Gang Awareness Training
Training professionals to understand and be more aware of gang culture and associated behaviours.
Gangs
Our services work in prisons and the community to reduce the risk posed by gang-involved individuals and, ultimately, reduce the number of violent incidents.
On this page
- On this page
- Our approach
- Our services
- Frequently asked questions
- Contact
- Latest news
Our approach
Within prisons, we deliver targeted, adapted interventions to promote an understanding of community issues and how these issues may impact a custodial setting. We support prison management by reducing the risk posed by gang-involved prisoners, so that violent incidents are prevented. By offering alternatives to the supposed security and status offered by gang involvement, our strategy is more effective than the “suppression only” approach used in many prisons.
We also work within the community, using an end-to-end approach to work with individuals, families, schools, custodial estates and communities to reduce gang involvement and its effects. Our work targets and builds on service user strengths, to prevent them from becoming involved in gangs, and provides a range of interventions for gang-involved young people to support them to exit.
Our services
Services are listed alphabetically.
Please use these arrows to see more.
HMP Thameside Gangs
Providing support and interventions within the prison to men who are identified to be gang-affiliated
Kent County Lines and Gangs
Reducing risk and preventing serious youth violence, exploitation, gang and county line activity.
Understanding Violence in Young People Training
Training professionals to understand and be more aware of violence in young people and its impacts.
Wolverhampton Violence Reduction
Delivering preventative and targeted interventions for gang-affected people in prison in Wolverhampton.
I am convinced that the work [Catch22] have done has prevented serious harm to many prisoners. It is their drive and their understanding of the problem that has made Thameside the safe place that prisoners now consider that it is.
John Biggin OBE, ex-Director of HMP Thameside
Our locations
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Kent County Lines and Gangs
Kent County Lines and Gangs
Reducing risk and preventing serious youth violence, exploitation, gang and county line activity.
Kent, UK
View serviceKent County Lines and Gangs
Kent County Lines and Gangs
Reducing risk and preventing serious youth violence, exploitation, gang and county line activity.
Medway, UK
View serviceWolverhampton Violence Reduction
Wolverhampton Violence Reduction
Delivering preventative and targeted interventions for gang-affected people in prison in Wolverhampton.
HMP/YOI Brinsford, New Road, Featherstone, Wolverhampton, UK
View serviceWolverhampton Violence Reduction
Wolverhampton Violence Reduction
Delivering preventative and targeted interventions for gang-affected people in prison in Wolverhampton.
HMP Oakwood, Oaks Drive, Featherstone, UK
View serviceWolverhampton Violence Reduction
Wolverhampton Violence Reduction
Delivering preventative and targeted interventions for gang-affected people in prison in Wolverhampton.
HMP Featherstone, New Road, Featherstone, Wolverhampton, UK
View serviceHMP Thameside Gangs
HMP Thameside Gangs
Providing support and interventions within the prison to men who are identified to be gang-affiliated
HMP Thameside, Griffin Manor Way, London, UK
View serviceFrequently asked questions
Is Catch22 able to support service users with needs outside of gang involvement?
Through the network of Catch22 services, we are in a unique position to address all a young person’s needs. Our work supports those who have gone missing or are victims of exploitation; we deliver high-level family support, run alternative education provision, and support vulnerable people into employment.
What research is Catch22's gangs and violence reduction approach based on?
Our gangs work combines research on policy and practice with direct delivery, both in the community and in custody. Using a relationship-based approach, our teams take account of the risks and needs of each service user and build on their strengths.
I am looking to contact someone in a prison you work with. Can you help me?
Due to GDPR restrictions we cannot give out any details of prisoners we work with. If you are enquiring about, or fearing for the safety of, a person in custody, please contact the security team at the prison and/or police in your local area. You can use the Prison Finder service to find appropriate contact details.
I would like to visit someone in prison. Can I access any financial support?
If you need help towards the cost of travelling to prison visits, the Help with Prison Visits scheme is available for low-income families and significant others. For full details about the scheme and how to apply, please visit the Government website.
Do Catch22's justice services offer volunteering or placement opportunities?
Yes, some of our services offer volunteering opportunities and/or student placements.
Catch22 offers student placements within its Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS) contracts, as well as some of its wider justice services. This includes with the CRS Interventions Team, Personal Wellbeing, Finance Benefit and Debt, Dependency and Recovery, Foreign National Service and its Victim Services.
Depending on the team you work with, opportunities might include:
- supporting members of the Interventions Team with their current projects, such as supporting the Interventions Lead to create new interventions, engaging with the Training Lead to learn about how our staff are being trained and helping to create their training packages, and spending time with the Inclusion Lead to learn about how protected characteristics are incorporated into Catch22’s interventions,
- shadowing one-to-one interventions and group sessions with our service users to see what these sessions comprise of and how they are facilitated by our practitioners,
- visiting other relevant professional areas of work, such as probation officers, prisons, or court rooms, to learn more about the relationship between Catch22 and the statutory and non-statutory services they interact with,
- attending training relevant to the role (subject to what training is taking place during the placement period), and/or
- supporting the Academic Partnerships Lead on current research projects, for example by collecting and collating evidence to further indicate “what works” and investigate different aspects of this approach to add to and improve the current evidence base for interventions in support of rehabilitation.
To register your interest, please contact us using the form at the bottom of the page.
Contact our gangs and violence reduction teams
Joe Raby
Assistant Director, Custodial and Gangs
Talk to us about how we can work with you to deliver gangs and violence reduction services in prisons and in the community.
We would love to hear from you if you are
- looking to access support via one of our programmes, or
- a potential commissioner looking to work with us on future projects or programmes.
Please note that some of our services can only accept referrals from specific sources. Full referral information can be found on the respective service’s website page.
Email Address
justice@catch-22.org.ukPrivacy notice
How we manage your data
Catch22 Charity Ltd. manages the data you provide in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
- The Data Controller (the organisation that determines how your data is managed) is Catch22. Contact us if you have a query about how your data is managed.
- The Data Processor (the organisation that does data processing on behalf of Catch22) is Totally.Tech.
- We are committed to giving you (the Data Subject in legal terms) an easy way to exercise your eight rights under the GDPR.
- We retain your data for as long as you allow us to do so. You can exercise your right to erasure at any time however, there may be some instances where we need to retain your information for a longer duration for legal reasons, such as when applying for a job with Catch22.
What information do we collect?
Catch22 may collect, store and use the following kinds of personal data:
- information about your computer and your visits to and use of this website, including your IP address, geographical location, browser type, referral source, length of visit and number of page views (cookies),
- information that you provide to us for the purpose of applying for a job or receiving job alerts (job applications / job alerts),
- subscribing to email newsletters including your name and email address (email newsletter), or
- information that you submit that relates to a complaint, service feedback or enquiry (complaints / feedback and enquiries).
Specific detail of each processing activity is provided below.
Cookies
Cookies are text files that are stored on your web browser by a website’s server. Each cookie is unique to your browser, and will contain some anonymous information such as a unique identifier and the website domain name. This information is sent back to the server each time your browser requests a page from it. This enables the website server to identify and track your web browser via your unique, anonymous, identifier.
Catch22 only uses cookies on its website where they will support the functioning of its website and to improve the experience of its website visitors. These cookies may be created by Catch22’s website, or by third-party services that Catch22 uses, to enable its website to be run effectively.
Some, ‘necessary’ cookies are essential to the running of our website and are exempt from the requirement of consent as per the GDPR and PECR. Functional, analytical and advertising cookies are all optional, and we will only store these cookies on your browser where we have received your freely-given, specific, informed, and unambiguous consent.
Any information that is collected by Catch22 via cookies is processed in a way which does not, and cannot, identify an individual person. We do not make any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting the Catch22 website.
You can find out more about Catch22’s use of cookies, and how to opt-out of or delete cookies from your browser via our Cookies Statement.
Job applications
If you apply for a job with Catch22 using our hosted online job application system, this service will be provided by a data processor on our behalf (SmartRecruiters).
To process your application, we ask for your personal details including name and contact details. We will ask you about your previous experience, education, referees and for answers to questions relevant to the role you have applied for. The hiring managers for the role, along with our Recruitment and HR teams will have access to all of this information.
Catch22 processes your job application data for the purpose of its legitimate interest to process your HR information.
- If you are successful, the information you provide during the application process will be retained by us as part of your employee file for the duration of your employment plus six years following the end of your employment.
- If you are unsuccessful at any stage of the process, the information you have provided until that point will be retained for six months from the closure of the campaign.
- Equal opportunities information is retained for six months following the closure of the campaign whether you are successful or not.
For more information, please see the SmartRecruiters privacy notice.
Job alerts
Through the SmartRecruiters job application system, it is also possible to sign up for job alerts, which will let you know when new jobs that meet your criteria have been posted.
These alerts are managed by the data processor (SmartRecruiters) on our behalf, and will only be processed using your freely-given, specific, informed and unambiguous consent.
If at any point you wish to unsubscribe from SmartRecruiters job alerts, this can be done by clicking the unsubscribe link on the latest email. You can also log into your SmartRecruiters candidate profile to modify or withdraw your details.
For more information, please see the SmartRecruiters privacy notice.
Email newsletter
If you subscribe to Catch22’s newsletter and/or event mailing lists, you will receive regular communications relating to our work. These mailings will be facilitated by a third-party provider, such as Mailchimp or Salesforce (marketing platforms), and your data will be processed by a third-party client relationship management platform, Salesforce.
Catch22 will only process your contact details and send you newsletters following your freely-given, specific, informed and unambiguous consent.
You have the right to unsubscribe from any of our email mailing lists at any time. If you wish to unsubscribe from a Catch22 mailing list please click the unsubscribe link on the latest email or contact dpo@catch-22.org.uk to ensure that you do not continue to receive email newsletters from us. We will need to continue to hold your details after you have unsubscribed to ensure that we do not send you further communications.
For more information, please see the Mailchimp or Salesforce privacy notices as appropriate.
Feedback and enquiries
Catch22 processes the data submitted through any of our website contact forms for the purpose of receiving your message and responding to it under the lawful basis of consent, which you give when submitting the form.
We will only use the information supplied to us to deal with the enquiry and any subsequent issues, and to check on the level of service we provide.
These contact forms are processed using the WordPress plugin, Gravity Forms. When these forms are submitted to us, notification emails are automatically generated to send your enquiry to the appropriate team within Catch22 who will store your email for as long as is required to deal with your enquiry and any subsequent issues.
Form submissions are also stored within the Catch22 WordPress database for a period of 90 days. This allows us to identify if there are any issues with forms being received by our teams. After this time, forms and all accompanying personal data are automatically deleted from the system. Gravity Forms does not receive copies of any of forms, or any accompanying personal data, that are submitted via the Catch22 website.
You have the right to withdraw consent for us to contact you at any time by contacting dpo@catch-22.org.uk. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, which in the United Kingdom is the Information Commissioner’s Office.
For more information, please see the Gravity Forms privacy notice.
Complaints
Complaints can be submitted using our online feedback form, by emailing feedback@catch-22.org.uk, or by post. Catch22 undertakes the processing of your complaints data as part of its legitimate interests.
When we receive a complaint from a person we make up a file containing the details of the complaint. This normally contains the identity of the complainant and any other individuals involved in the complaint.
We will only use the personal information we collect to process the complaint and to check on the level of service we provide.
We usually have to disclose the complainant’s identity to whoever the complaint is about. This is inevitable where, for example, the accuracy of a person’s record is in dispute. If a complainant doesn’t want information identifying him or her to be disclosed, we will try to respect that. However, it may not be possible to handle a complaint on an anonymous basis.
We will keep personal information contained in complaint files in line with our retention policy. This means that information relating to a complaint will be retained for six years from closure. It will be retained in a secure environment and access to it will be restricted according to the ‘data minimisation’ principle.
For more information, please see the Complaints, Compliments and Feedback policy.
Use of data processors
The Data Processor (the organisation that does data processing on behalf of Catch22) is Totally.Tech.
Catch22 also works with third-party data processors to provide our:
- content management system (WordPress),
- website analytics (Google Analytics),
- marketing platform (Mailchimp),
- client relationship management platform (Salesforce),
- social media advertising campaigns (Meta Pixel, Twitter Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag, TikTok Pixel), and
- recruitment service (SmartRecruiters).
We have contracts in place with our data processors. This means that they cannot do anything with your personal information unless we have instructed them to do it. They will not share your personal information with any organisation apart from us. They will hold it and retain it for the period we instruct.
Individual Catch22 services may work with additional third-party data processors in line with their contractual requirements. For more information, please see the relevant Service Privacy Notice, which can be downloaded from their service page on this website, or found by searching for the service by name in our Policy Library.
Disclosures
Catch22 may disclose information about you to any of our employees, officers, agents, suppliers or data processors insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes as set out in this privacy notice.
In addition, we may disclose information about you:
- to the extent that we are required to do so by law,
- in connection with any legal proceedings or prospective legal proceedings, or
- in order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights (including providing information to others for the purposes of fraud prevention and reducing credit risk).
Except as provided in this privacy notice, Catch22 will not provide your information to third parties without your consent.
Security of your personal data
Catch22 will take reasonable technical and organisational precautions to prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of your personal information.
We will store all the personal information you provide on our secure, encrypted password and firewall protected servers. As data transmission over the internet is inherently insecure, we cannot guarantee the security of data sent over the internet.
Where information is held on our behalf by data processors, we will ensure, to the best of our ability, that they hold your information securely and in line with data protection legislation. We hold contracts with all data processors to make sure that they cannot do anything with your data unless we have instructed them to do so.
Notice amendments
We may update this privacy notice from time-to-time. Check this page occasionally to ensure you are happy with any changes.
Your rights
Please contact the Data Protection Officer if you have any queries regarding this Privacy Notice or if you would like to exercise or query any of the following rights afforded to you under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):
- right to access
- right to erasure
- right to object
- right to rectification
- right to be informed
- right to restrict processing
- right to data portability
- rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling
- right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) – via the Complaints page on the ICO website or by calling 0303 123 1113
For further information on your rights, please visit the Individual Rights page on the ICO website.
Contact
If you have any questions about this privacy notice or of our treatment of your personal data, please email dpo@catch-22.org.uk or write to:
Data Protection Officer
Catch22
27 Pear Tree Street
London
EC1V 3AG
Data controller
Catch22’s data protection registration number is Z1473239
Latest news and resources
Resources are listed chronologically.
Please use these arrows to see more.
12 Aug 2024
Redthread set to merge with Catch22
24 Apr 2024
Ten years on: violence reduction in prisons
9 Apr 2024
Gangs in prison: violence reduction and rehabilitation
13 Mar 2024
The urgent need for training to safeguard vulnerable youth from exploitation
20 Feb 2024
Justice: Building resilience and aspiration in people and communities
11 Oct 2023
The importance of investment in youth work: Party Conferences 2023
6 Sep 2023
Understanding violence in young people
18 Jan 2023
Catch22 responds to call for evidence on “Prison Operational Workforce”
28 Nov 2022
Women, girls and gangs
7 Sep 2022
Knife crime: why a localised approach is key
18 Jul 2022
Wolverhampton Violence Reduction Community Service: Final evaluation
25 May 2022
New service to tackle County Lines launched in Kent
20 Apr 2022
Reducing gang-related harm
15 Dec 2021
Working in Catch22’s Wolverhampton Violence Reduction resettlement team
22 Oct 2021
County Lines slang
15 Oct 2021
Royal visit to Wolverhampton’s Violence Reduction Service
13 Jul 2020
Reflecting on the Youth Violence Commission’s Final Report
20 May 2020
Gang intervention services adapt to COVID-19 challenges
28 Feb 2020
Terms and conditions: a case study for regulation?
31 Jul 2019
Catch22 responds to the Serious Youth Violence report
2 Oct 2018
What does a ‘Public Health’ approach to violence really mean?
9 Apr 2018
Catch22 responds to the new Serious Violence Strategy
13 Sep 2017
Catch22 delivery in HMP Thameside receives praise from HMIP inspection
27 Mar 2017
Catch22 responds to the MOPAC Police and Crime Plan
12 Jan 2017
Social media as a catalyst and trigger for youth violence
5 May 2016
Safer schools: keeping gang culture outside the gates
23 Jul 2015
Running the risks: the links between gang involvement and missing
19 Nov 2014
Gangs in prison: the nature and impact of gang involvement among prisoners
28 Aug 2014
Family matters: support for gang-involved young people
4 Nov 2013
Violence prevention, health promotion: a public health approach to tackling youth violence
8 Aug 2013
Mobilising communities to address gang violence
31 Jul 2013
The role of the family in facilitating gang membership, criminality and exit
1 Mar 2013
Whole school approaches to tackling gang violence
30 Oct 2012