Appendices
Contents of this section:
(Clidi each heading to be taken there)
APPENDIX A
Operating Ethos
Initially it is expected that WM would adopt a ‘Buddhist’ ethos.
NB ‘Buddhism’ as used here has nothing to do with religion whatsoever. Wherever ‘Buddhist’ or ‘Buddhism’ is mentioned in this business plan or appendices it is as a code of ethics (honesty, kindness, respect) and behaviour (for example daily meditation, diet)
rather than as a religion. It is in no way intended to promote or encourage Buddhism, as a religion, over any other religion.
All religions will be treated as equal and encouraged.
In particular meditation has a number of emotional, mental and physical benefits of value to anyone, and particularly those seeking a
level of equanimity, acceptance, calmness, peace of mind, as well as to overcoming powerful emotions and reactions. All of these are of the greatest value to repeat offenders, as evidenced below in the appendices. The benefits of meditation are documented extensively elsewhere in too many places to name here, and are now universally accepted. Meditation (unlike prayer) also has the added benefit of being entirely inclusive of everyone regardless of individual faith or belief. Those wishing to pray or contemplate according to their own faith can of course be accommodated in the same way
Also the diet. While not necessarily advocating the adoption of a vegetarian diet, there is a huge and increasing body of research that
eating large quantities of meat, as has been normal in the west for a long time, and in other parts of the world, has p potentially both
mental and physical health implications as well as environmental. There have been many recent films about how eating more plant basedfood r impact on the planet, as well as reduce oupromote physical andmental health and even to reverse chronic diseases such as diabetes,high blood pressure, breathing problems, and others.
– Plant pure nation – on YouTube
– Forks over Knives
– What the Health
– Game changers
– Cowspiracy
These films also document some of the massive environmental consequences of the large scale consumption of meat – in particular beef and lamb. A few of the environmental facts are quite shocking. For example one burger or one pint of milk requires thousands of gallons of water and hectares of land to produce (in the near future water is predicted to be as valuable as oil).
Finally the production of meat is almost universally cruel and does not by and large acknowledge animals as sentient beings, just like humans. Some standard practices in the production of meat products (VERIFY WITH COMPASSION IN WORLD FARMING) are
– Pigs are kept in booths so small they cannot even lie down
– Geese for the popular pate de foix gras are nailed to the spot by their feet
– Poultry is usually killed at 6 weeks old (organic chickens get a generous 12 weeks). The natural life of a bird is around 10 years ! We eat billions of chickens each year, nearly all of the birds live their entire short lives in crowded cages, rather like the London tube at rush hour, and many never see the light of day.
– The drug industry is similar, eg modern HRT involves not allowing mares to drink in order to concentrate their urine.
– The beauty industry, all the animal experiments involved in producing makeup, hair dye, other hair and skin care products
– Dairy cows are forceably impregnated each year until they are so exhausted they are just skin and bone, in order to keep them producing milk, their udders (treated with steroids) so full they are constantly infected and painfully sore. Not only that, immediately after giving birth the calves are ripped away from the mother and killed. Cows, being mammals, have a maternal instinct just as keen as we do – imagine the outcry if that was done to human mothers?
This clearly is out of alignment with Buddhist ethics which are directed at ALL living beings, not just humans. And this is standard practice in the UK which apparently recognises the sentience of animals.
Whether to adopt a vegetarian or vegan diet, eat limited meat, or fish, at WM, is something that will be decided through wider discussion and over time. Dairy products also have significant health implications (addressed in the same films listed above), and environmental consequences (similar to beef, above) and involve similar denial of sentience in living beings. However alternatives, other than vegan milk alternatives, are not currently universally available or equal in performance / flavour. This is of course rapidly changing and the fascinating possibilities about meat alternatives – for example meat grown in laboratories or printed in 3D printers, and even farming and eating insects – will of course all be covered in the information centre, and hopefully available to taste in the cafe !
APPENDIX B
How access to nature impacts wellbeing
A growing body of empirical evidence is revealing the value of ‘nature experience’ for mental health. With rapid urbanization and declines in human contact with nature globally, it is more important than ever to preserve and enhance opportunities for nature experience.
Nature experience impacts cognitive functioning, emotional well-being, and other dimensions of mental health. It also greatly reduces stress and anxiety, improves mood, and provides pleasure and happiness as well as space and freedom.
While many cities have green spaces and parks, most public parks in the UK consist mainly of open spaces with mown grass, for sports, and a few trees or flower beds to look at. Whilst pretty, this is not ‘nature’ at all, and they provide no value for wildlife whatsoever. Many people in this country have little idea of what a truly wild or biodiverse space is. Wild Magic hopes to introduce the idea that humans are not the only species on this planet with a right to use land as they wish. It is not so much a choice as an imperative for us to respect the needs and rights of other species to share our spaces with us. This can easily be achieved in any public park, by adopting a few practices, providing more pleasure and interest for people, and with no loss of utility.
In the future we wish to have sufficient funds to enrol, educate and support councils and other landowners to improve the value of the unused land they own to all species, including humans.
Accessibility: It is an integral part of WM mission and vision to be accessible to those in cities who might not otherwise access real nature – by being situated within 100 miles of London & Birmingham, and securing funding to provide free or subsidised transport, entry tickets and child-friendly tour guides for inner city families and schools.
Click here to see one of the many studies showing the close link between mental health and access to nature
APPENDIX C
Causes of offending
Evidence from Green Paper Evidence Report – Breaking the Cycle: Effective Punishment, Rehabilitation and Sentencing of Offenders
These characteristics are true of offenders throughout the criminal justice system although many of the figures come from studies of offenders in custody.
Offenders are more likely to come from disadvantaged backgrounds, for example to have witnessed violence in the home as children, experienced early contact with the criminal justice system, and suffered from addiction problems as children than the general population 102 103.
Offenders are more likely to have been a regular truant and to have been excluded from school compared to the general population 104 105 106.
Children who become prolific young offenders typically suffer from harsh or neglectful parenting and develop behaviour difficulties at an early age 107.
Offenders are also more likely than the general population to have been in care as a child 108 109.
Offending can be passed down through generations110 111 and this has also been found internationally 112 113.
P.48 point 4.31
‘Offenders who have experienced some of these early years factors are more likely to go on to reoffend in the future.’
The highest reconviction rates are cited to be amongst those who have
– experienced emotional, sexual or physical abuse
– witnessed violence in the home
– had an immediate family member found guilty of a non-motoring offence
– expelled or permanently excluded from school
– taken into care
P.48 – ‘Offenders have a variety of social problems such as low qualifications, lack of employment, and difficulties with accommodation which are also related to their offending behaviour. These issues need to be targeted to achieve a reduction in reoffending.’
Juvenile offending:
Since many adult offenders have been child offenders, also relevant is data on juvenile offenders.
Evidence from Green Paper Evidence Report – Breaking the Cycle: Effective Punishment, Rehabilitation and Sentencing of Offenders
P54 5.2 – ‘there is evidence to suggest that people who start to offend at an early age are most likely to become prolific offenders145.’
P. 52 4.48 – Other research has found:
– children who became prolific young offenders typically suffered from harsh or neglectful parenting and developed behaviour difficulties at an early age 138.
– In 2006, around 46 per cent of children in the youth justice system were rated as underachieving at school and around 29 per cent had difficulties with literacy and numeracy 139.
– in 2008/09, 88 per cent of young people in Young Offender Institutions had been excluded at some point from school 140.
= having friends involved in problem behaviour has been associated with large and significant increases in the likelihood of being arrested (50 percent) and stealing (44 percent) identified in a 2001 report 141.
4.49 Research conducted with a sample of 200 juveniles serving a custodial sentence found they often came from troubled and disadvantaged backgrounds. The findings indicated 142:
– around three-quarters were known to have had absent fathers;
– around half lived in a deprived household and/or unsuitable accommodation;
– two-fifths were known to have been on the child protection register and/or experienced abuse or neglect;
– one third had had an absent mother;
– more than a quarter had witnessed domestic violence, with a similar proportion having had experience of local authority care; and
– a fifth of the sample was known to have harmed themselves, and 11 per cent to have attempted suicide.
APPENDIX D
Wild Magic approach to reducing recidivism
– allow them to stay as long as they need, until they are ready to move on (it is anticipated most will need 12-24 months)
Each trainee’s attendance is monitored and a monthly 1-1 meeting, or a tutoring session / supervisor,, to take place for each one, to monitor their progress, feedback, input, and their motivation levels. Hence this programme will over time build up a great deal of useful data for any nationwide or international efforts to reduce crime and in particular reoffending.
Evidence from Green Paper Evidence Report – Breaking the Cycle: Effective Punishment, Rehabilitation and Sentencing of Offenders.
P57:
5.19 It is well established that interventions are most successful when they target higher risk offenders, address factors that are known to raise recidivism, such as impulsivity or management of emotions, and when they are delivered in ways that are responsive to the ways in which offenders typically learn (e.g. are active, participatory, and strongly generalised to real-world situations).
5.20 There is good evidence that cognitive/motivational programmes and sex offender treatment programmes can reduce reoffending; and there is promising evidence about the impact of drug treatment programmes, education, training and employment, and violence/anger management programmes.
(NB Sex offenders, in particular child sex offenders, will be barrred from taking part in our programme)
5.21 Much of the evidence, comes … more recently, by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP). The WSIPP review found that, for adult offenders, education in prison (vocational and basic education), certain types of intensive supervision, and cognitive-behavioural therapy had the greatest benefits 166. For juvenile offenders, the greatest benefits were seen for multi-dimensional treatment foster care, adolescent diversion projects for lower risk offenders, and certain types of family-based therapy programmes.
The whole of the section 5.17 – 5.28 (pp57-58) is relevant however the evidence to date is scant and comes mainly from American data which could be arguably different from the UK. There would seem to be scope therefore for some further trials into this area, which interventions are most effective for which types of reoffending, which Wild Magic would be well placed to deliver.
Evidence from Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence (1995)
There is a great deal of cited interventions described in this famous book. It doesn’t just focus on offending,but all aspects of behaviour in society and the workplace, marriage etc. But approximately all types of bad behaviour, as well as offending, come down to poor management of emotions. Domestic abuse, addiction (which often leads to crime), anger, discord at home, almost anything which affects the stability of a growing child, comes from poor emotional management of the parents or caregivers, which in turn is passed on to the child.
The book also details interventions used with children and excluded youths, and the immense level of success that helping someone simply learn about themselves and their emotions in a non judgmental environment can have in improving bother their internal happiness and their external behaviour.
All of the above helps support our hypothesis, that few people actually choose to live as a criminal and commit crimes as a way of life. People who offend are for the most part forced into it by their circumstances and environment, which they also did not choose but were foisted upon them. The aim of Wild Magic is simply to give them the choice they should have had from the beginning – to direct their own life, and make their own choices.
APPENDIX E
The impact of employment on offending
Evidence from Green Paper Evidence Report – Breaking the Cycle: Effective Punishment, Rehabilitation and Sentencing of Offenders
P.48 point 4.33
‘SPCR117 found that 68 per cent of prisoners reported that having a job would be important in helping them stop reoffending, and 60 per cent thought that having a place to live would help.
Forty-eight per cent reported needing help finding a job on release from prison, and 37 per cent reported needing help with finding a place to live.‘
Evidence from a 2018 paper published in the International Journal for children, women, elderly and disabled,
The abstract reads:
It is believed that employment could reduce recidivism among ex-offenders. Most of them tend to relapse if they are unable to find a steady and worthwhile employment. Detention creates a set of experiences for individuals as they often lose their jobs and discouraged from obtaining employment upon their release. There are two main barriers they face in labour market which are the supply and demand. The supply side refers to the characteristics, attitudes, skills, and experience of the ex-offenders. Meanwhile, the demand side concerns with employers’ attitudes and the economic climate, as well as government policy in supporting the employment of ex-offenders. This paper discusses in detail the difficulties of ex-offenders in securing employment and barriers to employment as well as recommendations to overcome the employment issues.
The paper goes on to say:
Many researchers agree that employment could reduce recidivism (Berg &Huebner, 2011; Lo, 2014; Kethineni & Falcone, 2007; Nally et al., 2016; Brown, 2011). The failure to find permanent, worthwhile employment and failure to stabilize economic resources are the key contributors to recidivism among the ex-offenders.
Obtaining employment is one of the factors that influence offenders’ ability to desist from criminal activity upon release (National Research Council, 2007). Most criminological research indicates a strong converse relationship between employment and crime, suggesting that ex-prisoners who obtain employment are at significantly reduced risk for re-offending (Laub & Sampson, 2003). In fact, a recent study found full-time employment to be the second strongest discriminator between recidivists and non-recidivists (Benda, Harm, & Toombs, 2005). Furthermore, Uggen (2000) found that prisoners, particularly those 26 years of age and older, who join in work release programs upon release from prison are better able to abstain from crime, suggesting that work seems to be a positive move in the life-course for ex-prisoners.
This paper discusses the barriers to finding employment faced by ex offenders which include
– their lack of skills, education and training
– stigma of having a criminal record
Also arguably their emotional state of mind (discussed above in Appendix C) suggests, for some, potential difficulties in facing the normal challenges of employment – in any job there are inherently disappointments, challenges, setbacks, feedback, appraisals (sometimes negative), and the need for effective communication with supervisors and colleagues. Without some emotional training such as that we suggest many repeat offenders would find these difficult if not impossible.
The paper also notes the need for intervention immediately upon release:
…. obtaining employment upon release from prison may be helpful in positively affecting the process of withdrawing from criminal activity. Past study indicated that offenders’ employment upon release from prison helps to extend their time crime-free in the community
NB WM would take trainees straight from prison (unless drug / alcohol rehabilitation is necessary at a suitable clinic, first)
APPENDIX F
Research for Financial section
Click here to see one of the many studies showing the link between mental health and access to nature
Accommodation information taken from DWP / DCLG Supported Accommodation Review, November 2016
The cost of supported accommodation is at the discretion of the provider, according to the definition of ‘exempt accommodation’, which is accommodation which is exempt from a cap in place for non supported accommodation. See 2.3.3 on page 27.
Information about exempt accommodation (which is what WM would provide residents):
For a Housing Benefit claim to be treated as an exempt accommodation claim, care, support or supervision has to be provided to the tenants by, or on behalf of, the landlord. There is no clear definition of care, support or supervision, and there is no precise
specification about how much care, support or supervision needs to be provided, other than that it must be more than ‘minimal’.
Once a claim is accepted as an exempt accommodation claim, rent increases may be higher than for mainstream accommodation. However, all landlords of supported housing need to be able to demonstrate to local authority Housing Benefit teams that both rents and service charges are reasonable and justifiable. The local authority can restrict the level of the increase to those for similar accommodation in the area, if it can identify similar accommodation.
From this we can infer that actual costs incurred of providing supported accommodation will be covered in full by the local authority, as long as they are reasonable and justifiable. How much of the cost of classroom sessions (every week day and Saturday morning) would also be covered is uncertain but it is expected a significant proportion of the cost could be negotiated.
Actual providers of supported accommodation are listed in 3.1.2 on p32-33
Costs given (2016 figures) are listed in Table 3.10 on p53 and range between £51 and £606 pw for claimants of working age.
APPENDIX G
Risk Assessment
What could possibly go wrong ?
Some risks are: (click to see steps to mitigate)
Mitigation of risk:
a. They have already paid their debt to society. Ex offenders are not criminals, and it is precisely this way of thinking amongst the general population that can drive them back to, and keep them stuck in, a life of crime.
b. Wild Magic opportunity will not cater for certain categories of crime, eg sex offenders, paedophiles, and others, will be barred.
c. There will be a full application process in place, with interviews and a probation period, for anyone who wishes to come, where they will be expected to prove they are ready and willing to leave the past behind.
d. A behaviour agreement will be in place, with zero tolerance for those who abuse it
e. The nature of the schedule at Wild Magic allows for little bad behaviour
f. If anyone’s behaviour becomes suspect there will be steps taken to watch them, and intervene early if necessary
g. Children would be under the supervision of their parents at all times, just as they would in any public place.
h. Ex offenders could be excluded from directly managing activities aimed exclusively at or for children, if this was deemed to be a good idea. Also, when installing private gardens, they would have to be kept strictly out of private houses, even to use the loo (‘Portaloos’ could be provided).
Mitigation of risk:
Wild Magic will not take people with ongoing drug or alcohol problems. There are ‘rehab’ facilities which cater for people struggling these issues. What Wild Magic could offer is a place where people might come directly from rehab clinics, in order to cement, maintain and build on their progress so far.
Again, because of all the activities and supervision in place, any relapse would soon be noticed and extra support be put in place as necessary.
In addition, addiction (as are emotional difficulties such as problems with anger) are usually merely the surface indication of a much deeper underlying problem, such as depression. For instance, very angry people often struggle with a deep sense of shame, often stemming from earlier in life. Wild Magic is also a place where these underlying issues will be addressed, which should vastly reduce the likelihood of any future relapse.
Why Wild Magic
– Unique
– Addresses environmental and social issues with a seamless, integrated solution
– Accessible to everyone
– Designed to provide real change, not just a small individual site, or a greenwash
– Self funding once set up
– Can be replicated in other areas
– The training provided will add to the data currently in existence about rehabilitation of ex offenders
Wild Magic is achievable as well as magical