Unlocked Graduates, a charity that recruited hundreds of high-calibre graduates into the prison service, was one of the few glimmers of hope in our broken justice system. But Unlocked’s future is now in doubt: its graduate programme is over. The current cohort of prison officers – who are making a huge difference to the lives of inmates and their hopes of rehabilitation – will be the last.
Unlocked set out to transform prison officer hiring – and it succeeded
Unlocked’s fate has been clear for some time: last year, the Ministry of Justice failed to renew the programme’s contract. This week, prisons minister Lord Timpson confirmed that discussions on the graduate programme ended in failure. Timpson tried to gloss over the end of the scheme by announcing a ‘future leadership programme’ which will seek to recruit around 35 potential future prison governors each year. But ignore the spin: Unlocked’s fate spells the end of a decade of efforts to transform prison culture.
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