THE Prince of Wales talked with inmates and staff when he visited Dartmoor Prison officially to open its new Resettlement Assessment Centre last Thursday.
He was given a conducted tour of the brickworks which employs 16 prisoners from the Resettlement Assessment Centre.
Here the local Prince?s Trust has been actively involved in a working partnership with the prison along with North Devon College. The aim has been to give prisoners life skills and to meet the needs of the South West construction industry which has 7,000 vacancies.
The Prince met prisoners in the workshop and was shown examples of red-brick and breezeblock walls, chimney stacks and fireplaces.
One of the prisoners he spoke to was Malcolm.
?He asked me about my tattoos ? and I thought: ?What?s that got to do with bricks??? smiled Malcolm, 44, who added that the Prince seemed impressed with the workshop.
Malcolm, who had been in Dartmoor before, 20 years ago, said her told the Prince he hoped to get parole in October.
?Since I went to Resettlement life is freer. You mingle and mix. There is education and all sorts of classes.
?Everything is aimed more at getting you back into the community. It is more about resettlement and rehabilitation ? not punishment and isolation which is a thing of the past.?
A total of 45 prisoners were admitted to the Resettlement Assessment Centre ? in what was formerly the old segregation unit ? when it opened last October.
Resettlement team spokesman Sam Cade described it as an ?open prison within a prison?.
?The work they do enhances their parole prospects. The biggest thing is employment ? it reduces re-offenders by enhancing their employment opportunities,? he said.
HM Prisons area manager South West, Jerry Petherick, described the centre as a ?tremendous success story?.
?All the people in this unit will be released into the South West. We have people working out in the community giving reparation to the community before they are released.?
He said the centre was ?very much at the cutting edge?.
And while ?not a panacea for everything? it did show where the prison service was going.
?What we have to do is take the best bits out of here and translate it up the corridor to the rest of the jail.?
Mr Petherick said one of the major issues for Dartmoor had been industrial relationships because of changing the prison from B to category C.
?We were challenging a way of working which people had been comfortable with for a long time.?
Prison governor Graham Johnson said Prince Charles was ?impressed with what he saw and the quality of work and how that would lead to employment.?
Dean, 26, in prison for drugs offences, and at the centre since it opened, said it offered more independence.
?I?m out working five days a week, but I do community work as well. It is nice to be back in the community to prove that you can be trusted. I think everyone should have that chance,? he said.
?But people have got to want to change themselves, otherwise there is no point coming here. This has given me the best start for when I come out?? he said.