Our aims – Ripon House

Purpose of Ripon House.

Ripon House Approved Premises provides structured accommodation for medium / high risk female offenders under the supervision of the Probation Service. Residents live in a structured environment, which includes an overnight curfew and 24 hour supervision by trained staff.

Whilst at Ripon House residents are expected to work on their offending behaviour. Its holistic approach looks at the whole person and their needs. All of the link work and group work is monitored by a qualified Probation Practice manager to ensure quality of delivery and content.

We have excellent relationships with local groups, shopkeepers, schools and faith leaders. We take our duty to protect the public seriously and being a Ministry of Justice funded establishment means that we have all the necessary security equipment, training and staff to supervise High Risk Offenders and to enforce licence conditions. We have an excellent relationship with the Police and hold regular community briefings at the hostel. We also participate in selected community activities with selected residents.

All residents are subject to a minimum curfew time of 11pm to 6am but this can be extended where required to suit a particular resident/licence. Regular random drug and alcohol testing is part of the normal regime. There are a minimum of two staff available on the premises 24 hours a day and they have access to an on-call manager 365 days a year to assist in any serious incident.

We do not shrink from rigorously enforcing licence and bail conditions and our strict rules that residents do not bring nor consume drugs or alcohol onto the premises including the grounds. That said we believe that our role is to motivate residents to change their offending behaviour in a supportive environment. This is especially necessary during a period of detoxification and withdrawal from hard drugs or alcohol.