Convicted killer helps youngsters stay on the straight and narrow

A unique South Yorkshire project hopes to steer young people away from a life of crime by confronting them with prisoners and ex-offenders. The In2Change project in Sheffield works alongside and in partnership with South Yorkshire Police, fire and rescue services, schools, academies and local community organisations. It aims to stop young people that are, for a number of reasons, at risk of ending up leading a life of crime, becoming involved in drugs, going to prison or even committing murder.

Quite often, the young people start out being excluded from school and becoming what are commonly referred to as NEETs – Not in Education, Employment or Training.

The time the young people spend with ex-offenders such as Hanif Mohammed (30), who served ten years for killing a man, and Karen Howell-Ball (41), who was sentenced to four years for conspiracy to supply drugs, have a dramatic and positive impact on them.

The project has been granted £1,500 from UK Steel Enterprise’s Charitable Fund and £2,000 from the police proceeds of crime fund. It has been used to kit out a prison cell, kitchen and workplace units where the young people learn new skills in a new purpose-built set that has been transformed from a warehouse.

In2Change is based in Neepsend, Sheffield, and managed by Brian Wreakes. He explained: “We work with young people who are on the edge of opting out of society; their vision of the future is bleak and often coloured with glamorous ideas about gangster life. It’s vital that we re-engage them in education and life skills. The results of our project are amazing. We have one young man who has not been to school for the past three years and while with us he has missed only three days in all that time, and that was due to illness. If he was offered full-time education he simply would not go and would no doubt face a fruitless future wandering the streets.”

Mr Wreakes added: “The funding was vital for the development and creation of the new set and for the future of the 34 young people we are currently working with. Ours is a real win-win project. We bring in serving prisoners and ex-offenders, giving them the chance to work within society and add value to others which forms part of their rehabilitation. At the same time they are helping to stop others following in their footsteps, but what really matters is that it works.”

In2Change involves powerful, factual role-play presentations delivered by trained, qualified ex-offenders and prisoners highlighting the common misconceptions of prison life and how anti-social behaviour can lead to custody. The intensive programme is hard-hitting, factual and portrays the consequences of crime and prison life as learnt by those that have been there. The exercises and lessons look at the impact of crime and anti-social behaviour as much from the victims’ perspective as they do the perpetrators’.

Keith Williams, regional executive for UK Steel Enterprise, says it sees projects such as In2Change as key in helping at risk young people to play active and productive roles in society.

“The aim of our Charitable Fund is to support local community groups which are dealing with difficult regeneration or social issues, particularly those facing the young,” he said. “In2Change is doing some amazing work on a shoestring, with some of the hardest to reach young people in our society from some of our most deprived communities, bringing them back on track. I don’t know of many other projects like this in the UK and we are delighted to be supporting it with our funding.”

UK Steel Enterprise works with South Yorkshire Community Foundation (SYCF) in allocating its funds. “The Foundation is delighted to be administering the UK Steel Enterprise Charitable Fund and able to help the young people at the In2Change project to learn important life skills. This is just one of several community groups to benefit from the fund and we look forward to helping many more local groups in the future,” said Sue Wragg, fund manager for SYCF.

In2Change was started in 2007 and operates