Bank Accounts Cut Re-Offending Rates
04/12/2008
Prisoners who open bank accounts may be less likely to re-offend, according to the results of a pilot study.
For the last two years, the Co-operative Bank has been making its savings accounts and current accounts available to offenders at Forest Bank Prison in Salford. According to the bank, this is reducing re-offending rates.
A report in the scheme has been produced by Paul Jones of Liverpool John Moores University. He found that, in the first two years of the project, 256 prisoners have opened accounts with the Co-operative Bank while serving their sentences.
Since the scheme began in 2006, 193 prisoners with Co-op Bank accounts have been released and only 72 have since returned to jail. An ex-offender was quoted in the report: "It is hard to explain, I felt better when I got the bank account, you've got something, I felt better inside. I can't wait to get my wages paid in."
A further 28 prisons have now applied to the Co-op to run the bank account scheme. The Co-op's chief executive, David Anderson, said: "We understand that access to employment and housing are extremely important factors in reducing the risk of re-offending but these can only be obtained if ex-offenders have bank accounts."
For the last two years, the Co-operative Bank has been making its savings accounts and current accounts available to offenders at Forest Bank Prison in Salford. According to the bank, this is reducing re-offending rates.
A report in the scheme has been produced by Paul Jones of Liverpool John Moores University. He found that, in the first two years of the project, 256 prisoners have opened accounts with the Co-operative Bank while serving their sentences.
Since the scheme began in 2006, 193 prisoners with Co-op Bank accounts have been released and only 72 have since returned to jail. An ex-offender was quoted in the report: "It is hard to explain, I felt better when I got the bank account, you've got something, I felt better inside. I can't wait to get my wages paid in."
A further 28 prisons have now applied to the Co-op to run the bank account scheme. The Co-op's chief executive, David Anderson, said: "We understand that access to employment and housing are extremely important factors in reducing the risk of re-offending but these can only be obtained if ex-offenders have bank accounts."
