Client Stories

Jay

Keith, Jordan and Jay – taken at their final meeting

Jay was referred to SOVA for a mentor in February 2004; he was serving two years of a four year sentence. He was matched with Keith, a volunteer mentor, who continued to work with Jay for over two years until earlier this year. During that time, Jay was moved around four different prisons, in locations from Lancashire to Cumbria: the original SOVA project to which Jay was referred closed and he was transferred to a new project with new staff but Keith continued to visit. Ruth Fielding, Project Manager, says “Keith’s relationship with Jay is an example of the importance of having continuity, of providing long-term support through an ever-changing custodial sentence. The relationship was the one thing that Jay could rely on not to change.”

Jay had been a problem drug user, and was estranged from his family. Just prior to his sentence, Jay’s girlfriend had had a baby and he was struggling to cope with the fact that he was missing out on his little boy growing up, and was not around to support his girlfriend, who was finding it hard to cope as a single mother. Keith helped Jay to work through his feelings: they had long discussions and exchanged many letters on the subject of fatherhood, the role of men in society, reflections on Jay’s past and plans for the future. Keith worked with Jay to identify appropriate courses that he could undertake whilst in custody and helped him work through the disappointment of having his parole turned down. The following are some excerpts from Jay’s letters to Keith. “Thank you for the postcards.
I have put them up in my cell, and all your cards. You have been so good to me Keith ... all the times you have come to see me, and the talks we have had have helped me doing my time.”; “I hope that your birthday is as special as it can be. Keith you are a very good man that cares and has a loving heart”; “I wish I had a man like you for a dad.”

Jay was released earlier in 2006. Within days of his release, Jay’s father died and Jay discovered his body. His first thought was to call the SOVA project, where staff helped him to deal with the situation.
Rather than responding negatively, Jay managed to move on and has subsequently found a job with a building firm, somewhere stable to live and is co-parenting his son, Jordan.

Four months after his release, Jay attended his final meeting with Keith and the project staff. He is still in work, has rebuilt relationships with family members and, with a new circle of friends, has not returned to problem drug use. Reflecting on his relationship with Keith at this meeting he said, “I’ve never had this kind of support in … 22 years. It’s made me a better person by making me realise my responsibilities.”

Many of the young people with whom SOVA works are in Young Offenders’ Institutions. Jay served the last part of his sentence in HMYOI Lancaster Farms. The SOVA project here has achieved considerable success through the implementation of thorough ‘through the gate’ support, that is making a considerable investment in keeping in touch with young people once they leave custody. The project carried out a post-release tracking survey, following up on young people who had been mentored through the project between January 2003 and November 2004. They were able to trace all but 15% of young people, and found that 60% had not returned to custody. Looking at more recent participants (January to April 2005), 69% had not been reconvicted. The project has also taken part in or introduced some exciting new developments during the year such as ‘Theatre in Prisons’, the piloting of NVQs for
volunteers and the negotiating of ‘legal’ visits for volunteers at weekends (so that inmates might be able to see their mentors at weekends without using visitors’ orders). The project staff also delivered SOVA volunteer training in Finland as part of a transnational comparison and further study visits for staff and project volunteers are scheduled.

back