Hope Hacks in the Secure Estate

Report Summary

Following the success of our Humber Hope Hacks, we were keen to make sure that all voices and experiences were represented in the project. It was therefore decided to expand the project to include young adults in secure settings such as prisons, mental health units and custody suites.

The sessions ran from February to July 2026 and were delivered to 37 young adults in HMP Hull and HMP Humber. Topics included self and identity, life skills and aspirations, community safety, and healthy relationships. The conversation notes, materials and suggested solutions from each session were collated and analysed to identify key findings and overarching themes, each with a set of recommendations. These were sense-checked with the young adults during the final sessions of the project.

The findings and recommendations will support and inform the work of the Humber VPP and its partners, as well as other strategic arrangements such as Reducing Reoffending, Local Criminal Justice, Youth Justice, Public Health Approach to Domestic Abuse (PHADA) and Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAWG).

For the full picture, we encourage you to read the complete report, which provides the detail and context behind the findings.

Short on time? You can also view:

• Presentation – key findings at a glance
• 7-minute briefing – the main findings in a quick-read format

Our team would like to thank the staff at both prisons for hosting these sessions and enabling this project to take place within the secure estates. Most importantly, we would like to thank all the young adults who participated in this project and provided the valuable insight that informed this report. They exceeded our expectations in terms of openness and willingness to share their experiences.

About Hope Hacks

Hope Hacks were designed by the Hope Collective, an organisation formed to support the campaign for Damilola Taylor, a 10-year-old boy who wrote of his hope to change the world, shortly before his untimely death in 2000. The Hope Collective honour this legacy and aim to establish real change that enables the UK’s most vulnerable communities to be free from poverty, violence, and discrimination. They do this by working with young adults to create long-term change, amplify their voices and focus on their hopes for the future.

Between February 2023 and February 2024, the Humber VPP held four Hope Hack events, one in each local authority area of Humberside: Bridlington (East Riding of Yorkshire), Grimsby (North East Lincolnshire), Hull (Kingston-Upon-Hull) and Scunthorpe (North Lincolnshire). The Hope Hacks were promoted to schools, colleges, alternative education provisions and local community groups. Approximately 310 young adults attended these events.