PADDY Brennan, the man behind the Tenbury Boxing Club, is shaping a new way of rehabilitating prisoners that could become a national model for penal reform.

The man who now runs the Bluestone Community Interest Company is to meet with Michael Gove who has been appointed as prison tsar by the Prime Minister.

He will be meeting Paddy to learn about a whole new way at looking at the training and rehabilitation and offenders that has been pioneered in Tenbury.

It comes just months after Bluestone was awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service which is the MBE for voluntary organisations.

Paddy, a former international boxer and a businessman has a passion for penal reform that comes from his own experiences after his family moved from Northern Ireland to Birmingham when he was a boy.

“I know that most people who end up on the wrong side of the tracks are not bad people but have just not been dealt a very good hand in life,” said Paddy.

“This does not excuse wrong doing but for the most part it is a case of there but for the Grace of God go any of us.”

He points out that having someone in even a low security institution costs nearly £90,000 a year – and that is more than doubled for high level offenders.

The problem is compounded by the fact that there is a high level of reoffending with people often returning to the prison system.

“It is a very lonely life when people come out with just a little bit of money and are told basically to get on with it," said Paddy. "Frankly, it is hardly a surprise that most prisoners are quickly back in trouble.”

Each year it is estimated that reoffending costs the country £13 billion and 60 per cent of offenders will end up back inside.

But, working in partnership with Police and Crime Commissioner Bill Longmore, a community interest company called ‘Inside Products’ has been set up and Paddy Brennan has been appointed as head of business development.

The project is currently working with four prisons and has completely changed the training regime with men now involved in making a range of high quality craft products including jewellery boxes, chess boards and garden furniture.

These are sold and the money is ploughed back into the prison system including improving training facilities.

“It is a win for all involved as the men get to make things that get sold instead of just being scrapped which gives them pride and puts money back into training,” added Paddy.

But ‘Inside Products’ is just the start and has been the catalyst for an even more ambitious idea which will involve prisoners being offered work when they are released either making high quality craft items or training.

“This will provide meaningful work for people when they are released and provide a stepping stone to other opportunities,” said Paddy Brennan.

It is an idea that could provide a template for a national initiative that has the potential to reshape the prison system and turn rehabilitation into a reality.