Category: News Posts
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Baking Out Expands: More Training, More Second Chances at HMP Northumberland
The Oswin Project is expanding its successful commercial bakery at HMP Northumberland, transforming a disused prison kitchen into brand-new, state-of-the-art premises. The expansion is a joint venture between The Oswin Project and HMP Northumberland operators Sodexo, made possible by grant funding from Scottish Power, The Community Foundation, St Hilda’s Trust, The Convey Trust and the…
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Café 16 turns five, and the BBC comes to visit
Café 16 marked five years at the weekend, and the anniversary brought the BBC through the door. BBC Radio Newcastle’s Michael Poulter came to the café inside Newcastle Cathedral to talk to the people who run it. He spoke to assistant manager Fraser, catering operations manager Clare Guiney, and our chief executive Fiona Sample about…
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Bridging the Data Divide
When someone leaves prison, they walk out with a plastic bag of belongings and very little else. The training they completed inside, the health conditions being managed, the qualifications they earned: all of it stays behind the gate. The agencies meant to help them find work and rebuild a life start from scratch. We call…
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Dry Stone Walling: Old Skills, Lasting Work
Dry stone walling is one of the oldest building skills in the country. No mortar. No shortcuts. Every stone placed by hand, chosen to carry the weight of the ones above it. The technique has barely changed in centuries. You read the stone, you place it once, you place it right. A wall built well…
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Prisoners help put youngsters on the road to freedom
Recently the Northumberland Gazette covered our project in partnership with Recirculate and the Tyne Tunnel. Twenty bikes that would have gone to landfill were refurbished by people impacted by the criminal justice system, working through our Changing the Cycle enterprise at HMP Northumberland. Every bike was fully serviced and certified road safe by a qualified…
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Our CEO visited 10 Downing Street
On Thursday 26th March our CEO attended a reception at 10 Downing street for Employment Advisory Board Chairs , kindly hosted by The Secretary of state for Justice ( David Lammy MP) and the prisons minister ( Lord Timpson). Fiona is chair at HMP Northumberland . Since James Timpson had the idea to introduce EABs to…
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Café 16 Opens at Kier: Creating Opportunity Through Employment
We’re proud to announce the opening of Café 16 at Kier, our newest social enterprise on the HMP Northumberland construction site. Operating from a converted shipping container, Café 16 provides quality refreshments to construction workers while delivering something far more valuable: meaningful employment opportunities for people rebuilding their lives after prison. Every coffee served represents…
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The Oswin Project Wins Education Award at Scottish Power Foundation Awards 2025
We’re pleased to announce that the Oswin Project won the Education Award at the ScottishPower Foundation Awards last night in Glasgow. The Award We were shortlisted alongside other charities doing important work in education. Being selected as the winner from such a strong field is encouraging recognition of our team’s efforts over the past year.…
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Why the Latest Prison Statistics Should Be a Wake-Up Call for Rehabilitation Services
The Institute for Government’s Performance Tracker 2025 has landed, and for those of us working in prisoner rehabilitation, it makes for sobering reading. Not because the findings are surprising – we see these challenges every day in our work – but because the data starkly confirms what we’ve been saying for years: you cannot rehabilitate…
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Mixed Progress: Our Response to the Sentencing Bill 2025
The government’s new Sentencing Bill represents a significant shift in criminal justice policy, with measures that will directly impact the lives of people in prison and those with criminal records. As an organisation that supports these communities, we see both encouraging developments and concerning gaps. Welcome Changes Presumption to suspend short sentences: The presumption against…
