Royal recognition for Mosaic’s ex-offender mentoring programme

The significant achievements of Mosaic’s ex-offender programme were recognised at a high profile visit to HMP Leeds, led by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales and HE Excellency Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani.

Joined by Government Ministers Andrew Selous MP and John Hayes MP, the Prince of Wales and Sheikh Faisal met with prisoners and saw first-hand the vital work being carried out by Mosaic to significantly lower levels of reoffending.

With the reoffending rate for short term prisoners at around 60% and the cost of reoffending estimated to be as high as £13bn per year, Mosaic’s ex-offender programme has a crucial role to play in helping to reduce these statistics.

Since being established in 2009, Mosaic’s ex-offender programme has mentored over 200 individuals; delivering a 20% reduction in reoffending rates amongst its mentees and saving the taxpayer over £3m. Much of this support in recent years has been for Muslim prisoners, which as of 2015 accounted for 15% of the total prison population.

At the prison, HRH met recently-crowned Mosaic Mentor of the Year Waseem Khan, who was recently honoured for his work as part of Mosaic’s schools programme, as well as mentors on the ex-offender programme including Sadia Ahmad, Aishaa Hussain and Haroon Rashid.

Jonathan Freeman, Managing Director of Mosaic, said: “The Prince of Wales was able to see the crucial work we do amongst the prison population in Yorkshire. It’s clear that our mentoring scheme is making a real difference, with significant drop in reoffending amongst prisoners who have participated in our programme.

Mosaic mentee and ex-prisoner Atique Khan, said: “The mentoring project helped me throughout my time in prison. My mentor helped me to set goals and give me ambitions for my life after my release. Since release I’ve successfully started my own business, which has grown rapidly over its first 12 months. None of this would have happened without my Mosaic mentor.”

Mosaic works in several other prisons across the UK, including HMP Wealstun, HMP Brixton, HMP Woodhill, HMP Pentonville, HMP Wandsworth and HMP Rochester, giving one-to-one support to prisoners to raise self-confidence in their ability to re-enter society when they are released.

We are delighted to have received significant press coverage from this event, highlighting the important work of the Mosaic Ex-Offender Mentoring Programme, including Sky News;  ITV News; and the  Daily Mail (online).