Building Futures
Building Futures is our project funded by the National Lottery Community Fund to explore the experiences of people who will spend 10 or more years in custody.
About the project
Building Futures focuses on how long sentences impact prisoners, their families and wider communities. Working collaboratively with prisoners, prison staff and others, the programme aims to provide solutions and shape a prison environment that is safe, humane, encourages accountability and fosters hope. It places a strong emphasis on promoting prisoner leadership and self-advocacy and the creation of inter-prisoner support networks.
What's the issue
In the last twenty years, the prison population has changed hugely.
- Sentences for more serious crimes have become longer.
- At least 11% of the prison population is now serving some type of indeterminate sentence.
- Far more people will now spend 10 or more years in prison.
- The average tariff length for murder has increased from 13 years in 2000 to 20 years in 2020.
- Meeting the challenges of this change will shape the prison landscape for the foreseeable future.
Latest news & updates: Building Futures
View all news and updates
Indeterminate sentences for 18-20-year-olds nearly double in a decade
Report reveals urgent need for age-appropriate support for young adults serving long sentences
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New report reveals why hope and meaning are vital for people serving long sentences
Report calls for reforms to help long-term prisoners maintain hope and purpose during their sentence
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New reports reveal the hidden toll of long-term prison sentences on families
The reports highlight the emotional and financial strain on families of long-term prisoners
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Building Futures showcase: voices of leadership and hope from inside
Celebrating lived experience and reform of long-term imprisonment at the University of Manchester
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A deficit in trust and lengthy delays in sentence progression are leaving long-term prisoners in Scotland without hope
Report reveals delays, poor communication, and lack of transparency in Scottish prison progression
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New report highlights significant barriers to reintegration faced by long-term prisoners on release
Enhanced support and policy reform is needed to assist long sentenced prisoners on release
Building Futures publications
View all- July 2026 Rebuilding trust: key working, progression and policy in prisons in England and Wales This report has been produced by the HMP Coldingley Building Futures Working Group. The report exami... Rebuilding trust: key working, progression and policy in prisons in England and Wales
- June 2026 The Hope and Fulfilment Survey This report presents the Hope and Fulfilment Survey (HAFS), developed as part of the Prison Reform T... The Hope and Fulfilment Survey
- May 2026 Understanding and improving the Category A review process This report presents the findings of a peer-led review by the Building Futures Network Group at HMP ... Understanding and improving the Category A review process
- April 2026 Being Young Inside: young adult transitions across the long-term prison sentence Being Young Inside explores what it means to receive and serve a long prison sentence at the point o... Being Young Inside: young adult transitions across the long-term prison sentence
