How The Longford Trust Changes Lives
Our annual Longford Lecture promotes fresh thinking about prison and associated social reform. The Longford Prize highlights organisations and individuals putting fresh thinking into practice. Our most measurable outcomes, or contribution to changing lives, comes when our Longford Scholars graduate and build successful careers – like Lee Cutter, pictured above with Sally Taylor of the Koestler Trust, at an exhibition of his recent work at Christie’s in London in November 2017.
83.3% Success Rate
In the 18 years of our scholarship programme, 78% of those we support graduate, join the workforce, and get on with their lives. Our latest survey, carried out in November 2022, shows that a further 5.3% drop out mid-degree to take on jobs related to their degree studies. Fewer than 3% return to prison, against a national rate for younger prisoners of more than 50%.
Positive Feedback
Each year, we commission an independent evaluation of our scholarship and mentoring programme, where those involved are interviewed and share their observations anonymously. The most recent exercise in May 2022, reported that 100 per cent of scholars found our mentoring provision “helpful” or “very helpful”.
“The Longford Trust has provided me with the added support I needed in order to unlock my true potential.” Imran, current Longford Scholar (pictured above)