About Unlocked

Unlocked Graduates exists to break cycles of reoffending. Currently prison isn’t able to do this, and over 50% of prisoners released from short-term sentences reoffend within 12 months.

Not only does this recidivism make our communities less safe, it also has a significant human and social impact. And it is expensive, costing the taxpayer over £23 billion every year. But, to a large extent, it’s preventable.

Prisons must give people the support they need to focus on rehabilitation. We believe the transformative relationships between prison officers and those in their care are key to this. Prison officers are the agents of change on the landings, and they are the only professionals able to reach all prisoners, including the most vulnerable.

Since 2017, Unlocked has sought to lead this change by recruiting, training and challenging nearly 900 ambitious graduates to become outstanding prison officers and high-performing leaders across 38 different prisons in England and Wales. Our award-winning graduate programme is creating a generation of leaders who believe that rehabilitation is possible.

In 2024, we launched Unlocked ChangeMakers, a leadership development programme that aims to transform the quality of middle leadership in the prison service. This programme builds on the success of our graduate programme and provides training and support to custodial managers, enabling them to drive rehabilitative change in their prisons and accelerate the impact of the prison officers they line manage.