Partner Article

Businesses come together to tackle fair trade and crime

A North East ethical goods retailer has partnered up with an online marketing company with a difference - it employs offenders who work from within the walls of prison.

EthicalSuperstore.com’s partnership with Summit Media, based in HMP Wolds in East Yorkshire, aims to help prisoners turn their lives around.

The two companies are now working together to help grow EthicalSuperstore.com’s online presence and to highlight the fact that it is the UK’s largest single site for all things ethical, fair trade and eco friendly.

Hedley Aylott, managing director of Summit receives applications every week from inmates looking to secure a role within his media company, set behind the bars in a single story building at the category C prison. The application process is tough and only those with the right attitude succeed to go on and work an eight-hour day in a proper working environment.

Hedley said: “It’s about creating a sense of responsibility. This is the only project in the country that is client facing, and that is why it works. I’ve taken inmates and said to them, ‘you are running a campaign for EthicalSuperstore.com, Comet or Argos and you will be totally responsible for that. I’m going to trust you to do that work properly, be reliable and deal with the client. You have every opportunity to succeed and no chance to fail.”

Of the 250 offenders that have worked as part of the team at Summit since its creation seven years ago, Hedley knows of only 10 that have reoffended, compared to the national average of 75%.

Andy Redfern, founding partner of EthicalSuperstore.com, said: “It provides a sure start and support network for those who are at their most vulnerable when the support and familiar structures of prison are removed. Like so many things that EthicalSuperstore.com does, or sells, it is never the whole solution, but it is a positive step towards making society a better place.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .