Prisoners who attend vocational training are more likely to secure employment shortly after release and engagement with education can significantly reduce reoffending.
Research conducted in 2017 by the Ministry of Justice and Department for Education found that the one-year reoffending rate is 34% for prisoner learners, compared to 43% for people who do not engage in any form of learning activity.
Tanjit Dosanjh, optometrist and founder of the Prison Opticians Trust, says rehabilitation helps prisoners focus on something other than the negativity of the prison environment. He adds that schemes like the one he founded provide prisoners with the hope of having a career once they have served their sentence, plus the money they earn can be saved for life after prison.
‘We help rehabilitate prisoners by giving them training in optical retail and lab skills. This work gives them a chance to get into a job where there are opportunities to really progress. If you give a prisoner a chance like this then it reduces their chances of committing more crime,’ he explains.
The Prison Opticians Trust’s mission is to reduce reoffending rates by training prisoners in optical skills and helping them find work in the industry. Over 50,000 spectacles have been made by prisoners and more than 42,000 sight tests have been provided in prison since the trust was established. It has also helped to improve eye care services within prisons with the creation of clinical guidelines.
High quality service
Dosanjh has started supplying frame and glazing services delivered by prisoners to independent optical practices under the Liberty Glasses umbrella and plans to start making its own branded frames in 2021. He buys eyewear in bulk for the trust’s prison contracts, which means they source high quality spectacles at a good price, and can provide handmade acetate frames glazed with CR39 lenses for £8.50. The trust donates 100% of its profits from eyewear sold to reduce reoffending rates.
‘Liberty Glasses will be a way to generate more work for our lab and raise awareness for the rehabilitative work that we do with prisoners. My goal is that by 2025 I will be employing 10 prisoners full time either making spectacles, doing admin or telephone support and sales,’ Dosanjh explains.
In addition to keeping prices low, Dosanjh says that the trust is good at finding well-made frames that will last for years. ‘We need to explain that our quality standards are just as high as other labs. There is a belief that work done by prisoners will be of lower quality. We welcome any optician to come and see our lab and meet some of our people. Once they’ve seen the investment we’ve made in machinery and the design of our lab, plus the enthusiasm of our people then it will give them a better idea of our capabilities.’
The plan is to get more optical practices stocking Liberty Glasses frames by sharing the story behind the brand. ‘It may take us some time, but we will increase awareness of our rehabilitative work and this will hopefully lead to more like-minded opticians buying frames and their glazing services from us,’ he shares. Liberty Glasses frames are currently sold by Simon Berry Optometrists in Durham and Lucy Blown’s Eye Folk Opticians in Folkestone.
Raising the standard
The Prison Opticians Trust is currently operating in approximately half of the UK’s prisons, providing rehabilitation and eye care services to prisoners. Dosanjh explains that when he first started as a prison optometrist, he found that it was a neglected area of the profession. ‘Standards in prison were far below what NHS patients would receive in the community,’ he says, adding: ‘The patients can’t really complain much because they are prisoners and no one is really that interested. Also, it would be hard for the GOC to properly investigate a prisoner’s complaint as they are based in a secure setting. This dynamic was responsible for the poor standards in prison optometry.’
Dosanjh says record keeping was ‘a joke’ so he decided to introduce computerised record keeping that was integrated into the prison’s wider healthcare computer system. ‘This ensures that all of our optometrists keep proper records and auditing them becomes much easier remotely,’ he says. ‘Another issue was that most people doing prison opticians services were doing this as a side business. This meant that prisoners’ glasses were taking a long time to get made and returned to prisons. Our whole business is focused on prison services. Therefore, we make sure 95% of glasses are returned to the prison within five days of the prisoner having their eye test.’
Best practise guidelines for optometrists working in a prison setting were created by Dosanjh and founding trustees Sukh Chahil and Kam Bains in order to raise the standard of care provided. It covered common scenarios that were unique problems for prison opticians. ‘We made sure all opticians who work for us signed up to these guidelines. We took these guidelines to the College of Optometrists and asked them to turn this into proper guidance notes that could be shared more widely,’ Dosanjh says.
In September 2019, the Prison Opticians Trust held its first conference, which was attended by the 20 practitioners who provide services through the trust. This gave the trust the opportunity to refresh guidelines and Dosanjh hopes that an annual conference, which welcomes practitioners who deliver eye care prison services outside of the trust, will be held from 2021.
In response to Covid, a remote triaging service was set up so that emergencies were not missed. It has triaged almost 3,000 patients and more than 500 replacement spectacles have been sent to prisoners.
The Prison Opticians Trust is currently conducting research into how long prisoners have to wait for an appointment. Dosanjh explains: ‘In the community, a patient may have to wait one or two weeks for an appointment but in prison it’s more like six months. Prisoners are currently being kept in their cells for 23 hours per day and it has been this way since March 20. All they’ve got to pass the time is either read or watch TV. If they have broken spectacles or have an out of date prescription then at best they get headaches and at worst they get mental health problems.’
A talented workforce
Dosanjh was two months into his optometry degree when his father was sentenced to 14 years in prison. In a recent post on LinkedIn, Dosanjh described how he kept his father’s sentence a secret from his university friends. Once qualified, he found optics to be a crowded sector so decided to do something different.
The idea for the Prison Opticians Trust was born after Dosanjh’s discussions with his father about life in prison during visitations. ‘I got to know about prison through talking to my dad. There are many very talented people behind bars who could do so much more with their lives if given a chance. I also think you cannot be rehabilitated by the same people who think it’s their job to punish you.’
While reading about the California Prison Industry Authority, Dosanjh learned about an optical lab that had been set up inside the penitentiary. ‘It went on to describe how prisoners who had worked there were now working for opticians in the community thanks to their experience while behind bars. This article made me decide to do something similar in the UK,’ Dosanjh shares.
The Prison Opticians Trust had 45 prisoners secure work in the optics industry
In 2012, the Prison Opticians Trust’s first optical lab was set up inside HMP Standford Hill before it moved outside of prison walls in 2015 to a site in Maidstone where prisoners would go on day release for training. ‘The theory covers things like ocular anatomy, spectacle prescriptions, transposition, prism and the different types of lenses. Practical skills cover pupillary distances, heights and how to cut, edge and fit spectacles,’ Dosanjh explains.
Funding proved to the biggest obstacle in getting the project off the ground as Dosanjh was reliant on his own income. ‘In 2012, I had been qualified for three years and had some big expenses in my personal life, such as getting married and buying a flat, but I managed to scrape together enough money to start the project. It was hard having to make sacrifices in my personal life to fund the project. During those early years, it was difficult to keep going with it when there were many people rejecting my idea.’
Training delivered by the Prison Opticians Trust helps prisoners into employment after they have completed their sentence. Dosanjh says that at the start it was difficult getting employers to give prisoners a chance. ‘We have had 45 prisoners secure work in the optics industry. The vast majority of them have been hard workers, loyal and good at what they do, whether it be dispensing, pre-screening or making spectacles. The positive knock on effect has been that it is much easier to place prisoners into work because of their track record.’
