YOUNG BRITISH MUSLIM EX-OFFENDERS MORE LIKELY TO REOFFEND

The Muslim Youth Helpline (MYH), an award-winning national charity providing listening and support services to young Muslims across the UK is releasing a report on Monday which finds that 48% of young Muslims ex-offenders will not contact resettlement services upon leaving prison, therefore making them more likely to reoffend. ‘Young British Muslim Ex-Offenders and Resettlement Needs’ is the latest report produced by the Muslim Youth Helpline to raise awareness of the challenges faced by young Muslims ex-offenders. Its conclusions are stark and simple: repeat Muslim offenders all assert that if they had received additional support from either their probation officer, prison staff member or a member of their own community they would have been less likely to reoffend.

The report suggests more needs to be done across agencies and the community to work collaboratively to reduce the likelihood of young British Muslims reoffending and helping them resettle back into civil society. Akeela Ahmed, Chief Executive of the Muslim Youth Helpline, said: “This is a worrying finding as it highlights that young British Muslim ex- offenders probably do not  know where to turn to for help and support after leaving prison. There could be a variety of reasons why this is so from lack of information whilst in prison to reluctance in contacting mainstream resettlement services for fear of not being understood. Overall, this means it will be harder for young British Muslim offenders to change their lives so they do not turn back to crime..”

The report by Iman Said is set to be launched at the House of Lords on Monday 21st March at 5 pm hosted by Lord Nazir Ahmed. In conjunction with the launch of this report will be the launch of the Muslim Youth Helpline Prison Campaign, a drive to help deal with the plight of British Muslim prisoners. Akeela Ahmed, Chief Executive of the Muslim Youth Helpline, said: “To help meet this very real demand for support, we are  launching our annual Prison Campaign which distributes vital gift packages of support for young British Muslim prisoners across the UK, to enable them with information and guidance and ultimately empower them to seek help and support from  their communities upon release from prison.”

Muslim Youth Helpline (MYH) is helping to bridge the gap between young Muslim offenders and wider society through individual messages of support from community members to young Muslim offenders. In 2010 over 4000 packages were distributed to prisoners nationwide. MYH is also helping to bridge the gap with the mainstream support services and is responding to requests from probation services and youth offending teams for training and resources to build their understanding and awareness of faith and cultural sensitivities when providing services that can affect the issues young British Muslims experience.