Hello,
A lot of people have been asking how Josh is getting on.
His partner has just had a baby and Josh, a carpenter by trade, is desperate to be with, and support his young family.
Frankly any Christmas analogy that I was trying to form pretty much ends there! A recap from the blog on August 3rd, …
Josh’s’ mental health and anxiety were improving all the time.
His community sentence completed, he stayed on with us.
Lurking in the background was an historic offence from early 2020.
Court backlog had meant a delay of two and a half years.
Josh was guilty. Never denied it.
All the time he was maturing, developing, reflecting, taking responsibility, a new person emerging.
A Court (rightly) has a long memory.
He pleaded guilty.
Awarded a two-year custodial sentence.
A community sentence would have maintained his development at LandWorks.
So, the short answer he’s not great!
- Life inside is hard.
- He is only allowed 3 visits/month.
- He has seen his baby boy once.
- Christmas is looking bleak.
Hope for the new year? Well, if he gets early release, he can return here and possibly he may be granted an extra family visit in prison.
Josh, his family and the wider community would have been better served if he had been given a community sentence.
Next year this may change…
Courts could soon be handing out more rehabilitative community sentences, rather than sending people to jail for short terms, under radical new plans.
The Sentencing Council for England and Wales says judges and magistrates should think more about sentences that are proven to reform offenders.
LandWorks will be making representation to the consultation process in February.
We will use Josh’s experience as an example of why change is so desperately needed.
I will keep you updated.
Thank you continuing to support us, it means a lot… to everyone including Josh.
Merry Christmas from us all at LandWorks.
Chris
21st Decemeber 2023