If you are a woman who has been in the criminal justice system (in prison, serving a community order, talked to by the police) and you need help our members might be able to help you. They work in communities providing a range of services that might be helpful to you. They support women in finding the right housing, they help you with your search for jobs or getting the right benefits, they can help you with some of the problems that might be going on in your life perhaps with your children or health services.
Details of our members can be found here. When you reach the page select your location in the menu on the right to find the most suitable women’s centre for you. Each of our members has a page on our website with a link to their own website, from where they can be contacted.
Unlock is an independent award-winning charity which provides information, advice, training and advocacy, dealing with the ongoing effects caused by criminal convictions.
Their ‘services’ for individuals are charitably-funded and aimed at helping people overcome the barriers caused by a criminal record. Their self-help websites include an information hub, which is the country’s most comprehensive source of online information on a wide range of issues that criminal convictions can affect, including:
- disclosing to employers
- criminal record checks
- buying insurance
- housing
- travel abroad
Other online services include Disclosure Calculator, which makes it simple to calculate when convictions become ‘spent’ and no longer need to be disclosed for most purposes, an online peer-to-peer forum, and an online magazine, The Record.
They also run a confidential peer Helpline which responds to queries from people with convictions by telephone, email and letter.
Their services act as their ‘ear to the ground’, through which they listen to people who are facing difficulties as a result of their convictions. In response, they work with Government, employers, insurers and others, to changes policies, practices and attitudes so that they achieve a fairer and more inclusive society that enables people with convictions to move on positively in their lives.
Find out more at www.unlock.org.uk
