Prisoners have been taught how to set up micro-businesses in an effort to reduce the numbers ending back behind bars, with the pilot project now looking to expand.
It costs around £40,000 to hold someone in prison every year, and a pilot project from Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University put women in Aberdeenshire’s HMP Grampian through a three-day course in the hope of turning the tide on growing re-conviction rates.
Jahangir Wasim, head of business and management at the university and project lead Grampian prison researcher, said: “Deciding what path to take on release can be hugely frightening.
