AN outdoor area is to be created at the newly-established resettlement centre at Dartmoor Prison, where inmates will be able to spend time with their families during visits.

The project will create themed outdoor areas, including a Chinese garden, a wooden-decked section where prisoners can exercise and a children?s play area where prisoners can spend time with their families during visits.

The resettlement centre at Dartmoor prepares prisoners for release into the community and focuses on the nine key areas of the causes of re-offending, highlighted by the Social Exclusion Report.

Thousands of pounds worth of materials have been given to the prison by timber and building merchants Jewson.

The firm has agreed to provide sponsorship in kind for the resettlement centre?s outside areas by donating the materials for prisoners to use to develop the area.

The project will give resettlement prisoners the opportunity to develop their skills in all aspects of the building trade.

Acting principal officer Dave Crawford, Dartmoor?s resettlement manager, said Dartmoor was now ?at the forefront of the Prison Service?s core aims to reduce re-offending.?

Mr Crawford said links and partnerships with the community were a vital part of the process of rehabilitating prisoners.

The centre has been recognised as part of the Prison Service?s National Resettlement Estate, bridging the gap between Category C prisons, which house less serious offenders and open jails.

Jewson?s lorries delivered the materials to Dartmoor Prison last Friday (January 17), and were greeted by the Governor Graham Johnson and staff and prisoners of the resettlement centre.