A new eyewear brand that creates paid work opportunities for ex-prisoners has been created by the Prison Opticians Trust.
The trust creates professional, paid work opportunities for ex-prisoners, including roles as optical lab technicians.
Liberty Glasses said its first collection comprised 12 handmade Italian acetate frames in five colours with German Teflon-coated hinges to provide durability.
A range of silhouettes have been made available, from minimal square-rimmed frames to bold double-bridged aviators.
Tanjit Dosanjh, the founder of the Prison Opticians Trust, added that Liberty Glasses allowed him to raise awareness about reducing reoffending while creating more paid roles for ex-prisoners within his organisation.
Liberty Glasses took its name from a Tupac Shakur poem that highlighted the injustice of the criminal justice system through reference to Pen Optical, an optical training programme started for Californian prisoners in the 1980s.
‘This work gives them a chance to get into a job where there are opportunities to really progress,’ explained Dosanjh. ‘If you give a prisoner a chance like this then it reduces their chance of committing more crime.’
