Bridging the Gap
Who they are
"Bridging the Gap (BTG) is a small voluntary organisation which aims to help discharged
prisoners settle back into the community. They offer advice and information
to them, their families, prison and probation staff, students, academics and interested
members of the public.
Most of the prisons in England and Wales DO NOT offer any pre-release program. Many
discharged prisoners find that dramatic changes have taken place to the benefit system
and even the currency during their sentence. Life outside can be bewildering at first.
BTG produce a 'Prisoners Information Manual' which includes a
number of lists of useful addresses including benefits agencies, housing associations,
job centres, housing benefits and council tax office addresses, C.A.Bs., registry offices
and furniture re-cycling projects. BTG have been given permission from 'The Prison
Reform Trust' to reproduce their unique series of 'Prisoners' Information Books' in their
'Prisoners Information Manual'. They run educational/pre-release programs to
prepare inmates for release and offer speakers to talk about their work and the problems
prisoners can face upon release. They also facilitate and oversee a network of
some 500 prisoner pen pals."
What they had
As mentioned above, BTG produce a number of booklets of useful addresses including eg benefits
agencies, housing associations, job centres etc. etc. These were in the form of
Microsoft Word documents but in a mixture of formats. There were 9 of these booklets
- all with slightly different layouts. Here are two examples :
A simple version
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*Alexandria Public Caller Office Benefits Agency
9 Mitchell Way, Alexandria, Glasgow, G83 0LW.
Tel:- 0141 951 3100 Fax:- 0141 951 3101
Office opening times:-
Monday 08.45-16.00 Tuesday 08.45-16.00 Wednesday 08.45-16.00
Thurdsay 08.45-16.00 Friday 08.45-15.30 Weekends Closed
*Campbeltown Benefits Agency
40 Hall Street, Campbeltown, Argyllshire, PA28 6BZ.
Tel:-01586 559200 Fax:-01586 559230
Office opening times:-
Monday 09.00-16.00 Tuesday 09.00-16.00 Wednesday 09.00-16.00
Thursday 09.00-16.00 Friday 09.00-15.00 Weekends Closed
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A complex version
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SUFFOLK - HOUSING DEPARTMENTS
BARBERGH DISTRICT Council - Housing Needs Service
Corks Lane, Hadleigh, Ipswich IP7 6SJ
Tel: 01473 822 801 Fax: 01473 823 594
Service Offered: Assessment of Priority Need under the Housing Act. Can
provide temporary accommodation for those assessed as in Priority Need --
those with children or pregnant, vulnerable because of age (60+), disability
or at risk from violence. Also offers general housing advice and information
to private and Council tenants, and Homeless people.
Target Group: People who are, or may be, Priority Homeless, and the general
public.
Area Served: Barbergh District Council Area
How to Contact: Visit - or telephone to book an appointment - during office
hours
Hours: Mon. 9.00am - 5.00pm Tues. 9.00am - 5.00pm
Wed. 9.00am - 5.00pm Thurs. 9.00am - 5.00pm
Fri. 9.00am - 4.30pm
Weekends: no
FOREST HEATH DISTRICT Council - Housing Section
College Heath Road, Mildenhall, Bury St.Edmunds, Suffolk IP28 7EY
Tel: 01638 719 000 Fax: 01638 719 000
Service Offered: Assessment of Priority Need under the Housing Act. Can
provide temporary accommodation for those assessed as in Priority Need --
those with children or pregnant, vulnerable because of age (60+), disability
or at risk from violence. Also offers general housing advice and information
to private and Council tenants, and Homeless people.
Target Group: People who are, or may be, Priority Homeless, and the general
public.
Area Served: Forest Heath District Council Area
How to Contact: Visit or telephone to book an appointment - during office
hours
Hours: Mon. 8.30am - 5.00pm Tues. 8.30am - 5.00pm
Wed. 8.30am - 5.00pm Thurs. 8.30am - 5.00pm
Fri. 8.30am - 4.30pm
Weekends: no
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What they wanted
BTG have their very own web site
www.btguk.org (designed and maintained by
Jamjuice Web Design). They
wanted to publish these documents onto their internet site but with a search facility.
They also wanted to produce a CD of all their resources for distribution to
people who have PCs but do not have internet access.
What we did
Each of these documents contained hundreds of "records". We took each document
and wrote a script which trawled through it to create :
a) an A to Z lookup page
b) an alphabet index page for each alphabet
c) a HTML web page for each record
d) an XML file for each record
e) a HTML index file which was a straight listing of the office names
f) a CGI script which allows the XML files to be viewed from 2 seperate sites giving 2
look-n-feels. This was searchable by postcode.
To see this in action go to the
Bridging The Gap web site. Then click on the 'resources' link. When
on the 'resources' page look for 'Lists of job centres, benefit offices and register offices'
title. Click on the link for 'Search online database'.
Compare this with
Greenwich Church web site. Click on the button for 'Prison' and scroll down
to the title 'Finding the offices when leaving prison'. Then click on link for
'Postcode'. Both these forms access the same XML files on the web, but display
the information in the look-n-fell for their own web sites. No database engine
required.
We also designed the graphics for their CD covers for version 1 & version 2.
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