About Us
Penrose has been providing help and support for ex-offenders and people with mental illness for over 40 years. We provide thousands of support interventions every year.
Involving service users and their families wherever possible in service delivery, our recidivism rate is 8.8% compared to a national average of 39.3% (MOJ: 2010). Our aim is to ensure Penrose service users can lead offence-free, independent lives.
Why what we do matters:
The prison population has been rising steadily since 1993, increasing from 42,000 to today's unprecedented levels of over 80,000 men, women and children in prison in England and Wales (Howard League: 2010). This means that there is now a higher percentage of people in prison here than in any other country in Western Europe. Prisons cost £2.2bn a year. National re-offending rates after release still remain around 40% (MOJ, 2010).
There are roughly 8 million people on the Government’s Offender Index (UNLOCK: 2010). More than 70% of the prison population has two or more mental health disorders. Male prisoners are 14 times more likely to have two or more disorders than men in general, and female prisoners 35 times more likely than women in general (Mental Health Foundation: 2006).
Penrose supports around 420 ex-offenders with its services at any one time each year.
What we offer:
Specialist forensic and mental health support services, tailored women’s services, housing, access to education and work training, 13-week reintegration programme, 10-week work readiness programme and help with obtaining permanent accommodation.
To read further about Penrose and the work we do, our 2011 Impact Report is available as a free downloadable e-book
