Increasingly, offenders sentenced to periods in custody have periods under supervision in the community after release. For the majority of those incarcerated, and for those sentenced to sanctions in the community, the factors which lead to the risk of re-offending are the same. Lack of employment, abuse of alcohol and drugs, anti-social attitudes and companions, emotional and personal difficulties, poor educational achievement, family problems, and lack of housing or accommodation are prominent among them. Such multiple needs are often interrelated and mutually reinforcing.

The Irish Prison Service and the Probation Service need to bring together partners to develop and deliver responses that work to address the cycles of sustained offending behaviour. Criminal justice agencies need to have strong links with community resources so that work can start early in a persons’ time in custody or on supervision in the community, building motivation and planning for release.

‘A social enterprise is an enterprise: i) that trades for a social/societal purpose; ii) where at least part of its income is earned from its trading activity; iii) is separate from government; and iv) where the surplus is primarily re-invested in the social objective.’

•The strategy will support development of social enterprise within prisons and through community based organisations partially or fully funded by the Probation Service. It will also support development of SE with new and existing social businesses not currently operating within the criminal justice sector
•We will work in partnership with all stakeholders. We understand that expertise from multiple sectors is required to create successful social businesses
•When we do it, we do it properly. We will learn from business and research and commit to high quality planning, management and evaluation of all new initiatives
•We will measure what counts. To ensure that we are making a difference, we will use good practice impact measurement