Junction 42

Junction 42 is a charity that engages with prisoners through faith and engagement courses in prison, and builds that relationship upon release, by means of a community called Connect, one to one befriending, employment mentoring and job club. 

We do this by developing a volunteer base but also by partnering with other organisations and churches.  The charity is well established in the Northeast of England and has been developing over the last couple of years in Scotland.  We have a Connect group in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and we are about to pilot our employment mentoring program called Work Out, through DWP referrals and running a job club in partnership with CAP, for those with an offending history.

Our emphasis is seeing men and women in positive community after their release from prison that will support and encourage them; as well as purposeful activity that moves men and women to towards volunteering and employment, whichever is more suitable them in their current situation.  This of course is to encourage a new direction in life that is good - and breaks with the past behaviours, that so often led them back to prison.

We want through partnership, to bring the needs of prisoners to the fore, and to encourage churches to engage in prison ministry and the work of resettlement; so that rather than being ‘Out of sight, out of mind’, prisoners are very much seen and thought about – and all together we see hope as we witness transformed lives.

This blog was originally written for Prisoners Week 2019