 15.05.2012 - My 37 homes in 18 years
User Voice Volunteer, Ben Ashcroft, is writing a book ’51 Moves’ about growing up in care homes and young offenders institutions, after staying out of trouble for over 10 years…
Halifax Courier, 01.05.2012 - How to start a thinktank: who are the real experts in the field?
Part 3 of this series looks at the nature of expertise: who has it, how to find it and how to make the most of it…
The Guardian, Professional, 13.04.2012 - Is prison education working?
As privatisation forges ahead, is the pursuit of profit in prison education failing inmates who most need to learn?…
The Guardian, Professional, 01.02.2012 - Public service compact to revolutionise services
User involvement in public services will mean a dramatic change in the role of public services professionals …
The Guardian, Professional, 17.01.2012
2011
- Hearing the User Voice
A group of 20 LPT service users (offenders) met with senior managers at an inspiring – and sometimes emotional – event in May, which marked the end of a consultation by the charity User Voice…
London Probation Trust Today, Summer 2011 - Why ex-offenders should be given a role in cutting youth crime
Ex-prisoners have a lot to teach young people and will be listened to…
The Guardian, Society, 19.09.2011 - Kenneth Clarke proposes ‘radical changes’ to penal system
As Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke pledges to reduce high rates of reoffending in the wake of the riots, experts tell Channel 4 News the criminal justice system is “not rehabilitating anyone”…
Channel 4 News, 06.09.2011 - Review of last year’s Excluded Youth Project
Do criminals have the right to be heard? The national charity User Voice has been founded on the belief that only by listening to ex-offenders can rehabilitation service providers develop effective policies to break the cycle of re-offending…
Paul Hamlyn Foundation Yearbook 2010/11, July 2011 - Interview with Mark Johnson
There’s a huge gap in understanding between the people who make the policy and those who live the reality…
Comunidad Segura website, 14.06.2011 - Mark Johnson interviews NOMS chief executive on Green Paper
Mark Johnson was invited by the National Offender Management Service, which runs prisons and probation services nationwide, to talk with their chief executive, Michael Spurr about the government’s Green Paper proposals for rehabilitation and sentencing reform.…
Ministry of Justice Insight Magazine, May 2011 - Call for ex-offenders to lead agency to help vulnerable young people into work
An agency led by ex-offenders should be created to help vulnerable young people into work, a consultation with young people on the fringes of the criminal justice system has found…
Children & Young People Now, 07.04.2011 - Call for ban on painful restraint for children
The deliberate use of pain to restrain young people in custody should be banned immediately, a report based on research for the Office of the Children’s Commissioner, has recommended…
The Independent, 21.03.2011
See also:
BBC website, 21.03.2011
Children & Young People Now, 21.03.2011
The Daily Mail, 21.03.2011
The Guardian Society Daily, 21.03.2011
ITN website, 21.03.2011
- Youth Justice Board commits to young offender suggestions for secure estate improvements
The Youth Justice Board has pledged to improve practice across the secure estate, reduce the use of full searches and ensure complaints are handled fairly, following a consultation with young people…
Children & Young People Now, 01.03.2011 - Youth Justice Board commits to improve practice
The Youth Justice Board has joined up with the Children’s Commissioner to create an action plan for the future of safeguarding within youth justice based on the views of young people…
Children’s Services Blog, 01.03.2011 - Inmates vote to have their voices heard
While MPs were debating the rights and wrongs of allowing prisoners to vote, inmates at Maidstone Prison were using their democratic rights at a more local level…
The Downs Mail, March 2011 - Inside Information
A quiet revolution is occurring within the walls of Maidstone Prison, where an inmate-elected council is giving the prisoners a sense of responsibility and community…
The Big Issue, 28.02.2011
2010
- User Voice: Making the most of insider knowledge
It was the prison visits to see his mother that Ibiz remembers as the worst. Now 25, he was just 17 when she was sentenced for drug offences…
The Big Issue, 13.12.2010 - Justice system must listen to ‘user voice’
Despite the predictability of Britain’s unpredictable weather, last week once again saw… many people unable to get to work. Daz, a young man from Grimsby, was not among them…
ePolitix.com, 08.12.2010 - What happened when young offenders took their views to Westminster?
Last week, 30 young ex-offenders and drug users told their stories to MPs and policy makers in a bid to shape government policy…
The Guardian, 07.12.2010 - Young offenders offer advice on reducing youth crime
Thirty young offenders from across England braved treacherous travel conditions today to meet senior representatives from the criminal justice system in Westminster…
Children & Young People Now, 02.12.2010 - User Voice Collaboration Raises Youth Issues to Parliament
Saatchi & Saatchi London and award-winning musician Speech Debelle are collaborating with the charity User Voice on a tour of inner cities…
Saatchi & Saatchi News, 25.11.2010 - Interview: Mark Johnson, founder, User Voice
Mark Johnson is waging a war on interfering middlemen. He’s angry young offenders do not have a voice…
Children & Young People Now, 02.11.2010 - Do these inmates hold the key to the prisons dilemma?
As Ken Clarke, the new Justice Secretary, talks about a radical change in prison sentencing… empowering prisoners with inmate councils may provide a solution…
The Times, 02.07.2010 - Former head of prisons: short sentences don’t stop re-offending
Prison has no effect in stopping thousands of criminals reoffending and politicians should look again at whether it is a suitable punishment for minor crimes…
The Independent, 09.06.2010 - Society Daily: Other Voices
A remarkable charity launched last night, one which in the words of its founder “has got to be one of the most unpopular in Britain”…
The Guardian, 27.05.2010 - Big Society, Big Ideas: Can offenders engage in their own redemption?
This week sees the launch of User Voice, a charity that is placing offenders at the heart of their own rehabilitation – with some remarkable results…
The Big Issue, 24.05.2010 - So, how big is the big society?
In the wake of one of the most interesting election campaigns for many years it hard to believe it is just weeks since polling day…
RSA Comment, 21.05.2010 - Ballots prove popular behind bars
Prisoners taking part in electing their own councils are getting a taste for democracy…
The Guardian, 05.05.2010 - Showing Some Respect
A recent meeting of the Home Affairs Select Committee had an unusual guest…
Inside Housing, 20.01.2010 - Prison Councils: the User Voice Model
You can imagine the headlines at the idea of prisoners having an input on how the establishment they currently find themselves residing is run…
Prisoners’ Education Trust
2009
- Saatchi & Saatchi: User Voice initiative aids young ex-offenders
Saatchi & Saatchi London was recently involved in a new initiative launched by the charity, User Voice, to give invaluable work experience to young ex-offenders…
Design Taxi, 25.05.2009 - Author launches youth initiative
An inspirational former heroin addict from Kidderminster has launched a work experience initiative with Saatchi & Saatchi for young ex-offenders and marginalised youths…
The Kidderminster Shuttle, 23.05.2009 - From Heroin to Hero
After surviving years of drug and alcohol abuse, Mark Johnson is using his experiences to discourage marginalised teenagers from following in his footsteps…
Times Educational Supplement, 15.05.2009 - ‘Everyone has problems, don’t they?’
Young people share their very different accounts of the issues they face growing up…
The Guardian, 15.04.2009 - ‘I screamed with sadness’
The harrowing stories of a group of Midlands youths who want support, not condemnation…
The Guardian, 15.04.2009 - From Kidderminster to Downing Street
A meeting with policymakers at Number 10 and a guided tour around the Houses of Parliament is not what most teenagers expect on a school trip to London…
The Guardian, 15.04.2009 - Kidderminster pupils visit Downing Street
Pupils from a Kidderminster school visited 10 Downing Street and met senior policy makers in a bid to improve understanding of the issues affecting young people…
The Kidderminster Shuttle, 31.03.2009