Posted on Monday 9th May 2011
The innovative work of Staffordshire’s library service in countering crime features centre stage on Channel 4 next week – in an episode of reality TV show The Secret Millionaire!
The Brinsford Young Offenders Institute in South Staffordshire opened its doors to Channel 4’s film crews for a documentary on the work of organisations who work to rehabilitate prisoners. But unbeknown to those participating, Piers Linney, who featured in the programme, is the main shareholder of a company called Outsourcery, worth around £44 million!
The prison library, run by the county council, plays an important but little-known part in helping offenders break their cycle of crime, improve their future prospects and reconnect with their families.
County Councillor Pat Corfield, Cabinet Member for Culture, Communities and Customers said: “The work done by the Staffordshire County Council’s library service at Brinsford Young Offenders Institute is a real investment in the future – for prisoners and their families and the wider community. Education really does reduce reoffending rates.
“The library service delivers added value. Other councils are cutting libraries – but we are growing our service to meet the needs of the future and this is a wonderful example of library work that thankfully most people will never experience first-hand.
“This is not just about helping offenders – it is about helping society by reducing crime.”
The Secret Millionaire puts the caring super rich into the community, working and volunteering alongside locals to find people or causes that they think are deserving of their support, all the while maintaining a careful cover story to hide their true identity.
Mr Linney put his luxury lifestyle on-hold to go undercover at Brinsford to hear the inmates’ stories.
He was particularly impressed by the prison library’s “Storybook Dads” scheme. Librarians help prisoners to choose a story to read and record on a CD for their children. Often prisoners’ reading skills are limited but once their recordings are made they are sent to Stafford prison, where as part of the prison work scheme, and overseen by prison library staff, they are specially edited with appropriate music and pictures added to the CD. The finished CD is then returned to the prisoner before it is sent to their child.
County Councillor Corfield said: “I know that encouraging parental responsibility is a really tangible way of helping young men away from offending. I am delighted that this high-profile and popular programme will show how our library services helps achieve that.”
Prison Library Supervisor Alan Smith said: “We were thrilled that Channel 4 decided to make a film about the work of the library service within the prison but we were all stunned when Piers revealed himself to be a secret millionaire.
“He was very down to earth and he was genuinely touched by the work being done here but I cannot reveal anymore about the programme. People will just have to watch to find out what happens when Piers announces who he really is!”
The Secret Millionaire featuring Brinsford Young Offenders Institute will be broadcast at 9pm on Channel 4 on Tuesday 10 May 2011.