Prisoners’ Education Trust (PET) has been awarded a £18,000 grant by the Army Benevolent Fund to support more veterans in prison.
Peter* started his PET course in 2023 thanks to a previous grant from the charity. In a letter he sent us earlier this year, he told his story:
I am grateful for PET recently funding a distance learning course – Certificate in Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) Level 2. I have worked extremely hard at it and I have actually completed it.
This course has helped me whilst I have been in custody because it has improved my confidence in studying. I had to learn how to manage my time and set myself work goals; I found little and often worked well.
I suffer with low self-esteem and poor mental health and studying with PET has helped me focus on something other than my worries. Now I have completed IAG Level 2 I have higher self-esteem as I can now say I have achieved something good.
It has been nice when I call home as in prison every day is the same and there’s never much to chat about, but since I’ve been studying with PET I have had positive chats about what I’m doing. And now I’ve completed it, my family and friends are proud of me and it’s been a long time since I’ve felt that, so thank you. Also, I feel I have grown personally.
This IAG Level 2 is a solid foundation to build my learning journey upon. I have already signed up for a Level 3 Teaching course with the education department and they have accepted me on it already, so that’s massive.
My life after custody is uncertain and it scares me, as I’ve always been in the Army and I’ve never had to worry about employment before.
I am now one step closer to achieving my employment goals and achieving positive things like this can only be good for my parole.
My life after custody is uncertain and it scares me, as I’ve always been in the Army and I’ve never had to worry about employment before. The more qualifications I get and the more preparation I can do in custody, the more chance I have of finding employment and never coming back to prison.
I can’t say thank you enough for funding my distance learning course. This is the start of great things, so a million times thank you.
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* Name has been changed