bthechange CIC

bthechange CIC Our team are vastly experienced in working with people with complex needs and from a range of diverse backgrounds and cultures.

Multi-award winning Community Interest Company spanning the Southwest of England and South Wales, dedicated to empowering first-time entrants, racially minoritised individuals, and women that are facing challenges within the criminal justice system. bthechange CIC is an award-winning Community Interest Company that operates across The Southwest of England and South & Mid Wales providing a range of

life changing initiatives to directly support over a thousand individuals a year with moving forward with their lives that are either at risk of entering or who are in the criminal justice system. bthechange not only provides structured programmes for client support, but we also play an active role in system change, working with those ‘intermediaries’ whose policies, rules, processes, cultures, and attitudes affect people with convictions. We have specialists in our team that covers: Substance misuse (psychosocial motivational interventions relapse prevention – managing/recognising triggers), Finance Benefit and Debt, Welfare support including Housing, universal credit, bank account & I.D applications, Employment support – CV writing, job applications & Neurodivergent inclusive programmes. We are extremely committed and proud of being an equal opportunities and diverse organisation, of which is demonstrated by our team who come from a multitude of backgrounds, with varied cultures, beliefs, and sexual orientations. We truly are a company that represents society.

https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/65950/prison-education-insourcing
02/06/2026

https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/65950/prison-education-insourcing

That this House notes the worrying state of prison education, with 82 percent of prison and young offender institutions judged by Ofsted as requiring improvement or inadequate for overall effectiveness of education, skills and work provision; further notes that contracts for the new Prison Education...

02/06/2026

Recognise excellence in the criminal justice system by nominating someone for a Butler Trust award.

01/06/2026

Deaths within two weeks of prison release hit record high in England and Wales
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Andy Keen-Downs, the chief executive of the Prison Advice and Care Trust (Pact), said the increase in prison population and a worsening mental health crisis had created a “perfect storm” that was helping cause increasing post-prison homelessness and deaths.

“There is a chronic lack of sustained support for people post-release. Prisons and probation have been one of the worst-cut public services over the last 20 years, and staff have very little time to provide the necessary support,” he said.

“That, plus a massive gap in mental health care services, means we’re inevitably going to see homelessness and deaths.”

Of the people released into homelessness, he said, many would end up back in prison, others would would be long-term street homeless, and others would die. “Sometimes that will simply be because living on the streets for long enough will kill you, but often it’s combined with drugs and alcohol,” he said.

Pact works to help prisoners rebuild and maintain relationships with their family and friends, something which is proven to reduce homelessness, reoffending rates and deaths. “We need to be working with people, not just in their last 12 weeks of a prison sentence, but right from the start,” said Keen-Downs.
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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/31/ex-prisoners-died-within-two-weeks-release-england-wales
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01/06/2026

FALLING THROUGH THE CRACKS: EX-PRISONERS WHO DIED WITHIN TWO WEEKS OF RELEASE
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Growing number of people in England and Wales are being released into homelessness with little support

In the weeks running up to his release from prison, Robert Barraclough began feeling anxious about becoming homeless. He told staff that he feared having to sleep in a tent in the cold, and began to self-harm.

He had been serving a 19-month sentence for assault and criminal damage at HMP Nottingham, and initially told prison officers he was looking forward to seeing his family and working at his friend’s scaffolding business on release.

But as his release date came closer, and he had no guarantees of a place to live, his mental health deteriorated. He told his support worker he did not want to live outside prison as he “had nothing” and planned to end his life.

He was rejected for a place at a number of probation “approved premises” and, although offered a bed at YMCA Mansfield, when his release date came on 21 October 2022, a space was not available for another week.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/31/ex-prisoners-died-within-two-weeks-release-england-wales

FALLING THROUGH THE CRACKS: EX-PRISONERS WHO DIED WITHIN TWO WEEKS OF RELEASE-Growing number of people in England and Wa...
01/06/2026

FALLING THROUGH THE CRACKS: EX-PRISONERS WHO DIED WITHIN TWO WEEKS OF RELEASE
-
Growing number of people in England and Wales are being released into homelessness with little support

In the weeks running up to his release from prison, Robert Barraclough began feeling anxious about becoming homeless. He told staff that he feared having to sleep in a tent in the cold, and began to self-harm.

He had been serving a 19-month sentence for assault and criminal damage at HMP Nottingham, and initially told prison officers he was looking forward to seeing his family and working at his friend’s scaffolding business on release.

But as his release date came closer, and he had no guarantees of a place to live, his mental health deteriorated. He told his support worker he did not want to live outside prison as he “had nothing” and planned to end his life.

He was rejected for a place at a number of probation “approved premises” and, although offered a bed at YMCA Mansfield, when his release date came on 21 October 2022, a space was not available for another week.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/31/ex-prisoners-died-within-two-weeks-release-england-wales

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