The company, which produces plays on women, crime and justice, uses education to work with women affected by the criminal justice system.

Kim Evans has extensive experience in the cultural sector. She is a trustee of the National Heritage Memorial Fund (Heritage Lottery Fund) and the National Portrait Gallery and was awarded an OBE in 2007 for her services to the arts.

Kim said: “I have been impressed by Clean Break’s profound impact on women whose lives have been affected by the criminal justice system. I love companies that push boundaries and Clean Break does that by enabling those women to achieve their best, in challenging circumstances. I look forward to working with the company and helping it build on its current success.”

Kim will also be drawing on her past experience, as executive director of arts at Arts Council England, and head of music and arts at the BBC. She is also a member of the Parole Board.

Lucy Perman MBE, executive director of Clean Break, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Kim Evans OBE as chairman to our board. She has exceptional experience in arts leadership and a proven commitment to theatre and to affecting change for women in the criminal justice system.”

Clean Break delivers a year-round programme of theatre productions, new writing projects and drama-based education from its North London studios and in women’s prisons, alongside professional development and training.

Kim takes over from outgoing chairman Dr Joan Scanlon.

>> To find out more about Clean Break, click here

The Government should focus on a neglected group of older teenagers who need considerable help to get out of trouble rather than simply putting them behind bars in jails which act as “colleges of crime”, the Prison Reform Trust said.

It comes after Nick Hardwick, the chief inspector of prisons, warned last year that young men in prison were “sleeping through their sentences”.

Young offenders aged 18-25 make up a 10th of the population, but a third of those sent to prison each year, the group’s report on young adults in the criminal justice system said.

Juliet Lyon, the trust’s director, said: “We should be steering our young men and women into colleges of education and learning, not colleges of crime.

“Locking up impressionable 18 and 19-year-olds in adult jails with nothing to do is the surest way to create the hardened criminals of tomorrow.

“For many young people, intensive community approaches that nip offending behaviour in the bud are more effective than a prison sentence in helping them take responsibility and grow out of trouble.”

Cross-bench peer Lord Adobawale called for alternatives to prison – intensive community sentences such as those piloted in Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire – to be rolled out.

The Greater Manchester scheme, which focused on 18-24-year-olds, achieved “very good compliance rates and early indications are that it is successful in reducing reoffending rates”, the report said.

Its programmes, which cost around £5,000 per year compared with about £50,000 for a prison place for a young offender, are tailored to suit each offender, with intensive supervision, 30 hours per week of activity, unpaid work and a curfew – with swift sanctions for non-compliance.

By the end of last March, 539 of the 1,851 sentenced to the scheme had successfully completed it, with 672 still serving their orders.

Lord Adobawale has tabled an amendment to the Government’s Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, calling for it to be rolled out to other areas.

Lord Ramsbotham, the former chief inspector of prisons, has also tabled an amendment, calling for youth referral orders, which can help reduce reoffending, to be made available to young people aged 18-20.

“Many young men especially are no more mature at 19 than they were at 17,” the report said.

Some 8,317 young people aged 18-20 were in prison in England and Wales at the end of last September, Ministry of Justice figures showed.

And more than half of young adults reoffend within one year of being released from jail, with up to two-thirds committing another offence within two years, today’s report said.

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: “The level of reoffending is too high which is why we are working to make punishments more rigorous and rehabilitation more effective.

“Prisons should be places of industry and community sentences must be credible and robust.”

She went on: “We have introduced payment by results, where providers will be paid for their success at rehabilitating offenders and reducing reoffending.

“Criminals must be reformed so that when they finish their sentences they do not simply return to crime, creating more misery for victims.

“We are currently reviewing community sentences and how they are delivered, and will set out our proposals in due course.”

THE CCCS runs an online Debt Remedy service at cccs.co.uk for those who prefer the anonymity of the internet. This allows you to create a personalised advice plan and budgeting strategy.

Alternatively, you can speak to a debt adviser by calling 0800 138 1111 between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday. CCCS also administers debt repayment plans at no cost to the borrower.

CITIZENS ADVICE 

THE charity and its volunteers provide face-toface debt help through a network of local offices. Many offer a drop-in service for an initial assessment interview, with follow-up sessions arranged by appointment.

You can find your local Citizens Advice branch by entering your postcode at citizensadvice.org.uk, or at cas.org.uk for those in Scotland. There is also general information on managing debt on adviceguide.org.uk.

NATIONAL DEBTLINE 

THIS offers phone-based debt help. Call 0808 808 4000 between 9am and 9pm Monday to Friday and between 9.30am and 1pm on Saturday. Those who are comfortable trying to help themselves online can use mymoneysteps.org, which is run by National Debtline with the support of Barclaycard.

There is a separate Business Debtline service for those who are self-employed or running small firms. Call 0800 197 6026 or visit bdl.org.uk.

The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) said courts and prisons were being used to “parent children” and were expected to sweep up problem youngsters inadequately dealt with by other departments, such as social services.

In a new report , the group called for a radical overhaul in the way the Government deals with young offenders.

It said there needed to be a drastic cut in the 5,000 children a year currently given custodial sentences, arguing the imprisonment of youths between the age of 10 and 17 should be limited to the “critical few” guilty of the most serious or violent crimes.

The CSJ said too many children are being taken before the youth courts for trivial reasons.

The report cited one example where a child who had thrown a bowl of Sugar Puffs at his care worker, jumped out of the window, then climbed back in, was held in a police cell over a weekend on suspicion of assault and attempted burglary.

The independent think-tank, set up in 2004 by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, urged a return to a “common-sense” approach to minor incidents with parents and teachers using their judgment to deal with them at a home or school level.

It also criticised the widespread use of short sentences for young offenders, arguing they undermine justice and disrupt attempts to educate and rehabilitate them.

Gavin Poole, executive director of the CSJ, said: “As a society, we can do better than simply condemn these children for their crimes.

“We believe there are more effective and demanding ways of delivering justice than through punishment alone.

“Many young people fall into the system unnecessarily and do not receive the help they need to free themselves from it.

“Custody is sometimes neither a protective nor a productive place for children, and community orders can be equally ineffective.

“Moreover, despite years of good intentions, many young people leaving custody are still not being provided with the basic support they need for rehabilitation.”

Among a series of recommendations, the CSJ said there should be no sentences shorter than six months and an emphasis should be placed on non-custodial punishments where underlying behavioural problems can be tackled more effectively.

The group also said measures to prevent lawbreaking by young people should be the primary responsibility of child welfare services rather than the youth justice system.

It added local services needed to work together to ensure that young people and their families receive the help they need early.

The reforms could halve the £4 billion currently spent on responding to youth crime and anti-social behaviour, according to the think tank.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “We accept that low level youth offending is not always best dealt with by prosecution – which is why a range of techniques are used to tackle younger offenders, including out-of-court disposals, robust support and interventions.

“Key reforms taking place include young people paying back to victims, financial support to turn around the lives of 12,000 troubled families, and new programmes designed to tackle the root causes of reoffending.”

The report also called on the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) to be increased from 10 to 12.

It said: “Ten and 11-year-olds are also less able to defend themselves in court than older children.

“Decisions about how to plead, what to tell lawyers and how to respond to cross-examination present serious difficulties for them. They are more likely to make false confessions.”

According to a YouGov poll conducted for the study, 39% of people support raising the MACR.

The bosses of some of the country’s biggest companies have called for businesses to offer more jobs to prison leavers.

In a letter to the Financial Times, chief executives, such as Sir Richard Branson and Marks & Spencer’s’ Marc Bolland, said ‘potential superstars’ in the prison population were being overlooked.

‘Our experience shows that people from prison, if properly selected, will prove to be just as reliable as recruits who come from elsewhere’, the letter said.

‘It makes sense for UK companies to recruit these individuals.’

The call for other companies to offer work to those who have been in prison follows an announcement by Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke that he wants more prisoners to have jobs while they are inside.

He also wants prison to set up companies to provide employment and training to help offenders find work when they leave.

By Vicki Owen

After being released from prison, Karlene Thompson turned to Startup for help to launch her business idea.

Startup is a programme that helps former offenders and those about to become self-employed through business mentoring, workshops, shadowing, drop-in clinics and funding of up to £2,500 for equipment or training.

Karlene, 37, served two-and-a-half years for a drug-related offence. Since being released, she has had help from a Startup business adviser to develop her idea for a small cleaning business, True Cleaning.

Startup, which is based in Thame, Oxfordshire, bought her equipment and helped her develop her marketing materials and get insurance cover.

Having a criminal record is an obstacle to gaining commercial contracts, but she is winning business through word of mouth and friends and family help to leaflet across London. Karlene is also building a website.

She does not drive, so for non-local jobs Karlene has to get a mini cab. ‘It’s not good for my profits, but I have to take what I can get,’ she says.

‘I am trying to find someone who can help me out by driving me to jobs.’

Karlene adds: ‘It’s not easy, but I really don’t want to rely on benefits if I can help it. I will not ever go back to prison again.’

Karlene, who has four children, says they are supportive. ‘The older ones babysit the younger ones if I get work in the evenings or early mornings,’ she says.

Juliet Hope, chief executive of Startup, which was launched in 2006 with the help of a £280,000 grant from the National Lottery fund, says: ‘We have a very high success rate and in April last year we launched Startupnow for Women.

‘We have helped 240 women so far and we expect one in four to set up and become self-employed, for example working as hairdressers, nail artists, cleaners or cake makers. Of the women we have monitored none has reoffended.’

Startup has a fundraising target of £375,000 for year two and hopes to help another 50 women into self-employment by April 2012.

Some prisoners can now receive emails as post, thanks to Derek Jones.

He launched his business, emailaprisoner.com, so that friends and family could contact a prisoner at any time of the day or night.

Emailaprisoner allows you, for 25p per message, to send emails of about 500 words to a dedicated prison fax machine or the inbox of a dedicated prison email address.

The emails are printed and delivered with prisoners’ post at co-operating prisons, including East Sutton Parl in Kent.

Emailaprisoner operates inbound emails at 124 out of 168 prisons in Britain. It does not cost the prisoner anything.

Derek has advice for others starting a business. ‘Do not entertain the idea if you don’t intend putting 100 per cent into it,’ he says. ‘Be prepared to sacrifice friends, a social life and work more hours than you thought possible.

‘Do not become deflated even when others round do not share your enthusiasm. Be prepared for numerous knock-backs and find a way to overcome any obstacles.’

‘Once you are in this mindset you should be eating, living and breathing your idea.

‘Seeing your business coming to life and the benefits it can provide will be the most rewarding feelings you could imagine.’

One in seven of all women held in custody in England and Wales were foreigners, with many serving sentences for non-violent crimes involving drugs or immigration offences, the Prison Reform Trust said.

It called for a greater effort by UK authorities to identify exploitation, saying many women have no option but to plead guilty before they can be assessed as potential victims.

A joint report by the trust and Hibiscus, which works with women in prisons, showed almost half (46%) of foreign prisoners were in jail over drugs, compared with one in five (21%) of the UK population.

It also showed that while the number of women in jail had risen by 27% over the last 10 years, the number of foreign women behind bars rose 49%.

And the number of women entering the justice system from Eastern Europe now made up a fifth of all new cases, while one in eight came from China or Vietnam, figures from the Hibiscus caseload showed.

The report called for sentencing guidelines for drug couriers to “take account of the role that women play in this offence” and to ensure that any evidence of coercion, exploitation and duress is “integral to all sentencing decisions”.

One African woman, whose son was kidnapped, needed money to pay legal fees to ensure his return. She was jailed for six-and-a-half years after she tried to smuggle five kilograms (11lbs) of cocaine into the UK.

The woman, quoted in the report, said: “I was scared, at that point, I have a baby… At that time we have no money, nowhere to live… I was with my son. I have to do this, it was a pressure. Big pressure on me. That person come to me and say (sic) ‘look I got a lot of money’, ridiculous amount…”

Olga Heaven, director of Hibiscus, said: “High numbers of women are brought into the UK deceived and exploited.

“Many are young women with a dream of going to a first world country to achieve something, but what they are brought in for is either prostitution or some other kind of enforced labour.

“Others who have been provided with false documents are detained by immigration or custom officials and often find themselves imprisoned on arrival.

“More needs to be done to identify vulnerable foreign national women in need of protection before they get into trouble with the law.”

The report also caused for women arrested over passport offences as they try to leave the UK to travel to their country of origin not to necessarily be charged with a criminal offence, if they pose no threat to UK security.

Juliet Lyon, director of the PrisonReform Trust, added: “Far too many foreign national women are languishing in British jails having been coerced or trafficked into offending.

“There are ways out of this mess but only if the Government is prepared to redouble its efforts to catch the traffickers, who profit from their grubby trade, rather than allowing the burden of punishment to fall on vulnerable women – many of whom have been victims as well as perpetrators of crime.”

Immigration Minister Damian Green has said that human trafficking is “a brutal form of organised crime” and “combating trafficking and looking after its victims is a priority” for the Government.

“Having any number of people trafficked into the UK is unacceptable,” he said.

A Government spokeswoman said: “Human trafficking is a brutal form of organised crime where people are treated as commodities and exploited for criminal gain.

“The Government is committing to tacking this, which will be helped by the proposed National Crime Agency.

“People identified as victims of trafficking while already in detention are likely to be released to allow them to access the necessary support.

“However, not all individuals identify themselves as victims when they first encounter authorities, which can lead to them being detained for a period.

“Where custody is appropriate, we are committed to meeting the complex needs of women offenders and recognise their often long histories of abuse, mental health issues and substance misuse problems.

The Rt Rev James Jones, who is also the Anglican bishop for prisons, said it was simply not enough to lock up criminals, adding that community payback schemes could deter others and help to reduce reoffending.

He told the Radio Times that it was time to question whether prisons should be “warehouses to store the incorrigible” or “greenhouses to restore the redeemable”.

Bishop Jones, who went behind bars at three jails – Liverpool, High Down in Surrey, and Forest Bank in Greater Manchester – for the three-part BBC Radio 4 series The Bishop And The Prisoner, said too many offenders were being sent to prison.

“It punishes and it protects the rest of society from those who are locked up,” he said.

“But that is not enough … If you stop at anger, neither the victim nor society is well served.

“There’s a percentage of prisoners that need to be in prison to protect the public, but a large number could be dealt with in community payback schemes.

“They lose their leisure time. They have to wear jackets to show they’re doing community payback so people in the local community, who are fearful of crime, can see they’re being punished.

“And it’s a deterrent for other people who wouldn’t like to be seen in that position.”

Doreen Lawrence told the BBC’s Panorama programme she felt Britain did not deserve to have her son buried there.

More than 18 years after the tragic murder, earlier today Gary Dobson was jailed for at least 15 years and two months for the murder of Stephen Lawrence, while David Norris was given a minimum term of 14 years and three months.

Speaking exclusively to the BBC’s Panorama, Doreen Lawrence said: “I am really pleased I have buried him here, because had he been buried in the UK his grave would have been desecrated so many times.

“Here nobody knows where he is. Then again, I don’t think the country deserves to have his body there anyway because they took his life.

“I think it’s still the best thing we did, that we brought him here so he can be next to his great-grandmother so she can look after him.”

The grave, which is in a secret location, bears a picture of her murdered son which will soon be replaced because it is fading, Mrs Lawrence said.

In the programme Mrs Lawrence looked through pictures of Stephen as a child and said she is protective of his memory.

“I don’t like the idea of too many photos of Stephen being out. I just think everybody seems to want to have photos of him and I just think ‘no’.

“The one is enough, that way you have some control.”

Mrs Lawrence could also be seen looking at Stephen’s cap and jumper, complete with badges, from when he was a cub and scout.

She also leafed through some of his writings but said she could not bring herself to read them.

“I came across this. He did it on April 7, 15 days before his died he did it.

“I can’t read it, I find it difficult, when I look at what he could achieve. I’m not ready to read this yet.”

Speaking to the programme after the verdict, Mrs Lawrence told of her relief.

She said: “I’m so numb. When we were told that the verdict was in, all of a sudden you feel panic. Even though I was holding myself, it just seems to have got tighter still so when they said it (the verdict), something snapped. I thought, ‘Thank God’ and then when it was both of them, it was even more.

“I think some part of it is just releasing some of the stress and strain that has been building up for the past 18 years.

“It’s not all out. I’m going to keep pinching myself to say that they’ve actually been found guilty. It will take some time to sink in.”

She added: “Stephen’s name will go down in history for all sorts of things and that is a positive but I would rather have my son here than have his name attached to a legacy.”

>> Click here to watch the Panorama special with Doreen Larence