Volunteers are helping former prisoners from north Wales to start a new life as part of a new scheme sponsored by the Presbyterian Church of Wales.

BARA (Welsh for bread) is a new Christian agency which will help ex-offenders to find accommodation or deal with alcohol and other substance misuse, as well as giving encouragement with work, education and leisure. BARA volunteers also support offenders’ families as they come to terms with the absence of a husband, son or father, and then help them to adapt on his release.

BARA was be launched at the North Wales Criminal Justice Conference at Venue Cymru, Llandudno, last week.

Revd. Nan Powell-Davies launches BARA

Twenty volunteers from Caernarfon churches have already been trained to support ex-offenders and their families. The scheme will be expanded to other parts of north Wales in the near future.

Reverend Nan Powell-Davies is BARA’s co-ordinator. As a chaplain in Altcourse Prison, Liverpool, she knows how hard it can be for former prisoners to rebuild their lives on their return to north Wales.

Nan says: “The name BARA conveys a most basic need. One of our society’s greatest needs is to reduce reoffending and give offenders and their families a greater purpose in life. Rural Wales is suffering greatly as society falls apart: schools closing, village shops closing and even pubs closing. Ex-offenders and their victims must be able to live together in these communities. One of BARA’s visions is to acknowledge the worth of these communities, placing the responsibility of caring for ex-offenders and helping their families on these communities." 

So what is the churches’ role in all this?

Says Nan: “Churches in this country are facing and emergency. I belive that this is a result of our selfishness as churches, as we hold onto buildings and traditions. BARA is a golden opportunity for us to get our hands dirty and think of others. ‘I was in prison’ said Jesus – and what did we do as churches? Pity you? Or visit you?!”

“As churches, our role isn’t to shut ourselves in for an hour on Sunday in large damp chapels, but rather, to respond with the love of God to society’s deepest needs.”

Michael Farmer QC, chair of BARA’s support group, also voiced his support for the scheme: “Anyone who works in criminal justice acknowledges that prisones need practical help to reconnect with society. Any body that offers such help deserves every support.”