Recommendation 118

We heard that mentors could encourage offenders engage with rehabilitation, whether they have been on probation themselves or are lay members of the public. Damian Hinds MP told us that “there definitely is a role” for mentors. 230 He defined a mentor as “an ‘expert by experience’ who can help others by using relationship-based support to address rehabilitative needs”. He told us that “peer mentoring schemes” are available in seven of the 12 Probation regions “with an estimated 200 volunteer mentors”. Volunteers “are generally individuals with lived experience of prison and/or probation services” but “some probation regions also provide opportunities for volunteers without lived experience (e.g students studying relevant degrees)”. Mentors are expected to “complete a comprehensive training course (a minimum of 22 hours)” and they “receive regular supervision and support”. 231 He added that “there can definitely be more, both directly with the Probation Service but also indirectly, and probably at a much bigger volume, through charities, church organisations, community groups and so on.” 232