Prison Help! is a full service advice and support organisation providing paid for services to people facing prison, currently in custody, and seeking employment after a criminal conviction. The business was started by individuals from professional backgrounds, capable of properly structuring and offering these services, and who themselves, have also experienced the justice system in the UK. Our range of services extends far beyond an individual being sent to prison and offers a wealth of support to the families and loved ones of those who have been convicted. We know and acutely understand the pressures that can be placed on innocent family members and, importantly, children during these times, and we work hard to minimise the impact a custodial sentence has on the wider family.
We also offer "Careers for Life" which is an employment support and training organisation that supports the re-introduction to the workplace, beyond a custodial or community sentence for ex-offenders. We also provide services to those people affected by a family member’s conviction. For example, where the main earner in a household is sentenced to prison, we offer support and training to help to prepare other members of the household or family for work. Our services are unique, fit-for-purpose and tried and tested. In fact, we're so confident in this service, it is provided for LIFE.
Our core services are offered on a paid for basis, and they stretch far beyond the support and advice available publicly and by the system itself. We are currently working very hard with Trusts, Foundations and Philanthropists to enable us to build a portfolio of FREE services, aimed at supporting the families and children of those convicted.
About Prison Help!
Contact Steve via one of these links:
Steve comes from an IT background in his early career, having qualified with Microsoft when he was 19 years old.
Steve progressed rapidly into a career of Management, starting in the UK Holiday Sector where he became a Board Director of Park Resorts at the age of 22 and a Shareholder by the age of 24. Steve then progressed to work with Private Equity Houses, Close Brothers, AMB AMRO & Gi Partners in deals valued at over £500Million, where his overall operational management ability was harnessed throughout the portfolio companies.
Steve’s light-bulb moment came when he realised that by deploying what were to him, quite modest skills that he had always taken for granted, he was able to offer help and support to marginalised people, ex-offenders and serving prisoners and really make a lasting impact on their futures, their families, and, ultimately society.
This was Steve’s sole reason for committing to ensuring that Prospers help and support is available to people in prison, and an environment is created that will enable the opportunity for change for everyone.
Steve has been instrumental in the leadership and delivery of the Award Winning Career Life Portal, a product which is now sweeping the Justice, Work Programme and Third Sectors, credited for its application of todays technology advancements.
Steve Newell - Co-founder
Steve Newell - Co-founder
Contact Michael via one of these links:
Michael is an ex-offender and co-founder of Prosper 4 Group & Prison Help. He spent over a year in Brixton and Belmarsh prisons serving a fraud offence, being released in 2013. Together with Steve Newell, COO at Prosper, Michael’s passion is to change the way in which work and employment opportunities are provided to offenders, in order to support resettlement. Quality outcomes are the key drivers for Michael: he wants to change the accepted norm of mundane and minimal standards in the justice sector; and he wants to ensure positive outcomes result from his work.
Michael is a widely experienced business executive, having worked in the UK and overseas. He spent ten years with Deloitte in London, including five years as a Partner. He has worked in industries from financial services to agriculture, and catering to manufacturing. He is used to working with large teams, and to growing businesses to achieve their goals.
Michael led and worked on a project in Brixton Prison, reporting directly to the Governor, Ed Tullett. The aim of the project was to get serving prisoners into work while still serving their sentences, and where they were able to leave the prison on daily release. The project was a huge success, Michael helped over 200 men found work – many developing careers as a result. The jobs were with mainstream major companies, with real salaries, real work, and real responsibilities. It is that which led to the formation of Prosper: being able to implement, sustainably, employment services for offenders and ex-offenders in the real world.