tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post4743437508524712674..comments2024-03-29T06:40:58.606+00:00Comments on On Probation Blog: Profit or Philanthropy?Jim Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00258147767051200157noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-87335904367715071032013-03-08T19:32:05.758+00:002013-03-08T19:32:05.758+00:00I hadn't heard of Working Chances and will cer...I hadn't heard of Working Chances and will certainly do a bit of research on them. Thanks for the tip.<br /><br /> Jim Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00258147767051200157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-53397862407518260852013-03-08T19:30:33.889+00:002013-03-08T19:30:33.889+00:00Nigel,
Thanks for making contact and for explaini...Nigel,<br /><br />Thanks for making contact and for explaining the idea behind your blog site. I hadn't appreciated that art was being withdrawn from prisons and that does strike me as not a good idea. I guess it's just about saving money?<br /><br />Anyway I'm happy to add you to my blog roll and wish you well with the site.<br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />Jim Jim Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00258147767051200157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-34232934107434832372013-03-07T15:28:12.388+00:002013-03-07T15:28:12.388+00:00Hi
Sorry to put this here but i wasn't sure wh...Hi<br />Sorry to put this here but i wasn't sure where to contact you otherwise..i am Nigel and my blog biggertigger http://biggertigger.blogspot.co.uk/ is a blog that tries to highlight and to exhibit Artwork created by serving prisoners and by ex-offenders.<br />Of course, the Koestler Trust already offers great prizes and have regular yearly exhibitions in Art galleries of work done by prisoners...but MY aim is to provide a platform for prisoners and ex-offenders who have some artistic talent, to be able to show their work on a site that runs 365 days a year and that champions the huge amount of creative talent that we have locked-up in our prisons.<br />Many other countries already have several sites like biggertigger for their own prisoners, and i want to spread the word about my site so that more people get to know the name and what i do. I really need more publicity...but being a recently released ex-prisoners myself....my access to, for instance, in-prison education officers and probation services is restricted. I'm looking for some help to get a 'foot in the door' and to be able to bring what i do to the attention of more people...so that i can begin to get a wider selection of artwork and artists onto biggertigger directly from jails if possible, and from probation officers working with ex-offenders in the community.<br />But its difficult...and it doesn't help that Art as a subject has been withdrawn now from the general prison population..a move that i think is crazy but that makes my site even more necessary and important.<br />I have your blog on my 'blog roll', and i wondered if i might be able to get boggertigger onto yours? This could really help me to increase the traffic onto my site and i would be really grateful if you could allow that to happen?<br />And if you might have any other ideas as to how i might be able to help me in my aims i would again be hugely appreciative. Or maybe you yourself know of a budding artist who is an ex-offender...someone who might want to have their work on a website like mine? I only require a good quality pic of their work with some info...and i'll put it on there. I've tried to get own probation officer here in Sheffield interested in it but she doesn't seem to have much interest in Art, which of course is a pity. But i'm still determined to get my idea off the ground and indeed the many others i have for the develoment of biggertigger. But biggertigger has been running now for around 6 months...and already i have close to 100 superb Art pieces on there for everyone to see...and i'm starting to get a slow trickle of visitors to the site. But i need to increase this to a flood if i'm going to get anywhere...and any help would be terific. <br />Art provided such a hugely important 'space' for me when i was in jail...it helped me to be able to not just understand some of the issues i faced, but for me to be able to express them in ways that were constructive and positive. Art helped me massively and i saw it many helping others..back when Art WAS avaliable to the general population as a form of education.<br />Biggertigger aims to get the general public to appreciate the talent of prisoners (while at the same time trying to remind them that prisoners are human beings) and at the same time offering prisoners who enjoy art a place to show-off their efforts.<br />Most of the art i did in jail, even though i was doing Art as a full time course was still done 'in-cell' at night....and i want to encourage others to use the usually difficult times 'behind the door' to get involved with producing Art....<br />I hope you might be able to help....and thanks for taking the time to read my post.<br />Cheers<br />NigelAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06016464467382965519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-32496313865506614432013-03-07T09:12:15.268+00:002013-03-07T09:12:15.268+00:00I followed your link to Stephen Bubb. He's a s...I followed your link to Stephen Bubb. He's a showoff. I note he mentions an organisation called Working Chances – it works with women ex-offenders, seeks to get them employment. What caught my eye was its claim to have a reoffending rate of 1%. I can't find any link to actual research to show exactly how this figure was achieved and details about the charateristics of the cohort. <br /><br />In fact someone from Working Chances was on Radio 4 recently, similarly claiming a 1% reofending rate. If true, this is an astonishing achievement and Working Chances should be funded to the hilt. But if this is a clever piece of self-promoting rhetoric, then it appears to be working, because Bubb is making full use of this headline figure to trumpet the third sector, which apparently invented the probation service, though he does not claim to have been present at its inception. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com