Degrees are expensive. My offer to do a master’s degree in September 2019 was no exception. Fortunately the government were happy to step in and cover my accommodation, food, and travel.

I say happy. They were legally obliged to - I was in prison.

A few years prior, I was arrested whilst on shift at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle. Bundled into a police car, hands in cuffs, my promising medical career ended by drug dealing. In prison, I was assigned the usual menial labour, but I wanted more. It was hard to see how moving thousands of plant pots around the gardens each day would prevent me and my fellow prisoners from returning here. Post-prison jobs in psychiatric research and prison reform called for me, but I knew I needed a further degree to facilitate either.

The government talks a good game about rehabilitation, but the default answer in prison is no. And unless I could find the £3000 I was short for the tuition fees, it would remain a no. Fortunately, charities like the Longford Trust exist to say yes, stepping in to do the rehabilitation the government should.

Each year The Longford Trust offers scholarships to thirty or so serving or ex-prisoners to study for degrees. This is not only a financial lifeline, as they augment each scholar with an experienced mentor, and facilitate extensive post release careers advice. Turning prison sentences into degrees, and then into graduate level jobs like mine.

Like many with a drug problem, in prison I took to running. Laps of the perimeter of the prison have morphed into running half marathons every so often. So on 7th September, I will again leave Newcastle, but this time on foot. I’ll be crossing the Tyne Bridge with the 60,000 others running the Great North Run 2025, and I want to give something back to the charity which helped get me here.

Scholarships may range from a few hundred, to several thousands of pounds. A far sight cheaper than the cost of keeping someone in prison. It’s an easy sell - your donation here will directly fund someone embarking on a degree, and cover the costs of the staff supporting someone doing the extraordinary, despite the obvious disadvantage of being in prison.