Interns Ahoy!

Friday  26 April 2013

NEW VACANCY: Internships x 2  (London Office and Cardiff office)

 Interns ahoy! We need two interns, one based in Cardiff and one based in London. These positions are to support Kazuri staff and volunteers with the plethora of activities we are engaged in and we have coming up including our women in prison  sustainable housing program

our women's prison councils pilot 

and our event in  Parliament to mark the publication of our report  "Captors or Carers" questioning the role of  private sector security companies delivering housing for vulnerable women seeking asylum in June, hosted by three notable MPs.

Job title: 2 x Interns,  social justice and media  / policy

Location: London and Cardiff

Salary: Voluntary, although reasonable travel expenses are reimbursed

Hours: 4-5 days a week for 8-12 weeks (flexible)

Context

Our Mission: Kazuri is founded on the ethos that sustainable housing is  a basic human right, from which a traumatised woman can rebuild shattered social bonds and start to put some order into a chaotic lifestyle. We deploy the successful model known as Housing First, you house the person safely and sustainably then you build the bespoke  services around her that she needs.

 Kazuri gives a voice to the most marginalized in our society, women who have suffered trauma through domestic violence, incarceration or  as a result of multiple exclusion and by campaigning at the highest levels, we seek to challenge policy where it is unfairly biased against women and ex offenders. Our mission is to mainstream the  offender's resettlement experience, show the larger community that we are all responsible for successful reintegration,  so  she can embark upon her personal journey towards desistance.

 Why we’re effective:  Kazuri is effective because  it is founded on the principles of justice and human rights, fair access to services and sustainability  ours is not a model which engenders dependency but one which empowers  independence. We ask our service users to undertake a minimum of 5 hours of volunteering in the community with a social enterprise or charity to  strengthen their own community bonds.

Kazuri is a social enterprise founded by former offender Farah Damji, whose own experiences of the criminal justice system inform her approach to transforming justice and the experiences of women in prison.  A notable writer and journalist, Farah founded Kazuri to provide housing in the private rented sector for women leaving prison or refuges.  Kazuri  works in successful partnerships with third sector and private enterprise, for   innovative solutions  to entrenched problems: disrupt, challenge, transform. Today, Kazuri is supported by government departments, members of parliament and leading academics and thinkers, a testament to the resilience of the model and our "STICKABILITY" in a commissioning  landscape which has become  a byword for failed policy and dogmatic approaches which do not reduce reoffending rates .


Our impact:  Kazuri offers a model of support through resilience training, volunteering and engaging with the mainstream, our service users and tenants are expected to become stakeholders in society, thereby being part of the solution and no longer seen as the problem. Our report to the Justice Committee, "Sex in the System" was praised by MPs, policy makers and grass roots practitioners who commended the practical policy framework advocated by the leading thinkers such as Flo Krause, Julia Gibby and Imran Khan  who contributed to the  report. These  human rights practitioners  challenge injustice daily and have been instrumental in bringing about changes in prison reform and the police, and  understand first hand how law affects women. The report was also informed by a survey of 25 serving women prisoners who provided a very current snapshot of the state of the estate.


Person Specification 
We require two  female interns, with a passion for policy and change, who can  thinking on her feet and laterally.  You'll need compelling research skills, a flair for writing and the ability to be proactive and work in a brilliant, challenging, changing and inspiring environment.  We are looking for 2 high caliber graduates, ideally in Politics, Social Sciences  or Criminology, with excellent IT skills and a genuine interest in criminal justice and social policy to help with the burgeoning growth of this exciting and innovative organisation.

Key Responsibilities
• Communications, including PR, website maintenance and social media
• Research background material for projects
• Assist with funding applications
• Keep Kazuri  updated on relevant activity in Government, Whitehall, Think Tanks and the Third Sector in the media
• Assist in creating, updating and maintaining office systems
• Administrative duties, including some diary management and travel booking

What this role can offer 
• Invaluable experience working within a   social enterprise at the heart of reform in the criminal justice sector
• A chance to develop existing skills and gain new ones
• Work experience to add to your CV
• Support from a motivated and enthusiastic team

Interview & Start dates

Interviews will be on a rolling basis from 13 May  2013.
Closing date for applications is 30 May 2013, but note that we may appoint before the closing date.

Start date will be mid to late May 2013.To apply
Please send a CV and covering letter to Dianne Ramsay at info@kazuri.org.uk

Because this is a role  working on policy and with vulnerable women, we would ideally like to find two women candidates, as it fits our gendered approach to tackling inequality in the workplace.

Sorry doesn't have to be so hard...

Would you like the chance to apologise in person for mistakes you’ve made in the past?

Are you longing to say thank you to someone who helped turned your life around?

A new BBC One programme can help.

‘The Gift’ is an inspiring new programme that will track down the person you want to apologise to or thank, whether it be the victim of a crime you’ve committed, someone affected by behaviour you regret or the person whose kindness changed your life forever.

Our team of restorative justice practitioners, search experts and psychologists will support you as you prepare to meet them face to face and help you find a gift or gesture that encapsulates your feelings.

 If you have a long overdue debt of gratitude, or if you’ve felt burdened by the need to apologise and make amends and feel that saying sorry in person could end years of guilt and help you move on with your life, then we’d love to hear from you.

Please click here for more information, or contact us directly on 020 7424 7703 or thegift@walltowall.co.uk

Mindfulness and creativity

A course for men and women,  led by leading Buddhist mindfulness practitioner,  Vajradaka

This mindfulness based course gives you the space and opportunity to keep the momentum and focus on having a richly-experienced, satisfying and creative life. What is creativity in your own life and do you find creative solutions for daily issues?


Over three clear and practical session, you will learn guidance for being mindful and creative and what that means for you. Learn how to develop the relevant and progressive skills for igniting creativity and a sense of connectedness in all aspects of your life.


April 23 - May  7th

7.15pm-9.30pm

£45



A course for men and women at the Women's Resilience Centre hosted by Kazuri in Whitechapel.
Participants need to commit to all sessions as it is a progressive process.

Some of what we will cover on the course:

Week 1, Tuesday 23 April
Your inner life determines your outer life
Simple and easy to use mindfulness methods for finding what is important for you.
Exploration of what effectively helps you achieve your direction and values.
Coming into a sense of confidence in your strengths and being effective.
Have everything going in the same direction
Dealing with distraction and keeping a sense of direction.
Entering into a sense of wholeheartedness and motivation.
The relationship between discipline and spontaneity.

Week 2, Tuesday 30 April
Being engaged and fully present
Dealing creatively with obstacles to decisiveness.
Keeping a sense of momentum.
Skills for breaking out of habits which disconnect you from what matters to you.
The fun/serious dichotomy
Having a big picture of what is in your best interests.
Working from your strengths.
Enjoying the process of personal development, even when it's hard.

Week 3, Tuesday 7 May
Overcoming expectations and getting real
Understanding what being in a process means
The creative process of being receptive to opportunity and keeping the initiative
Dealing with the double-edged consequences of being successful

This course is open to women and men and it is led by Vajradaka who is an ordained Buddhist and also who is one of the most experienced practitioners and teachers of mindfulness and creativity around. We feel that because of his long experience of leading these courses he is the perfect teacher for participants keen to explore their understanding of the ancient Buddhist practice of mindfulness in a way it can be applied practically into our own lives.

We hope you will join us for 3 very special evenings later this month.
For more information please email us info@kazuri.org.uk.

Justice committee hearing, Helen Grant

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On the 26^th of March 2013 City Gateway apprentices attended the justice committee in Portcullis House in the House of Commons where The Right Honourable Helen Grant MP, The justice minister with a special responsibility for women in prison was giving evidence with 2 of her officials, Ian Poree who is in charge of commissioning and Michaels Spurr, the head of NOMS. Members of Parliament including Alan Beith, Steve Brine and Jeremy Corbyn discussed the sentences and treatment of women in prison. Debates in the House of Lords by Lord McNally during the parliamentary passage of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, and by the Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice,   Damian Green in the House of Commons had all promised changes in the way women are treated in prison.

Helen Grant admitted female prisoners have different needs from male prisoners as they are much more vulnerable. Also, how community sentences in England and Wales are to be made more female friendly in an effort to keep women out of prison and so that they do not re-offend.

Justice minister Helen Grant wants to cut re-offending rates and offer judges reliable alternatives to custody. She says that vulnerable women offenders need help to break the cycle of crime, abuse and many other difficulties that are facing.

One of the aims that the ministry of justice officials insisted was not to lock up fewer women offenders, but to reduce the number of re-offenders and to offer  credible alternatives to custody   to judges and magistrates.

Helen Grant is setting up a new board of specialists, stakeholders within government across ministries and departments and partners outside government who provide services for women offenders, to address community orders for women and look at other issues such as locating female prisoners near to their families. She also said that mothers should receive good health care and support while they are in prison so that when they are out of prison they can build a relationship with their children. Some of the support that was discussed was that their should be family days out , working with families and  children of offenders, home work clubs so that they mothers/ fathers get time with their children and can be part of their life’s while being in prison. However they will not be getting paid for work or curfew as a punishment.

Another idea Helen Grant and the other MP’s proposed was that the women prisoners should be placed in secure hostels. The minister quoted “It costs £45,000 to keep a woman in prison for one year, while almost 45% of all women released from custody in 2010 re-offended within 12 months, committing more than 10,000 further offences.”

What they said the system does well:

Women in Holloway prison are being prepared for work for example they are writing CVs and learning how to dress appropriately for work , so that after they released  they will have something to do, this will reduces the chances of re-offending with help from eth charity Working Chance.

She said she had visited the women’s diversion centre,  Isis in Stroud in Gloucester  which challenges  women to change their lives around; they are being helped to avoid  domestic violence and build up their self confidence as they think that it will help them not to re-offend.

Things that need more improvement:

They need to identify women and men (segmentation) so that they can be put in specific groups of re-offending as they have specific needs and issues (they have been looking at this area) and these can be addressed. Cathy Robinson a former prison governor is undertaking a review of the entire prison system.

They said that a considerate amount has been done and improved in the last 6 years after the report by Baroness Corston and more to be done.

Our feelings are Mrs. Grant wants to give women opportunities and better support, besides placing them in prison. She says society should help women understand alternatives to crime and allow them to get help dealing with problems that cause them to commit crimes.

( too many prisoners not enough justice ) 



By Parvin Nehar & Shahida Akther

Questions for Rt Honourable Helen Grant, Minister of Justice

Helen Grant the junior justice minister appears in front of the justice committee on 25th March 2013 at 09 30 hrs. Whilst we welcome the coalition government's commitment to treat women offenders  from a gendered perspective, we would like to take the opportunity to ask some questions to broaden the debate.
A detailed interview outlining Mrs Grant's proposals can be found here  here

1.   Will the justice minister expand on what will happen to existing women's diversion centers and whether   NOMS will continue to fund until commissioning for transforming justice are published  which could take up to 2 years?

2. Will the minister explain how she envisages working  with existing providers to bring best practices gathered from the diversion centers  what opportunities will there be to bring new providers with experience of working with vulnerable women in the sector already? 

3. What steps are being taken to ensure vulnerable women are not further damaged by exposure to inexperienced workers subcontracted to large prime  providers with no track record or success in working with this group?

4. Will the minister  consider making the Bangkok Rules the minimum requirements for any agency wishing to work with women offenders?

5. The minister states she wishes to punish women, rehabilitate women and transform justice simultaneously.  These are 3 outcomes which require different strategies and outputs and might be irreconcilable.  Could she explain her priorities?

6. Does the minister undertake to implement gender main streaming as opposed to gender equality?  Women are not men, solutions and sentences need to reflect motherhood, discrimination and other issues specific to women.

A gendered approach to women offenders

We're delighted to welcome Justice Minister, Helen Grant's ministerial statement last Friday, prior to her scheduled appearance on Tuesday 26 March 2013 at the justice committee inquiry to give evidence regarding this government's rehabilitation transformation plans for women offenders. You can see the Kazuri submission by Imran Khan, Flo Krause and Julia Gibby here

In brief:

Helen Grant to overhaul community sentences for women

The government wants more alternatives to custody

Continue reading the main story

Related Stories

• Female offender 'hostels' considered
• Women's prisons 'should close'
• 'I've been in trouble almost all the time'

Community sentences in England and Wales are to be made more "female friendly" in an effort to keep women out of prison.

Justice Minister Helen Grant wants to cut reoffending rates and offer judges credible alternatives to custody.

She says "vulnerable" women offenders need help to break the cycle of crime and abuse many of them face.

But the new approach will include an element of punishment such as unpaid work or curfew, she stressed.

Ministry of Justice officials insisted the aim was not to lock up fewer women offenders, but to reduce the number of reoffenders and to make "credible" alternatives to custody available to judges.

'Mental health'

About 4,000 women are currently in jail in England and Wales, most of whom are serving sentences of six months or less.

Eight out of 10 were sent to prison for committing a non-violent offence.

Ms Grant is setting up a new advisory board to overhaul community orders for women and look at other issues such as locating female prisoners near to their families.

"Many female offenders share the same depressingly familiar issues of abuse, drug and alcohol dependency and mental health problems," said the Conservative minister.

"Women who commit crime should be punished, but we must not forget that a significant number have been victims during their lives and need targeted support to break the cycle of offending.

"I will provide the strong leadership required to drive these priorities forward and I'm confident that by working together with all partners we can better tackle female offending."

Expanding on the proposals in an interview with The Independent, she said: "Women offenders are a highly vulnerable group, they commit crime because of that vulnerability and earlier failures to protect and support [them]."

'Secure hostels'

The Ministry of Justice said it costs £45,000 to keep a woman in prison for one year, while almost 45% of all women released from custody in 2010 reoffended within 12 months, committing more than 10,000 further offences.

Up to 56% of women offenders have been in care and the proportion of female prisoners that report abuse in their lifetime is double that of males.

In addition, about 60% of women leave behind dependent children when entering prison.

Prison Reform Trust director Juliet Lyon broadly welcomed the government's stance but said it would have little effect if it was not backed by new laws.

"History shows that, in the absence of specific legislation, commitments to address women's different needs are often not realised, and momentum can be lost as ministers and officials come and go."

Andrew Neilson, director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said the proposals lacked detail.

But he added: "It does, however, reflect the fact that community sentences are a far more appropriate way of dealing with the vast majority of women currently in prison, including all those who have committed non-violent crimes."

The government is also considering the introduction of "secure hostels" for less serious women offenders in England and Wales, as an alternative to women's prisons.

via BBC website

Kazuri  will be attending the Justice Committee hearing on Tuesday and live Tweeting (if permitted)