YOUNG offenders about to leave prison could find themselves making a new start in Skipton thanks to a new project.

The local YMCA has been taken on board as part of a national strategy called Partnerships in Prisons, which involves "befriending" inmates prior to their release.

The idea is to stop young ex-convicts gravitating back to their old way of life which could lead to them re-offending.

As well as expert youth workers on-site and support, Skipton's YMCA has comfortable accommodation where an offender could re-build his or her life.

Julie Botham, youth support worker, has already paid visits to Wetherby Young Offenders' Institute and Doncaster's Moorlands Prison, where she befriended an in-mate with the possibility of him coming to Skipton.

Julie said: "This is a very exciting pilot scheme in which we hope to help people coming out of prison get back on the straight and narrow.

"I am in contact with a YMCA worker within Moorlands, who lets me know about anyone about to be released and who could be re-settled in our area.

"Recently I went to see a young man who had been bullied and ended up on the hospital wing. We could have helped him with everything from accommodation to training to get back to work.

"I told him he could be invited back here to Skipton if he needed us. You see very often young offenders gravitate back towards their peer groups and can fall back into their old ways. If we can guide them away from that we are doing our job."

The young man Julie was helping has ended up finding work and a secure home with his girlfriend in Leeds, well away from the temptations of his former life.

Graeme Angus, northern secretary of the YMCA, said: "The skills of the workers at Skipton's YMCA are second to none and can offer everything from simple reconciliation with in-mates and their parents to a full new start in life.

"Normally the percentage of young offenders going back into crime is 63 per cent. But the percentage drops to 30 per cent when talking about members of the Partnerships in Prisons scheme.

"What we do is build up a relationship while they are on the inside, a captive audience if you like, and offer to take them back to a YMCA while they re-adjust.

"If the Skipton branch can help just one former criminal get back on his feet they're doing a good thing."

Picture by Stephen Garnett.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.