co-founder, Inside Job
Jon is co-founder of Inside Job, an initiative supported by the Beating Time charity, which helps people survive, and then thrive after serving a sentence. Jointly run by people with lived experience of the criminal-justice system, Inside Job has proven highly effective in helping prison leavers back into work.
While in prison, Jon was a peer support coordinator, led the Prison Council, undertook active citizenship projects with the Prison Reform Trust, won and then mentored the Debating Matters Beyond Bars competition, and was co-originator of the Wellbeing Navigators – a positive culture-carrying initiative amongst prison peers, which encourages residents to uphold concern for the wellbeing of others. Since rejoining society in 2022, Jon’s work has been an extension of the peer-support work he carried out inside, and he has used his knowledge of the justice system and the prison reform movement in several social value projects.
Jon is passionate about improving the outcomes of those in the criminal justice system before, during and after sentence, and recently spoke at an IGPP conference on ‘Peer Support in Prison – The Power of Lived Experience to Prevent Suicide in the Justice System’.