Our 2017 annual Report is available here in pdf format.
Haven Distribution, a registered charity since December 2001, has
been assisting prisoners since 1996 by purchasing educational books
for those who wish to use their time in custody effectively, through
the pursuit of lifelong learning. We seek to encourage self-worth
and raise self-esteem in inmates in the UK prison population, providing
a structured service, which will assist in the resettlement of the
offender back into his or her community.
Haven is run by its pro-active voluntary Board of Trustees who maintain the distribution of books to prisoners.
We have minimal running costs, the majority of our expenditures
being allocated to the purchase of books and postage for our client
group. For the first five years, Haven existed on donations and
the proceeds of bar work undertaken by volunteers at various events
organised by The Workers' Beer Company. However, due to the increasing
demand for expensive educational books, Haven applied for, and received,
charitable status in 2001, and subsequently secured funding from
several private trusts and foundations.
The diversity of prisoners' educational courses ranges from NVQs
in hairdressing and other beauty therapies, catering and plastering,
to business courses for those who wish to set up their own small
business on release. Haven also distributes a huge volume of multi-lingual
dictionaries for both UK and foreign nationals imprisoned in the
UK. Since dyslexia is a recognised disability, particularly amongst
the prison population, Haven also distributes large-print dictionaries,
along with learning and grammar books to those inmates who have
difficulty with basic literacy and numeracy.
Haven plays a vital role in providing books that prison libraries
may not stock or have in very short supply, as prison libraries
have restrictive budgets for the provision of educational books.
In doing so, we can ensure that prisoners have access to essential
course literature, not just for a 2-3 week loan, but for the duration
of their respective courses. As we limit our support to each inmate
to £20, we further encourage our applicants to leave the book(s)
behind at the end of their course in order that future student-prisoners
can benefit from their use. The books are not purchased speculatively,
but only in the context of each prisoner's requirements, providing
effective use of our funding support. Haven encourages feedback
from our applicants regarding the progression of their courses and
their achievements, as well as asking them to leave the books in
the prison libraries for future inmates.
In late 2002, with major support from the Tudor Trust, Haven advertised our services nationally in
the 158 prisons and young offender institutions. The subsequent
demand has been staggering. Clearly, HM Prison Service simply cannot
address the demand for educational material, despite their statutory
obligation to provide educational books, dictionaries, and essential
reading media to serving inmates. This is, in part, due to the growth
of the prison estate.
Haven Distribution is pleased that, with continued support, we can
continue to be successful in providing essential educational books
for inmates who choose to use their time in custody to their advantage,
and we hope that we can continue this success by assisting inmate's
self-education and helping towards their resettlement in the future.
We would like to thank our volunteers and everyone who has provided
us with financial support over the past 18 years: