Successful Reintegration for Released Prisoners

Has Pathway Trust and its programmes been successful in impacting the community? The stories speak for themselves, read below:

Jack’s Story

Jack (changed name) was released after serving half of his two year sentence for drink driving causing injury. He had good support from his family but was concerned about the re-integration process. The direct victim of his crime was his partner at the time who sustained brain damage in the car accident and now requires full time care.

The family of his partner remained very angry and hurt from the time of the accident and had blocked him from having direct contact with his partner – though she had personally requested it. Jack was able to complete the Sycamore Tree Programme and displayed a large amount of remorse for his actions.

Bill’s Story

Bill was released in July 2008 for aggravated burglary – he had a long history of offending to support his long standing drug addiction. He was able to remain drug free in the prison environment but was finding it very tough to function in the community with the stress of everyday life without the drugs. 

Restorative justice - The Sycamore Tree Programme Success Story

My crimes affected me and my family more than anything. It filled my life with a lot of anxiety and created a lot of stress and tension for everyone around me. Because of the crime, you lose a lot of trust from friends and family. This has been a big problem for me. I went on The Sycamore Tree Programme while in prison. What stood out for me was the openness of the group, the fact that everyone participated; it was a very open forum. Once you are in the prison system you don’t hear anything, the victim is no longer important, it’s just about doing your sentence. The most important thing for me was to hear the victims experiences, which brings back to you what the full extent of the crime actually involves.

– Inmate testimony