ABSTRACT
This chapter tells a story about volunteers, community organisations and faith traditions working alongside probation and parole officers to support men and women in their desistance process. There are dangers in telling this story because everywhere you turn there are concerns and conflicting viewpoints about our topic. Some probation and parole officers are afraid to work with volunteers for reasons of safety; ‘volunteers mean well but our clients will manipulate them’. Other officers are wary for reasons of professionalism; ‘volunteers want to help but they do not know what they are doing’. Yet, other officers are embracing volunteers and religious groups; ‘we could not do our work without them!’ Our topic also tends to raise concerns about the separation of religion and state. We realise that different countries, such as France and the US, take very different approaches to the separation of religion and state. The histories of volunteerism and faith group involvement in corrections also differ markedly from country to country. We are confident that a synthesis is possible that reconciles these legitimate concerns and conflicting viewpoints. We open with an account of a faith-informed volunteer programme that we believe has achieved dramatic success.
