Blog

The power of communities

11 Feb. 2026

Isolation fuels reoffending. Connection prevents it. 

People moving on from criminal convictions face many hurdles. Some are fortunate enough to have connections that hold-true: steady work, supportive family, good friends. Others face social stigma and exclusion as once-familiar people and places become off-limits, sometimes in a world that has moved on without them. This isolation is a regular cause of reoffending, yet often the simplest new connection can make all the difference. 

That difference matters on a national scale. The latest Ministry of Justice statistics show a 28.9% proven reoffending rate across England and Wales for the January to March 2024 cohort, rising to 37.1% for adults leaving custody, and a striking 66% for those released from sentences under 12 months. Short custodial sentences remain a high‑risk revolving door without strong community ties to anchor people on release. 

It’s a formula that Ingeus Regional Manager Jeanette has built her justice career on.  

“Community is not a postcode, it’s social capital” 

Jeanette joined the probation service in 2002, wanting to help people resettle into their communities, especially after time in prison. Through subsequent restructures of the probation service – which Ingeus became involved with in 2014 – she followed the route which allowed the most innovation and freedom in continuing to build community connections to benefit her service users. Remaining with Ingeus on that mission for the last 12 years now sees her leading Commissioned Rehabilitative Services across the West Midlands and South West, services that help people on probation manage their personal and financial wellbeing. 

“A criminal conviction, especially with time spent in prison, can strip you of your most important connections, your family, work, friends. My teams help people reconnect with their communities, or find new ones,” explains Jeanette. “25 years’ experience has shown me time and again that it’s essential in preventing reoffending.”   

Her lived practice is backed by the evidence base. The Ministry of Justice’s 2025 Evidence Synthesis highlights that community ties, mentoring, and prosocial networks are core drivers of desistance – the process by which people move away from offending – by supporting identity change, belonging, and practical pathways into non‑criminal roles. 

Connection is practical: housing, routines, relationships 

For Jeanette, those communities are a much wider concept than where somebody lives:  

“Community isn’t about the street you live in; it’s about the people you surround yourself with. Those people that support you to reach a goal, find an interest, or develop a skill.” 

Stability that enables connection is fragile. While 84% of people are in settled or temporary accommodation on the night of release from custody (Apr 2024–Mar 2025), only 80.6% remain in settled accommodation at three months – underscoring how quickly people can lose anchors that enable work, routines and relationships if networks aren’t in place. 

“Some people on probation live in geographical areas that are not good for them. We can try to influence that, but it often can’t be easily or quickly changed. We can however help them seek out other communities there, away from criminality. It could be forging links with a faith community for instance, or an interest group like joining the gym, book club, local football team, gardening club, or walking group. Our teams help people link with something better and healthier in their lives that they might not have found before.” 

From principle to practice: operationalising belonging 

Jeanette’s teams ensure no opportunities are missed to bridge that step into communities. A partnership manager builds relationships and referral pathways into partner organisations and groups. Ingeus’ personal wellbeing mentors and community support workers also add to a volunteer team of peer mentors with their own lived experience of the criminal justice system to support and attend introductions. They work closely with in-custody teams and justice colleagues at community-based activity hubs, delivering interventions focussed on social inclusion and ensuring end-to-end support wherever and whenever people need it. 

This mirrors the MoJ synthesis, which finds mentoring and peer support associated with reductions in reoffending when delivered with fidelity and linked to wider community participation. 

Current partners range from a two-man allotment team in North Staffordshire to national suicide prevention charity, Andy’s Man Club. 

“Our partners are our backbone,” adds Jeanette. “They’re part of our community, and we’re part of theirs. Ingeus employees are given two volunteering days a year and we ensure our teams fully utilise them, giving back to the communities that support us. We volunteer for the Canal and River Trust and Stoke Foodbank, along with our service users. We actively demonstrate what community looks like for people and it often results in them continuing to volunteer or even gain work there.” 

Why communities outperform custody - especially for short sentences 

There is growing recognition that community‑based approaches can outperform short prison sentences on both outcomes and cost. Analysis shows imprisonment costs about £37,500 per person annually, compared with £2,500 – –£4,000 for a community order; international evidence points to reductions in reoffending where jurisdictions invest in community sentences and rehabilitation. 

The ultimate reward, says Jeanette, is not seeing people return through probation:  

“If people can find a connection, somewhere they feel they belong, then that community steps in and we rarely see them again. One young man on probation struggled at school and quickly got into trouble with the law. He wanted to be outside, in nature, so we introduced him to the Woodland Trust. Years later he sent me a card and a photo – he’d been given an apprenticeship and was employed by them as a ranger. That’s the power of a community.”