Mosaic’s mentors were invited to tour HMP & YOI Rochester in Kent, as part of a series of visits to support Mosaic’s Ex-offender Mentoring Programme.

A group of six recently trained mentors from different backgrounds and professions took up the invitation to see for themselves just how young offenders live on the inside, so that they could better understand the challenges they would face upon release from prison. Their visit included a tour of the prison and an in-depth discussion with prisoners who had expressed an interest in mentoring support.

Ayisha Malik, Acting Managing Editor of Cornerstones Publishing and a member of the group said:

“Visiting the prison and meeting the young man who will hopefully become my mentee, has just made me even more committed to taking part in this remarkable programme. I think and hope it’ll really make a difference and after speaking to my mentee, I think he feels the same”.

Jonathan Freeman, National Director of Mosaic, said:

‘Mosaic’s mentors are key to us being able to offer the support we do across all our programmes. These visits are a key part of the process that mentors undertake when joining the programme and allows them to get a really good sense of the type of environment they will work in, particularly as most people have never visited a prison before.’

This was one of a series of visits being conducted as part of Mosaic’s Ex-Offender Mentoring Programme. Previous visits have also taken place at HMP Forest Bank (Manchester), HMYOI Wetherby (Yorkshire), HMP Wormwood Scrubs and HMYOI Feltham (both London). Mosaic are planning further visits over the coming months, including to HMP New Hall (Yorkshire), the first female establishment Mosaic will work with.

Visit our Ex-Offender Mentoring Programme page to find out more.