It’s been a while since I wrote my Entrepreneurs in Prison post – more than four years in fact.

But I’m pleased to be able to tell you about two big steps in the right direction.

HMP Ranby and CfE

Firstly, the Centre for Entrepreneurs has secured funding to run an entrepreneurship course in HMP Ranby. This comes shortly after the publication of the Inmates to Entrepreneurs report earlier this year.

I’m on the steering committee for this and am also hoping to be getting my hands dirty behind bars. This is just a trial, but I’m sure if it’s a success it’ll be rolled out to more prisons.

Coding at HMP Humber

Along with Michael Taylor, I’ve set up a Community Interest Company to teach coding to inmates. We will kick off with a pilot project at HMP Humber in early 2017. Michael should take all the credit for this as we wouldn’t have got to this point without his perseverance. We’ve also had a lot of help from Chris Redlitz and the guys at The Last Mile who have been doing this successfully for a number of years.

See Michaels post on the TechCity website for more details and to find out how you can help.

Sssh!

As if that’s not enough, I also have another project in the pipeline on this subject. It’s early days but I hope I’ll be able to tell you more about it in a few months.

It’s also worth noting – especially given the negative media angle on the Prison Service at the moment – how incredibly supportive and enthusiastic the Ministry of Justice and National Offender Management Service have been about making these programmes a reality.

I’m looking forward to seeing how our first graduates get on post-release.