More than half of prisoners given sentences of less than 12 months end up re-offending.

Figures suggest that 57% of people who are sentenced for 12 months or less are back inside within a year.  Imagine the human cost - not to mention the cost to the taxpayer of so many people going in and out of the prison system.

This is an area we currently know very little about - above and beyond what we've read in the papers.  But we've had informal discussions with a few people over the last few months exploring where there may be room for socially-innovative approaches to reducing re-offending rates - and we'd like to explore some of these ideas more.

What we do know is that this is very politically sensitive topic.  Experiments are taking place - with some prisons being privatised, others being paid by results, some being financed by Social Impact Bonds and others teaming up with people like Timpsons to offer work opportunities.  If we don't do stuff, others will.

We'd like to bring you together for a couple of hours, to:

• Find out what we know between us - in particular about needs - and opportunities to meet these needs
• Explore any ideas we may have - and think about how we might develop these ideas further
• Think about who we need to work with to take things further

And we'll then see what happens next.  We're making no promises - this is a speculative piece of work which is part of our year-long experiment to try to find new ways to encourage social ventures to grow.  But we're pretty confident that if we get a few of you in a room for a few hours, things will start to happen.  And the worst that can happen is that you chat for a couple of hours and enjoy a bit of lunch, at our expense.

We're Leeds-based - so we're particularly interested in any opportunities there may be to develop ideas at Armley Prison - or at other prisons near to Leeds.  But, we're open to ideas....

And finally, if you know anyone else who's actively involved in this field - who could help us to develop ideas further - please invite them along.  

We'll finish at 12 and then have a bit of lunch.