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Our Work
Working closely with statutory organisations such as Youth Offending Teams, Probation and Social Services, FCCT aims to support the young men leaving Feltham by linking them to trained volunteers from a church, temple or mosque in the community to which they are returning. We thus hope to create be-friending relationships which will serve as a source of support and encouragement, helping the young men to build on positive commitments made whilst in custody and so avoid crime. Referrals of suitable young men are usually made through the Chaplaincy within the prison, but have also come from the prison's Offender Management Unit, Probation and voluntary agencies such as the De Paul Trust.
The aim is to give a sense of community and responsibility to young men whose lives can appear aimless and disconnected from society.
We are a multi-faith project, working with young men of a wide variety of faith backgrounds and of none. We train volunteers from different faith communites across London. Have look at our web page on Faith Communities or Volunteers for more information or to get involved.
We are accredited as an Approved Provider of mentoring services, meeting the national standard set by the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation.
Our History
FCCT was started through the vision of the three full time faith leaders in HMYOI Feltham – Rev Paul Foster (Church of England), Moulana Sikander Pathan (Muslim) & Fr Roger Reader (Catholic). Having all begun to work at Feltham at around the same time, they saw just how quickly many young men re-offended and returned to custody. They also saw how many young men either renewed their faith commitment while in prison or came to faith afresh. Convinced of the need to offer these young men a network of ‘unconditional support’ on release, they saw a model in the Community Chaplaincy projects already up and running in several adult establishments around the country. By reaching out to, training and matching volunteers from local faith communities with young men in prison, and supporting the faith communities in getting the most from the statutory and voluntary agencies associated with Criminal Justice, the Chaplains felt they could sustain the work begun inside the prison.
Community Chaplaincy is built on a model used with great success in Canada, where re-offending rates among clients have been considerably reduced.
FCCT was set up in close partnership with the Senior Management Team at HMYOI Feltham, and became operational
in May 2005.
Our Patrons
We are honoured to have as our Patrons:-
Lord Ahmed of Rotherham
Rev. Nims O'Bunge, MBE
Lord David Ramsbotham, GCB, CBE
The Trustees
Godfrey Allen - Chief Executive, Apex Trust
John Beastall - Chairman, Feltham Community Chaplaincy Trust
Dr. Hashim Charif - Chairman, Amal Trust
Fay Martin - Head of Interventions and Services, HMYOI Feltham
Darren Raymond - Artistic Director, Intermission Actors
Fr. Roger Reader - Roman Catholic Chaplain, HMPYOI Feltham
Moulana Sikander Pathan - Area Chaplain, London; Muslim Chaplain, HMPYOI Feltham
Harmander Singh - Development Worker, Faiths Forum for London (part of the London Civic Forum)
Ben Thomas - Ops Manager, Children & Young People's Services, Buckinghamshire County Council
Hermione Wright - Assistant Chief Probation Officer, Southwark
The Team
The Community Chaplaincy Team are always keen to hear from you. So if you would like more information about our work or want to get involved in some way please do get in touch.
Office telephone number: 020 8844 5585
Who we are
Prison
The Facts of Life at Feltham Young Offenders Institute
- boys entering Feltham can be as young as 15 years old
- an average of 5000 boys ‘visit’ Feltham every year
- more than 10 faith groups are represented amongst the boys who are detained
- around 60% of young men who leave Young Offenders' Institutions re-offend within one year.
Feltham is primarily a remand prison and the high turnover of young people through our gates makes it challenging work to build relationships, earn trust and make a difference to the lives of the young men passing through. Having said this there are many facilities for the young people who remain in custody, both educational and vocational, as well as housing and employment support.
The Chaplaincy team at Feltham are multi-faith. Below is a non-exhaustive list of the faiths represented at Feltham:
Buddhist
Christian (denominations include: Church of England, Pentecostal, Roman
Catholic, Jehova’s Witness and Salvation Army)
Hindu
Jewish
Muslim
Sikh
If you, or someone you know, is a member of a faith community and are based in any of London’s 33 boroughs, we would love to hear from you.
Voluntary Agencies
FCCT is a registered Charity with limited resources. In order to be effective we work in partnership with a number of other organisations who help young people in various ways, e.g. by providing housing, training and employment opportunities. Below is a list of some of the organisations we have worked with:
Action Acton
Action for Prisoners Families
Amal Trust
Apex Trust
Business Action on Homelessness
Cardinal Hume Centre
Caring for ex offenders
Churches' Criminal Justice Forum
Clinks
De Paul Trust
Foundation Training Company
Hooper Walker consultancy
Laurel Leaf
London Action Trust
Muslim Women’s Helpline
PACT
Peace Alliance
Pecan
Prince’s Trust
Prisoner’s Families and Friends
Salvation Army
SPEC
St Giles Trust
St Mungo’s
Street Pastors
Time for God
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