Bank accounts cut reoffending
10 December 2009
'Banking on a Fresh Start' prisoner reform report holds true recent figures show.
Last year the findings of a study, Banking on a Fresh Start, conducted by Paul Jones, a researcher in the Research Unit for Financial Inclusion, based in the Faculty of Health and Applied Social Sciences, and supported by the the Co-operative bank, found that discharged prisoners were less likely to offend if they were given access to a bank account on release.
The Co-operative Bank launched an initiative in 2006 under which it worked with prisoners in Forest Bank prison in Salford, enabling them to open basic bank accounts around four weeks before they were released.
A study carried out by the Research Unit for Financial Inclusion of 107 prisoners who opened an account found that their reoffending rate was well below the national average across all prisoner categories. The report found that 37% of those monitored had reoffended, compared to the national reoffending rate of about 76% - a 50% decrease. The Co-op and the University have now published more up-to-date figures and those leaving jail with bank accounts are still half as likely to reoffend as those without.
Of the report's findings, Paul commented: "It is clear that bank accounts are an important element in enabling ex-prisoners to become valuable members of society and other banks should consider following the pioneering work carried out by The Co-operative Bank."
