Reducing
Re-Offending
The Prison Opticians Trust helps to reduce re-offending by carefully recruiting and training prisoners in skills required by the optical customer service industry. Together, we give them a chance to rebuild their lives.
Training Prisoners In Optics
We work with the Prison Service and interview each prisoner to find out about their crime, the background to it and what the prisoner has done to make amends. Based on their responses we decide whether or not to take them on as a trainee.
We get to know each person over 10 weeks whilst training them in Ocular Anatomy, Understanding Prescriptions, Choosing Spectacle Lenses and Frames, Pre-Screening, Glazing, Adjusting Frames and taking Pupil Distance and Heights. During the 10 weeks of training we observe them to determine whether they would make good employees. We only recommend those trainees who we are confident will be an asset to an employer. Our trainees also sit an exam to obtain a certificate in Optical Customer Service.
Stories From Our Trainees
Daiva
Former Lab Trainee
“I discovered The Prison Opticians Trust through inmates of mine who had done the program themselves. I decided I wanted an opportunity to learn new skills that would eventually be transferable to the outside world. The Trust not only gave me that opportunity, but also cemented my acknowledgement of the mistakes I’ve made and strengthened my resolve to reintegrate back into society. Furthermore, The Prison Opticians Trust has also given me ideas as to my own business ventures going forward, which I’m greatly looking forward to realizing.”