NEWS

When experienced hotelier Gez Chetal stepped inside a prison for the first time he says he found it ‘a real eye opener’. Far from the ‘lock up and leave’ ethos he expected, the commitment to education, training and reducing reoffending inspired him to set up his own programme to help prisoners into work on release. 

He now works alongside a number of prisons and Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRC) in his local area – including Sodexo’s teams at HMP Peterborough and Norfolk & Suffolk CRC – to offer employment opportunities to residents on release. 

Gez Chetal has 35 years’ experience in the hotel industry, spending 20 years with the Trust House Forte chain before moving to start his own successful chain of hotels. 

He now owns a hotel in Thetford and was inspired to act after months of struggling to find staff. “I started working with the Department of Work and Pensions who suggested that ex-offenders could be a route to recruitment,” said Gez. “I came to realise there is a lot of talent in the prison population.”

Gez started visiting various prisons in his local area with his wife on a regular basis and interviewing people due for release about potential employment prospects. 

Inspired to do more, the couple then looked to secure funding to set up an official programme, and PrismStart was born. Gez engaged with MPs including Dominic Raab, Liz Truss (pictured with Gez) and David Liddington to get high-profile support and has linked up with charities including the Princes Trust and St Michaels Hospice, who work with ex-offenders to reduce reoffending.