Prominent Qatari entrepreneur and philanthropist HE Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani has hailed the mentoring initiative by Mosaic, a charitable organisation founded by Prince Charles, to reduce re-offending by prisoners and ex-prisoners.
HE Sheikh Faisal, whose AlFaisal Without Borders (ALF) Foundation is supporting the programme, recently accepted an invitation from the Prince of Wales to join him to visit the prison in Leeds.
They were joined by Andrew Selous MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Minister for Prisons, Probation and Rehabilitation at the Ministry of Justice, and John Hayes MP, Security Minister at the Home Office.
During the visit, both Sheikh Faisal and Prince Charles spoke with volunteer mentors, as well as prisoners and ex-prisoners who benefited from the programme. They also met with various community leaders and activists who support the programme as well as with Waseem Khan, who was awarded the title Mentor of the Year, to find out about Mosaic’s work in schools.
With the re-offending rate for short-term prisoners placed at around 60% and the cost of re-offending estimated to be as high as £13bn a year, the ALF sponsored ex-offender programme plays a crucial role in helping reduce these statistics. Since AlFaisal Foundation started sponsoring, the ex-offender programme has mentored more than 200 individuals; delivering a 20% reduction in re-offending rates amongst its mentees and saving over £3mn.
At the end of the visit, Prince Charles handed Sheikh Faisal a trophy in recognition of his generous support for the programme and all the programmes supported and sponsored by ALF.
“Mentoring programmes such as this; is vital and crucial to the overall effort of providing different types of social and educational support to all sectors of society,” said HE Sheikh Faisal. “Therefore, AlFaisal Without Borders Foundation will always support such endeavours as they are very much in line with what we stand for.”
The ALF Foundation has also supported similar programmes in the US such as one for prisoner rehabilitation in Chicago. This led to the recent inauguration of the second ex-prisoner rehabilitation home in Chicago’s South Side, known as a notoriously tough area in the city.
“The ALF Foundation is well focused on its objectives of significantly and positively contributing to society,” said Abdullatif al-Yafei, general manager of the ALF Foundation.
ALF Foundation’s executive director, Ali Mar’e, emphasised the foundation’s intention of working closely with other similarly-oriented organisations and foundations across the world in order to provide support to those in need.
The ALF Foundation aims to contribute in the establishment of social facilities such as universities, hospitals, medical centres and clinics, social and cultural centres, nurseries, kindergartens, knowledge centres and public libraries for research purposes. These are in addition to providing humanitarian aid and relief.