Are you’re a student or young person looking to develop your skillset and gain experience?  Independent Monitoring Boards(IMB) in the North East including HMP Holme House and HMP Kirklevington Grange are looking for members of the local community to join them. Volunteers are appointed by ministers to perform a vital task: independent monitoring of prisons. They report on whether the individuals held there are being treated fairly and humanely and whether prisoners are being given the support they need to turn their lives around.  

The time requirement would be 2-3 visits per month, together with attendance at a Board meeting for one half day each month. No previous experience of the criminal justice sector is required, rather a commitment to working as part of a team to monitor the conditions in the prison. Ongoing availability and commitment to the role is essential.

So why join our Boards? As one member says: “It could be the most rewarding thing you have ever done, and you can make a real difference to prison life. I was unemployed when I started volunteering and did not know how I would be able to re-enter the workplace after being out of work for so long. The experience and confidence I gained on the board enabled me to get paid employment, which I now do alongside my volunteer role.” 

Once members have received their security clearance, they have unrestricted access to the prison and can talk to any prisoner they wish to, out of sight and hearing of members of staff, if necessary, to monitor day-to-day activity across the establishment. This provides an opportunity to report on whether individuals are being treated fairly and humanely and whether they are being given the support they need to turn their lives around.

Although this is an unpaid role, we pay travel and subsistence expenses, childcare/carer costs and, in certain circumstances, contributions towards loss of earnings.

Apply for the opportunity here https://www.voluntees.co.uk/opportunity/85406

Here Rhiannon talks about her experience with the Ministry of Justice

My volunteering role that gave me a career in the Ministry of Justice
My name’s Rhiannon and while studying at university I was a member of my local prison’s independent monitoring board (IMB). The role of an IMB member is to monitor the day-to-day life of individuals in their local prison or place of immigration detention and report on whether these prisoners or detained individuals are being treated fairly and humanely.
I really looked forward to my days in the prison and enjoyed working together with the other members of the Board. It added to my university experience, and every visit brought something different.
On arrival at the prison, I would show my ID, lock away my belongings, draw my keys, and head to the IMB office, often seeing one of the prisoners on gardening duty along the way. Once settled, I would head to the main wing to observe morning association time. I really enjoyed my time wandering the landings and speaking to both men who were out of their cells, and staff. I think these interactions helped me to improve my listening skills and taught me how to develop rapport with people from all walks of life. Often the men didn’t necessarily have a particular issue, they just wanted someone to talk to, and being part of the IMB allowed me the time to do that. 
During the day I would sometimes go and observe one of the courses on offer, to see the benefit it could provide. A particularly popular choice was the barista course, which gave prisoners all the skills of an expert coffee maker. This offered participants a chance to work in the prison café during visiting time and increased their chances of employment on release. Seeing the impact these types of courses were having made me realise how much of a lifeline they can be for those in prison; being an IMB member gave me the opportunity to understand that.
Another side of the IMB is helping prisoners with their problems, sometimes dealing with sad and frustrating situations. These can be as seemingly ordinary as trying to track down a prisoner’s missing property (although vital for those with so little), or as crucial as attempting to help a prisoner to get the mental health support they need should their case be stuck in the system. Pushing the prison to resolve these issues
can be frustrating at times, but the sense of reward and achievement when you know you have played a part in the prison taking action always reminded me of why I joined.