The OEM launched its partnership with HMP Onley to train offenders in digital skills.
The digital training offered is to help offenders return to work once released, and have the skills required to be able to apply for jobs. Ricoh UK & Ireland “has been committed to a responsible work ethos for many years”, and CEO Phil Keoghan, is on the leadership team of The Princes Trust and Business in the Community (BITC).
Ex-offenders have been recruited by Ricoh since 2013, and the company has provided workshops at prisons to improve the prisoners’ chances of employment, as well as sending volunteers from the company who go and work with the prisoners within the prison environment on allotments, to develop communication and “learn from each others’ skills and experience”.
The partnership with Onley prison came through BITC, and those prisoners coming to the end of their sentences can go to the Ricoh UK Digital Training Academy in the prison grounds and learn about all “aspects of technical printing and engineering”, with the chance of a “work placement” a year before they are released. If successful, they can get a “full time role within the business”, and qualifications can also be gained in maths, English and customer service.
Keoghan said: “At Ricoh UK, we see supporting the community as a key factor of how our business operates and thrives today. Through our work with HMP Onley, we want to help reduce repeat offending in the UK. Providing prisoners with the right training whilst in prison is absolutely imperative to achieving this.”
This was backed up by James Knox, Ricoh UK’s Community Investment Manager, who commented: “We hope this partnership is the first of many as we continue to work with Business in the Community to help transform the justice service in the UK. Our position as a technology services company enables us to provide prisoners with the skills and tools needed to thrive in the digital economy, today.”
Cath Sermon, Employment Director at BITC, said that Ricoh “has been committed to a responsible work ethos for many years”, and that “Ricoh should be commended for the way in which they have taken this issue to heart”.
Peter Middleton, Head of Reducing Reoffending at HMP Onley, said: “This partnership presents an opportunity for us to offer prisoners work-based skills that will increase their employability upon release and help them to not only gain employment but also prevent them from reoffending. We look forward to working with Ricoh and developing an effective partnership.”