A taxi boss who launched his innovative "Batman" safety scheme earlier this year says that criminal reoffending rates show the system is "broken."
The Ministry of Justice found more than 1,600 people in Bolton were released from prison, cautioned or given a non-custodial sentence in the year leading up to September 2022.
Of these around a quarter reoffended within a year which for Shaz Malik, an enigmatic and inspirational businessman who helps in the rehabilitation of ex-offenders, points to a “broken system.”
Mr Malik said: “Some people are successful, and they are the people who want to change.
“But they need to want to change, and some people don’t.”
A poster created by Mr Malik about the 'Batman' scheme (Image: Public)
He added: “The people who want to carry one offending are those that don’t know any other way, some people just think they’re a criminal and that’s it.
“But its like if you’ve got a bad, do you just keep getting into more debt? No, you need to come out of it.”
Mr Malik has become a well-known figure in his hometown of Chorley as well as in Bolton as the boss of the 4Sixes taxi company and for his “Batman strategy” safety scheme.
The scheme involves training taxi drivers to help keep each other and their communities safe by reporting dangerous or criminal incidents to Mr Malik using radios.
Mr Malik says that he then will work with police to resolve these issues, and he also hopes to bring a similar scheme, which involves taxi drivers helping deliver food to the needy, to Bolton.
But along the way Mr Malik has encountered members of his own taxi association who have been victims of crime as well as people looking to break out of offending cycles.
He said that he is not surprised by the Ministry of Justice figures which show that of the 1,634 offenders in Bolton in the year up to September 2022, 460 reoffended within a year.
This meant that the borough’s reoffending rate for that year stood at 28.2 per cent, up from 22.2 per cent the year before.
Mr Malik said: “A lot of them are in gangs or they’re on drugs and some people do it because they want easy money.
“But they don’t understand, once it's gone down that’s it.”
He added: “The criminal justice system is broken, once they’re released what are they released to?
“The whole system is broken, we should be rehabilitating people while they’re still inside, we should be giving them skills like plumbing or electrics.”
Across England and Wales, reoffenders had an average of 3.8 new offences roughly the same rate as in Bolton.
But the government says it is bringing in a range of measures to help tackle reoffending.
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A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "This government is committed to a criminal justice system that makes better citizens, not better criminals.
"That has started by addressing the crisis in our prisons with the emergency measures set out by the Lord Chancellor last month.
"We are also strengthening the probation services, bringing on 1,000 new probation officers by March 2025.
“And we will be doing more to bring together prison governors and employers to help get people into work and break the cycle of crime.
"These statistics are a reminder of the scale of that task, but this new Government is committed to reducing reoffending."
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