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Special Edition

Rehabilitative Culture

This edition includes:

Rehabilitative Culture Part 2:An update on evidence and practice

Dr Ruth E. Mann

Creating an Enabling EnvironmentDr Jamie Bennett and Matt Tilt

‘May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.’-The importance of reciprocal hope in prison growth

Dr Sarah Lewis and Steve Robertson

Rehabilitative Culture in a HighSecurity prison

Stuart Greene, Andy Robinson and Dr Bill Davies

Rehabilitative culture in a closed prisonGeorgina Barkham-Perry

Rehabilitative Culture in a progressive closed prisonDr Ruth Armstrong and Dr Amy Ludlow

Living in an open prisonDr Jamie Bennett

Prison Officers’ Perspectives on Five Minute Interventionsand Rehabilitative Culture in a Local Prison

Catherine Vickers-Pinchbeck

Staff perceptions of rehabilitative cultureLucy Newton

Working in a Rehabilitative CultureRichard Shuker, Andy Bray, Clare Cowell and Tris Green

P R I S O N S E R V I C E

OURNALJ P R I S O N S E R V I C E

OURNALJJuly 2019 No 244

Prison Service Journal Prison Service JournalIssue 244Issue 244

Contents

3 Rehabilitative Culture Part 2:An update on evidence and practiceDr Ruth E. Mann

Editorial Comment2

11 Creating an Enabling EnvironmentDr Jamie Bennett

May your choices reflect your hopes, not yourfears. -The importance of reciprocal hopein prison growthDr Sarah Lewis and Steve Robertson

17

Dr Jamie Bennett is Governor ofHMP Long Lartin and was Governorof Grendon and Springhill between2012 and 2019. Matt Tilt isGovernor of HMP Onley and wasDeputy Governor of HMP Grendonand Springhill between 2015and 2018.

Rehabilitative Culture in a HighSecurity prison.Dr Bill Davies

Dr Ruth E. Mann, RehabilitativeCulture Lead, Public Sector Prisons North

Purpose and editorial arrangements

The Prison Service Journal is a peer reviewed journal published by HM Prison Service of England and Wales.

Its purpose is to promote discussion on issues related to the work of the Prison Service, the wider criminal justice

system and associated fields. It aims to present reliable information and a range of views about these issues.

The editor is responsible for the style and content of each edition, and for managing production and the

Journal’s budget. The editor is supported by an editorial board — a body of volunteers all of whom have worked

for the Prison Service in various capacities. The editorial board considers all articles submitted and decides the out-

line and composition of each edition, although the editor retains an over-riding discretion in deciding which arti-

cles are published and their precise length and language.

From May 2011 each edition is available electronically from the website of the Centre for Crimeand Justice Studies. This is available at http://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/psj.html

Circulation of editions and submission of articles

Six editions of the Journal, printed at HMP Leyhill, are published each year with a circulation of approximately

6,500 per edition. The editor welcomes articles which should be up to c.4,000 words and submitted by email to

[email protected] or as hard copy and on disk to Prison Service Journal, c/o Print Shop Manager,

HMP Leyhill, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, GL12 8BT. All other correspondence may also be sent to the

Editor at this address or to [email protected].

Footnotes are preferred to endnotes, which must be kept to a minimum. All articles are subject to peer

review and may be altered in accordance with house style. No payments are made for articles.

Subscriptions

The Journal is distributed to every Prison Service establishment in England and Wales. Individual members of

staff need not subscribe and can obtain free copies from their establishment. Subscriptions are invited from other

individuals and bodies outside the Prison Service at the following rates, which include postage:

United Kingdom

single copy £7.00

one year’s subscription £40.00 (organisations or individuals in their professional capacity)

£35.00 (private individuals)

Overseas

single copy £10.00



Orders for subscriptions (and back copies which are charged at the single copy rate) should be sent with a

cheque made payable to ‘HM Prison Service’ to Prison Service Journal, c/o Print Shop Manager, HMP Leyhill,

Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, GL12 8BT.

Dr Sarah Lewis is Director of PenalReform Solutions and Steve Robertson is Deputy Governorof HMP Guys Marsh.

26Stuart Greene and Andy Robinsonare serving prisoners at HMP FullSutton. Dr Bill Davies is a SeniorLecturer in Criminology at LeedsBeckett University, and Director of theLeeds Beckett Centre for Universityand Prison Partnerships.


29Georgina Barkham-Perry is a PhDstudent at the Department ofCriminology, University of Leicester

Paul AddicottHMPPS

Dr Ruth ArmstrongUniversity of Cambridge

Dr Rachel BellHMP SendAlli Black

HMP KirkhamMaggie Bolger

Prison Service College, Newbold RevelProfessor Alyson Brown

Edge Hill UniversityGareth EvansIndependentDr Ben Crewe

University of CambridgeDr Sacha Darke

University of Westminster Dr Michael Fiddler

University of GreenwichDr Kate GoochUniversity of Bath

Dr Darren WoodwardUniversity Centre, Grimsby

Dr David MaguireUniversity College, London Dr Jamie Bennett (Editor)Governor HMP Long Lartin

Paul Crossey (Deputy Editor)HMP Huntercombe

Dr Karen Harrison (Reviews Editor)University of Hull

Steve HallIndependent

Professor Yvonne JewkesUniversity of BathDr Helen JohnstonUniversity of HullDr Bill Davies

Leeds Beckett UniversityMartin Kettle

Church of EnglandDr Victoria KnightDe Montfort University

Monica LloydUniversity of Birmingham

Dr Amy LudlowUniversity of Cambridge

Professor Anne-Marie McAlindenQueen’s University, Belfast

Dr Ruth MannHMPPS

William PayneIndependentGeorge PughHMP BelmarshDr David ScottOpen University

Christopher StaceyUnlock

Ray TaylorHMPPS

Mike WheatleyHMPPS

Kim WorkmanRethinking Crime and Punishment, NZ

Dr David HoneywellUniversity of DurhamJackson JosephHMP Leyhill

Editorial Board


OURNALJ

Prison Service JournalIssue 244 1

JULY 2019

32 Rehabilitative Culture in a progressiveclosed prisonDr Ruth Armstrong and Dr Amy Ludlow

Dr Ruth Armstrong is a SeniorResearch Associate at University ofCambridge and Co-Director ofLearning Together

Dr Amy Ludlow is Director of MSt inApplied Criminology, Penology andManagement at University ofCambridge and Co-Director ofLearning Together

38 Living in an open prisonAhmed Shah, James Allen, Philip Peters andDr. Jamie Bennett

Ahmed Shah, James Allen andPhilip Peters are residents at HMPSpringhill. They are interviewedby Dr. Jamie Bennett, Governor ofHMP Long Lartin

44 Prison Officers’ Perspectives on Five MinuteInterventions and Rehabilitative Culturein a Local PrisonCatherine Vickers-Pinchbeck

Catherine Vickers-Pinchbeck is aForensic Psychologist in Training atSouth WestPsychological Services, HMPPS

The Editorial Board wishes to make clear that the views expressed by contributors are their own and donot necessarily reflect the official views or policies of the Prison Service.Printed at HMP Leyhill on 115 gsm and 200 gsm Galerie Art SatinSet in 10 on 13 pt Frutiger LightCirculation approx 6,500ISSN 0300-3558„ Crown Copyright 2019

52 Staff perceptions of rehabilitative cultureLucy Newton

Lucy Newton is based in theRehabilitative Culture Team, PublicSector Prisons North

57 Working in a Rehabilitative CultureRichard Shuker, Andy Bray, Clare Cowelland Tris Green

Richard Shuker is Head of ClinicalServices at HMP Grendon. Andy Bray,Clare Cowell and Tris Green arespecialist officers at HMP Grendon

Cover image provided by Dr Sarah Lewis

Prison Service Journal2 Issue 244

In January 2018, Prison Service Journal publishedan article by Dr Ruth Mann, Flora Fitzalan Howardand Jenny Tew, which focused on ‘rehabilitativeculture’. This article attempted to define a conceptthat had become increasingly discussed in prisons,had been the subject of a guidance document, andwas starting to shape practice. The authorsoptimistically claimed, ‘we are seeing somethingof a cultural revolution taking place’. A year and ahalf down the line, and interest has continued togrow in this concept and this edition of PSJattempts not only to take stock of the currentstate of play, but also to provide ideas,illustrations and advice that are deliberatelyintended to shape practice.

The edition opens with an article by Dr Ruth Mann,in which she describes that a rehabilitative culture is ‘aculture with a purpose; that is, to support people inturning away from crime and toward a different life’. AsMann explains, this is ‘not necessarily the same thing asa happy culture, and certainly is not a soft culture’. Thearticle goes on to highlight the seven features ofrehabilitative cultures: relationships and interaction;gives hope; fair processes; physical environment;encourages identity change; builds social capital; and,rehabilitative leadership. The article illustrates thesewith a variety of examples from prisons.

The edition goes on to examine two examples ofprisons that have cultivated more rehabilitativecultures. The first is HMP Springhill, an open prison,which became the first men’s prison to achieve whole-prison accreditation as an Enabling Environment,through the Royal College of Psychiatrists. In aconversation between the previous Deputy Governor,Matt Tilt, and Governor, Jamie Bennett, they describethe journey the prison undertook, recovering fromcatastrophic failure and rebuilding the culture in apositive, progressive way. The second project describedin this edition, is the Prison Growth Project at HMPGuys Marsh. Independent academic, Dr Sarah Lewis,and Steve Robertson, Deputy Governor of HMP GuysMarsh, describe the background to this project, its keyfeatures and impact. This was a project that originallystarted in a Norwegian prison, and fosters positiverelationships and collaboration between those who liveand work in prisons.

The sense of what is possible and what is achieved,will vary from prison to prison. This edition attempts tobring this to life through a series of interviews withthose who are in prisons. This covers the spectrum ofadult male prisons from high security, to category C, toopen prison. These interviews illustrate that the exactshape of rehabilitative practices, and the perception ofthem, alters significantly in different settings. Thisreflects a number of factors, including the depth andweight of custody, the stage of sentence eachindividual is at, and the organisational context.

The edition then goes on to address the vitalcontribution of those who work in prisons. The FiveMinute Intervention training has been an importantelement of the institutional support for nurturingrehabilitative cultures and has been rolled outnationally. Catherine Vickers-Pinchbeck contributes aqualitative study of this training. This study offersgrounds for cautious optimism. It shows that those whowork in prisons generally support rehabilitative aims,and either have relevant skills or can be assistedthrough training to develop them. Making the most ofthe talents of prison staff can, however, be hamperedby resources. Many people feel they do not havesufficient time and opportunity to maximise theirimpact. Two further sets of interviews give opportunityfor prison staff to describe their contribution torehabilitative cultures. These interviews were conductedin a category C prison, a young offenders institution,and at HMP Grendon, a specialised prison housingtherapeutic communities for men who have committedserious violent and sexually violent offences. Theseinterviews show the passion, imagination and talent ofthose working directly with people in prison.

The previous edition of PSJ was on the theme of‘The prison crisis’. It is no accident that this is nowfollowed by a hopeful edition. Indeed, it is no accidentthat the support for rehabilitative cultures has emergedduring such a challenging time. Crises are clearly athreat to institutions, including prisons, but they arealso an opportunity. They are an opportunity to move innew directions, take different approaches and developinnovative practices. The potential of rehabilitativecultures is that in a period of crises, they offer whatMann, Fitzalan Howard and Tew described 18 monthsago as a ‘cultural revolution’ in penal practice.

Editorial Comment


In the January 2018 issue of PSJ, we1 set out someideas of what is meant by a rehabilitative culturein prison. We wrote about the importance ofhope, leadership, fairness, reward, relationshipsand physical environment. In this article, eighteenmonths on, I will provide an update drawing onsome important new evidence about the featuresof a rehabilitative culture. We are also learningfrom practice: as prisons explicitly undertakeculture change we are quickly developingknowledge about how to create cultures thatoffer hope and opportunity for all.

The diagram below shows the features of arehabilitative culture that we have identified so far.

The features we described in our previous articleremain key to a rehabilitative culture. In the last 18months, we have been able to expand on some ofthem, and add others. The main point here is that weare talking about a rehabilitative culture — a culturewith a purpose; that is, to support people in turningaway from crime and toward a different life. Arehabilitative culture is not necessarily the same thing asa happy culture, and certainly is not a soft culture. It ismore than the prison’s social culture; it includes the

prison’s ‘philosophy and fitness for purpose in relationto reducing reoffending’.2 Challenging and enablingpeople to change requires a culture that is oftendemanding to work and live in. However the benefits ofa rehabilitative culture far outweigh the demands:rehabilitative prisons are safer, and they provide muchmore job satisfaction for staff.

Relationships and interactions

In a people organisation, the way that the peoplerelate to each other forms the heart of the culture.Rehabilitative relationships are more than supportive,positive relationships — although support and positivityare essential. They involve interactions where people

are enabled to thinkdifferently: to set positivegoals, to manage emotions,to take other people’sperspectives, to solveproblems and to make gooddecisions. Research,particularly in probationsettings, has identified somevery specific ways in whichthese outcomes areachieved3 and has shownthat such relationships areassociated with significantlyless reoffending. The most

rehabilitative interactions have a coaching elementwhere staff are able to teach problem solving anddecision making through Socratic questioning and asupportive style. Rehabilitative conversations involvepositive feedback to recognise change, and they enablepeople to make their own decisions wherever possiblerather than telling them what to do in a parental orauthoritarian way.

In HMPPS, we have operationalised some of theseskills through initiatives like Five Minute Intervention


Dr Ruth E. Mann is Rehabilitative Culture Lead, Public Sector Prisons North’

Features of rehabilitative culture

Relationships & interactions Gives Hope Fair processes Physical

environment

Encouragesidentitychange

Builds socialcapital

Rehabilitative Leadership

Staff coach inperspective taking& problem solving

Staff encourageparticipation inrehabilitation activites

Staff reward newbehaviours morethan punishingwrongdoing

Interpersonalhumanity &decency

Staff believe people can change

People believethey have a future,& are assisted toplan for how it willbe better

Everyone helpedto find theirstrengths & talents

People address &treat each otherrespectfully

Neutral &transparentdecision making

Everyone has avoice

Clear trustworthymotive - lookingfor the best for all

Procedurally justcommunication

Access to greenand nature

Clean and decent

Variety of colour &visual interest

“Good dark” &quiet at night

Peer mentor andpeer supportschemes (DoGood Be Good)

Reward newbehaviours

Enable decisionmaking andresponsibility

Easy for peopleto contact and tobe contacted byfamily & friends

Encouragesactivity and newsupport networks

Leadersconsistently modeland encouragerehabilitativebehavious andattitudes

Staff are treatedwith fair processes

Staff havelegitimate authority

Clear Vision,Values & Expectations

1. Mann, R. E., Fitzalan Howard, F & Tew, J. (2018). What is a rehabilitative prison culture? Prison Service Journal 235, pp 3-9. 2. Blagden, N., Winder, B., & Hames, C. (2016). “They treat us like human beings”—Experiencing a therapeutic sex offenders prison: Impact on

prisoners and staff and implications for treatment. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 60(4), 371-396.3. Bourgon, G., Gutierrez, L. & Ashton, J. (2012). From case management to change agent: The evolution of “What works” community

supervision. Corrections Research User Report 2012-01, Public Safety Canada; Trotter, C. (1996). The impact of different supervisionpractices in community corrections. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 29, 1, 29-46.


training and the Strategy of Choices. Some prisons havestarted to augment these initiatives with other promptsto help staff and prisoners engage in coachinginteractions — see Figure 1 and 2 below. In Figure 1,staff at HMP Wymott respond to low level ruleviolations with an offer to help the person change theirbehaviour instead of a punishment. In Figure 2, staff atHMP Haverigg use ‘catch someone doing good’ cardsto acknowledge pro-social behaviour.

Figure 1: Time for Change at HMP Wymott

Figure 2: Catch Someone Doing Good at HMP Haverigg

Even when staff do not have coaching skills, or donot have the time to use them, they can make adifference simply by encouraging prisoners to engage inrehabilitative activity such as programmes, education,and work training4.

Even more important than what staff do is howthey do it. New research from the Cambridge Prisons

Research Centre has established that in order toimprove safety and reduce reoffending, interactions inprison need to be conducted with humanity anddecency.5 The absence of humanity is ‘experienced aspsychologically painful and can lead to depression,suicide and/or anger, frustration and violence’ (p. 2).The presence of humanity allows prisoners’ ‘inherenthuman dignity to emerge’ (p. 8).

It is easier to treat someone with humanity whenyou can understand the person behind the behaviour.An understanding of the impact of early life traumasuch as adverse childhood experiences and brain injurycan help staff respond differently to challengingbehaviours including aggression, substance misuse andself-harm.

Hope

Desistance research, which examines the way inwhich people give up crime, has established howimportant it is that people have hope that they canhave a satisfying future without crime. Shadd Maruna,the leading desistance expert, talks about the mindsetof being ‘doomed to deviance’ when people feel theyhave no choice about how their lives are going to panout.6 A rehabilitative culture nurtures the oppositemindset: a sense of control over the future coupledwith strong self-worth and belief in your ability to‘make it’.7

In order to give hope, staff themselves need tohave hope that the people in their care can make it. Weknow it can be difficult for staff to hold on to hopewhen they only see failures — the people who return toprison — not the successes. To help create hope, manyprisons are making an effort to publicise success storiesof people who have found ways to transform their livesafter leaving prison. These stories can become‘narratives of hope’ that help everyone remember thatchange is achievable. Additionally, many prisons arefinding innovative ways to reveal and develop people’sstrengths and talents — artwork and music arefrequent examples and, perhaps even more importantly,talents at helping and supporting others, throughinitiatives such as peer mentoring, peer tutoring, oractive citizenship.8

In the last year, research has revealed (perhapsunsurprisingly) that hope in prison is strongly attachedto the perceived likelihood of getting parole. Forexample, at HMP Warren Hill:

4. Molleman, T. & van der Broek, T.C. (2014). Understanding the link between perceived prison conditions and prison staff. InternationalJournal of Law, Crime and Justice, 42. 33-53.

5. Auty, K. & Liebling, A. (2019). Exploring the relationship between prison social climate and reoffending. Justice Quarterly, 1-24.6. Maruna, S. (2001). Making Good. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.7. LeBel, T. P., Burnett, R., Maruna, S., & Bushway, S. (2008). The ‘chicken and egg’ of subjective and social factors in desistance from

crime. European Journal of Criminology, 5(2), 131-159.8. Edgar, K., Jacobson, J., & Biggar, K. (2011). Time Well Spent: A practical guide to active citizenship and volunteering in prison. London:

Prison Reform Trust.


Prisoners spoke a language of hope andprogress, terms which came up in almostevery conversation…. They consistentlyexplained that this was a place to come‘unstuck’ and, as a result, they were positive,hopeful and engaged. Much of this optimismwas related to parole… Warren Hill excelled inpreparing prisoners for, and supporting themthrough, their parole’.9

This research speaks to the importance of the‘Offender Management Units’ (OMUs) in prisons andtheir key role in rehabilitative culture. Traditionally moreassociated with public protection, sentence planningand risk assessment than rehabilitative activity in theirown right, there may be more that OMUs could dooffer hope and opportunity through their managementof the parole process.

Fair processes

The importance of procedural justice has beenwritten about extensively in the PSJ over the last fewyears. To avoid repetition, I will just note that there isstrong and consistent evidence supporting the impactof procedural justice on both prison safety10 and post-release success.11 Procedural justice should not beconsidered a ‘buzz word’. It is a way of deliveringinstitutional processes that makes an enormousdifference to cooperation, views of authority, behaviourand outcomes. We must actively work to improve theconsultation, respect, neutrality and transparency withwhich we communicate decisions and procedures, bothformally and informally. Procedural justice is rarelyachieved by accident: it needs to be formally designedin to how we operate, and it feels cumbersome andstrange to do this initially. Procedural justice is anessential component of how staff relate to prisoners —how they convey decisions, make requests and so forth;but it is also necessary within the more formal systemsof a prison, such as adjudications12, local writtennotices, administration of incentives schemes13, cellsearching14, and offender management.15 A number of

prisons have produced some excellent examples ofprocedurally just notices and other communications —see Figure 3 for an example.

The benefits of focusing on procedural justice foreveryone who lives or works in or visits a prison areabsolutely worth it. An important new research studyby HMPPS researchers Flora Fitzalan Howard and HelenWakeling16 used four years’ worth of MQPL and SQLdata to examine how both staff and prisonerprocedural justice perceptions were related to prisonsafety and staff well-being. Staff who had betterperceptions of procedural justice were morerehabilitation-oriented, more committed to their jobs,had lower sickness rates and greater well-being. Prisonswhere prisoners had better perceptions of proceduraljustice had lower rates of suicide, self-harm andviolence. Some types of prisons were perceived to bemore procedurally just than others: the poorest staff

Figure 3: Procedurally Just communication door sticker, HMP

Hewell.

9. Liebling, A., Laws, B., Lieber, E., Auty, K., SCHMIDT, B. E., Crewe, B., Gardom, J;, Kant, D. & Morey, M. (2019). Are hope and possibilityachievable in prison? The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice.

10. Beijersbergen, K. A., Dirkzwager, A. J. E., Eichelsheim, V. I., & Van der Lann, P. H. (2015a). Procedural justice, anger, and prisoners’misconduct. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 42(2), 196–218.

11. Beijersbergen, K. A., Dirkzwager, A. J. E., & Nieuwbeerta, P. (2016). Reoffending after release: does procedural justice duringimprisonment matter? Criminal Behavior and Mental Health, 43(1), 63–82.

12. Wakeling, H & Fitzalan Howard, F. (2019). The use of rehabilitative adjudications for those in recovery. Prison Service Journal, 242. 13. Liebling, A. (2008). Incentives and Earned Privileges revisited: Fairness, discretion and the quality of prison life. Journal of Scandinavian

Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention, 9, 25-41.14. Mann, R. E. (2019). Polite, assertive and sensitive: Procedurally just searching at HMP Holme House. Prison Service Journal, 242. 15. Bickers, I. (unpublished). Offender supervision, prisoners and procedural justice. MSt thesis: University of Cambridge. 16. Fitzalan Howard, F. & Wakeling, H. (2019). Prisoner and staff perceptions of procedural justice in English and Welsh prisons. HM

Prison & Probation Service Analytical Summary.https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/771324/prisoner-staff-perceptions-procedural-justice-research.pdf


perceptions were in local, training and young people’sprisons, and the poorest prisoner perceptions were indispersal and young people’s prisons.

Physical environment

There is good evidence that poor physicalconditions are associated with a range of problems forboth staff and prisoners: reduced well-being, poorhealth, violence and disorder. To combat these negativeoutcomes, prisons can pay attention to improving notjust cleanliness and decency, but also light, noise, accessto green spaces and access to views of nature. Newanalyses of the importance of physical environmentprovide convincing arguments for the value of payingattention to light, colour and nature.17

While real views and access to real nature are ideal,art and photography also bring positive effects,especially if the images are long distance views in whichthe viewer can temporarily lose themselves. Use ofvaried and bright colour also has a positive effect, de-emphasising the institutional aspect of a prison andmaking big impersonal spaces easier to navigate. Whileprisoners are sensitive to attempts to manipulate moodand behaviour through colour (and there is in fact noevidence to suggest that any colour does have acalming effect), they tend to respond well to attemptsto brighten and de-institutionalise prison environments.

Many prisons have been experimenting withputting these ideas into practice. For example, HMPBerwyn took advice from Professor Dominque Moranin its set-up phase and as a consequence is designedwith brightly coloured interiors and furnishings, making

liberal use of photography of local Welsh landscapes.HMP Buckley Hall has similarly used large scale muralsin its health care department and many prisons are nowplacing murals into all roof apexes. HMP Ranby inNottinghamshire has affixed photographs of naturallandscapes into its ‘first night’ cells and is nowexpanding the scheme to all cells across the prison.There are many more examples, even in urban prisonswith little access to natural space or light.

The importance of good sleep, and the impact ofthe physical environment, is often overlooked in prison,where we have got so used to noise and light acrosseach 24 hour period that we have stopped questioningwhether or how to tackle it. But sleep disruption isstrongly related to aggression within institutions18, andlight and noise are two major sleep disruptors. It wouldtherefore be valuable to consider what can be done tomake prisons quieter and darker at night. Curtains incells are an important start but we also need to thinkabout noises created by night patrols — clanging gatesand so forth — and the presence of strong artificiallight rather than ambient light during sleeping hours.

Although it may be surprising to think that thenature of the physical environment can affect not onlycurrent behaviour but also long term outcomes, there isresearch in both school and hospital settings to indicatethis is the case. For instance, in a detailed study of highperforming vs poorer performing schools, theresearchers found that the way the school maintainedand decorated their buildings affected students’outcomes, but the age of the buildings did not:

‘The school buildings varied in age from aboutten to over a hundred years old. Some of theold buildings were decidedly unattractive andnot well designed for contemporaryapproaches to secondary schooling…. Theschools varied greatly in how they respondedto the physical conditions available to them. Itwas striking how very different essentiallysimilar buildings could be made to appear.Some of the older buildings had been madepleasant and attractive places through theimaginative and well planned use ofdecorations. They appeared smart and well-cared for; other schools, by contrast, haddone little to transform their surroundings…These variations in the care and decoration ofbuildings proved to be related to outcomes’.19

17. Moran, D., & Turner, J. (2018). Turning over a new leaf: The health-enabling capacities of nature contact in prison. Social Science &Medicine. Early Online at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953618302752 Moran, D. (2019). How the prisonenvironment can aid recovery. Prison Service Journal 242.

18. Krizan, Z. & Herlache, A.D. (2015) Sleep disruption and aggression: Implications for violence and its prevention. Psychology ofViolence, 6, 542-552

19. Rutter, M. (1982). Fifteen thousand hours: Secondary schools and their effects on children. Harvard University Press.

Figure 4: HMP Buckley Hall: Healthcare full wall mural


In England and Wales, some of our oldest prisonsare proving that it is possible to create interior andexterior environments that are not only clean anddecent but visually attractive and colourful. Forexample, the journey of HMP Liverpool in this respecthas been openly documented on social media andrightly recognised for its considerable achievementduring the course of 2018. HMP Stafford similarly hasattained exceptionally high standards of cleanlinessand visually stunning outdoor areas within a smallurban space.

Encourages identity change

Desistance research hasfound that identity change is oneimportant aspect of stoppingcrime. People with a criminalidentity enjoy being part of acriminal group, they view this apositive thing, and they feel aconnection with other peoplewho commit crime and adisconnection with people whodo not.20 Criminal identityinvolves what has been termedcriminal thinking: holdingattitudes and beliefs that supportcrime, value criminal behaviour,and prize self-gain over the needsand rights of others.

The kinds of identities thatare associated with desistanceinclude the identity of a goodparent and family provider(someone who providesemotionally and financially for his/her family throughlegitimate means), and someone who has concern forothers, has experienced the reward to be found incaring for others, and sees themselves as putting effortinto positively shaping the next generation.21 So animportant challenge for a rehabilitative culture is toprovide ways to help people try out different identities,experience the reward that comes from helping others,and create new connections that they view positively.

Programmes such as cognitive skills programmescan help people re-evaluate criminal thinking andpromote perspective-taking and consideration of longterm consequences. These programmes are stronglyassociated with reduced reoffending rates and are notreplaced by rehabilitative cultures; rather the effect of

such programmes is maximised when all other aspectsof the culture promote pro-social thinking and identity.

Another way of encouraging identity change is tocreate numerous opportunities for people in prison tonurture and care for others. Peer mentor and peertutoring schemes are examples of what have beencalled ‘do good, be good’ activities. There is goodevidence that these types of activities can have animpact on antisocial and risk-taking behaviour amongyoung people, and can improve the health and well-being of older people. We know less about the impactof these activities on people serving sentences forcrime, but if they follow the same basic principles ofhuman psychology, we can expect that they should.22

Prisons actually offer enormousopportunities for their residentsto experience caring roles inrelation to each other. Mostprisons employ a considerableworkforce of ‘orderlies’, mentorsand peer supporters — violencereduction representatives,Listeners, gym orderlies,reading/writing peer tutors, andso forth. But there is oneimportant aspect that must beconsidered in the allocation ofthese roles: generally, these rolesare highly valued and hence aregiven to the people in prison whoare considered most stable andtrustworthy. These are probablythe people who are least likely tohave a strong criminal identity. Inorder to make prison culturemore rehabilitative we may need

to experiment more with allocating roles on the basis ofwho will benefit most from taking them.

Builds social capital

It is by now a well-known and often-cited researchfinding that people who get more visits in prison havebetter outcomes after release. There are as yet noresearch findings to show what increases visits, butthere are some sensible and obvious steps that can betaken to make visits as easy and welcoming to familiesas possible23, without overly disrupting the necessarysecurity procedures that reduce the chance of a visitbeing used to bring in contraband. Visitors to prisonsoften experience what has been termed ‘secondary

Criminal identityinvolves what has

been termedcriminal thinking:holding attitudesand beliefs that

support crime, valuecriminal behaviour,and prize self-gainover the needs and

rights of others.

20. Boduszek, D., Dhingra, K., & Debowska, A. (2016). The integrated psychosocial model of criminal social identity (IPM-CSI). DeviantBehavior, 37(9), 1–9.

21. LeBel, T. P., Burnett, R., Maruna, S., & Bushway, S. (2008). The ‘chicken and egg’ of subjective and social factors in desistance fromcrime. European Journal of Criminology, 5(2), 131-159.

22. Barnett, G. (2018). “Do good be good” activities. HMPPS Evidence-Based Practice Summary. 23. With thanks to Heidi Scott Neale for her assistance in completing this section.


prisonisation’24: they feel that because they areconnected to someone in prison, they are treated as ifthey themselves are in prison. They are made to wait forlong periods of time, they have to be searched, andthen they are restricted in movement and physicalcontact. The physical environment and set up of atypical visiting room also makes it hard to have personalor difficult conversations. There are some goodexamples in the research of how a professional,dedicated, and consistent visits staffing team can makethe visiting experience much less stressful, simply bytreating people with respect and fairness and byexplaining why certain security procedures arenecessary. Visiting rooms that are designed withnormality in mind are also better environments,especially for children who are visiting.

Many prisons are putting considerable energy intoimproving the visits experience: family days, sports days,outdoor visiting areas, redecoration of visits rooms, andso forth. Family members have clearly welcomed theseinitiatives. Nevertheless, many visitors continue toreport secondary prisonisation, suggesting there is stillmore progress to make.

Social capital goes beyond contact with family andfriends, although these are crucially important. It alsoinvolves having wider supportive social networks. Thesemay be built around shared interests such as sport, orwith the involvement of community organisationsdesigned to help people build better lives, such aschurches, recovery support groups or third sectorsupport organisations. A good example of an initiativein prisons that can increase social capital on release isParkRun. ParkRuns in prison started at HMP Haveriggand are now spreading throughout the prison estate inEngland and Wales. The beauty of ParkRun is that itcombines the healthful advantages of fresh air andexercise with a predictable and welcoming socialenvironment that operates in exactly the same way inthe community as it does in prison.

Rehabilitative Leadership

While there have been no formal studies ofrehabilitative leadership in prison, there areconsiderable clues from research in other settings suchas schools about what kinds of leadership behavioursbest allow people to grow, develop and reach their bestpotential. For instance, in his description oftransformational school leadership25, education guruTom Bennett noted that

‘Cultures require deliberate creation. A keyrole of leadership is to design a detailed visionof what the culture should look like for thatschool, focussing on social and academicconduct. Expectations must be as high aspossible, for all’.

Once there is a vision, leaders need to carefully anddeliberately build the culture:

‘This means demonstrating it, communicatingit thoroughly, and ensuring that every aspectof school life feeds into and reinforces thatculture’.

The translation to the prison setting is easy tomake. As part of the rehabilitative culture programme,prison leaders are articulating their vision and values,and finding ways to communicate and demonstratethem. As Tom Bennett also notes, communicatingabout the culture is not a one-off activity. It must bereinforced over time, through leadership behaviour, oraland written communication, and official policy andstrategy documents. Great leaders take their staff fromsceptical to engaged by repeatedly and consistentlyexplaining and demonstrating their values.

Figures 5 shows examples of a prison vision, andFigures 6 and 7 show prison values statements. In thefirst two cases, a simple memorable message has beencreated. At HMP Woodhill, the values have been madeeven more memorable by the use of pictures andsymbols.

24. Comfort, M.L. (2003). In the tube at San Quentin: The “Secondary Prisonization” of women visiting inmates. Journal of ContemporaryEthnography, 32(1), 77-107

25. Bennett, T. (2017). Creating a culture: How school leaders can optimise behaviour. Department of Education.https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED574131.pdf

Figure 5: Prison Vision example (HMP and YOI Deerbolt)


Returning again to the example of HMP WarrenHill, researchers have observed the powerful impact ofa vision that is understood by all and continuallyreinforced through leadership behaviour:

‘The vision for Warren Hill was underpinnedby realism, reflecting a concrete commitmentto ‘doing things differently’, but safely, inorder to both enable, nurture and supportprisoners in forging their own journeys ofredemptive change, and manage risk…Managers talked often with staff about‘developing empathy’ and ‘trying tounderstand where behaviours comefrom…[Staff] believed strongly in theGovernor’s vision, whom they described asrespected, progressive and fully present.’26

The other aspect of leadership thathas been strongly linked to both prisonsafety and better outcomes on release isthe use of legitimate authority. Legitimacyinvolves the firm but respectful use ofauthority, doing what you say you aregoing to do, and commanding respectthrough your personality rather thanthrough threats and warnings. Legitimacysounds rather obvious common sense;however, it is actually quite difficult toachieve in prisons: ‘Because prisons are fullof power, and power has inherenttendencies towards abuse, misapplicationand corruption, achieving [legitimacy] is anuphill struggle’.27

Finally, procedural justice is asimportant for the staff of a prison as it isfor the prisoners. When staff feel they aretreated fairly, as well as experiencingbetter well-being and less occupationalstress, their behaviour to others in turn ismore rehabilitative.28

Concluding thoughts andobservations

Rehabilitative culture is focused onenabling change — not on creating ormaintaining stability. It is an ambition forprisons that goes beyond ‘safe, decentand secure’. In an era where poorstandards of decency and high rates of

violence and self-harm have been frequentlyhighlighted, it is tempting to limit our ambition tomaking prisons cleaner and safer. However it is myargument that this does not achieve the best outcomeswe are capable of. While decency, safety and securityare related to better reoffending outcomes, so areprisoner wellbeing and personal development29.Focusing on rehabilitation as the ultimate goal ofimprisonment does not distract leaders and staff fromcleanliness and safety; rather it enhances theirachievements. The journey of HMP and YOI Brinsford isa good example here. In November 2013, Brinsfordreceived the lowest possible scores from HMInspectorate of Prisons against all four tests of a healthyprison. In a follow up inspection in February 2015, notonly was the prison described as ‘spotlessly clean’ butrelationships between staff and prisoners weredescribed as ‘very good’. In a period of under 18

WHAT WE STAND FOR!

Safety is our No 1 priority, we will maintain a safe environment for staff and prisoners

that sets a solid foundation for change.

Talent, we will find the talent in the men through work and learning, we will give

opportunities to our team so they can develop, promote and succeed.

Openness, we will be open, inclusive and honest with the men and with each other, our

procedures will be fair and transparent.

Courage, we will show courage every day both physically and morally (by always doing

the right thing).

Kindness, We will be kind and respectful to each other and to the men.

Excellence, we are a great prison with good people and we will always try to be the

very best that we can be. We will show this through the quality of our physical environment. We will reward staff and prisoners by acknowledging peoples effort even if it means just a small change for the better.

Never Give Up! We keep going as a team whatever the task. We don’t get too

disappointed if a person fails to meet our expectation. We encourage our men to keep trying, to fight addictions, to learn new skills and to change their lives for the better. We act

as a community and support each other.

Figure 6: Prison values example (HMP Stocken)

Figure 7: HMP Woodhill Values

26. Liebling, A., Laws, B., Lieber, E., Auty, K., Schmidt, B. E., Crewe, B., Gardom, J;, Kant, D. & Morey, M. (2019). Are hope and possibilityachievable in prison? The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice.

27. Auty, K. & Liebling, A. (2019). Exploring the relationship between prison social climate and reoffending. Justice Quarterly, 1-24, p20. 28. Fitzalan Howard, F. & Wakeling, H. (2019). Prisoner and staff perceptions of procedural justice in English and Welsh prisons. HM

Prison & Probation Service Analytical Summary, www.gov.uk.


months, therefore, it had proved possible tosignificantly improve not just environmental decencybut also rehabilitative orientation in the staff.

Rehabilitative culture is not ‘soft’ or ‘fluffy’ — afavourite way of dismissing its value. Beingrehabilitative does not mean saying yes to everyone’srequest but knowing how and when to say no. Anexcellent description of rehabilitative culture as aboundaried and disciplined culture can be found in therecent description of HMP Warren Hill by Alison Lieblingand colleagues:

‘Staff were fully present and engaged withoutdisplaying unnecessary power. Staff were incontrol of the prison and prisoners wereaware of rules and boundaries, but the regimedid not feel oppressive or stifling. Authoritywas deployed through high-qualityrelationships founded on mutual respect anda sense among prisoners that the

establishment was fully invested in theirgrowth’.30

Some people question the term ‘rehabilitativeculture’ and whether it is a term that staff identify with.There has been discussion about whether the concepthas gained sufficient traction throughout the prisonservice, or whether it is seen as a ‘psychology’ thing oran ‘organisational development’ thing. There is nodoubt that both psychology and OD professions havevery important contributions to make to culture changein prisons. But it is my observation that the mostpowerful understanding of, and efforts towards,rehabilitative culture in a prison occurs when it ispersonally driven by the prison’s senior operationalleadership, involving all levels and disciplines of staff,and when the men or women residing in that prisonhave a voice and role in culture change too. It is in theseprisons where the most exciting transformational workis taking place.

29. Auty, K. & Liebling, A. (2019). Exploring the relationship between prison social climate and reoffending. Justice Quarterly, 1-24. 30. Liebling, A., Laws, B., Lieber, E., Auty, K., Schmidt, B. E., Crewe, B., Gardom, J., Kant, D. & Morey, M. (2019). Are hope and possibility

achievable in prison? The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice.


The concept of Rehabilitative Culture (RC)encompasses ‘all aspects of our culture beingsafe, decent, hopeful and optimistic aboutstopping offending’.1 This is not only concernedwith services and policies but also with the socialenvironment, created by the nature of therelationships between people. The importance ofsocial environment is not only significant inprisons, but in many institutions and workplaces,such as schools and hospitals. Recognising this,the Royal College of Psychiatrists embarked on aproject to ‘bridge older distinctions betweenclinical and non-clinical settings, to develop asingle common core vocabulary, applicable acrossa range of agency and service environments, forthose factors in the social and community‘dimension’ which are believed to be positive forhealth and well-being’.2 This led to thedevelopment of the ‘Enabling EnvironmentsStandards’, creating ‘a common core of keyprinciples and value statements which underpinall such attempts to establish quality serviceswhich foster productive relationships andpromote good mental health’.3

There are ten Enabling Environment (EE)Standards: belonging; boundaries; communication;development; involvement; safety; structure;empowerment; leadership, and; openness.Organisations can be assessed for the Royal Collegeof Psychiatrists ‘Enabling Environments Award’, anaccreditation that can be awarded for three years as‘a mark of quality allowing a service to demonstratethat it has achieved an outstanding level of bestpractice in creating and sustaining a positive andeffective environment’.4

The EE award has been embraced by manyprisons as a means of promoting the development ofrehabilitative cultures. This has largely been sought on

small, specialist units, including those working withpeople with very complex needs. Only two prisonshave achieved the Enabling Environments Award forthe whole prison. The first was HMP Drake Hall, awomen’s prison, and the second, was HMP Springhill,a men’s open prison.

This article focusses on the process of workingtowards the EE award at HMP Springhill, and is adiscussion between the Governor and DeputyGovernor during the period in which the main worktowards this was undertaken.

The value of Enabling Environments

JB: Going back to the start of the journey, theengagement with EE accreditation came whenSpringhill was at a very low ebb. In 2013, a prisonerhad been released on temporary licence (ROTL) fromSpringhill and had committed a murder. This terribleevent exposed serious weaknesses in the ROTLprocess and had shaken the confidence of theestablishment. The HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP)carried out an investigation into the events that led tothe murder and were rightly critical, describing that‘the system failed the public it was supposed toprotect’.5 This led to major changes in the nationalROTL policy. The impact at Springhill was significant.An inspection of Springhill in 2014, noted that theevents had ‘struck at its central purpose’ and thatalthough there was work to improve ROTL, ‘gettingthis right was difficult; relationships were beingimpacted and staff in some roles were verystretched’.6 They assessed that purposeful activity andresettlement work were ‘not sufficiently good’. Thestart of the work on EE accreditation was consciouslyrecognising that Springhill was rebuilding. EE was avehicle for this reconstruction.

Creating an Enabling EnvironmentDr Jamie Bennett is Governor of HMP Long Lartin and was Governor of Grendon and Springhill between 2012

and 2019. Matt Tilt is Governor of HMP Onley and was Deputy Governor of HMP Grendon and Springhillbetween 2015 and 2018.

1. HM Prison and Probation Service (2018) Rehabilitative culture handbook: second edition London: HM Prison and Probation Service2. Royal College of Psychiatrists (2013) Enabling environments standards available at

https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/pdf/ee%20standards%20-%202013.pdf p.33. Ibid4. Ibid5. HM Inspectorate of Prisons (2014) A review by HM Inspectorate of Prisons: Release on Temporary Licence (ROTL) failures available

at https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2015/07/ROTL-unredacted-WEB-amended-16-July-2015.pdf p.5

6. HM Inspectorate of Prisons (2014) Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Spring Hill 6–15 May 2014 available athttps://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2014/09/Springhill-Web-amended-2014.pdf p.6


You joined Springhill after those events and theinspection reports. What was your view on the valueof EE?

MT: I saw it as part of a desire to get therehabilitative culture strategy better within the prison.That was also an issue highlighted in the 2014inspection report at Springhill. Initially EE wasn’t topof my agenda, I was more focussed on howrehabilitative culture could be developed.

To set that off, we ran some ‘culture web’exercises, facilitated by the regional psychology teamand local managers. There were separate sessionswith the senior management team, staff andresidents. In these sessions,participants were asked todescribe elements of the existingorganisational culture. A followup session was also held inwhich they were asked toidentify what improvementswould better facilitate arehabilitative culture. We wentto town on it a bit in order to tryto make it meaningful.

The idea of this was that itgave us a structure to pin therehabilitative culture work on.This generated action plans,which were then managedthrough a monthly rehabilitativeculture committee. Initially thatwas our focus, and EE was just asecondary item on thecommittee agenda. Over timethat switched. That was partlybecause the culture webexercises often generatedactions that were intangible. TheEE process had a clear structure, with ten standardsand a number of indicators for each standard. Therewas more to get our teeth into and it became a betterway of driving forward a rehabilitative culture.

Delivering Enabling Environments

JB: There is a business side to achieving EEaccreditation, with self-assessments against thestandards and action plans to meet them. Theassessment also requires the production of asubstantial portfolio of evidence. How was that drawntogether?

MT: It wasn’t always smooth. There were somefalse starts. Initially we went on one unit, but thatfaltered, before we decided to go for prison-wideaccreditation. That decision was made in a staffmeeting, when there was some debate about what

was the best approach and in the end the whole teamagreed that a whole-prison approach was right.

JB: What did you feel were the main barriers toachieving the EE award?

MT: It’s a big task putting together the portfolioand developing the organisation, so it needsinvestment of time and energy. The sheer scale of thetask can be a barrier.

The language was also a barrier. The awardcomes from the health sector and so terms such as‘recipient’ and ‘provider’ had to be translated into ourcontext. We had to do work to make sense of thestandards in our particular setting and make it relevant

and accessible to peopleinvolved.

JB: Having started theprocess, how was it developed?

MT: There was goodattendance at the rehabilitativeculture committee, in partbecause there was a three-linewhip to attend. Committeemembers were then asked toidentify an EE criteria againstwhich we were doing very well.The response to this was patchyand it looked like progress wasgoing to be very slowproducing the portfolio. Wediscussed this and you agreedto put some resources into this.Initially, you suggested aconsultant, who might workwith us, but that didn’t comeoff. We then identified a PhDstudent, who came on board,working with us part-time,collecting data for the portfolio

of evidence. We needed that resource. It wasnecessary to either free someone up internally orbring someone in to support.

JB: The role of the PhD student was to supportthe process, gathering the evidence rather than beingthe strategic project manager. You and the Head ofResidence at Springhill led the programme, supportedby members of the rehabilitative culture committee.The PhD student offered some additionaladministrative support in compiling the portfolio andassessing this against the standards. This wasnecessary as this was a time when there weresignificant vacancies, so it wasn’t possible to freesomeone up internally, but there was someunderspend we could use to fund this.

MT: The PhD student we brought in started byundertaking a systematic review of the evidence wehad gathered for the portfolio. He went through each

The EE process hada clear structure,

with ten standardsand a number

of indicators foreach standard.

There was moreto get our teeth

into and it becamea better way

of driving forwarda rehabilitative

culture.


of the ten standards and identified where we weremeeting the standards and had sufficient evidence;where we were meeting the standards but did nothave sufficient evidence, so had to collect more, and;where we were not meeting the standards and wehad to consider what more we might do to meet thestandards. It was the third group that was the driverfor change. Without that, we would simply have beenputting forward evidence of what we already did. Thisreview was extremely useful in giving us a clearstarting point.

The next step was to make the action deliverable.We set up a team for each of the standards, whichincluded an officer, an administrator, an operationalsupport grade, and a prisoner.Those multi-disciplinary teamsthen had to take forward theactions from the review of theevidence. The rehabilitativeculture committee was the mainbody for feeding back progress.We held those meetings moreregularly coming up to theassessment.

To give some focus andimpetus to the process, we alsoset a date for the EE assessmentvisit to take place. It was inAugust 2017 that the PhDstudent was recruited and theassessment took place inNovember.

JB: After completing theportfolio, there was then anassessment visit, where anassessor appointed by the RoyalCollege of Psychiatrists came tothe prison in order to evaluate us against the EEstandards.

MT: Yes, how we planned and undertook thatwas as important as the portfolio itself. As well as thetraditional portfolio, with documents in three or fourlever arch folders, we wanted the visit to includeevidence of the standards presented in a more visualway. We created stands including photographs andquotes, addressing each of the ten standards. Thesewere displayed in different places around the prison,matching the standards to the area. For example thestandard on ‘Belonging’, which includes supportingnewcomers and marking people leaving, wasdisplayed in the reception area. We had a prisonofficer and a prisoner taking the assessors around thesite and introducing them to staff and prisoners ineach of the ten locations. Everyone talked reallypassionately about what they do and how theycontributed towards creating an EE. We did all the

‘red carpet’ treatment, offering them a nice meal atthe lunch time, hosted by some of the prisoners.

JB: The first assessment concluded that eight ofthe ten standards had been met, but that further workwas needed on the other two. The EE award was nottherefore given at that point, but instead there was asix month period in which to implement adevelopment plan and meet the other two standards,with a re-assessment visit scheduled for the end ofthat period.

MT: There was a time lag between theassessment and the outcome being published to us.During that time we were in a bit of limbo. When wegot the feedback, it felt fair, as we’d come a long way

but done it quickly so it neededto be embedded. Their mainfeedback was that we had donea lot to demonstrate ourcommitment to what they call‘recipients’ of the service, in ourcase prisoners, but we hadn’tdone enough to show that wemet the EE standards for‘providers’, in this case theprison staff. We had to do morework on induction andprofessional supervision inparticular.

JB: We went into the firstassessment almost seeing it as astaging post towards gainingaccreditation. We didn’t reallyexpect to get it first time around,but actually the assessment daywent so well that we started tohope that we might. I agree thatthe feedback was fair and

helpful. We responded by developing a further plan toaddress the points raised and we updated theportfolio to respond to the feedback provided. At there-assessment visit, we had to go bigger and betterthan first time around.

One part of the feedback is that we didn’t havesufficient evidence of commitment from what theydescribed as ‘back office staff’, by which they meantfor example administrators. Rightly, the assessors hada view that these people undertake important workthat has an influence on the wider culture. In order toevidence the commitment of all staff, we created apledge committing themselves to the principles of EE,which was signed by people from all around theestablishment. We also gathered personal statementsfor the portfolio from people, including ‘back officestaff’ about how they contributed towards EE. Thenon the re-assessment day, the assessor met with about50 people in the boardroom, where people from all

One part of thefeedback is that we

didn’t havesufficient evidence

of commitmentfrom what they

described as ‘backoffice staff’, by

which they meantfor example

administrators.


around the establishment talked about their work,how meaningful it was and how they contributedtowards EE. There was a real buzz around the room, asense of positivity. People really believed in this andwanted to be part of it. It was a really movingexperience to be there.

It was after the re-assessment that we receivedthe feedback that the EE accreditation was to beawarded to Springhill.

Nurturing an Enabling Environment

JB: Focussing on some ofthe content and substance of anEnabling Environment, this wasintegrated with a series ofdevelopments around theprison. There was a concertedeffort to improve education,training and employment bothinside the prison and externallyfor people on ROTL.

Following the implementationof a series of revisions to the ROTLpolicy and practice in 2013 and2014, the number of peoplegoing out each day dropped toless than 20 from a populationof 330. This meant that the newpolicies could be implementedand the necessary improvementsmade to the process. With asafer and more effective processin place, we were then buildingthis up, helping men to secureeducation, training andemployment places in thecommunity. By 2017, this saw anincrease to 80-100 being out each day doingmeaningful rehabilitative work. Inside the prison,there was also much closer attention paid to ensuringthat people were attending education and workplaces. In an open prison, that can be challenging as itis a large site with relatively few staff. There was goodengagement from those who worked at Springhillwho did a good job at challenging non-attendanceand addressing any issues. We also had to ensure thatwhat prisoners were being asked to do wasmeaningful. We didn’t want work in the kitchens,waste management or farms and gardens, to just beseen as us exploiting people for cheap labour. So,there was investment in providing qualifications topeople in those workplaces and creatingopportunities on ROTL for people to use the skills andqualifications they gained in those workplaces tosecure employment.

The way these developments were discussedwere important. The learning and skills provision atSpringhill had consistently received ‘requiresimprovement’ on OFSTED inspections, and attendancewas sometimes as low as 85 per cent. I’ve got kids atschool and I kept asking myself and others thequestion, ‘would I send my kids to a school thatconstantly ‘requires improvement’ and where nearlyone in five of the students don’t turn up every day’.My answer to that question was ‘no’. So, if I wouldn’taccept this as a recipient of a public service, then Icouldn’t accept it as a provider. Most people could

equally get that. There was goodsupport from people thinkingabout how they could personallyplay a role in improvingstandards and improvingattendance.

One of the other areas thathas always been challenging atSpringhill is the physical stateof the accommodation. Someof it is past its normal life andevery HMIP or IndependentMonitoring Board report rightlyhighlights that although theliving accommodation isgenerally clean, it is old and inneed of replacement. How didyou approach this from anEE perspective?

MT: One way that wasencouraged was the introductionof a monthly ‘cleanest hut’competition, with the prize beinga special communal meal for thewinning hut. This was also linkedto the idea of people having a

sense of community within their own hut. We did introduce some painting and

maintenance on the huts, with the men being able totake some responsibility for their own environment.There were mixed results as that was the period inwhich the facilities management provider, Carillion,was struggling and eventually went intoreceivership. That is certainly an area where there is alot more potential.

JB: What thought was given to basics such asfood and clothing in an EE context? I can certainlythink of how we encouraged important cultural andfaith celebrations such as the festival of Eid to beshared occasions. In that example, Muslim residentscould invite a member of staff or another resident ofa different faith to join them for the meal. This waspositively received and built shared understandingand appreciation.

Inside the prison,there was also

much closerattention paid to

ensuring thatpeople were

attendingeducation and

work places. In anopen prison, that

can be challengingas it is a large site

with relativelyfew staff.


MT: There were also events such as the ‘Bake off’competition, in which teams of residents from eachhut made cakes. There were over 50 people took partin each competition. It helped to bring peopletogether.

JB: What about sports?MT: Yes, one of the initiatives that came out of

the EE work was the introduction of a Parkrun.Through this, staff, prisoners and people from thecommunity could take part in those weekly events.That was one way that they gym added to what theywere doing to bring people together.

JB: Arts were also important. I would get a lot ofpeople contacting me asking to run projects atGrendon, attracted by itsreputation for therapeutic work.I would try to divert some ofthese offers to Springhill. Forexample, the Irene Taylor Trustfunded a musician in residencefor three years, and DrawingConnections, an off-shoot ofUniversity of Cambridge’sLearning Together programme,involved a creative collaborationbetween residents, staff andstudents at a local college. Themost extensive and successfulpartnership was with KestrelTheatre, who worked with mento write and produce plays,which were performed insidethe prison and at the prestigiousRoyal Court Theatre in London.

As well as all of theseactivities that prisoners could getinvolved in, how could they beencouraged to get involved in the day to day runningof the prison?

MT: The prison council changed to reflect theprinciples of EE. One way this happened was that itbecame hut-based, so there was a representative fromeach hut. This again reinforced the idea of each hutbeing a community. The idea was that therepresentative would consult with the others on thehut. They representatives had to meet with one of thesupervisory officers prior to the main council in orderto identify five key questions they wanted to raise.This made it more structured and effective.

The peer support was strengthened. Oneparticular way was setting up a dedicated informationand advice room where orderlies were available tosupport people with requests, applications, andpractical problems.

JB: With any staff group, some people will beenthusiastic, some will go with the flow and others

will be resistant. What did you sense was the responseat Springhill?

MT: We discussed that at the start, in particularthe minority who were resistant. We agreed that weshouldn’t expend our energy simply taking on thosewho were negative, but rather encourage those thatwere positive and so marginalise and reduce thenegative minority.

This was successful to start with, but then wemade the next step, which was that when we puttogether the groups to deliver the EE standards, someof the people we allocated work to were those whowere less engaged but were potentially influential.Many of them responded to this and in fact some

really thrived and became quitefired up about it.

JB: You set out yourexpectations at the beginning bydelivering a series of threepresentations at successive staffmeetings.

MT: Yes, explainingrehabilitative cultures, legitimateauthority and EE itself.

JB: One thing that I hadn’tseen before that greworganically out of this processwas that on three occasions wehad residents presenting at staffmeetings. Once it was onidentifying people at risk ofabsconding, the second timewas the screening of a short filmmade by residents incollaboration with KestrelTheatre and the third time was apresentation on the work of

Listeners. I recall the first time being struck by howwarm the reception was. I felt that really showed howthe culture was shifting.

Families of prisoners have a significant role too.One of the benefits of being an open prison is thatthere are outside areas that can be used. Based onfeedback from residents, we developed a smallcoppice near the visits areas where children andparents could be taken on guided woodland walks.More recently, the men worked with Kestrel Theatreto write and perform a pantomime for families duringthe visits time.

How was success celebrated and recognised?

MT: For residents there was a monthlyrecognition event. There were three points at whichresidents were recognised: achieving their first ROTL;gaining an educational or vocational qualification,

Theyrepresentatives had

to meet with oneof the supervisory

officers prior to themain council in

order to identifyfive key questions

they wanted toraise. This made it

more structuredand effective.


and; when they were about to be released. The ideawas that we would get some positive feedback frompeople about each individual, and they would alsogive some reflections and testimony on theirachievement. The intention was to foster a sense ofhope. Each person would receive a certificate but aswell as the more formal parts of the event, there wastea and cake and we would encourage people to stayafterwards and talk to each other.

JB: We also have to deal with people breakingthe rules. In late 2017, we had a cluster of abscondsand I remember considering at the time how thiscould be approached in a way that reflected EEprinciples rather than just taking a punitive approach.One of the EE standards on ‘Communication’ says thathow people act is a form of communication. Ourinitial analysis showed that indeterminate sentenceprisoners were absconding more frequently at thatstage. Putting the EE principles into practice, I invitedall of the indeterminate sentence prisoners to ameeting to discuss how together we could reduce thereasons for abscond and better support people who areat risk of absconding. The outcomes of this were: arequest for a hut dedicated to men servingindeterminate sentences where they could support oneanother; dedicated lifer family days, and; more regulardedicated meetings for indeterminate sentenceprisoners. These were all implemented following themeeting.

Outcomes of Enabling Environments

JB: The outcomes of the EE award were not solelythe award for its own sake, although it was asignificant achievement. The impact on theestablishment as a whole was significant. We talked atthe beginning about how the EE process was intendedas a vehicle for wider organisational improvement,prompted in part by the HMIP reports in 2014. At theend of 2017, after the initial EE assessment, there wasa further inspection conducted by HM Inspectorate ofprisons. This was a significant gauge of the progressthat had been made. The outcome was that the prisonimproved on the inspectorate judgements for

‘purposeful activity’ and ‘resettlement’ and was nowoutcomes for prisoners were ‘good’ or ‘reasonablygood’ in all four areas.7 In addition, OFSTED judgedfor the first time that learning and skills provision atSpringhill was ‘good’.

The experience of residents and staff also appearsto have improved. In 2018, there were Measuring theQuality of Prison Life (MQPL) and Staff Quality of Life(SQL) surveys conducted at Springhill. This is the firsttime since 2014, so again it is a reflection of theperiod in which EE was developed. The outcomesshowed that overall quality of life for both staff andprisoners improved, as did their perceptions of safety.

Another set of outcomes relate to the relationshipbetween Grendon and Springhill. Sometimes, it seemsthat Grendon has greater prestige and reputation andthat Springhill is a bit in the shadow. The therapeuticwork at Grendon is accredited by the Royal College ofPsychiatrists and now, through EE, Springhill isaccredited by the same professional body. This raisesthe prestige and reputation of Springhill, as well asbetter integrating the services across bothestablishments. A further outcome is that followingthe EE award, Springhill was commissioned to delivera service for prisoners with complex needs as part ofthe joint Ministry of Justice and National HealthService, Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) Pathway.8

This is something that has been lobbied for overseveral years with the work towards EE being part ofthe case presented to commissioners. Thecommissioning of this service also improvesintegration with Grendon, which is already part of theOPD pathway.

This is a process that has improved the experienceof those who live and work at Springhill, and thesuccess has been demonstrated in a range oforganisational measures.

MT: There was also an impact in the culture,encouraging greater empowerment. The processencouraged the idea that if there is something thatcan be done to improve, then do it. Of course noteveryone would accept that responsibility, but enoughpeople did to create a more dynamic community.

7. HM Inspectorate of Prisons (2018) Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Spring Hill 4–15 December 2017 available athttps://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/04/Spring-Hill-Web-2017.pdf

8. See http://personalitydisorder.org.uk/the-offender-personality-disorder-pathway/


There is no better time than the present for anarticle on hope in prisons. Given the challengesthat we are now facing as a service, both incustody and in the community and perhaps evenas a society, the desire or even demand that weshould be hopeful about our future, is timely.Hope is a word often cited, but rarely defined orexamined in great detail. This article examines theimportance of hope, during a prison reformproject called The Prison Growth Project. Thisarticle will introduce the Prison Growth Projectand briefly outline its approach and the guidingprinciples of growth, which were used to structurethis change and maintain a research-informedfocus, in a Category C prison. The article will thenexplore the role of hope in the creation of aculture based on personal growth. It will alsodraw on personal reflections as well as the voicesof residents and staff, to illuminate those practicesthat have developed and maintained hope. It willpropose that hope plays a significant role ininitiating and maintaining prison reform andreciprocal hope is an even more powerful vehicleto co-construct a new prison identity, centred ongrowth. When taking the words of NelsonMandela into account stated in the title, thisarticle aims to convey the importance of choiceswhich are associated with reform, to reflect hopein humanity and not fear of failure.

Introducing Hope and Growth

Hope is a future orientation, an optimism thatexpects a positive outcome or a product. It is a strongdesire for something particular to happen, ananticipation or aspiration, an ambition or even a dream.In a custodial setting, hope becomes magnified andissues are illuminated much more, due to thechallenges that are presented by those who we care for.When we strip away our thoughts, our feelings and our

policies, we are fundamentally confronted by peoplewho are mostly vulnerable and who are no longer ableto rely on the support and warmth of a family’s bond.With this in mind, hope is central to prisons, as prisonsare by their very nature a space that encourages theopposite. With this in mind, the Prison Growth Projectwas established and developed, with hope at its core;hope for change, hope for reform and ultimately, thehope that prisons can be meaningful places thatsupport rehabilitation. The Prison Growth Project is aresearch informed initiative that facilitates thedevelopment of a climate that supports personalgrowth for all those who enter prison and addressesthe prison as a whole. The Prison Growth Project usesevidence-based research to instil hope throughappreciative inquiry, by capturing those aspects ofpractice that staff can be proud of. These practicesconsistently contribute to a healthy prison and a prisonidentity, which is desistance-focused. This Englishproject was initially established in 2016, following athree year research project that took place inNorwegian prisons, which examined aspects ofpractice, which support rehabilitation. The lessonslearned from this research were then used to inform thegrowth of a new prison identity in an English prison,with the aim of stabilising the climate and slowly butconsistently developing a culture of growth.

On an academic level, The Prison Growth Projectfocuses on individual growth and also considersbroader identities and specifically the identity of theprison itself. Its approach embraces the notions ofunconditional positive regard, humanistic thinking andproviding conditions for change, rather than imposingchange on people1. It also focuses on desistance-centred practices, which promote the strengths of anindividual and organisation, through the developmentof social and human capital. It openly recognises thatseveral obstacles are the norm within such an ambitionand overcoming these obstacles has to be part of thechange process. The Prison Growth Project

‘May your choices reflect your hopes, notyour fears’

-The importance of reciprocal hope in prison growthDr Sarah Lewis is Director of Penal Reform Solutions and Steve Robertson is

Deputy Governor of HMP Guys Marsh.

1. Rogers, C. (1967). On becoming a person: A therapist’s view of psychotherapy. London: Constable & Company.


acknowledges that altering the climate provides aninsight into what a rehabilitative culture may look like,even though this may be for a fleeting moment.Through this experience, growth is felt and reflectedupon as well as researched and disseminated back intothe prison, informing staff of the benefits of such anenvironment. Through this process, a growth culturecan steadily grow and be nurtured, legitimising theprocess through research, knowledge and relationships.It is not imposed from above but is instead grown in apiecemeal fashion. As a growth environment, it slowlyaccumulates and takes root. Growth also suggests thatit is a continuous process and there is ultimately no finaldestination, as the prison takes on a growth identityand re-writes its own narrative, in an informed andcollaborative fashion.

In 2014, the first PrisonGrowth Project was establishedat BastØy prison in Norway. Thisproject was part of a largerresearch initiative that embracedresident engagement withinresearch and used visual methodsto engage the global community,illuminating quality practice.Through photo-essays, staff andresidents were asked to capturewhich aspects of practicepromoted growth and why.These findings were displayed foreducational purposes to the staffand residents of the prison andfive researchers, who worked andresided at BastØy prison,supported the author throughout the research process,from design to analysis. BastØy prison was chosen as aresearch site, due to its exceptional internationalreputation and its focus on humanistic ecologicalprinciples. Following the success of this work, theproject was extended to two other Norwegian prisons,being; Halden high security prison and SandakerHalfway House. Whilst these three prisons were verydifferent in size, organisational structure andcategorisation, they all shared a similar philosophy ofnurturing an environment which focused onrehabilitation, through the principle of normality.

From the three projects, the principles of growthwere evident across all three establishments. Theseprinciples were used to guide all interventions andevents, with the aim of striving for quality andmagnifying meaningful practice, within an Englishcontext. The principles of growth resulting from thisresearch were:

Meaningful Relationships: Developing respectfuland positive relationships with fellow residents, staff,family and society.

Meaningful Work: Aligning the strengths of anindividual to provide a framework to work in apurposeful manner. This is focused on the individualand matching their talents/skills/interests to workopportunities.

Finding Pro-social Ways of Coping withPrison: Developing healthy coping strategies tomanage the difficulties of imprisonment, rather thanresorting to unhealthy strategies that are harmful to theperson and others.

Tasting Freedom: Feeling free can promote asense of ease, which enables people to consider andreflect upon their own identities. This involves spaces inthe prison where residents could think for themselvesand be themselves. It may be physical places wherepeople can use their imagination, carry out activities

where the mind can escape, orbeing given the freedom andresponsibility to make decisions.

Experiencing Normality:Doing ‘normal things’ buildsconfidence and allows theresidents to feel and beresponsible. It provides a dressrehearsal for living in thecommunity, as the prison aims tomirror the community as much aspossible from within.

Promoting Wellbeing: Thefocus on a healthy mind andbody can produce a number ofpositive consequences, buildingstrength and overcomingobstacles successfully.

Connecting with Nature: Engaging with natureprovides a sense of privilege, to a world bigger thanoneself.

Experiencing Joy and Peace: Spending time inquiet spaces was one of the key opportunities to providepeace and ease, within a challenging environment.

Constructing a Positive Climate: The co-construction of an environment which focuses onownership, community and belonging is essential.Community based activities (like wellbeing days)promote the development of a positive climate, as wellas physical changes to the environment.

Investing in People: The investment in staff,families and residents were deemed important, as ithighlights that people are seen and deserve investment.

Authentic Leadership: The need for courageous,authentic leaders that are pro-social, respectful anddecent. Leaders with a strong vision, and pro-activeattitude are paramount to growth as well as leadersthat embrace the growth principles and advocate themin all that they do.(Taken from the Prison Growth Project Manual, 2018)

The focus on ahealthy mind and

body can produce anumber of positive

consequences,building strengthand overcoming

obstaclessuccessfully.


Turning to the academic literature: What is hope?

Hope is defined as a cognitive and motivationalstate that involves a mutual interaction between goal-directed energy (agency) and a planned roadmap tomeet a goal.2 There are three elements to hope: a goal,a pathway, and agency (energy); A goal or vision allowsa focal point and provides the direction of travel;pathways increase an understanding of strengtheningcapacity and create mental roadmaps to that goal and;agency encapsulates an individual (or in our case, acollective) view that ‘we can do it’.3,4 These ideas ofhope feature within a prison context and it has beensuggested that hope is a personality trait ofhopefulness, rather than ‘having hope’ in an individual’scapacity to change.5 This wouldsuggest that hope is a relativelystable construct and is embeddedwithin people. It can influencespiritual and psychologicaldevelopment6 and the absence ofhope can lead to burnout, mentalhealth issues and suicide.7

Further to this, it is proposedthat people with high levels ofhope are capable of settingchallenging goals, focusing onapproach goals (‘I will improve’),rather than avoidance goals (‘Iwill stop’).8 This mirrors the workof Tony Ward and is seen to bemore motivational in attaining ‘goods’ in life.9 Placingthis within the context of the ‘prison crisis’, for thoseprisons that remain unstable, violent and riddled withdrugs, the experience of imprisonment (for everyone) isincredibly painful. It is suggested that for a person to beable to withstand suffering such as this, they must begiven hope10, proposing that the starting point forrehabilitative success is when an addict hits ‘rockbottom’.11 This state of shear hopelessness has beenfound to shift as hope is restored, providing them withhope and an opportunity to change. On anorganisational level, this can be compared to the prison

identity in 2016, as staff described this feeling of hitting‘rock bottom’. This signified the importance ofnurturing hope, to increase motivation in change andbelief in something better.

Within the literature there are three mainclassification of duties towards individual ‘prisoners’,namely; respect, care and hope.12 With regards to hope,three points consider how these classifications might betranslated into practice. One is that we developstructures and activities that aid residents, in order toretain a sense of hope and direction. The second is thatit should be a moral imperative to support those incustody, and to give them opportunities to betterthemselves. Thirdly, for prison staff to counteract theinevitable periods of depression, with encouragement

and suggestions about thefuture. All of these points arecrucial and ought to bemaintained as some of the maintenets of the work of staff inprisons. However, we reflectedon how we could develop theseideas of hope and introduced amore person-centred approach,considering the importance ofrelationships. Relationships inprisons are at the forefront of manyof our new initiatives, including keyworking and how we supportthose in crisis. We strongly feel thatthere is a demand for this tobecome more inherent to the way

we work and that it becomes naturally more acceptableand culturally the norm. We should not solely rely on thesafer custody officer, the chaplain or that officer who is‘good with residents’, but instead position hope at thecore of what we do as a prison, and proudly recognisethis as a strength of a healthy and legitimate institutionthat rehabilitates.

The function of hope in growth: A vehicle forchange and a safeguard against harm.

The role of hope within prison is multifaceted.Prisons should be places of hope, meaning, safety and

Hope impacts onour willingness tolearn, change andadapt; all things

that are vital withina prison setting,

for both staffand residents.

2. Snyder, C. R. (2000). Hypothesis: There is hope. In C. R. Snyder (Ed.), Handbook of hope: Theory, measures, and application (pp. 3-21).New York, NY: Academic Press.

3. Snyder, C. R. (1994). The psychology of hope: You can get there from here. New York, NY: Free Press.4. Snyder, C. R., Cheavens, J., and Sympson, S. (1997). Hope: An individual motive for social commerce. Group Dynamic: Theory,

Research, and Practice, 1, 107-118.5. Mei Law, F., and Jen Guo, G. (2016). Correlation of hope and self-efficacy with job satisfaction, job stress, and organizational

commitment for correctional officers in the Taiwan Prison System. International Journal of Offender Therapy and ComparativeCriminology, 60(11) 1257-1277.

6. May, G. G. (1991). The awakened heart: Living beyond addiction. San Francisco, CA: HarperCollins.7. Hanna, F. J. (1991). Suicide and hope: The common ground. Journal of Mental Health Counselling, 13, 459-472.8. Snyder, C. R., Lehman, K. A., Kluck, B., and Monsson, Y. (2006). Hope for rehabilitation and vice versa. Rehabilitation Psychology, 51, 89-112.9. Ward, T. (2006). Promoting human goods and reducing risk. Beyond retribution (pp.111–117).10. Frankl, V. (1984). Man’s search for meaning. New York, NY: Washington Square Press11. Vignansky, E., Addad, M., and Himi, H. (2018). Despair will hold you prisoner, hope with set you free: Hope and meaning among

released prisoners. The Prison Journal, 98(3), 334-358.12. Bottoms, A., (1990). Justice, guilt and forgiveness in the penal system. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Centre for Theology &

Public Issues


dignity and the removal of hope brings with it anerosion of these important rehabilitative ‘goods’.13

Hope impacts on our willingness to learn, change andadapt; all things that are vital within a prison setting, forboth staff and residents.14 With respect to staff, hopecan be positively associated with job satisfaction andself-efficacy (our ability to believe in our owncapability) and this was linked with organisationalcommitment, something that we certainly need at thisstage in prison reform.15

Hope is also an important matter to the families ofthose in custody. In the recent Farmer Review, theagency of families reminded us all of the ‘goldenthread’ of rehabilitation.16 This often ‘missed’opportunity is now gatheringgood pace and it is refreshing tosee the positive uptake of howfamilies can supportestablishments and how we canencourage change in those in ourcare. It is a timely reminderhowever, to consider thedifficulty that is faced by thefamilies of those in prison andtheir ability to continue tosupport and provide comfort.This absence of consistent love,this particular pain ofimprisonment, is one that couldbe repaired if we became morehopeful. We should beencouraged that if hope isstimulated in the families of thosein prison and become moreinvolved, this may in turn generate trust and igniteopenness, which can only be positive and productive inour enthusiastic ambitions, to flourish as a service.Relationships therefore became central to the growthstrategy, not only between staff and residents, but withfamilies and the community outside.

Hope can also prevent a number of issues thathave been historically linked to prison work. It canprevent burnout17 and enhance job performance,

leading to higher quality problem solving.18 Job stress isprevalent within correctional work, and is described as;‘feeling job-related tension, anxiety, frustration, worry,emotional exhaustion, and distress.’19 Hope thereforecan be considered as a vehicle for change and asafeguard against harm.

With the function of hope in mind, we started thePrison Growth Project in England just before a prisoninspection in 2016, which, in light of the findingsdepicted a state of organisational hopelessness. Aninitial assessment of the environment highlighted thelevel of hopelessness in those that worked at the prison,as stated below;

‘The majority of staff have shown signs of burn outdue to the environment that hasdeveloped. This includes: o expressing an inability to

cope and tearfulness, o exhibiting feelings of

helplessness, o cynicism, o a lack of control over their

own job, o a lack of clarity over their role, o sickness and deterioration of

mental health,o a lack of trust,o changes in appetite and

increased alcohol use, o exhaustion, o difficulties in prioritising, o confusion, o spending time on tasks that

are either overwhelmingor boring,

o wanting to isolate oneself, o no motivation, o working long hours with no breaks’.

Report published in December 2016At this time, the characteristics of job stress

resonated with both authors.20 As the ‘as is’environment was captured, the following activitieswere specifically designed to instil hope in the future, as

Hope is also animportant matter tothe families of those

in custody. In therecent Farmer

Review, the agencyof families remindedus all of the ‘golden

thread’ ofrehabilitation.

13. Liebling, A. (2017). The Meaning of Ending Life in Prison. Journal of Correctional Health Care, 23(1), 20-31.14. Dufrane, K., & LeClair, S. W. (1984). Using hope in the counselling process. Counselling and Values, 29, 32-41.15. Mei Law, F., and Jen Guo, G. (2016). Correlation of hope and self-efficacy with job satisfaction, job stress, and organizational

commitment for correctional officers in the Taiwan Prison System. International Journal of Offender Therapy and ComparativeCriminology, 60(11) 1257-1277.

16. Farmer, L. (2017). The importance of strengthening prisoners’ family ties to prevent reoffending and reduce intergenerational crime.Ministry of Justice. Accessed from:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/642244/farmer-review-report.pdf

17. Youssef, C. M., & Luthans, F. (2007). Positive organizational behaviour in the workplace: The impact of hope, optimism, and resilience.Journal of Management, 33, 774-800.

18. Peterson, J. P., & Byron, A. K. (2008). Exploring the role of hope in job performance: Results from four studies. Journal ofOrganizational Behaviour, 29, 785-803.

19. Mei Law, F., and Jen Guo, G. (2016). Correlation of hope and self-efficacy with job satisfaction, job stress, and organizationalcommitment for correctional officers in the Taiwan Prison System. International Journal of Offender Therapy and ComparativeCriminology, 60(11) 1257-1277.

20. Ludema, J., Cooperride, D & Barrett, F. (2001) AI: the power of the unconditional positive regard question. In Handbook of ActionResearch. Edited by P. Reason and H. Bradbury, pp.189-199. London: Sage.


a way to mobilise the change process and ultimately,build hope.

Building hope through research: Anappreciative inquiry

Appreciative inquiry can bring with it a renewedsense of hope and this was evident during the researchprojects in Norway and England. This is a researchapproach that only focuses on those positive aspects ofan experience, as; ‘unconditional positive regardquestions...ignite transformative dialogue and actionwithin human systems’.21 The photo-essay carried out in2016 therefore utilised opportunities for transformationand growth, not only by its appreciative tone butthrough the relationships thatwere developed and the values,which were expressed.Consistent with the Norwayproject, residents and staff wereasked to capture, throughphotography, which aspects ofpractice promoted personalgrowth and why. By highlightingpositive conversations andemotions, growth can take rootand have transformativequalities.22 This is likened to theheliotropic principle and likeplants, people grow and movetowards aspects of the worldwhich give life.23

During the Norway research, the author observedthat as transformative opportunities took place andparticipatory goals were fulfilled, a surge of energyspread throughout the prison. What emergedthereafter was greater collective support, legitimacyand a wave of engagement. It evolved from theresearch team who were making efforts to recruitresidents, to the participants lining up to be recruited.The engagement and unspoken support in itself wasoverwhelming. This same outcome re-emerged in all ofthe Norway projects and latterly, in the English project.

The following extract is drawn from a qualitativeanalysis, which took place in the English prison, afterthe exhibition of the photo-essays.

‘Hope yet doubt: A dominant theme from thedata was that of hope. This hope was directedtowards the Growth project, positive change

at HMP ***** and in a rehabilitative climatein prisons more broadly. Whilst this hope wasclearly articulated within the responses, therewere some doubts as to the possibility of arehabilitative climate and a number of barriersto change were highlighted, including a lackof knowledge around the project and needfor greater engagement in the desire to createa rehabilitative environment’.

After the exhibition there was some uncertaintyregarding the pathway and direction of the prison. Therewas also a clear state of exhaustion. However, once theenergy of hope began taking root through the research,this experience was felt and served as a bedrock for

further hope development.

Building Hope ThroughEvents

The Prison Growth Projecthas taken an events-basedapproach over the past twoyears. By creating moments ofrehabilitative worth throughexperiences, a climate wascreated, analysed and fed backinto the prison. Events rangedfrom wing based activities,training and also all-prisonevents. This included aCommunity Fayre, which is

explained below. By aligning all events with theprinciples of growth and researching the views of thosethat experienced them, greater understanding of thechange process was sought and assurances were put inplace to ensure that we were on the right path. Thefollowing extracts are from qualitative analysis out bythe Growth Team in 2017;

Wellbeing days: Building Community

‘The notion of a community was also strong inthe data. This included a reduction of tensionand an opportunity to work together, to buildsomething collectively. Feelings of inclusionand a sense of belonging were noted. This ledto a greater understanding of each other anda desire to connect in deeper ways. For

Appreciative inquirycan bring with it arenewed sense ofhope and this wasevident during theresearch projects

in Norwayand England.

21. Porporino, F. (2010). “Brining sense and sensitivity to corrections: from programmes to “fix” offenders to services to support desistance”In . Brayford, F. Cowe and J. Deering (eds.) What else works? Creative work with offenders. Cullompton. Willan publishing.

22. Elliot, C & Ford, N. (1999). Locating the energy for change: an introduction to AI. Winnipeg: International Institute for SustainableDevelopment.

23. Jewkes, Y. (2018). Just design: Healthy prisons and the architecture of hope. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology.51(3), 319-338.


example, one resident said; ‘(it has) shown methat if people come together, more positivethings will develop.’ The building of anenvironment that promoted the sense ofcommunity seemed to bring hope andfreedom to those in prison.’

The direction and pathway to change was alsofocused upon via a bespoke training programme for theSenior Managers on the subject of relationships. Thiswas not only designed for the specific prison, buthaving built a relationship with those in SeniorManagement, it was designed to be meaningful for thesenior team, both as a collective and individually. Thisstatement is taken from the qualitative thematicanalysis: ‘Another participant acknowledged that thesession brought with it the realisation that ‘people thinkthe same and believe in the way forward’, indicatingcohesion and hope.’

The relational and spatial environment wereregularly assessed by the Prison Growth Project. Thisallowed for targeted interventions and events to takeplace, which focused on vision, pathways and energy.This helped incrementally to build hope over a period oftime.

Building Hope through Art

Visual methods have also been embedded withinPrison Growth Project initiatives, since its establishment.We recruited a resident onto the team in 2017, whohad a desire to use his artwork to convey messages ofhope. This began through the creation of small starshaped cards that were given to both staff andresidents with words of inspiration and appreciation.This developed further, as new opportunities weregiven to the resident by the Governors to develop his

artistic skills. This sent a clear and broader message tothe prison population, as illustrated in the followingtwo images.

These humanising messages aimed to create an‘architecture of hope’.24 Prison spaces are invariablymonotonous and dull. These messages through art notonly brought hope in what was written but theincremental building of art conveyed more symbolicmessages associated with change. One week prior torelease, our resident/artist wrote on an internal wall thefamous Invictus poem by William Ernest Henley, whichbrought Mandela hope during his years ofincarceration. This was the residents last message ofhope before his departure and was poignant andheartfelt. Prison spaces not only influence peoplepsychologically and physiologically, but suggests that

prison buildings and spaces have anidentity and can support rehabilitation anddesistance.25 What we were ultimatelyworking towards was transforming ourmaterial physical spaces, despite ofarchitectural and financial obstacles, inorder to create ‘art of hope.’

Maintaining Hope: ‘Keep goingeveryone!’

Desisting from crime focusesimportantly on overcoming obstacles.Whilst primary desistance can be definedas a decision to move away from crime,

24. As above25. Lewis, S. (Sept, 2018). Never underestimate what a group of like-minded people can do. Accessed from

https://www.penalreformsolutions.com/single-post/2018/09/01/prison-blog-Log-28—Never-underestimate-what-a-group-of-like-minded-people-can-do


secondary desistance highlights the importance ofmaintaining this decision in the face of adversity. Therole of others within this journey is evident andsimilarities can be made between individual desistanceand organisational, prison desistance. At the Englishprison, there were those that supported thismaintenance process and others that did not. The roleof hope-carriers was instrumental in bringing andmaintaining hope to both the authors. These hope-carriers were visitors, academics, colleagues, residentsand family or friends. Being regularly told to ‘keepgoing’ certainly helps with the preservation of hope.The following extracts come from these very people.

The first extract (written by the author) follows avisit to the Prison Growth Project by a member of theregional team, during which we shared the work thatwe had been doing. This extract not only conveys hopebut fulfils the principle of authentic leadership,something that prison governors need, in order to beable to facilitate growth.

‘I felt overwhelmed with the task ahead,scared that we wanted too much and at thesame time, riddled with excitement of what

could be achieved. I also felt very hopeful andundeniably proud of the challenge and myteam. She spoke to us about the importanceof the team being a family. She spoke to themen with complete respect, recognising andacknowledging their worth, hearing theirindividual voices and seeing them as experts’. Lewis (Sep 1, 2018) 26

It is important to have a high level of hope whenfacing a challenge, because higher hope will empowerindividuals to set up multiple pathways at a point intime or enable them to find alternative pathways inresponse to roadblocks.27 This message becameincreasingly important as we faced a myriad ofobstacles, whether they were individuals, processes ormaterial limitations. However, strengthening thecapacity for pathway thinking can support theachievement of goals and during difficulties, providepeople with motivation to look for alternative pathwaysto meet these goals.28 During the Project we began torecognise that when roadblocks were hit, drawing ateam together to collectively agreed how to overcomethe obstacles, supported the inclusive approach, which

Figures above: Artwork completed by the Paintsmiths and a serving resident



28. Maruna, S. (2012) Travelling desistance hucksters and the Hawthorne Effect. Retrieved from:http://blogs.iriss.org.uk/discoveringdesistance/author/shaddmaruna/


led to more robust pathways being developed. Thereliance on others was instrumental and allowed hopeto be maintained.

Giving hope back- Generativity

Being a hope-carrier can be exhausting and hittingobstacles only diminishes the source of hope. Reflectingon the past two years of this project, the importance of‘giving back’ hope to hope-carriers, was recognised asan important process in sustaining prison desistance.The following extract (which was written following apublic talk on growth) conveys simple examples of howthis was achieved.

‘We fundamentally believe itis the right thing to do. To behumane, to becompassionate, to learn andact. To keep going andabove all this, to have hope.We called for connection, towork together as a collectiveand as our talk came to aclose, people congregated atthe steps of the stage. As wewalked into the group ofindividuals and listened towords of reassurance andsupport, it brought to mymind Maruna’s words, as hedescribes the importance of‘injections of hope’ withinpenal practice.29 I will keep itin my pocket for the darkermoments, because let’s face it, we will needit.’ Lewis (Oct 12, 2018)30

As we continue on this journey, we are starting towitness how hope is being reciprocated by thoseresidents who were once a part of the Prison GrowthProject but have now moved on from the prison. Theethos of the Prison Growth Project is that once youare a member, you remain a member throughout yourprogression and later release. It is a lifelongmembership. To illustrate this point, one residentwrote a Foreward to our recently published GrowthPractice Manual;

‘The Growth Project is fuelled in the progression ofeveryone involved, directly and indirectly. It is the

perfect platform for granting staff and residentssomething we are all searching for within a prisonenvironment and that is quite simple; ‘HOPE’. We allhope for something better, maybe hope to changeourselves or our environment, whatever it is, it is amatter of hope and if we break down the work of theGrowth Project, then that is exactly what it has done, ithas given hope.’ Growth Resident (2018)

Hope can also be generated from staff, through apro-active approach. After committing to the writing ofthis article, the co-author turned to some of hiscolleagues and asked them what they hoped for. Theresponses were naturally all future orientated, but alsogenerally broad in respect of what they had hope for.One colleague, who took some time before she

answered, with a well thoughtout response. Her reply wassimply this, ‘I hope that in thefuture, all staff will want to helpthose in our care. I’m notbothered about the impact onstatistics, I just want to see theresults in the faces of our staff,their sense of achievement whensomeone succeeds’. And also, tothose residents in prison, ‘I wantto see what they do with theirlives, when they see that there issomething else in life for themthat could easily be achieved’.This simple, but well thought outconsideration is unsurprisingamongst those who work in andaround prisons. The need toarticulate these hopes and

provide opportunities to build hope capital, is essentialwithin this challenge. This will only nurture hope inothers and deepen organisational hope, so that it canwithstand the challenges ahead.

Conclusion

In order to achieve our objective for hope thereneeds to be a reciprocal agreement between staff andresidents, for hope to be nurtured, maintained anddeepened. This is not just a ‘give and take’ processwithin prison desistance, but a multi-directional synergythat is infectious and powerful. Without others to re-fuel hope, hope can erode and deteriorate due to theculture in which we find ourselves. Appreciating the

Prison can be ahopeless place. Aplace of pain andtragedy and yet,with hope, the

people in prison cancreate the fuel to

grow hope, as thefertiliser.

29. Maruna, S. (2012) Travelling desistance hucksters and the Hawthorne Effect. Retrieved from:http://blogs.iriss.org.uk/discoveringdesistance/author/shaddmaruna/

30. Lewis, S. (Oct, 2018). An Injection of Hope: Reflections from the Criminal Justice Management Conference 2018. Accessed fromhttps://www.penalreformsolutions.com/single-post/2018/10/12/Blog-29-An-Injection-of-Hope-Reflections-from-the-Criminal-Justice-Management-Conference-2018


need for long term investment in prison growth isnecessary to ensure it takes root, be sustainable, andultimately (like tertiary desistance), belong.

Prison can be a hopeless place. A place of pain andtragedy and yet, with hope, the people in prison cancreate the fuel to grow hope, as the fertiliser. Thosewho abandon hope and give up, or those who do nothave the answers to their issues or problems need thefostering and nurturing from others. As we create andnurture hope-carriers, our culture stands a chance ofdeveloping. It is not perfect as we have a long way togo, but without hope, we have nothing. There areseveral mechanisms in which hope can flourish andunderstanding these mechanisms brings us closer tothis goal: We want to create conditions by whichpeople want to change and desist from crime. Ashared, collective vision, a clear pathway to this visionand the energy to get us there will only deepen ourcommitment to prison reform.

We have recently had an inspection and received astaggering four-point increase on the four healthy

prison tests of Safety, Purposeful activity, Resettlementand Respect. The latter two presenting as ‘reasonablygood’ in the views of the inspectorate, which for us wasa huge success and resonates confidently with asignificant number of the principles of growth. This initself provides us with hope and demonstrates to thestaff and residents the importance of a growth-orientated approach. It affirms that maintaining hope inchange and striving for more needs to be central to ourprison reform efforts. Hope must be practiced andencouraged relentlessly. It needs to become a regularconversation and a cultural bedrock habit. Hopenullifies adverse thoughts and doubt, it createsconfidence and generates expectation and optimism. Itreduces anxiety, fear and apprehension and it promotesfuture orientated thoughts that should be revealed andshared. Ultimately, hope leads to achievement andsuccess and practicing hope on a daily basis willdevelop individual hope and strengthen organisationalhope in the future.

Vipassana meditation is a straightforward, practical way to achieve real peace of mind and thus to lead a happy, useful life. Vipassana means. ‘to see

through self-observation. It teaches us to observe the reality within ourselves at deeper levels, and enables us to dissolve tensions and unravel the knots within. In this way we can lead a more positive, balanced, happy and healthy life – full of peace, harmony and goodwill for others.

The technique was taught by the Buddha as a universal remedy for the problems shared by all human beings. It contains nothing of a sectarian or

all backgrounds.

The technique is taught at ten-day residential courses during which participants follow a prescribed Code of Discipline and follow a full schedule of meditation with daily instructions and an evening discourse elaborating on the technique.

Because it has been found to be genuinely helpful, great emphasis is put on preserving the technique in its original, authentic form. It is not taught commercially, the courses are run solely on a donation basis and are offered freely. All expenses are met by donations from those who have previously completed a course and wish to give others the same opportunity.


Interview with serving prisoners within HMP FullSutton, a High Security dispersal prison thathouses category A and B prisoners. Full Sutton hasan operational capacity of 626, but currentlyhouses approximately 540 prisoners. Of those,almost half are serving life sentences, with asimilar number serving more than 10 years, orindeterminate sentences.

This interview focusses on the subject ofrehabilitative cultures and explores the lived experienceof those in a high security prison.

BD: What for you are the key features of arehabilitative culture? Why is this importantto achieve?

SG: To give people time to stop and think, reflecton their behaviour. To give new skills to enable peopleto have greater options once released.

AR: Maslow’s concept of needs1shows us thathuman beings require a certain level of basic needs tobe met before they are able to go to the next level, forexample If someone feels unsafe they would struggle tofind the capacity to engage in a rehabilitative culture.Trust, a therapeutic arena (or as near as possible) needsto be achieved where the prisoners feel valued and ableto talk freely where conversations are encouraged.Prisoners are nor herded onto courses that they are notready for. Rehabilitative movement only occurs whenthe person is ready to change.

BD: How have you been involved in creating amore rehabilitative culture? How has this beentaken forward where you are currently?

SG: Yes, I was chosen to take part in a mediationcourse as a counsellor. I was professionally trained andtook part in accredited courses. Yes, I am now able tohelp mediate between prisoner and prisoner, orprisoner and staff.

AR: I have attended meetings with Governors whomention something that later they state they never saidresulting in a lack of trust. I have witnessed a prisoner

being told not to be so negative when they wereexpressing a view that differed from the officialstandpoint. We have numerous Black awareness days,when a White prisoner attended, other prisoners askedwhy they were attending; and when asked for a Whitehistory day I was told that ‘We have nothing to beproud of’.

BD: How does the physical environmentcontribute to this and what efforts have beenmade to make a positive difference?

SG: In a high security estate, movement isextremely restricted. So for all, staff and prisoner alike,it’s important we all make an effort. However, thisenforced effort can sometimes lead to resentment. Alot of what is deemed rehabilitative in my opinion ispure rhetoric; provided in posters and meetings tosatisfy Ministry of Justice targets and manifestos.

AR: Mains [prisoners that are housed on the mainpopulation wings] and VPs [Vulnerable Prisoners whoare at risk of bullying, suicide or self-harm] areseparated within movements being organised by acontrol hub who ensure that a VP and a main isn’t onthe same landing. Education has started to breakdown barriers through the Leeds Beckett LearningTogether programme.2

BD: Are basic services such as food andclothing important?

SG: Yes, for some, food is at the top of theimportance list. Clothing not so much, although inrespect of civilian clothes, prisoners would like it to bea much easier process to purchase or exchange clothes.

BD: What about relationships between thosewho live and work in prisons? What role do theyhave and how are they being improved?

SG: Civilian staff in prison are rarely in my opinionsubjected to poor relationships with prisoners; with theexception of medical workers, these are definitely seenas pro-prison rather than neutral civilians they shouldbe. A lot of the time this is due to waiting lists or the


Stuart Greene and Andy Robinson are serving prisoners at HMP Full Sutton. Dr Bill Davies is a SeniorLecturer in Criminology at Leeds Beckett University, and Director of the Leeds Beckett Centre for University and

Prison Partnerships.

1. Maslow, A. (1943) A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370–3962. Learning Together, developed by Cambridge University, is an educational programme delivered at HMP Full Sutton by Leeds Beckett

University. The programme takes students from Leeds Beckett into Full Sutton to learn along prisoners that register with the University.It is an accredited programme that gives all students that pass, 20 university credits


restriction of medication. Most of us, we have normalrelationships with prison staff, but most of us howeverrealise this can change in a heartbeat.

AR: I find wings in the prison differ. Mistrustbetween officers and Governors, between Governorsand imposed regulations. High turnover of staff disturbsthe equilibrium. The old guard, the union becomes anobstruction to progression. I find no improvementbetween relationships. I feel in High Security,Rehabilitation Culture is a word that is brought out forall occasions but I feel after all is said and done, there isa lot more said, than done.

BD: What do the best staff do that makes adifference?

SG: Do what they say theywill.

AR: Non-Judgemental,available to make conversationrather than the three quartersthat sit in the office. Use humourto lift spirits. Be open todeveloping sound workingrelationships and mutual trust.

BD: Do prisoners have thechance to be involved in therunning of the prison orshaping the community such aspeer support of representativebodies?

SG: Yes in small aspects, thislevel is closely monitored though;anything that may impact onsecurity overrides everything. Theprison give this small gesture as acarrot to keep an ear to theground as to the feelings of thegeneral populace, and as a tool tosend unofficial messages back to the population.

AR: The division of power is always apparent. I feelthe prison has a set agenda and uses therepresentatives meetings to legitimise this agenda.

BD: Do families have a role in building a morerehabilitative culture? How are they involved inyour establishment?

SG: Ha, Ha. I am more embarrassed you wouldthink the Prison Service really care. Some arrange familydays, which go above and beyond what is required. Inmy opinion, other than family days, what I am about tosay may come across as contradictory, but it is true inmy opinion that they do everything to impede familycontact, by keeping prisoners hundreds of miles awayfrom home, stopping mail due to unworkable drugpolicies, and intrusive searches before and after visits.

AR: No, and not at all. BD: What opportunities are there to address

problems such as health and substance misuse?

SG: I don’t know, I have no issues. There doesseem to be a lot of people going to the med hatch eachday; I assume it is for substance issues.

AR: I am registered disabled since 1989 followinga road traffic accident. I have been told that I am notdisabled as I attend the gym. I have complained to thehealth provision but still do not have the chair I need.So I have to lie on the bed as I am unable to sit for anylength of time. With substance misuse there is a peerprogramme that operates in the prison.

BD: Do punishments, adjudications, incentivesand privileges have a useful role in shaping thebehaviour of people in prison?

SG: Yes, as a control tool,without these it would be chaos inhere. The use of incentives on here,that is the IEP system is abused bystaff in this prison and they use itincorrectly in my opinion.

AR: Change comes fromwithin, not from the promise ofan IEP upgrade. If usedcorrectly they are very useful increating a safe environmentwhich in turn promotes thefeeling of wellbeing. At such apoint the prisoner had thespace to connect to theirfeelings and emotions.

BD: Do prisoners have thechance to develop theirtalents and interests, forexample through education,training or employment?

SG: Yes, but very limited.Here I believe due to what isknown as distance to the gate

that is most have decades before release, a lot ofopportunities that could give new skills or create newinterests are not given. The education is basic and as faras I am aware there is limited training. Other courses oropportunities such as creative writing etc. stop beforethey start due to staff leaving etc.

AR: Education has been very limited, for exampleto level 1 and 2 English, maths, Art, Computers andcookery. Leeds Beckett University’s involvement in theeducation department had brought a breath of freshair, where prisoners are treated like students and for abrief moment our minds have the opportunity to grow.

BD: What is the best way to prepare prisonersfor a successful life after release?

SG: Move them to D cats (Category D prisons arefor prisoners who can be reasonable trusted in openconditions) or local prisons, source employment forthem and give them the opportunity to save for release.Too many prisoners are released with just the discharge

I find noimprovement

betweenrelationships. I feel

in High Security,Rehabilitation

Culture is a wordthat is brought out

for all occasions butI feel after all is saidand done, there is a

lot more said,than done.


grant of approximately £47 into civilian life, with nojob, no home and little money; and they wonder whythey come straight back. I could speak forever on this,it is a passion of mine.

AR: Stop herding. We are not numbers. Talk to useidentity, our concept of self and assist in identifying therole the prisoner would like to pursue after release. Behonest, encourage the development of ties in thecommunity for example with family. Empower theprisoner as much as possible, but be realistic. Ensure theprisoner is familiar with the support organisations on thearea of re-location. Re-integration into society I haveheard can be rocky as when we were excluded from it.

BD: Is there anything that is done at yourestablishment that you feel is a particularly powerfulway to foster a more rehabilitative culture?

AR: Leeds Beckett University ran a course inPsychology which was attended by Mains prisoners, VPprisoners, Prison Officers and Leeds Beckett students.The barriers melted away as we all became students. Atthe end of the course the way I saw the officerschanged as the person behind the uniform becamemore visible. The relationship between prisoners andofficers was strengthened by the process and I felt morerespect for the human that occupies the uniform.

BD: What are the barriers to achievingsuccess? What gets in the way? How can thesechallenges be overcome?

SG: Negativity, trust, take away the bullshit, stoptrying pseudo-psychology courses. Try to identify theskills and interests in individuals and tailor a plan forthem.

AR: Institutional noise from the top down. If itwere more transparent where trust was developedbetween the prison hierarchy then I believe this wouldgo some way in changing prisoners in prison to humansin a community. This will need time to change. Initialtraining to involve a more systematic approach. Trainingat every level focussing on tam building rewardingeducation achievement within the prison ranks fostersbest working practices.

BD: How would you know that a morerehabilitative culture was being successfullydeveloped? How would you measure this?

SG: There would be empty prisons. Some of us arejust born bad though.

AR: Firstly I would drop the new buzz words‘Rehabilitative Culture’. I would know a morecommunity based approach was being developed bythe prisoner’s active participation in developing coursesto promote growth. A more person centred approachby all officers. First names used. Prisoners would displaysigns of unity (a shared identity). Minority groups wouldbe given questionnaires to ask how they gel they areseen by other prisoners. The use of communal areas.


This interview was conducted in a large,Category C prison holding men who have morethan four years left to serve. Some have beenapproved for transfer to an open prison andawaiting transfer, but the vast majority areCategory C men serving determinate andindeterminate sentences.

AB was 39 at the time of interview (end of 2018)and had served 13 years of his sentence — sixmonths of which had been in the current Category Cprison. He was three-and-a-half years away fromrecategorisation to a Category D prison at the timeof interview.

GBP: What for you are the key features of arehabilitative culture?

AB: The key features of a rehabilitative cultureare definitely going to be safety — that is the firstthing. If you’re not safe, you won’t go to education oryou won’t go to work because you’re scared. If youdon’t feel safe, you can’t do what you need to do.Then I would say two things that go together:opportunity and hope. Those two things go together.You can’t have hope if you’ve got no opportunities. Ifyou’ve got no opportunities, you’ve got no hope. Ifpeople feel safe and then they have opportunities,they are going to have hope. If you have hope, that’sthe best and you can’t get anything more than hope.

GBP: How have you been involved increating a more rehabilitative culture?

AB: All of this rehabilitative stuff that’s going onnow, this all really started three to four years ago. Itwas in my last prison [HMP Frankland], I was at thestart of it when all the rehabilitative culture kickedoff. It was one of the first places to get involved andget it up and running. We were heavily involved in it.We brought a lot of ideas to the table. The prison wasbehind us on everything and introduced a lot of newprocesses in the prison which they still use to this daynow. Some of the ideas I brought with me here. Idon’t know whether you’ve seen anyone giving apositive entry form? It’s like a form that you can useto get positive entries on C-NOMIS. All of the prison’shistory, everyone has complained that reporting onC-NOMIS is always biased to the negative, so if youdo something wrong, they are quick to put it on thecomputer. If you do something right, they don’t put iton. They’ve got no time. They’ve got to do stuff. If it’s

negative, it’s on there straight away. So basically, wemade a form, designed the form, wrote the form,and sent it to the Governor so if you do somethingthat’s positive, you can fill in a form. The officerwould verify that it’s right and then put it on C-NOMIS. It was working really well, and we have triedto introduce it here.

You might have heard of the spice epidemic.Well, what we did up there, we wrote a programmeto teach the staff about spice and taught it to someofficers. Once we had taught them, one of theofficers and the drugs team, we went around doingsessions for all the staff in the prison. So obviouslythe drug worker would do it from the drug workerpoint of view, the officer would do it from their pointof view, and we said how we were treated and whatthey could be doing better. From a prisoner’s point ofview, we could see that a lot of people were gettinghooked on this thing and we could see a lot of themneeded help more than anything. Locking thembehind their door, giving them nothing to do, leavingthem there — all they were doing was buying drugsfrom behind their door because now they’ve gotnothing to do 24 hours a day. It’s making themworse. It was just a rubbish way to deal with it. Thatwas one of the things we got changed and got themto start dealing with in a better way. Anyone webelieved to be on spice, we had a little box where youcould put a note in there for them but it was only tothe drug team, it didn’t go to security or any otherofficers on the wing. What they would do then isspeak to the person first and then they would decidewhether or not to call security or an officer.

GBP: Are basic services such as food andclothing important?

AB: Yes, those basic things have to be stable.The underlying things have to be stable. Normalthings are not stable in this place. If you want to behelping people and giving them the opportunity torehabilitate themselves, you need to get them stable.People don’t handle frustration well. You need astable environment to work with someone who is notthat stable. If you mess around with the basics, youput everyone in jeopardy, including the staff. If peopleare frustrated, pissed off and stressed, it’s not safe.

GBP: Do prisoners have the chance to beinvolved in the running of the prison or shaping

Rehabilitative culture in a closed prisonGeorgina Barkham-Perry is a PhD student at the Department of Criminology, University of Leicester.


the community such as peer support orrepresentative bodies?

AB: You see, menial tasks like a mentor to deliverthe hospital appointments every day... obviouslythat’s a simple task that doesn’t require much,anyone can do that. But if you’re talking about theprisoners being involved in properly running theprison, for instance getting processes done andthings like that, the reason why it won’t work rightnow is because the staff in this prison do not haveenough experience to accept it. To get a set ofprisoners and say, ‘Alright then, we are going to lookat sorting out these processes and we are going tolook at doing this and that,’ the senior managers,managers, and staff have to be willing to come downto a certain level and work withpeople. They have to be willingto listen, understand, and learnthings they don’t know. Listento prisoners, take it on board.You have to be a strong person,a confident person, a confidentmanager to be able to do that.

GBP: Do families have arole in building a morerehabilitative culture? Howare they involved in yourestablishment?

AB: Yes, definitely. 100 percent. Families as a whole, theyare always going to be astabilising factor. People mightsay your family is a badinfluence because they arecriminal, but it doesn’t matter.You love your family anyway. They are always goingto be a stabilising influence even if it’s only for thatlittle piece of it. That’s all you’ve got. This prisondoesn’t do enough to involve families. We are goingto have a family day in a couple of weeks and I’mhoping it will turn out well.

GBP: What opportunities are there to addressproblems such as health and substance misuse?

AB: To tell you the honest truth, really and truly,I don’t know. I can tell you what every prisoner willtell you — if you go to health care there’s a drugsteam that will try and help you as best they can. I’mnot being involved here really. At the last prison, as Isaid, we set up the process so you could submit aform to go straight to the drugs team but I haven’ttried to do that here.

GBP: Do punishments, adjudication,incentives, and privileges have a useful role inshaping the behaviour of people in prison?

AB: Yes, but not when the people using themare not experienced. They are all tools to incentivise

or punish. If they are used properly, they are toolsthat can work. If you’ve got no experience, you arenot using them properly and then they just becomeweapons to bully people. When you have just gotpower, that’s what happens.

GBP: Do prisoners have the chance todevelop their talents and interests, for examplethrough education, training, or employment?

AB: I work for activities, I’m an activities mentor.One of my roles is I get a list of all the people who areunemployed and get them jobs. I go around theprison and I offer them jobs. There have been manytimes when I go around and people know that thejobs don’t exist. Some of the guys don’t want toknow, so they just sign up for things but they know

they won’t go. When I moved from

Category A, I had just finishedmy degree and I wanted to domy Masters. I was moving toCategory B so my whole thingwas about coming here to domy Masters. My whole sentenceplan was built around coming toa Category C prison to accessresearch materials to do myMasters. That’s the main reasonwhy you can’t do your Mastersin High Security is because youcan’t access the researchpapers. When I finished mydegree, I did a Business A-Levelto fill the gap until I came here.It’s taken three weeks for library,learning and skills, and security

to agree that I can have the research papers printedoff. It turned into a mad who-ha. I’m just waiting toget it. I still haven’t started my Masters yet. I wrote toOMU saying that I came in a studying frame of mindand thinking I would start my Masters. This jail hasheld me back. I’m scared of being in this jail, I’mscared this jail could stop me getting parole. Itfrightens me.

It’s back to those same things, opportunity, hope,and safety. Once there are opportunities for you tolearn stuff and do stuff, you will gain hope. If you’vegot an opportunity to do a plumbing course say, andif you do that plumbing course and you do well, itcreates a thousand different hopes in your mindbecause you’ve just done something you know that Ican take this outside and I can actually do this. You’vegiven yourself something to work towards, look at,even to dream about and aspire to. But withoutgiving people those opportunities to do somethinglike that, they can’t have that dream if they’ve notdone anything that can provide a dream.

Families as a whole,they are alwaysgoing to be a

stabilising factor.People might say

your family is a badinfluence becausethey are criminal,

but itdoesn’t matter.


GBP: What is the best way to prepareprisoners for a successful life after release?

AB: Show them how to do it, and you can’t showthem in prison. That’s the best way to teach anyoneanything, is to show them. Give them examples of it, sothey see it all the time. That’s the reason why mostpeople are in prison anyway, because the behaviourthey are demonstrating is the behaviour that they’veseen all their lives so that’s the normal behaviour. If youconstantly give examples of good behaviour, sooner orlater, that should become their behaviour because that’sthe best way that we learn.

GBP: Is there anything that is done at yourestablishment that you feel is a particularly powerfulway to foster a more rehabilitative culture?

AB: It sounds simple but the cells are clean. It mightnot last for long, but it’s important, it’s hygiene. If yoursurroundings are clean. Generally, if you’re living in an

environment that’s clean as opposed to an environmentwhere there’s rats and cockroaches everywhere, yourframe of mind is going to be different.

GBP: What are the barriers to achievingsuccess? What gets in the way? How can thesechallenges be overcome?

AB: No safety. If there isn’t proper safety, that’sgoing to be a barrier. If the processes aren’t fit forpurpose, that’s going to be a barrier. If you’re trying to dostuff, but you are butting your head all the time, it’s notgoing to work. When I say processes, I mean everythingfrom filling out canteen forms to booking a visit.

GBP: How would you know that a morerehabilitative culture was being successfullydeveloped? How would you measure this?

AB: Safety is a good measure. Stability also, andprocesses. If all the processes are running right, a lotof tension is going to come down.


The following two interviews are with RyanSmith, a resident and Matt Green1, a prison officerand key worker, at HMP Warren Hill, a Category Cprison in Suffolk. Warren Hill is home to 258 menand contains both a Psychologically InformedPlanned Environment (PIPE) and TherapeuticCommunity (TC). Warren Hill offers a ProgressiveRegime for male adults who are not eligible tomove to open conditions, such as those servinglife sentences, or indeterminate sentences forpublic protection, who are excluded from openconditions, considerably over tariff or have beenrecalled. In July 2017, the prison decided todiscontinue the use of the prison’s segregationunit. Last year, Warren Hill was rated the topperforming prison in the country according to thePrison Service’s own monitoring measures,although the challenges in translating highperforming prison outcomes into positiveoutcomes for people leaving the establishmenthave been acknowledged.2 The authors of thispiece are Co-Directors of Learning Together andSenior Research Associates at the University ofCambridge. Together with their team, theycoordinate an ‘access to justice’ legal researchcourse at HMP Warren Hill. The ‘rehab culture’agenda has become more prominent over thesame period as prisons across the country havebegun to engage more systematically inpartnership working with outside institutions andagencies to enrich the culture and opportunitiesfor people resident in prisons, and also to providethe kinds of connections that can help people toachieve their rehabilitative goals post-release. Wegot to know both Matt and Ryan in the context ofthis work within Warren Hill, and in theseinterviews, we ask them about their ownthoughts on rehab culture through theirexperiences in HMP Warren Hill and beyond.

A resident’s perspective

AL: What do you think are the key features ofrehab culture and why is rehab culture important?

When I think of a rehab culture, I think mostlyabout relationships between staff and residents —relationships that are quite different from what you findin ordinary category B/C prisons. In rehab culturesresidents need to be able to feel comfortable workingalongside their key workers and offender supervisors.Residents need to have platforms where they can raiseissues, and difficulties, and feel confident andcomfortable working through risk factors. At the sametime, a rehab culture means that residents should alsobe able to hear difficult things from their key workersand when key workers highlight issues, they arerespected. Any instances of ‘them and us’ should beleft at the prison gate.

RS: Another feature I think is really important andcan be powerful in a rehab culture is openness.Allowing organisations and initiatives into the prisonfrom the outside can create an energy — an energymany residents have not experienced in the moreclosed prisons that builds hope and skills for the future.Interactions with the local community can showresidents that they are able to converse and socialisewith individuals from different backgrounds. I mentionthat point because we are based in Suffolk, which isquite an affluent area and the visitors are often more,let’s say, stable in life. Many residents on the otherhand, and I will use myself as an example, come fromunderprivileged working class areas and because of thiswe often don’t get to mix paths. When I had thechance of meeting the local community members, I wastotally shocked at the non-judgemental and very caringside to these individuals. This made me feel valued andadded to my motivation to do well.

AL: What are the kinds of values youassociate with a rehab culture?

Rehabilitative Culture in a progressiveclosed prison

Dr Ruth Armstrong is a Senior Research Associate at University of Cambridge and Co-Director of LearningTogether, and Dr Amy Ludlow is Director of MSt in Applied Criminology, Penology and Management at

University of Cambridge and Co-Director of Learning Together

1. Interviewees were allocated pseudonyms to remain anonymous.2. Liebling, A., Laws, B., Lieber, E., Auty, K., Schmidt, B., Crewe, B., Gardom, J., Kant, D., and Morey, M. (2019) ‘Are hope and possibility

achievable in prison?’ The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 58(1) 104-126.


RS: Empowerment! What I mean byempowerment is putting residents in positions of trustand giving them responsibilities. I will use my currentrole as a Distance Learning Coordinator as an example.I am in charge of advising and encouraging residents toengage in higher education. This role allows me toorganise open days, collect data, correspond withcolleges and administer paperwork. These are the sortsof things that would normally be done by a member ofstaff in another establishment. The transferable skillslearnt from this will be useful to me once I am released.

RS: Encouraging change is another value I wouldassociate with a rehab culture. Warren Hill’s populationis normally indeterminate sentenced prisoners who arepost-tariff and excluded from open conditions. I think itis safe to say that some of theseindividuals will not be able tochange overnight and a rehabculture needs to understand that.But a rehab culture shouldprovide the opportunities toallow for change. Change cancome in the form of empoweringresidents, equipping them withreal life skills and moreimportantly helping them torealise that they have potential.

AL: How do you think thephysical environment here atWarren Hill contributes to thesense of rehab culture?

RS: The facilities here help toform a sense of community. All of the units havekitchens fitted with really good equipment. This meansthat we cook and socialise in a safe and cleanenvironment that feels as much as possible like anordinary house.

RS: The units are also encouraging a self-cleanpolicy. Residents take turns to sweep and mop landings,and this has brought the residents together to discussthe weekly rotas. So yes, the physical environmental hasa massive part to play in a rehab culture.

AL: How have you been involved in the rehabculture at HMP Warren Hill?

RS: Well, where do I start? I have been here for 18months now so I have had my fair share of projects andevents. But, as I was saying earlier about openness, Ihave had the opportunity to complete the Butler LawCourse with the University of Cambridge’s LearningTogether programme. This project was amazing andcontinues to be amazing and I’m really enjoying mycurrent role as a mentor.

RS: I have also been carrying out HMIPexpectations dip tests.3 Only in a rehab culture couldyou envisage this. A few residents and I have beengiven the expectations of HMIP and told to collectevidence about whether or not the expectations arebeing met. Once we found our evidence, we presentedthis back to the management team. The highlight ofthis was having the full attention of the managers,listening as equals.

AL: That links to some of the things youalready said about the role of residents in shapingthe community. Are there other ways in whichother people who live here are involved inshaping decisions?

RS: Yes, residents are always involved in decision-making processes. The PrisonCouncil is organised and run by anumber of residents. They chairthe meetings and construct theagenda. The Council can be veryinfluential in decision-making.Residents also run dramaproductions in conjunction withlocal theatre company Red RoseChain. The residents areinfluential in the directing andrunning of the productions.Residents are also involved in theinterviewing process for somestaffing positions. In fact, threeresidents were given theopportunity to interview

candidates for a band 7 governor’s position. They weregiven 15 minutes to ask questions to the candidates.

AL: What do the best staff do to make adifference?

RS: The best staff act like role-models for residents.This often gets filtered down from the managementpositions. As a resident, you want to see staff energisedand eager to help. You want them to be out and abouton the units, having conversations, getting involved inthe activities and taking an interest in you as anindividual. Key workers are given time to sit down andhave a one to one meeting. You want your key workerto say ‘let’s go to the Barista for a coffee’ or ‘let’s havea chat over a game of pool’. Breaking the cycle ofsitting in rooms discussing issues can be powerful.

AL: I am interested to hear that there is aBarista here. What sort of difference does thatmake to a rehab culture?

RS: The Barista is a great facility. Once you havebeen here for a stable period of time and complied with

Change can comein the form ofempowering

residents, equippingthem with real life

skills and moreimportantly helpingthem to realise thatthey have potential.

3. Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons for England and Wales (HMIP) is an independent inspectorate which reports on conditions for andtreatment of those in prison and young offender institutions. Expectations are the documents which set out the criteria HMIP use toinspect prisons and other forms of detention. They are based on international human rights standards and are used to examine allaspects of life in detention.


the EBM4 (Enhanced Behavioural Monitoring) processyou can apply for a WHAL card (Warren Hill ActivityLicence Card). This allows you to use the Barista. I usethe facilities on offer — I often meet a few friendsdown there and have a general catch up. It acts as amotivating factor for residents who are not yet onStage 2 of their EBM. It also gives us a sense ofnormality. Eating amongst civilians and ordinaryindividuals in a relaxed environment is what we havebeen missing out on so it is a good experience. It alsobreaks down the barriers of ‘us and them’ when staffand residents are able to eat together.

AL: Are there any difficult aspects to that sortof trust giving and community building?

RS: I could see how there could be difficulties ingiving residents this much power. Other residents couldbecome envious or start to askquestions of why they hold somuch power. But, because it is sonormal at Warren Hill forresidents to hold these positions,no one bothers with rumours orjealous rants.

AL: When you first camehere, were there any thingsthat were difficult for you toadapt to?

RS: The main thing that tooksome getting used to was beingunlocked until 8:30pm. I am usedto a 5:30 lockdown as are manyother residents so this takes somegetting used to. I found myselfwondering what to do and to make it worse we haven’tgot courtesy locks for our rooms, so I was alwaysthinking about my room. Once you have been here fora while, you realise that no one bothers your room andyou get used to being out later. In fact, once you startworking you actually cherish this time.

RS: It also took a bit of time to get used togovernors out and about socialising. I have been inprison for 11 years now and never had a fullconversation with a governor. Here they socialise andtake the time to get to know you. I will never forgetwhen Sonia Walsh, who was the Governor, came in tomotor mechanics. I was sat in one of the cars reading,and she jumped in and had a half hour conversationwith me on the causes of my crime. She finished theconversation with some motivating words. This tooksome getting used to but should be everyday practicefor a rehab culture.

AL: What role do families play in a rehabculture and here at Warren Hill?

RS: Warren Hill has no formal catchment area —residents are from all over the country so visits can betricky. Those who do have visits are able to access familydays, which are put on a monthly basis with lots ofactivities. However, the stand out facility here for visitshas to be the Stage 3 room. Once a resident hasachieved Stage 3 on the EBM process (usually 9months) he can invite his visitors into a room equippedwith a TV, DVD player and comfy sofas. This allowsresidents and their loved ones to spend quality timetogether in a normal relaxed environment, with the aimof increasing family ties. The staff also make a habit ofinteracting with visitors when they book in, again,breaking down those ‘us and them’ barriers.

RS: Families are also encouraged to joincelebrations at end of course conferences as well as

music and drama productions.This allows residents to showcaseto their loved ones that they arebeing productive whilst inside. Atlast year’s Learning Togetherconference I was able to showmy family all of the work I havebeen involved in and how I’mgrowing as a person.

AL: What do you think isthe best way for people inprison to be prepared for asuccessful life after prison?

RS: That’s an Interestingquestion. I attended amotivational talk recently and theperson said how important

having a plan is, whether this is work or lifestyle. I agreewith this. If you have a clear idea of what you would liketo do when you are released, then your time in prisoncan be spent preparing for this. Achieving this plan willinvolve gaining qualifications and experience needed toexecute it. Preparation and vision are key to a successfulfuture on release. However if you still hold ideas that youwill return to old negative behaviours then this plan willnever be utilised. A positive mind frame towards leadinga pro-social life is essential.

AL: What about the barriers to achievingsuccess? What gets in the way of a prison beingmore rehabilitative and how can challenges beovercome?

RS: As I am getting more and more involved indifferent projects, I am noticing the fear around gettingthe good work that is done publicised. I believe that ifthe prison is doing something that is unorthodox but isachieving incredible outcomes then this should benoticed as good practice and adopted elsewhere.

Eating amongstcivilians and ordinary

individuals in arelaxed environment

is what we havebeen missing out on

so it is a goodexperience.

4. Enhanced Behavioural Monitoring process is used to monitor whether offenders are behaving in ways that show they still have offencerelated risks that they need support or help with. It also allows offenders to show when they are no longer behaving in ways thatwould be considered risky (in terms of their risk of future offending or risk of abscond).


Recently Warren Hill put on a production — TheCitizen. 15 residents produced and directed the piece ofart. This footage should be used to inspire otherresidents around the prison estate and maybe thecommunity, but the fear factor of this achieving badpress seems to stifle creativity.

AL: How would you know that a morerehabilitative culture is being successfullydeveloped? What is a good measure of a rehabculture?

RS: If I came into a prisonand wanted to know what’sgoing on, in terms of rehabculture, I would be looking atstaff and residents relationshipsaround the establishment. Theway they interact with eachother. I would like to see if theserelationships are positive,meaningful and most of allreciprocal. I would be looking athow well the grounds are beinglooked after, how clean the unitsare, and who’s doing the cleaningand whose voices are beingheard in terms of all decisionsthat are being made. I’d beinterested in how many peopleare using evening activities, whattypes of activities are being puton, and overall, what evidencethere is that the prison is buildingpeople’s hope and sense ofempowerment.

AL: Is there anythingdone at your establishmentthat is particularly powerful,as a way to foster a morerehab culture?

RS: I have mentioned empowering residents a lot.I believe that the way residents are given trust andresponsibilities marks this prison out as being differentto the other ones I have experienced.

AL: And finally, what sort of words would yoube looking for to describe a good rehab culture?

RS: I would expect residents to be saying thingslike they feel motivated to change and listened to. Thatthey feel empowered. All of these words should be atthe heart of a rehab culture.

An officer’s perspective

AL: What do you think are the key features ofrehab culture and why is rehab culture important?

MG: The key feature is to make the prison a safeenvironment, but within that, it’s the relationshipbetween the residents and officers that’s absolutelymassive. I think it’s definitely the biggest thing, andbecause we are here and we invest in thoserelationships I think that just shows that this prisonseems to be working, pretty much. I have been to someother prisons, but just seeing like the TV programmethe other night about Durham prison, you saw the

power of relationships and theirimportance to safety as well asprogress. As soon as people buildrelationships and realise that staffare not out to get them all thetime, then they realise that theycan change his ways.

AL: How would youdescribe relationshipsbetween staff and residentswhen they’re at their best?

MG: Well, it’s involvingresidents in things. So gettingthem on councils, makingdecisions for the prison, also tothe point of involving residents ininterview processes for new staff.It’s always important to makesure that your relationship isprofessional and residents knowtheir boundaries, but buildingthat relationship via key work isessential, as is giving residentsfreedom to help them takeresponsibility for their owndecision making.

MG: You can tell a residentthe same thing in two differentways, you can stick it on them orforce it on them, or you can

discuss it with them, give them the options, like ‘this iswhat could happen and this is what could happen, andyou make the decision’. Discussion puts the situationback in their hands and makes them responsible forthinking through what the better choice is. Developingthose skills means that next time something similarcrops up they might think back and come to the rightconclusion themselves.

MG: Also, there have been situations where I havekey worked with someone for 1 or 2 years and theyhave messed up a little, in regards to mixing with spice.Having that relationship, means they have felt like theyhave let me down as well as themselves, but also thatthey’ve had the space to make those decisions and thenown them and the consequences. You wouldn’t get theopportunity to work like that with residents in manyplaces, and I understand that we have time to do that

It’s alwaysimportant to make

sure that yourrelationship is

professional andresidents know their

boundaries, butbuilding that

relationship via keywork is essential, as

is giving residentsfreedom to help

them takeresponsibility for

their owndecision making.


here because that’s what gets prioritised so we have thetime and staff to do it. In the end, I think it’s theserelationships that bring a safer environment. Residentswould think twice if they wanted to get violent — thefact that they have built these relationships with usmeans that I think they would question themselves.And relationships mean that we can talk through thedifficult things and relate things to going in thecommunity and coming across someone in the samesituation on the streets.

AL: So is that the end game of rehab culture— getting people back in the community?

MG: Yeah definitely, yeah. I think everything isgeared up here to getting residents back on the streetand back into the community. Also to stay in thecommunity, and not get recalled. Just giving them thebest chance. A lot of key work Ido, I always relate it back to thecommunity and ‘this is what willhappen’, and again reiteratewhat could happen, like a recallor more charges. Even simple assaving face. I know a lot of guyshere and elsewhere do things justto save face, but actually whenyou walk away you might noteven see that fella again. Exactlythe same in the community.That’s just a simple example.

AL: You have talked abouthow the key worker scheme isreally helpful for giving you afocused opportunity forconversation. Are there otherthings that are really important, in your experience,to building a strong rehabilitative culture?

MG: Almost taking the aspect of a prison out of it,making it a calmer environment seems really important.I know that our number one has put up a lot ofpictures, like on the exercise yard that bring the outsidein. Instead of looking at the fencing and a wing,residents can see pictures that help to normalise theenvironment and make things feel calmer and lessinstitutional or oppressive. Our ethos here at Warren Hillis a Category D wing with fences round it, but breakingthat down a little bit, and giving residents that little bitmore freedom and trust. They know that if they breakour trust they could lose that freedom so our approachgives them a chance to prove themselves.

AL: What are the sort of challenges you thinkare faced in putting all of these ideals into practiceon a day to day basis?

MG: One of the obvious challenges is that the trustwe give can get abused. That’s just the way it is, and wehave to think carefully about how we keep giving outthat trust, but also making sure that if people are up tono good, we respond to that. One of the challenges inthat is physically having enough staff to keep on top ofthings and enable residents to have that freedom ofwalking around and making their own decisions withinthe boundaries. When boundaries are overstepped it’simportant that we take that away from the units. Likestage 2 residents meeting up in the library and up to nogood there, or coming over here and doing it in thecoffee shop, that sort of thing. If we do find something,and they mess up, then we take privileges away fromthem but also work with them, and again come back totalking about the community, so they understand that if

they do breach licenses and messup like they’ve done in here, theycould come back inside. Thestakes are high but we need togive them enough freedom toexperience that and understandit in here to avoid them messingup and not having those skills inthe community.

AL: What about families?To what extent are familiesinvolved in building rehabculture here?

MG: Because of our locationhere in Suffolk, and the factwe’re a national resource, thereare some challenges for us insupporting residents with their

family contact. I’m doing a piece of work at themoment that looks at whether residents have contactwith the family, or not, even if it’s just on the phone. Wehave the provision here of Ormiston families5 getinvolved with that and also Phoenix6 have a familyservice that they help. It seems to me, especially when Iam doing a resettlement plan with someone, that ifthey have contact with their family they have such abetter chance, so we definitely promote that. We havefamily days, where people can travel from longdistances. The last family day we had was at Christmaswhere a family travelled from Liverpool, but instead ofcoming on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday for 2 hours theycome on a Thursday for 10 o’clock, and they stay until3pm. They have dinner together. It’s worthwhile, theyget so much more time with their families in prison.

AL: What about opportunities to address healthand substance misuse. What is that like here andwhat role does it play in a rehabilitative culture?

I think everything isgeared up here togetting residents

back on the streetand back into the

community. Also tostay in the

community, and notget recalled.

5. Ormiston Families is a charity, supporting children, young people and families affected by imprisonment of a close family member.6. Phoenix Futures is a charity that helps people overcome drug and alcohol problems.


Again our provision here is very good and I thinkwe all understand the need for collaboration as part ofa rehabilitative culture. In terms of substance misuse wehave Phoenix who are very hands on with that. Theyalso help when they are getting time for recess, orgetting time outside, a particular rehab. Phoenix getsinvolved with getting someone registered to a certainrehab, or see if they will be accepted to a rehab. So youjust don’t go to an approved premises, where it can bedifficult for some of them. They can go into the correcttype of care, that they need or the correct type of rehabthat they need, to give them a better chance. Again, Iwill use an example I had recently where via Phoenix, aresident applied to a particular rehab that would notonly help them with abstaining from drugs, but therewas also funding to look at how we can look foremployment. So they did their rehab side of things andthen they looked at employment, setting them up forlife. Phoenix were completely involved in that, settingup, identifying who they were, and identify it couldhelp that resident. Then sorting out the interviews andthe process of getting them in there.

AL: Are there other players around the table thatare important in sustaining a rehabilitative culture?

MG: Yes, I think giving them the chance to havesomething like the shop, and the cafe that we havehere are really important. They don’t have thesefacilities in a lot of places, like in the normal IPP system.We take IPP a bit further by having a stage 2 and stage3 on the EBM (Enhanced Behavioural Monitoring)process. Linking back to what I said earlier, these sortsof places give us the chance to give residents trust andspace to test themselves and make choices.

MG: Beyond this, I think another key player isoffender supervisors who are really involved in EBMboards alongside key workers, but from a morepsychological point of view. Key workers look at aresident’s day to day care, how they are getting on andthen the offender supervisor will look at what are theirneeds, what are their issues, what are their risk factors.

I think an offender manager can be a massive part butI know that they don’t seem to have a lot of contact atthe moment. It’s certainly got worse, over the lastcouple of years that I have noticed and that’s not all ofthem. I have got a real mix at the moment of the guysthat I key work for. Some have very hands on offendermanagers and some we haven’t really heard a lot of.

AL: So Warren Hill has got quite a lot ofpositive press recently for being a highperforming prison with a progressive culture.What do you think is key to its success?

MG: Quite a few things. Again, the staff aspect ofit and having enough experienced staff that have donethe key work. When we introduced key work a fewyears ago, it took us a while to get on board. But whenwe did, it was just having the staff to be able to do that.That is such a massive part of Warren Hill beingsuccessful — having the time for the staff to do thatand getting the support from offender supervisors, andthe case file reviews and the psychologists. And also,just the environment. Just having simple things like thefish tanks on the wing, and a more homely feel. Key tothat is getting the residents to make big decisions,being part of the councils and having big sort oforderlies, like assessment orderlies. I work with a coupleof fellas that help write resettlement plans. I am notsure how much that would happen — some guy willsay to another fella on his wing ‘would you help mewrite a resettlement plan’ — in most places. But here,our orderlies are more than happy to do it and enjoydoing it and take their role seriously. The other big thingis that the residents understand the potentialrepercussions of their actions. We sort of force thatdown quite early on often reiterating what they alreadyknow, but it needs to be done. They need tounderstand the stakes and take responsibility for livingup to what is expected of them. They are back in closedand its cost them 2 or 3 years, but just reiterate that, ifyou failed an MDT [Mandatory Drugs Test] here this iswhat it will cost you on your parole board.


HMP Springhill is an open prison inBuckinghamshire. It holds 335 men who areassessed as suitable for open conditions. They arenearing the end of their sentence and arepreparing for release and resettlement. Two outof three of the men have been convicted ofviolent or drug offences. Many have served longsentences, with around 30 per cent servingsentences of 10 years or more, while only 2 percent are serving less than two years. At anytime, half of the men will have been in theprison for less than six months and half for morethan six months.

The population is diverse. Half of the men areWhite British and half are Black, Asian or from minorityethnic communities. There are many faiths representedin the prison, including around 40 per cent observingvarious Christian faiths and over 20 per cent Muslim.One in five self-report that they have a disability.

In 2013, a prisoner had been released fromSpringhill on temporary licence (ROTL) from Springhilland had committed a murder. This terrible eventexposed serious weaknesses in the ROTL process andhad shaken the confidence of the establishment. TheHM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) carried out aninvestigation into the events that led to the murder andwere rightly critical, describing that ‘the system failedthe public it was supposed to protect’.1 This led tomajor changes in the national ROTL policy. The impactat Springhill was significant. An inspection of Springhillin 2014, noted that the events had ‘struck at its centralpurpose’ and that although there was work to improveROTL, ‘getting this right was difficult; relationships werebeing impacted and staff in some roles were verystretched’.2 They assessed that purposeful activity andresettlement work were ‘not sufficiently good’.

In order to rebuild and improve the establishmentstarted work towards the Royal College of Psychiatrists’

Enabling Environments Award.3 This award is assessedagainst ten standards and is intended as ‘a mark ofquality allowing a service to demonstrate that it hasachieved an outstanding level of best practice increating and sustaining a positive and effectiveenvironment’.4 Over a three year period, residents andstaff took this forward. In 2018, Springhill became thefirst men’s prison to receive the Enabling EnvironmentsAward for the whole establishment. The award wasalso a vehicle for wider organisational improvement.The most recent inspection of Springhill, conducted inDecember 20175, recognised that the establishmenthad improved, with all four healthy prison tests being‘good’ or ‘reasonably good’. In addition, OFSTEDjudged for the first time that learning and skillsprovision at Springhill was ‘good’. The experience ofresidents and staff has also improved. In 2018, therewere Measuring the Quality of Prison Life (MQPL) andStaff Quality of Life (SQL) surveys conducted atSpringhill. This is the first time since 2014, so again it isa reflection of the period in which EE was developed.The outcomes showed that overall quality of life forboth staff and prisoners improved, as did theirperceptions of safety.

This interview focusses on the experience of threeresidents at Springhill and other prisons, particularly ontheir perceptions of rehabilitative cultures and enablingenvironments. James has served seven years in prisonand has a further year before he is considered forparole, Ahmed has served sixteen years and has 18months before parole, and Phillip has served three yearsand is released in under a year.

JB: What for you are the key features of arehabilitative culture? Why is this importantto achieve?

AS: My understanding of a rehabilitative culture isthat it is the way you do things, the way you talk toeach other and interact with one another. People are

Living in an open prisonAhmed Shah, James Allen and Philip Peters are residents at HMP Springhill. They are interviewed

by Dr. Jamie Bennett, Governor of HMP Long Lartin.

1. HM Inspectorate of Prisons (2014) A review by HM Inspectorate of Prisons: Release on Temporary Licence (ROTL) failures available athttps://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2015/07/ROTL-unredacted-WEB-amended-16-July-2015.pdf p.5

2. HM Inspectorate of Prisons (2014) Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Spring Hill 6–15 May 2014 available athttps://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2014/09/Springhill-Web-amended-2014.pdf p.6

3. 4 Royal College of Psychiatrists (2013) Enabling environments standards available athttps://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/pdf/ee%20standards%20-%202013.pdf

4. Ibid p.25. HM Inspectorate of Prisons (2018) Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Spring Hill 4–15 December 2017 available at

https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/04/Spring-Hill-Web-2017.pdf


sent to prison as punishment, the punishment is theloss of liberty, that doesn’t mean they should receivefurther punishment on a daily basis. The idea is to havea culture, from the top to the bottom where peopleencourage one another to rehabilitate themselves. Thathas to be in a way that’s going to be long-lasting, notsomething that will just feel positive for a short while.That means thinking about how you interact,encourage and support each person as an individual ona daily basis.

PP: It’s an atmosphere or environment thatencourages people to change for the better. It’s verydifficult to achieve that in an environment that has 23hour a day bang-up. A rehabilitative culture alsoconsiders practical effects of time unlocked, access towork and training, and support for good mental health.Prisons have many people whohave mental health problems orhave experienced terrible eventsin their backgrounds ofchildhoods. Putting them in arestrictive regime is just going todamage their self-esteem andencourage them to think thatthey have nothing to offer andthey can never be anything otherthan a criminal. A more positiveenvironment can encouragethem to have a more healthyview of themselves, moreconfidence and so re-join societyin a positive way. That needspractical support and resources,as well as compassion.

JB: How have you been involved in creating amore rehabilitative culture? How has this beentaken forward where you are currently?

JA: I currently work in the activities department, soI can help to a degree, in particular by helpingindividuals in getting a job and producing the best CVthey can. That’s not to say that is consistent across theboard, different people have different opportunities.There does seem to be more focus on this morerecently. As a peer, there is something special aboutbeing able to relate to the people I’m working with as Iwill have shared many experiences. I’m also sometimesbetter able to identify the talent that people have andencourage them to make best use of it. As I don’t workfor a company, I can work in a way that is moreindividual, there is always the risk with commercialservices that they become standardised and lesspersonal.

JB: How does the physical environmentcontribute to this and what efforts have beenmade to make a positive difference? This can be

quite a challenge at Springhill, where the livingaccommodation is old and beyond its normal life.

AS: You do get a sense sometimes when talkingabout rehabilitative culture that people are thinking‘you want us to get involved in this or that, but theheating isn’t working in our hut’. On the lifer hut, weget that maintenance is a much bigger prison andprison service issue, but the question is what can wedo? What environment do we want? We can give theplace a lick of paint, keep it clean and have a bit ofpride about the place. At the end of the day, we have tolive here. Being in an open prison, being able to use thegrounds, particularly in summer, is appreciated. You dowant to enjoy the freedom you do have, to be able towalk around.

JB: Are basic services such as food andclothing important?

JA: Food is alwaysimportant. Clothing does tap intoimage in this environment. Youdo have some people who haveaccess to more than others. Therecan be an element of ‘look whatI’ve got compared to what you’vegot’. You have to think about theimpact that has on those whodon’t have access to thoseresources.

JB: I can see that. One of thearguments made for schooluniforms is that it acts as a socialleveller, whereas outside, clothingis one of the ways in which socialstatus and inequality can be

displayed.JA: You can certainly see that in open prisons and

I wonder how that might tap into old behaviours.JB: The assumption is often that giving people

choice about clothing is positive, but you’re challengingthat and suggesting that this may also enable theenacting of problematic identities and social dynamics.

What about food? Here we have shared meals atimportant festivals, such as Eid, where Muslim residentscan also invite a guest who is of a different faith, so asto encourage a multi-cultural community. There wasalso the ‘bake off’ competition, where each hut had ateam. There is also the award for the cleanest hutcompetition, which is a shared meal. On an everydaybasis, there is also some, albeit limited, opportunity forpeople to cook for themselves.

AS: Those things are massively important. Havingsome choice and ability to cook for yourself is good.

PP: Food can be a big event, yesterday there wasan end of course celebration, where people hadburritos. There were a few left at the end and there wasa lot of excitement about that.

A rehabilitativeculture also

considers practicaleffects of time

unlocked, access towork and training,

and support forgood mental health.


JA: You can walk onto any hut and there is almostalways some form of shared cooking effort going on.Cooking and eating together is at the heart of buildingrelationships.

AS: Often when people are moving on, the hut willget together and have a leaving meal the day before.

PP: One of the most memorable experiences forme was arriving at Springhill and being able to eat ameal sitting at a table talking with friends, rather thanbeing alone in a cell. It felt like a step back intonormality.

JB: What about relationships between thosewho live and work in prisons? What role do theyhave and how are they being improved?

AS: To me that is the crux of the matter, it is thefoundation of the culture. Sometimes people have haddifficult experiences with oneanother, that can be staff orprisoners, so it is important thatthrough good relationships,mutual respect andencouragement, people aresupported to build goodrelationships rather than fall intoold ways.

PP: People are in prisontemporarily, they are only‘prisoners’ for a period of time,they are individual people first. Iremember one occasion where atthe servery there were some leftover burgers and someone askedif they could have extra and theperson working there said ‘no,they are going in the bin. I’drather throw them away than give them to you’. Ifsomeone already has had problems in relationships,they think they are worthless and won’t amount toanything, then behaviour like this is going to reinforceit. It’s not about the burgers, it’s that this was the wrongway to handle the issue.

JB: Yes, the way we each interact can have animpact not only in the moment, but in a long-lastingway. That can be good or bad. Gethin Jones6 is a formerprisoner who has rebuilt his life and supports others onthe same journey, he has talked about how interactionscan plant seeds that may have a long germination, butcan grow. A few words of encouragement, support orinterest can nurture the process of change.

AS: In one prison, a member of staff offered me acoffee. I didn’t know what to say at first, as in all theyears I’d been in prison I’d never been offered a cup. Ieventually said ‘yeah, go on then’. He brought out thecoffee and I was just looking at it. He said, ‘it’s just a

cup of coffee’. I said ‘To you it’s a cup of coffee, but tome it’s messing with my head because I’ve never hadthis before’. Since then, I had a great relationship withhim. I worked with him for five years and got to knoweach other. He was someone I could really look up toand trust. That’s really important when you are inprison and sometimes surrounded by people you can’ttrust, or are only around temporarily. The kindnessthat man showed went a long way. You never forgetthose people.

JA: There are many people who sometimes youforget it is an officer-prisoner relationship because youcan interact with them in a way that is normal. I wentout on an escorted temporary release and I wasplanning it with the officer and we were talking aboutgoing into the town, having a coffee and doing some

other activities. It was great thatthey would do that in such arelaxed and informal way. Therelationships here, in an openprison, are better than you wouldgenerally get in a closed prison.There are boundaries, inparticular there are expectationsabout how we behave andinteract. When some peoplecomplain about how they aretreated, I have to remind themthat actually they need to look athow they are interacting. Theyhave to think about what theyexpect and also act in the sameway.

PP: At school everyone hasthat one teacher that they really

remember. It’s the same in prison and I had this oneofficer who really helped me when I was in Woodhill. Infact, I saw him here a few weeks ago and I was sopleased to see him, I went to hug him! When I firstcame into prison, it really affected me and my family.After I’d been in for a couple of days, he noticed I wasdown and came to my cell and said, ‘right, get up, havea shave. You’ve got three years so do something with it,study for a degree. In the meantime, I’ve got a job foryou’. He put me to work cleaning and helped pull meout of the misery I was in. Later, my wife and I wereguest speakers at a ‘Family Matters’ event, which hearranged and helped me prepare for. We all have thatone person who has made a difference.

AS: The needs of individuals vary throughout along sentence. Early on, I needed a lot of help andsupport and experienced crises. As I’ve adapted andmoved on, I’ve become more self-reliant. At this stage,approaching the end of my sentence, I’m seeking more

There are manypeople who

sometimes youforget it is an

officer-prisonerrelationship because

you can interactwith them in a way

that is normal.

6. See https://unlockingthepotential.co.uk/


normality in my relationships. When I go on temporaryrelease, it’s almost as if I’m breaking free of the shacklesof prison life, mentally as much as physically, and that’san amazing feeling.

JB: Do families have a role in building a morerehabilitative culture? How are they involved inyour establishment?

PP: The most painful part of being imprisoned canbe the time away from family and children. Myexperience of how families are treated in closed prisonshas been terrible. Not just the searching, it’s the waysome people look down their noses at them. There canbe a family that has travelled three hours with a babyand then be turned away because the baby doesn’thave a birth certificate. It can bedire. It takes a massivecommitment from a family tomake a visit in a closed prison. Alot of people say that they don’twant their family to visit becausethey know how awful it can be. Iappreciate that there are securityconcerns, but it’s not just thatwhere the problems lie.

AS: Here, there is hot foodavailable and there are outdoorareas to use. So people arehappier. That atmosphere meanspeople are more willing tointeract, including staff andfamily members. Then peoplemove on to day release.

JA: People come in here andthere are no walls and it almostdoesn’t feel like a prisonenvironment. On the flip side it’sgreat when people say ‘I’ve had my last visit’, becausethey are starting day release, so they will now bemeeting their families outside. I sometimes also hearofficers talking to people asking how their wife andchildren are because they’ve also built up thatrelationship with family members.

JB: Two of you have been in therapeuticcommunities, where there are ‘family days’, whichinvolve family members being invited onto thewing, sharing a meal, seeing where their lovedones live, meeting those they live and work with.How did you find that experience?

JA: The first time, they were coming into anenvironment, by which I mean closed prisons generally,where I had been for five or six years. It was difficult asit made it real. They weren’t sitting in the bubble of thevisits room, but were seeing the living accommodation.It was uncomfortable to a degree, but it has helped myrelationship as they can better understand what I amgoing through and vice versa.

AS: My mum and sister came. I showed them myroom and said, ‘this is where I sit and sleep, this is whereI live. My mum sat there in my room. That was painful.At the same time, it really helped. When that doorcloses, you feel on your own. You have all of that timeand all of your thoughts. The fact that my family hadbeen there, I kept that with me. When I’m there I canfeel that my mum and sister have been there with me.

I do try to explain to my family the process of lifesentences, the assessments and reports. It is very hard.I wish this had been explained to them from the start sothey could understand and be involved. I did at onestage ask my offender supervisor to come to a visit toexplain this to them, which they did. That was very

helpful. JB: What opportunities

are there to address problemssuch as health and substancemisuse?

JA: Healthcare varies fromestablishment to establishment,but I always compare it with myown family’s experiences ofwaiting for appointments. Fromthat perspective, it’s not too bad.The support is available here forthose who need it and want tomake use of it.

AS: When you usesomething like a health service,you want to feel that yourconcerns are being treatedseriously.

PP: With those who havesubstance misuse problems, oneof the difficulties is the availability

of drugs. If someone has a problem and drugs areavailable to them, it’s going to be very difficult not togive in to temptation.

JA: Is that a problem here, or is the problem thatpeople are coming to open conditions without theirsubstance misuse problems having been addressedbeforehand.

PP: It’s both. There is an issue of availability, andthat some people are coming here being used togetting medication through the health service, but thenthat being managed more assertively here. Thosepeople who want and need support can get it, the drugand alcohol recovery team are excellent.

JB: So, even where there are good servicesavailable, the wider culture can be corrosive.

PP: Yes, where there are drugs available, there isalways the risk of temptation becoming too much in amoment of weakness.

AS: But where does the responsibility for that lie?Is it the prison or is it about individual and the

A lot of people saythat they don’t

want their family tovisit because they

know how awful itcan be. I appreciate

that there aresecurity concerns,

but it’s not just thatwhere the

problems lie.


community. There are lots of people who aren’t part ofa drug culture, who don’t want to be part of it and helpthose who want to keep out of it.

JB: Do punishments, adjudication, incentivesand privileges have a useful role in shaping thebehaviour of people in prison?

AS: I got caught with a mobile phone about tenyears ago and got cellular confinement for a few days.That was the worst possible punishment for mebecause I’m a social person. I thought I never want todo anything like that again. It depends on what type ofperson you are.

JA: In a closed prison, IEP ismore obvious, but in an openprison it’s less clear. There aresome people who are petrifiedthat they are going to lose theiraccess to temporary release, butthere are others who have beencaught, sometimes more thanonce, but their behaviourdoesn’t change. Theirmotivation and drive is differentfrom someone who is moreconcerned about their ownprogress and the impact on theirfamily.

JB: You have describedhow drugs and criminality canbe corrosive to a rehabilitativeculture. How should thatbehaviour be responded to?

AS: It has an impact oneveryone, staff and prisoners. Itcan lead to trust breaking downand it can have an impact onhow everyone is viewed. It isbetter if it can be viewed as an individual issue ratherthan everyone being affected.

JA: Sometimes you see a disappointment in staffmembers when something happens, particularly whenthey have tried to help someone.

AS: As well as supporting those who break therules to rehabilitate them, those who are affected alsoneed support, so they don’t end up thinking, ‘I’m notdoing that again’, ‘I’ve been hurt before’.

PP: Inside or outside prison, it is important thatpeople have something to lose. In here, with the accessto temporary release, we have a lot to lose. Outside, ifpeople can be set up so they have family, a job,somewhere to live, then they have something to lose.

JB: Have you had the opportunity to developyour talents and interests, for example througheducation, training or employment?

PP: Absolutely. For most of the time, I’ve beenteaching or helping people. That’s been really good for

me. There are a lot of people with basic skills needs. Itwould be good to have some incentive as at themoment, there’s all stick and no carrot. There aresometimes huge mental monsters because people haddifficulties at school, they see themselves as a ‘manual’person, not an ‘academic’ person.

AS: I started planning for resettlement before Icame to open conditions. I’ve completed the courses Ineed to do internally and now I’ve started to getinvolved with educational and mentoring organisations.I’ve had a lot of support from people at all levels. Themanagers here set the right example in supporting

people. Sometimes people,including me, have lots of dreamsand fantasies about the future,but that takes a lot of hard work.Eventually with the right effortand support, it comes together.That’s what rehabilitative cultureis about.

JA: You are an example ofwhat someone can achieve whenthey are self-motivated and havethe support of others aroundthem. On the flip side, how doyou achieve that with peoplewho don’t have that same levelof motivation. In the area I work,the activities department, I seethat on a daily basis. There aremany people who need theirhand held to go out and findsomething for themselves, andothers who expect someone todo it for them.

AS: when I was editor of theprison magazine at Grendon, I

went through a period where I felt like obstacles werebeing put in my way and I couldn’t get over them. Ispoke to Jamie and said ‘I’m just a prisoner’ and yousaid ‘No, you’re a person’. That impacted me. You alsosaid that I can’t change everyone, I can’t change theworld, but I can change how I deal with it. I’ve also triedto help other people. I had a good business idea, butgave it to a friend who was released and he is nowdeveloping it. I feel that if you do good, good alsocomes your way.

JA: When I first came to prison, I thought that myprevious skills were not relevant or valued. Later, whenI was in a therapeutic unit, I was encouraged toreconnect with that, so I’ve been able to do that sincethen. I’ve also tried things that I hadn’t done previously,including some creative activities, including pottery,which I did in a therapeutic prison unit. I never thoughtI was artistic but then I found myself sitting in front of

Sometimes people,including me, havelots of dreams andfantasies about the

future, but thattakes a lot of hardwork. Eventually

with the right effortand support, it

comes together.That’s what

rehabilitative cultureis about.


a pottery wheel and I found I was quite artistic in whatI could do. I went on to win some Koestler Awards. Itwas the first time I’d won anything. For me it was great.Not only did someone appreciate what I had created,but the fact that I was a prisoner didn’t matter. Thatthen developed into an interest in gardening andhorticulture. After coming here to Springhill, I’ve startedto do Open University. I’ve had ample opportunities todemonstrate what I’m good at and learn new skills.

JB: Is there one thing that you feel is aparticularly powerful way to foster a morerehabilitative culture?

AS: The prison accommodates a lot of eventsinvolving external people coming in. Recently we had apantomime. It was good to see people going in,including families and staff. Anything where you have

staff and prisoners involved together is massive. Itbuilds trust and a meaningful bond between people.

JA: The officer-resident relationship stands out. It isnow the majority and not the minority of officers whowant to work with you, who care and have an interestin what we are doing. That has been more so in the lastsix months. That is due to the new staff coming in, theirunderstanding of what is expected of an officer.

PP: The accessibility and open channels ofcommunication are powerful. When I first arrived, I senta couple of applications in suggesting an improvement.I got a reply and was then called to a meeting. Ithought, wow, someone has actually listened to myidea. That idea has now grown into the Springhillcareers advice service, which has now helped almost200 people.


Background

A rehabilitative prison culture has been describedas ‘one where all aspects of culture supportrehabilitation; they contribute to the prison beingsafe, decent, hopeful and supportive of change,progression and to helping someone desist fromcrime’.1 The Five Minute Intervention (FMI) is oneof the central initiatives of HMPPS to move theorganisation towards a more rehabilitativeculture. FMI involves training prison staff to vieweveryday interactions with residents asopportunities to promote change and toencourage them in developing a range of skillssuch as decision-making, perspective-taking andplanning more effectively. Staff are trained in arange of rehabilitative skills to help them facilitatethese conversations. Examples of FMI skillsinclude building trust, confidence and rapport,active listening, Socratic questioning andstrengthening commitment to change. FMI is notseen as a ‘standalone’ intervention but assomething which can become an integral part ofthe way in which staff approach their interactionswith residents. Initial evaluation suggested thatFMI trained officers were more focused onrehabilitative goals and made greater use of skillswhich supported and empowered them toaddress their own problems.2 These authorsrecommended that further rollout of FMI besupported by ongoing evaluation of itseffectiveness.

In this article I will describe how FMI skills wereadopted by staff at a Local prison, and examine theextent to which FMI training helped staff adoptrehabilitative attitudes towards the residents withwhom they work. I will also explore the challenges and

barriers which they experienced, and how these may attimes have prevented effective rehabilitativeconversations from occurring.

Methodology

A qualitative design3 was chosen for the evaluationbecause of the potential for this to yield rich,meaningful information about the perceptions ofparticipants. Participants were nine Band 3 PrisonOfficers with at least two years’ experience. All hadreceived FMI training at the prison. They were selectedusing opportunity sampling, based on their availabilityto attend interviews on the scheduled days. Those whowished to participate attended an interview at anagreed time, where they were given further informationand formally asked to consent to participate. Interviewswere then conducted lasting approximately 30-45minutes. Interviews were audio-recorded. During theinterviews participants were asked a number ofquestions about their experience of FMI training andapplication to practice, and about their perceptions ofrehabilitative culture at the prison.

Interviewers typed up the content of theirinterviews using their written notes and the audio-recording and these were analysed using a ThematicAnalysis approach. This involves systematically codingall the data, identifying any recurring ‘themes’ and thendefining each ‘theme’ which is relevant to theevaluation topic.

Limitations

There are several limitations to the approach used.These include the nature of the retrospective design,which means that participants were asked to think backover a period of time and reflect on any changes to

Prison Officers’ Perspectives on FiveMinute Interventions and Rehabilitative

Culture in a Local PrisonCatherine Vickers-Pinchbeck is a Forensic Psychologist in Training at South West

Psychological Services, HMPPS

1. Mann, R., Fitzalan Howard, F. & Tew, J. (2018). What is a rehabilitative prison culture? Prison Service Journal (235), 3-9.2. Kenny, T. & Webster, S. (2015). Experiences of prison officers delivering Five Minute Interventions at HMP/YOI Portland: Analytical

Summary. National Offender Management Service.3. Qualitative research designs are used to gather non-numerical data, and are typically used to explore the perceptions of participants

and the meanings they assign to things, rather than generating quantifiable data.


their practice. This is more likely to be affected by biasesaround what is recalled than if staff were interviewedbefore and after receiving the training.

Participants were all Band 3 operational staff, sotheir views cannot be assumed to represent those ofother staff groups/ grades. Similarly, it is likely that thesample was less diverse than the wider staff group andso some minority groups may not have beenrepresented within those sampled. An area of furtherresearch could be to extend evaluation to other groups,including non-operational staff who have received thetraining, in order to evaluate the impact of includingthese staff groups on FMI (or similar) training schemes.

Themes identified

Each of the themes identified below was presentacross several interviews. A brief description of thetheme and key quotes fromparticipants have been includedto help explain the meaning ofeach theme. Some are dividedinto sub-themes where therewere important distinctionsbetween participants’ views on asingle topic or theme.

Theme 1: FMI trainingreinforced/ strengthened

existing practice:

There was general consensus among participantsthat the training was not teaching new skills orknowledge, but some differences in terms of whether thiswas perceived as helpful or not. Several participantsidentified that FMI training acted as a ‘refresher’ tostrengthen or reinforce existing practice. Some stated thatit helped them develop existing skills or become moreconscious of when they can apply these in their work.

‘….Maybe not to the extent that the trainingwent into but I did do some of itbeforehand…’ (P4).

‘It is easy to be blasé as an experienced officerand say it is stuff you know already and it isteaching you to suck eggs but it reinforcedthings. I wouldn’t say it was challenging but itwas good to practice it’ (P6).

Sub theme: FMI training is less relevant forexperienced staff

Participants felt that FMI training covered skills theyalready use regularly in their roles, and as such did notcover significant ‘new’ material. Several highlighted

their extensive experience working in the service priorto undertaking the training and suggested that it is lesslikely to be useful for experienced staff.

‘I already do all the things they highlighted.Some people’s attitudes aren’t the best, forsofter people like that it would be useful.Useful for new people in the job too’ (P3).

Sub-theme: Most valuable learning occurs inpractice

Some participants referred directly to their viewthat learning in practice from colleagues (especiallyexperienced ones) is particularly valuable. This was alsoimplicit in comments made about the training by someparticipants, who indicated that they took little from

this due to their experience oflearning ‘on the job’.

‘Watching and observinghow people interact andlearning from experiencedstaff has helped me’ (P8).

Theme 2: Using interpersonalskills to support residents

Participants all describedhow they use existing skills to engage withresidents, and most gave examples of usinginterpersonal skills, such as rapport building,picking up body language, using openquestions and listening. Most participants didnot describe any changes to their use of theseskills since undertaking training, suggestingthese were already being used beforehand.

‘Open questions supported me to probedeeper for more information and they help toengage them [prisoners] to disclose moreinformation’ (P1).

‘I’d ask what they’re interested in, how theyare, what jobs they did outside, what skillsthey have. It builds rapport’ (P8).

Theme 3: Adapting practice to match individualneeds

Participants discussed the need to treat residentsindividually and make situation-specific/ person-specificjudgements about the best way to respond.

Some people’sattitudes aren’t the

best, for softerpeople like that itwould be useful.


‘It can be practical help about resettlementand finding somewhere to live…... For newguys coming in it is about more emotionalsupport, waylaying their fears and emotionallyprepare them’ (P6).

‘I use my knowledge and experience of peopleto change how I come across to them’ (P9).

Theme 4: Supporting residents to resolve theirown problems

Several participants talked about trying toencourage residents to think things through or todevelop their own problem-solving skills- at times thisinvolved drawing on interpersonal skills like Socraticquestioning, or by encouraging them to do things forthemselves instead of having staff do them.

‘…. there’s merit in thoseways of working things out,using open questions so theycan understand on their ownwithout being told’ (P1).

‘So a prisoner came up tome and asked me to fill out aresponse to his complaint, towrite out the app, but I saidno and he looked at me a bit shocked becausebefore then I’d always do it. I asked him ‘Howwould you ask the question?’ and then gethim to write it down in the app. He wentaway and made a list of things and showed itto me and he’d done it. I didn’t have to writeanything and it makes them feel better forthemselves, they’re not as dependent onothers....’ (P2)

Theme 5: Belief in change

Participants generally articulated a belief in thecapacity of all individuals to change, although in manycases this was tempered by a sense of pessimism (seebelow) which mainly related to whether change issupported in the prison environment. Some participantsrecognized their role in promoting change andmodelling hopeful attitudes around this.

‘…. everyone is open to change at some level;it is just about cracking your way through togetting into their way of thinking…’ (P6).

‘I’ve had 10 years of experience prior to thetraining, I don’t believe in writing peopleoff’ (P1).

Sub-theme: Offenders are responsible for change

Several participants talked about readiness tochange and about change being ultimately driven bythe individual making a decision, rather than beingsomething which can be brought about throughinterventions by staff.

Theme 6: Pessimism about the prison’s ability tosupport rehabilitation

Linked to the previous theme, several participantsexpressed doubts about whether prison provides anenvironment conducive to rehabilitation. Barriers

including the lack of staffing,specific lack of experienced staff,and lack of resources andopportunities for residents werecited. The influence of otherresidents who are not ready tochange was also cited as achallenge. This theme also linksto the theme below related tosafety and decency in theestablishment.

‘Hope right now is very low,we just haven’t got the staff skills and enoughdiscipline staff to do it [build a rehabilitativeculture]’ (P3).

‘it is difficult for someone to change whenthey are surrounded by people who don’twant to or are bad influences…’ (P4).

Sub-theme: Rehabilitation is particularly hard in aLocal prison environment

Several participants discussed the particularchallenges of a Local prison, including the brief stays ofmost residents, and expressed doubts about the potentialfor there to be any meaningful impact on individualsduring this time. Other barriers such as the ease ofobtaining substances and individuals coming in and‘detoxing’ then returning to the community were cited.

‘My personal view on the prison systemespecially the local remand prisons is you’vegot a massive vast mix of prisoners with

The influence ofother residents who

are not ready tochange was also

cited as a challenge.


different sentences…. It is difficult to control’(P5)

‘There aren’t chances in a local Cat B, they’renot here long enough…. Some people havegone through a lifetime of bad luck, so howdo you change someone’s life around in threeor four months?’ (P8)

Sub-theme: Basics of rehabilitation- safety anddecency- remain poor

A number of participants raised issues relating tosafety and decency. This included issues with the fabricof the buildings and the poorlymaintained physical environment,as well as the impact of limitedstaffing on officers’ ability to keepoffenders safe. There wasrecognition that inability to deliverthe basics on safety and decencyprevent the development of arehabilitative culture.

‘There isn’t any safety,decency, or respect, not foranybody. No foundations ofsafety and security and orderthere’ (P3).

‘Practically I think we need the fabric of theprison to be decent and it isn’t. We areworking in it but when you see these guysliving in it, then why would they look afteranything when they are living in rubbishreally’ (P7).

Theme 7: Discipline and respect are important

Some participants felt that the focus of the prisonsystem should be on instilling ‘basic’ values of respectand discipline. One individual articulated that they feltthis had been ‘lost’ over time and that this had led tostaff losing control of the establishment. This was alsolinked to resource/ staffing issues.

‘There isn’t discipline and that reflects ontous, they have no respect. There has got to bea balance but there isn’t at a moment- it is allone way and we sort of just take it’ (P7).

‘We almost have to parent them and instilvalues before we can work on all the otherthings…’ (P4).

Theme 8: Staff factors affect rehabilitativeculture

Several distinct staff factors were identified whichmay affect rehabilitative culture, so these are separatedinto sub-themes below.

Sub-theme: Some staff have negative attitudestowards rehabilitation

One participant identified negative attitudes ofstaff as having an impact on the rehabilitative culture of

the establishment. Theyspecifically identified older/ moreexperienced staff as having moreproblematic attitudes on thewhole, but also spoke about thefollowing example of negativestaff attitudes more generally:

‘Since the training I find itcringey when I hear staff saysomething like ‘see you nextweek, see you next time orsee you soon’ to a prisoner.Like how can you say that,how will that help?’ (P5)

Sub-theme: Lack of staffing prevents culturechange

This is closely linked to the sub-theme below but isidentified separately as it does not distinguish betweenmore/ less experienced staff, but relates to the idea thatthe general short-staffing means that staff do not havetime to think about working rehabilitatively.

‘...it’s hard for staff to change as they areunder so much pressure’ (P7).

Sub-theme: Prison has deteriorated followinglosing experienced staff

Several participants identified the impact of theloss of experienced staff, including linking this todecreased safety and decency.

‘[This prison] has changed, it used to have arespectful culture, but that changed when

There isn’t anysafety, decency, or

respect, not foranybody. No

foundations ofsafety and security

and order there.


they got rid of a lot of the experienced staff.We lost a lot of staff that had been in thejob for 10 or 20 years and you can’t replacethat’ (P3).

Theme 9: More and better supported staff wouldhelp rehabilitation

This theme follows on from the above themesabout staff factors and resource issues. Mostparticipants identified that having more staff and/or resources to support change would help improvethe rehabilitative culture. This was split into twosub-themes:

Sub-theme: Staff need moretime to spend with residents

Participants recognised thevalue of everyday interactionsand having the time to buildrelationships. They felt thathaving more time to do this typeof work would be importantand several spoke positivelyabout personal officer/keyworker systems:

‘The keyworker scheme isbrilliant. I mean it’s a rehashof the old personal officerscheme, but it changes fromuniform staff being there tounlock and lock-up, to them talking andtaking an interest’ (P1).

‘We have very little time to do a lot of thestuff we need and want to do but we can’tdo. Between that we have got to do all thecompliance, escorting works, helping nurses,we’ve got little time to do the stuff we wantto do for people’ (P4).

Sub-theme: Staff need resources to providepractical help

Several participants spoke about resourcing andensuring that officers know how to signpostprisoners, and that the support is actually there andreferrals are followed through so that there isconfidence in the system.

Theme 10: Changes to the way the regime isorganised which would help

Participants identified changes to how the regimeis organised which they felt would have a positiveimpact. These were split into two sub-themes:

Sub-theme: Increased consistency of staff wouldsupport rehabilitation

Several participants talked about the difficulties ofstaff being frequently detailed to different wings,meaning that they do not get to know the individualsor build relationships with prisoners or their fellowofficers. This links to the theme above about the

benefits of spending more timewith residents and developingmore effective relationships withthem.

‘The Personal Officer schemeworked well, you get toknow your prisoners, theirmoods and attitudes. I’dleave staff on Units too, givethem some consistency forprisoners and staff’ (P8).

Sub-theme: Greater structureand purposeful activitywould help rehabilitate

Some participants spokeabout the benefits of structure

and linked to this, purposeful activity. This links to otherthemes related to resourcing and providingopportunities for engagement, as well as creating amore disciplined environment.

Additional findings

In addition to the frequently occurring themesidentified above, a theme was identified as salient tothe evaluation topic, although it did not occur asfrequently within interviews. This theme is describedbelow:

Theme 11: Attitudes towards residents whichmay impact on use of FMI skills

There was a salient theme within two interviewsthat residents can often behave in a deceitful,manipulative way, and that this creates anger andfrustration for staff. One of these individuals recognised

There was a salienttheme within two

interviews thatresidents can often

behave in adeceitful,

manipulative way,and that this creates

anger andfrustration for staff.


that sometimes individuals are experiencing ‘genuine’distress but that it is difficult to tell this apart from thosewho are ‘attention seeking or manipulating’, especiallyaround the use of self-harming behaviour. The use oflanguage such as this may act as a barrier toengagement in rehabilitative work and impact on staff-resident relationships.

Summary of Results

The themes identified aboveshowed that the staff interviewedwere able to identify someappropriate uses of FMI skills andwere largely rehabilitative in theiroutlook. Some individuals feltthat the FMI training was notappropriately pitched forexperienced officers and thatthey took little from the formaltraining sessions.

Areas of concern raised byparticipants included safety,decency and resourcing,including the lack of consistentstaffing on units and the difficultyin finding time to havemeaningful interactions and buildrelationships with residents.Several individuals reflected onthe difficulties they experiencetrying to ‘make a difference’ in aLocal prison environment withthe challenges this brings.

Discussion

Training DeliveryThe results of this evaluation

study suggest a somewhat mixed picture about theeffectiveness of the FMI training for the individualssurveyed. Whilst a majority of participants did feel thatthey took at least some benefit from the training, it wasseen by all of them as more of a ‘refresher’ for existingskills rather than covering anything ‘new’. To someextent this is unsurprising and probably reflects thereality that many experienced officers will have acquiredand refined a range of interpersonal skills through theirwork. As such, the rollout of FMI training toexperienced staff can reasonably be conceptualised as away of developing more consistency in the use oflargely pre-existing interpersonal and rehabilitativeskills/ behaviours.

Some of the comments made by participantssuggest that they may have experienced the training asa relatively formal process which was viewed as being

quite separate from their day to day practice. Ifdelivered as intended, FMI training should be a fairlyinteractive event with opportunities for participants toengage in skills practices and discussions about howthey would apply learning to their roles. It is notpossible to know whether the training was delivered inthis way for the participants in this study. It is knownthat they were trained by a number of differentindividuals, and so most likely experienced a range ofdelivery styles, which may have differed in quality and in

fidelity to the FMI trainingmanual. If some participants didnot experience an interactive,engaging style of training, thismay go some way towardsaccounting for the limitedbenefits they perceived. It is alsopossible that some participantsmay have felt defensive whenbeing asked about whether thetraining impacted on theirpractice and that this influencedtheir responses to thesequestions. Given that allparticipants were experiencedofficers (some with over twentyyears in the role), it may be thatthey felt implicitly criticised orthought that they would beadmitting that their previousconduct was lacking orinadequate if they acknowledgedhaving learned from the FMItraining. An additionalconsideration is the possibleimpact of the existing culture atthe establishment in shapingattitudes towards learning andopenness to new initiatives.

Formally assessing the culture at the prison was beyondthe remit of this evaluation. However it may be that if(as was implied by some participant comments) there isa sense of feeling let down and frustrated by decisionswhich have previously led to reductions in staffing andresources, this could contribute to a culture in whichsome frontline staff may be resistant to accepting thevalue in new initiatives. However, there is also someevidence of more positive attitudes towards the FMIrollout, such as the fact that some staff at the prisonhave made efforts to attend FMI training even when itwas personally inconvenient to do so, for examplerescheduling rest days.

The results of this evaluation reinforce the need toensure that the training is delivered in a way which ismulti-modal and engaging for staff. Training which isinteractive and encourages learners to consider new

Areas of concernraised by

participantsincluded safety,

decency andresourcing,

including the lack ofconsistent staffingon units and the

difficulty in findingtime to havemeaningful

interactions andbuild relationships

with residents.


information in the light of their previous knowledgeand experience has been shown to help in achieving‘deep’ rather than ‘surface level’ learning.4 This will beespecially pertinent for delivery to groups of highlyexperienced staff, and it may be advisable for trainers toadjust their delivery plans to focus more explicitly onhow the training content can be applied to challengingsituations encountered in practice, and to allow timefor learners to share examples of good practice and tolearn from one another.

Rehabilitative attitudes among officers

Participants on the whole showed broadlyrehabilitative attitudes andunderstood that part of their roleis to support residents in makingchanges and breaking free ofpatterns of offending behaviour.There were some encouragingexamples of how they had usedeveryday conversations tofacilitate change, which were inkeeping with the ethos of arehabilitative culture and with theFMI approach. On the otherhand, some of the findings raisedquestions about the possibleprevalence of attitudes whichmay run counter to rehabilitativeaims. Some participants describedobserving such attitudes amongother officers, although there wasa lack of consensus aboutwhether it is the moreexperienced officers who aremost likely to hold negativeattitudes and be resistant to cultural change, orwhether the loss of experienced staff has contributed toproblems within the prison’s culture. A minority ofparticipants expressed beliefs about the ‘manipulative’behaviour of residents, and this appeared to contributeto a sense of suspicion and pessimism aboutmeaningful change. Whilst it is understandable thatrepeatedly engaging in often highly damaging anddistressing behaviour (e.g. self-harm) can come to beseen in this light, these comments indicate that someofficers may have limited understanding of the complexcauses and functions of such behaviour. This could beindicative of further training and supervision needsamong staff. It is possible that if they are more able tomake sense of the behaviour they are expected to

manage and are adequately supported to do so, thiswill help them to manage the emotional andpsychological impact this inevitably has, as well ashelping to create a more rehabilitative ethos.

Barriers to achieving a rehabilitative culture

Participants identified a number of practical andenvironmental barriers to the creation of a rehabilitativeculture and to the use of FMI skills. Some of these arecommon across a majority of prisons; these includestrains on staffing and resources, which can mean thatofficers do not have the time to develop meaningfulrelationships with residents. It has been acknowledged

that building a rehabilitativeculture requires a ‘platform ofsafety and decency’5, and thiswas echoed by participants inthis study, who cited the lack ofsafety and the poor conditions ofthe physical environment asbarriers to rehabilitation.Participants described this beingexacerbated by a lack ofresponsibility-taking, andattributed this in part to the factthat staff are not regularlydetailed to the same unit (due toresource issues). Although thiswas not stated by participants inthe study, it would make sense toexpect that residents would nottake responsibility for themaintenance of the physicalenvironment either; partlybecause this is not being‘modelled’ consistently by staff,

and partly because, in a Local prison, many will haveonly a short stay and so may not be inclined to see thevalue in preserving and maintaining the fabric, fixturesand fittings of the prison. This creates a vicious circle, inwhich the environment is poor and staff and residentsdo not take collective ownership of driving forwardimprovements. This reinforces the sense of the prison asrun-down and poorly maintained, and depletesmotivation to take pride and ownership in it as a placeto live and work. There is no easy way out of thisproblem and it will require long-term, sustained effortsby leadership teams to tackle both the safety/ decencyagenda whilst simultaneously promoting rehabilitativevalues; motivating and inspiring as many staff aspossible to share and work towards these ambitions.

4. Vickers, D., Morgan, E., & Moore, A. (2010). Theoretically driven training and consultancy: From Design to Evaluation. In C. Ireland &M. Fisher (Eds.) Consultancy and Advising in Forensic Practice (pp35-50). West Sussex: BPS Blackwell.

5. Mann, R., Fitzalan Howard, F. & Tew, J. (2018). What is a rehabilitative prison culture? Prison Service Journal (235), 3-9.

Participants on thewhole showed

broadlyrehabilitativeattitudes and

understood thatpart of their role is

to support residentsin making changes

and breaking free ofpatterns of

offending behaviour.


Finally, the evaluation highlighted some specificchallenges to the implementation of a rehabilitativeculture in a Local/ Remand prison. Rehabilitativecultures are hopeful environments in which residentsare encouraged to look towards a positive, non-offending future. This clearly presents particulardifficulties for working with a population who arelargely either unconvicted, unsentenced, or in the earlystages of their sentence (especially if this is lengthy).They are likely to be at a less advanced stage in theirown thinking about change, and some will bestruggling to adjust to prison life. There is a high rate ofprevalence of substance misuse disorders and mentalhealth conditions, and these may be acute followingentry into custody, both because the change ofcircumstance may exacerbate existing problems, andbecause individuals may have lived chaotically in thecommunity and not accessed services or interventionsprior to imprisonment. The brevity of the typical staywas also identified by several participants in this studyas a particular challenge and this is borne out bystatistics; the most recent HMIP report for the prisoninvolved in this evaluation indicates that 65 per cent ofresidents stayed in the establishment for under threemonths, and many stayed less than one month. Againstthis backdrop, it is easy to see why staff would feeldisheartened and would feel that they witness little inthe way of meaningful change. As HMPPS continues toembed the idea of a rehabilitative culture across theprison estate, it may be beneficial to develop a morenuanced understanding of what this means in differenttypes of establishment. In Local prisons, this may beabout managing expectations and encouraging staff torecognise and celebrate what may seem like small stepstowards change. Helping staff to understand how theircontributions fit into a ‘bigger picture’ might instil agreater sense of pride and achievement in the workundertaken in these prisons. For instance, an officerwho lends a listening ear to someone in their first daysin custody and helps them to come to terms with their

sentence is paving the way for the individual to engagepositively and build trusting relationships with staff atsubsequent establishments. Accordingly, effective ‘FiveMinute Interventions’ in the Local/ Remand setting maylook somewhat different to the types of FMIconversations which would benefit residents in aTraining or Open prison establishment (although thecore principles underpinning FMI remain the sameacross settings). Further research might explore thesimilarities and differences in FMI application acrosssettings, and whether the skills have a differing level ofimpact or are perceived as more valuable by staff orresidents in some settings.

Summary and Conclusion

Five Minute Interventions training is intended toequip staff with rehabilitative skills to use in theirinteractions with residents, thus transforming them intoopportunities for learning. This evaluation exploredhow FMI training had impacted on the attitudes andpractices of prison officers in a Category B Local prison,as well as exploring how these officers perceivedrehabilitative culture at the establishment. The resultsgive cause for optimism in some respects; officersidentified ways in which they can make a differenceand were broadly rehabilitative in their outlook. Thefindings also reinforce what is already establishedabout the cornerstones of rehabilitative culture; safetyand decency, and highlight the need for improvementsin both of these, alongside a culture of responsibility-taking and collective ownership for the maintenanceand care of the physical environment. Finally, this studybegan to explore some of the specific challengeswithin a Local prison environment, and this is an areawhich would benefit from further research so thatinitiatives like FMI can be rolled out in a way which isresponsive to the needs of establishments and theirresidents and staff.


I interviewed staff at HMP Wymott, a category Cprison in the North West of England and HMPBrinsford, a mainly young adult prison inStaffordshire. 16 members of staff participated intotal. They were asked multiple questions aboutrehabilitative culture, what it means to them andhow they feel their establishment goes aboutfostering a more rehabilitative culture.1

Wymott prison, located in Lancashire, opened in1979 as a category C prison. After 1993 the prison alsobegan to cater for vulnerable men. Approximately halfof the population are convicted of sexual offences andthe remainder of the population are mainstreamcategory C offenders. It has an operational capacity of1173 men. The prison population increased in 2003/04after the addition of two new wings. In general, theresidents have a sentence length of over four years.

The prison has been taking rehabilitative culture inits stride and has been working on a number ofprojects. It has a Therapeutic Community operating on‘K wing’ which is a 70 space community with a fullprogramme of activities to support a drug-free return tothe community. A large CARATS team works with alloffenders to prevent relapse. The prison has alsoundertaken a plethora of other rehabilitative initiativessuch as the ‘Time for Change’ approach which ‘seek tooffer an early intervention in order to empowerprofessional challenge and support relationshipsbetween frontline staff and prisoners’. Not only this butit is also reviewing and re-writing its current IEP policy,in order to make it more in line with a rehabilitativeapproach. The Rehabilitative Culture Team, along withmembers from the Evidence Based Practice team andregional Psychology Services have also recentlyundertaken a ‘Procedural Justice Blitz’ at the prison,which aims to encourage staff to review and reflect ontheir current policies and practices and identify howthey could make them more procedurally just.

HMP Brinsford is located in the Midlands near thecity of Wolverhampton. It opened as a young adultinstitution and remand centre in November 1991. In2016, the establishment re-rolled to a mixed populationof young adults and sentenced category C adults. It hasan operational capacity of 577 men and predominantlycaters for young adults, between the ages of 18 and

21. Approximately 10 per cent of the population areCategory C prisoners of all ages.

After a poor HMIP inspection back in 2013, manyresources were placed into HMP Brinsford whichincluded a complete refurbishment programme ofresidential units 1-4. The prison has continued to drivenew projects and initiatives, and it too has introduced anew IEP scheme in the hopes of fostering a morerehabilitative culture. It has also introduced the new‘Development and Progression Unit’ which aims to helpand support residents with a range of complexbehavioural issues.

The prison is also clearly focusing on its currentdemographic and the issues that can arise with a largeyoung adult population by introducing ‘AdverseChildhood Experience’s’ training for all of its staff. Thistraining is hoped to raise awareness for the traumathat many of the young men within the prison mayhave experienced.

For the purposes of this article, all intervieweeshave remained anonymous in order to achieve ashonest and open discussion as possible. Responses willbe attributed to Wymott (Wy) or Brinsford (Br).

LN: What are they key features of a rehabilitativeculture? Why is this important to achieve?

Wy: ‘A rehabilitative culture is one that makes themen in our care aware of what rehabilitation is. Itshould aim to change their mind set and way ofthinking through trying to give them a differentperspective and outlook on life. This isn’t just donethrough education, but through building meaningfuland positive relationships and teaching the men goodvalues and life skills.’

‘The key features of a rehabilitative culture are theeducation classes that the men attend as to me, these aregoing to make the biggest difference in rehabilitating themen as it gives them purposeful activity’

For many of the staff interviewed at HMP Wymott,a rehabilitative culture is important to achieve in orderto reduce re-offending rates. This would not only bebeneficial for the community but also for the menthemselves, in order to help them live a purposeful andcrime free life.

Br: ‘A rehabilitative culture is one that gives themen that are in our care hope. It should aim to give the

Staff perceptions of rehabilitative cultureLucy Newton is based in the Rehabilitative Culture Team, Public Sector Prisons North

1. Thank you to all of the staff at HMP Wymott and HMP Brinsford for taking part in this interview and providing such interesting responses.


men and women that we look after the ability to planfor the future with a positive mind set. It encompasseseverything that we do and means that we should treatevery person as an individual. By treating the men asindividuals we aim to identify the root causes behindtheir crimes and give them the help that they need anddeserve so that they will stop re-offending.’

For the staff at HMP Brinsford, there was anemphasis on positive relationships between the staffand the young men in their care. This was identified asa fundamental feature for building a rehabilitativeculture. ‘It all comes back to actually engaging with themen that are in your care and listening to them andtreating them with decency and respect when theseinteractions do take place’.

LN: How have you beeninvolved in creating a morerehabilitative culture? Howhas this been taken forwardwhere you are currently?

Wy: ‘I think that I haveplayed a part in creating a morerehabilitative culture, not throughanything drastic but throughsimply communicating with themen in Wymott in a respectfulway and treating them in a wayin which I would wish to betreated myself. Although itsounds small I really think that itmakes a big difference.’

Three of the staffinterviewed at HMP Wymottwere part of the safer custodyteam and were passionate thatthe safer custody team is playing an important part increating a more rehabilitative culture. ‘We see first-hand some of the awful issues that these men arehaving to face. We spend quality time with the menand have meaningful conversations to try and build agood rapport and do our best to help them in any waythat we can’.

Br: ‘I have been involved in creating a new IEPsystem for HMP Brinsford. It is one that aims tocelebrate success and inspire others. I hope that it willcelebrate the positive things that the men at HMPBrinsford do, rather than the negatives which I feel thecurrent IEP system does. When creating this new policyI actually held a focus group with the men at Brinsfordto see if they had any suggestions. I think that this reallyhelped the men feel valued and like their opinionsmattered, and helped them to feel a part of theBrinsford community’.

Other members of staff at Brinsford felt that theycontributed to creating a more rehabilitative culturethough building good rapports with the men in their

care and having meaningful interactions with the menon a daily basis. Interviewees mentioned that they paya lot of attention to complex cases and often, if theyfeel that it is necessary, invite family members in to bea part of any review or intervention discussions. Familyinclusion and strengthening family ties is viewed as animportant aspect of rehabilitation. ‘We need to ensurethat we go about things with an individualised, calmand compassionate approach’.

LN: How does the physical environmentcontribute to this and what efforts have beenmade to make a positive difference?

Wy: ‘I think that having a decent physicalenvironment is extremely important as at the end of theday, for the time that the men are here it is their home.

If we take pride in it and make itlook nice then hopefully they willdo the same. I think that trying tonormalise the environment asmuch as possible is important asprison can be a very false andsomewhat strange setting so byattempting it to give it tonormalising effects shouldhopefully make the men feelcalmer and less intimidated.’

All of the staff alsomentioned HMP Wymott’sgardens, and were particularlyproud of how well kept thegardens are. Many of themmentioned the motivationalquotes that run through theestablishment on the walls, withthe aim of giving the men hope

and motivation. All of the staff mentioned theimportance of having a decent and clean establishmentas not only is it morally right to try and ensure the menlive in a clean space, it also sets the tone for what HMPWymott’s attitude is towards the men in their care.

Br: ‘I think that the physical environment is a veryimportant part of prison, as it can have a significanteffect on the mood of the men. At Brinsford we havejust received some funding to put some murals on thewalls, which I think will really give a nicer feel to theenvironment. We are also in the middle of refurbishingsome of the wings to ensure that they are as clean anddecent as possible.’

‘The physical environment has a massive impact, itshows that we do care and that we have a goodoutlook in regards to decency. We are introducing a lotof nature paintings on our res 2 wing, with the idea of‘bringing the outside in’. We also have rehabilitativeculture ‘success stories’ on our walkway that the menuse to get to work and education. This gives out themessage of hope to the men.’

By treating the menas individuals we

aim to identify theroot causes behind

their crimes andgive them the helpthat they need and

deserve so that theywill stop

re-offending.


LN: Are basic services such as food andclothing important?

Wy: ‘Yes they are very important. They provide thefoundation of basic decency. Food is also one of themain things that the men have to look forward to in theday so we need to make sure that it is of a decentstandard. It also shows that in prison it doesn’t matterwhat your background is, where you have come from,everyone is treated fairly and equally’.

Br: ‘Yes they are massively important, if we don’tgive basic services it gives the impression that we don’tcare. We are getting away from prison issue clothing totry and normalise the environment at Brinsford evenfurther. We have introduced ironing boards on our res 4wing to try and encourage the men to take care of theirclothes and teach them another valuable life skill thatwill serve them well in the community’.

LN: What about relationships between thosewho live and work in prisons?What role do they have andhow are they being improved?

Wy: ‘These relationships areso important, I think that there isa big movement now to treatpeople how you wish to betreated. They are integral for thewhole establishment to functionproperly. I think that theintroduction of the key workerhas been excellent as it provides agood opportunity to build upthese relationships and investsome time into the men in ourcare. Positive relationships are the foundation ofrehabilitative culture.’

Many of the staff interviewed at HMP Wymott feltthat the Key worker scheme has been instrumental inaiding good relationships throughout the establishmentas it allows staff to really ‘get to know’ the men in theircare. They felt that these good relationships thenimproved communication between the men and staffand allowed the staff to have a greater ability to mouldexpectation and shape values.

Br: ‘These relationships are so important. Not onlyare they important for the men but they are importantfor the staff. I think that rehabilitative culture is just asmuch about the staff as it is about the men and positiverelationships makes the job not only more interesting,but also helps staff to feel more fulfilled. Feeling likeyou are actually getting through to someone andmaking a difference has such a positive effect andreinstates the meaning behind the job.’

‘Good relationships are very important. I believethat they key workers has made a huge difference inhelping to build relationships even further. At Brinsfordwe are also keen on ACE training (Adverse Childhood

Experiences) and are keen to provide the young men inour care with at least one stable relationship, whichthey most probably have never had any experience of intheir life due to what they have been through. By doingthis and providing them with someone they can trustwe hope that we will be able to encourage them tomake positive changes’.

LN: What do the best staff do that makes adifference?

Wy: ‘The best staff are the ones that care. Theytake the time to listen and take genuine interest in thepeople that they are helping.’

‘They are polite, straight talking and live up to anypromises that they make. They communicaterespectfully to not just the men but their colleaguestoo. They provide support for both the men and theirfellow staff members and act as role models.’

Br: ‘The best staff demonstrate active listening.They listen and talk andcommunicate well. They makethe men feel that they can dobetter and convince them theyare not always going to be stuckin a life of crime. The best staffwill know that building a goodrapport is key’.

LN: Do prisoners have thechance to be involved in therunning of the prison orshaping the community suchas peer support orrepresentative bodies?

Wy: ‘Yes. At Wymott wehave got the prisoner council, PID [Prisoners’Information Desk] workers, the Listener’s scheme andviolence reduction reps. They seem to be making a realdifference within the prison. The suggestions from theprisoner council always get taken on board, even If wecan’t always see these suggestions through. Havingthese kinds of bodies and reps gives the men a voicewhich is very important within the establishment.’

Br: ‘Yes — we feel that at Brinsford the men havea number of opportunities to get involved in shapingthe community, and furthermore we want them to aswe value their input massively. We have mentors thatwork on the wings, along with a prisoner council andour reception orderlies’ are now trained Listeners. Weoften hold prisoner focus groups to run new ideas andinitiatives past them, for example as we did with thenew IEP scheme. The feedback that the men providedreally helped us to shape the new scheme. We alsohave violence reduction reps. We feel all of thesethings are really important as it gives the young men avoice and allows them to feel valued as part of theBrinsford community.’

These relationshipsare so important, I

think that there is abig movement nowto treat people how

you wish tobe treated


LN: Do families have a role in building a morerehabilitative culture? How are they involved inyour establishment?

Wy: ‘Families definitely have a very important rolein building a more rehabilitative culture. They canprovide grounded motivation for the men and can helpthem want to better themselves. They are a key supportsystem for the men. At Wymott we host family daysalong with facilitating a homework club which gives themen the opportunity to help their children with theirhomework.’

The staff at Wymott emphasised that havingevents such as family days really helps to normalise theprison environment along withstrengthening family ties. Theyalso talked about the ‘StorybookDads’ initiative in which the mencan record themselves reading achildren’s book which can thenbe played to their children.

Br: ‘Families are extremelyimportant to us at Brinsford. Wehost family days and also run‘Storybook Dads’. We also have afamily wellbeing day in which themen’s families can come into theestablishment and talk to all ofthe different agencies that themen have access to. We alsoinvite the families in to an awardsceremony that we host, so thatthey can watch if their loved onereceived an award. We alsorecently hosted a carol servicewhich families were invited toattend.’

The staff at Brinsford were keen to mention thework that the safer custody team has been doing to tryand incorporate family engagement into their work.With complex cases they will often invite the families into be part of the discussions that are taking placebetween the staff and men. They involve families in thecare plans and feel like this not only helps the men butalso helps the family to feel that they are being involvedand communicated to with transparency. Brinsford hashad a number of success stories through thesemeasures.

LN: What opportunities are there to addressproblems such as health and substance misuse?

Wy: ‘At Wymott we are very proud of ourTherapeutic Community which aims to help men withhealth and substance misuse problems. We also have aPIPE [Psychologically Informed Planned Environment]unit on F wing which really helps the men on the unit.Safer custody invest a lot of time into men that appear

to have serious substance misuse problems. We alsorun a ‘building futures’ programme.

Br: ‘At Brinsford we have the inclusion team whichaddresses mental health problems that the men mightbe facing. We also have drug and alcohol teams thatwork within the establishment that try and help anysubstance misuse issues. We are currently in the processof introducing a voluntary drugs test that the men canuse upon arriving in reception. If the results come backpositive then we will ask them if they would like us torefer them to one of our substance misuse teams. Theidea behind this is that we would be trying to help themen and their issues rather than taking a punitive

approach’. LN: Do punishments such

as adjudications and incentivesand earned privileges have auseful role in shaping thebehaviour of people in prison?

Wy: ‘I think that they dohave a part to play in prisonestablishments as otherwise thereis not incentive to behave. It cansometimes depend on eachindividual case as the best way todeal with someone. I believe thatIEP can work so long as it is notabused. I think part of rehabculture is making sure that evenwhen we are punishing someonewe are doing it in a fair, neutraland respectful way.’

‘Yes I think there is a needfor punishments within prisonsbecause at the end of the day if

someone breaks the rules then they need to pay theconsequences. We wouldn’t get very far as a service ifwe didn’t punish poor behaviour’.

Br: ‘Yes there is a place for punishments so long asthey are appropriate, but an overly punitive approachvery much goes against what we are trying to achieveat Brinsford. We want to praise the positives rather thanre enforcing negative behaviour through punishment.Our aim is to make things like enhanced status lookmore attractive rather than having basic as a deterrent.The idea is that it would be something for them to loserather than something for them to gain. Punishmentitself is quite archaic but certainly has a place in makingthe prison safe, decent and secure. There still has to beboundaries just like there is in the community butfinding the right balance is crucial. Being overly punitivedoesn’t work.’

LN: Do prisoners have the chance to developtheir talents and interests, for example througheducation, training or employment?

Families definitelyhave a very

important role inbuilding a more

rehabilitativeculture. They canprovide groundedmotivation for themen and can help

them want tobetter themselves.


Wy: ‘Yes, at Wymott we offer a vast range ofeducation and employment opportunities. For examplewe do BICS training and offer opportunities to gainqualifications in things such as engineering andwoodwork. We also offer holistic classes such as art andgardening.’

Br: ‘Yes, at Brinsford we have a large variety ofcourses and training on offer for the men. We have acatering academy and also a barista course. One of ourmen completed the catering course and ended upgetting a job at one of Jamie Oliver’s restaurants! Wealso provide the men with the opportunities toundertake A levels, degrees along with a plethora ofvocational courses.’

LN: What is the best way to prepare prisonersfor a successful life after release?

Wy: ‘I think that for a successful life after release,the men have got to really want to change themselves.However, as an establishment it is our job to providethem with the tools and life skills so that they areequipped as best they can be to give them themaximum chance of leading a successful and crime freelife. We also need to be encouraging and provide hopeand motivation to try and help them to bring about thechange’.

Wymott staff believed that as soon as the menstep off the bus and enter into the establishment, it isthe job of the staff to try and help these men turn theirlives around and equip them with the mind set andskills to live as positive and successful a life as possibleupon release.

Br: ‘I think that addressing why the men are hereand how they have got here is important as a first pointof call. After this we can work on equipping them withthe jobs, support and life skills that they need to ensurethat they don’t end up down that path again. We needto help them gain a different outlook on life and whatthey want to gain from it. Family ties and through thegate support are also massively important in helping themen with a successful life after release’.

LN: Is there anything that is done in yourestablishment that you feel is a particularly powerfulway to foster a more rehabilitative culture?

Wy: ‘At Wymott we have recently started hostingsports days which have proved to be so useful inimproving relationships between staff and the men, itseems to really incorporate the whole idea behindrehabilitative culture. All of our family events also seemto have been beneficial to HMP Wymott’s rehabilitativejourney. Our attempt to normalise the establishment issomething that we are proud of and we feel that it is apowerful way of fostering a rehabilitative culture’.

Br: ‘At Brinsford we feel that our emphasis onACEs training is a really good way of fostering a more

rehabilitative culture, particularly for the type ofpopulation that we are accommodating. Training suchas this makes staff more aware of some of the terribleexperiences these young men may have gone through,which in turn can help the staff to be more empatheticto the problematic behaviour that they sometimesdisplay. We also have a development and progressionunit which we are very proud of and uses the principlesof procedural justice and rehabilitation to make it asrehabilitative as possible.’

LN: What are the barriers to achievingsuccess? What gets in the way? How can thesechallenges be overcome?

Wy: ‘Sometimes the men not wanting to engagecan be a problem, however when this happens I thinkwe just need to persevere with them and remind themthat we have their best interests in mind. Lack ofresources can also be an issue, particularly with staffinglevels as it sometimes means that staff don’t get asmuch quality time to have meaningful conversations asthey would like. Changing the way that people thinkcan also be difficult but persistence is key and I thinkthat if we keep chipping away at the men and keepreinforcing positive behaviour then we can do it’.

Br: ‘Budgets and funding can be an issue, alongwith resources. Sometimes you want to make thingslike the general fabric of the establishment better but itis difficult to do it with the limited resources that wehave. In the past I think staff buy-in has been an issue,although I feel like this is not as big of a problemanymore as staff seem to be really bought into therehab culture of Brinsford now. Helping the men tochange their mind set and change their way of thinkingcan also be difficult but we just need to be consistentand continue to try and be role models for them.’

LN: How would you know that a morerehabilitative culture was being successfullydeveloped? How would you measure this?

Wy: ‘Ultimately I suppose a reduction in thenumber of re-offending rates would show that we aredoing something right, although I think rehab culture isdifficult to measure itself. Statistics such as a reductionin violence, self-harm and substance misuse would begood indicators though, along with positive MQPL‘sand SQL’s [Quality of Prison Life and Staff Quality of Lifemeasures].

Br: ‘It is difficult to measure rehabilitative culture asit is so individualised but statistics such as levels ofviolence, self-harm and rates of re-offending shouldprovide a good indication. Sometimes you can tell fromthe general mood and atmosphere within theestablishment as to whether or not we are doing thingswell. Success stories no matter how small or large alsogive us hope that we are doing something right!’


HMP Grendon first opened as a TherapeuticCommunity in 1962. Over half a century later, itcontinues to operate successfully within thepublic sector, despite changing political and penalclimates. In achieving this Grendon and otherprison therapeutic communities have providedone of the most well established and longstanding approaches to offender rehabilitationwithin the criminal justice system.

Grendon is a category B prison holding up to 230residents. It is comprised of 6 separate therapeuticcommunities; an assessment and preparation fortreatment unit, and 5 treatment communities includinga 20 place unit offering a form of democratic TC formen with mild to moderate learning disabilities anddifficulties. The prison largely holds men withindeterminate sentences who have committed seriousviolent or sexual offences. On average they have alonger history of involvement with the criminal justicesystem than other prisoners, they have significantlyhigher levels of formal disciplinary punishments fordisciplinary infractions, have high levels of personalitydisorder and psychopathy and half have reportedregular substance misuse whilst in prison.1 These aremen that have also experienced significant distress andtrauma. Almost half reported a previous suicideattempt, and in addition, two-thirds report that theyhave been the victim of severe sexual or violent abusethemselves, usually during childhood.

Therapeutic communities utilize the socialenvironment (sometimes referred to as the therapeuticmilieu) as the basis for personal change. Derived from agroup-based approach to treatment aimed atrehabilitating traumatized service men, therapeuticcommunities emerged in Europe after World War II.Within Western Europe and particularly the UnitedKingdom, therapeutic communities have been active inrehabilitating people who have committed offences forover half a century. Therapeutic communities adopt theview that the social systems and relationships within thetreatment setting have a profound impact on thoseresiding within them. In part, therapeutic communities

have origins in the Quaker movement, which advocatedthe importance of treating patients as capable,trustworthy, and having the capacity to takeresponsibility. They also acknowledge the potentialharm done to people by institutions that stigmatize,erode personal identity, and disempower.

Therapeutic communities provide group therapywithin a social environment which emphasizes adistinctive set of values, clinical practices, andorganizational relationships. They evolved more from aset of values rather than a particular psychologicaltheory. These values reflect the importance of respect,belonging, accountability and empowerment.Psychological change mechanisms are intertwinedwithin a social therapy process, which has its basis inthis underlying value system. These can be understoodfrom different theoretical perspectives. Central to thechange process is the learning that takes place frominterpersonal relationships and interactions within thetherapeutic community. This includes skills in problemsolving and conflict resolution, the development ofinsight, the revision of unhelpful belief systems aboutself and others, and the learning derived frominterpersonal feedback. The term ‘living learning’ hasbeen coined to describe the nature of the therapeuticwork that takes place in the therapeutic community.This recognizes how any institution can, when certaincondition are in place, provide a range of opportunitiesfor interpersonal and social learning; attitudes andbeliefs can be explored while allowing residents todevelop new interpersonal, social, and life skills.It wasnot until the 1990s that Therapeutic Communitiesarticulated a theoretically and empirically based ‘modelof change’.2

While the most important and defining aspect oftheir clinical practice is the therapeutic milieu, alltherapeutic communities recognize the importance oftherapy groups. Within HMP Grendon small therapygroups take place three times a week. These groups arecomprised of around eight residents who are allocatedwith the intention that they will work togethertherapeutically over a prolonged period. The groups are

Working in a Rehabilitative CultureRichard Shuker is Head of Clinical Services at HMP Grendon. Andy Bray, Clare Cowell and Tris Green are

specialist officers at HMP Grendon

1. For a more detailed summary and further references, see Bennett, J. and Shuker, R. (2017) The potential of prison-based democratictherapeutic communities in International Journal of Prisoner Health, 13:1 pp. 19 - 24

2. Cullen, E. (1997) Can a prison be therapeutic? The Grendon template, in Therapeutic Communities for Offenders (eds E. Cullen, L.Jones and R. Woodward), John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester; Shine, J. and Morris, M. (2000) Addressing criminogenic needs in aprison therapeutic community. Therapeutic Communities, 21, 197–219


facilitated by at least one member of staff, but relyupon the active involvement of the group members. Itis in these groups that issues are explored in depth,including examining the past and how this shapesindividuals thinking and behaviour. The themesexplored in small-group sessions are shared with allmembers of the community in line with a culture ofopenness, transparency, and non-confidentiality.

Community meetings take place twice a week andare chaired by an elected resident chairperson and anagenda is followed. Typically this agenda includesdecision making over who should take responsibility forwhich tasks, an exploration ofany interpersonal problemsexperienced between members,and providing support for thoseexperiencing distress. Residentsare responsible for choices andthe decision making necessary forcommunity living. Residents alsoparticipate in additional creativetherapies such as psychodramaand art therapy.

Each individual has avoluntary job that they do onbehalf of the community. Thiscan range from being thechairperson of the community, tobeing the person who waters theplants or looks after the fish tank.Each community supports acharity, often linked to offending,for which they raise funds andpromote its aims. Twice a year,each community will host a‘family day’, where loved oneswill visit the community for ameal, to receive information about the work of theprison, see where the men live and meet those they livewith. This is in addition to, and more extensive thanroutine family visits, which take place three times aweek. Also twice a year, each community will host a‘social day’, to which they invite people with aprofessional interest. This helps to humanise thecontact men have with criminal justice professionals,but also develops the network of supporters for theestablishment as a whole.

All of the various elements work together in orderto provide an environment in which men are investedwith trust and responsibility, are encouraged to exploretheir own background and history, and develop new

skills. It is the nature of this approach that therapygroups do not happen in isolation, but rather, ‘everyaspect of prison life is an integral component of thetherapeutic community environment’.3

Interview

RS:What would you say are the key featuresof a prison culture that has the potential to helppeople rehabilitate? What needs to be in place?

TG:The most important feature is having a senseof community. By this I mean people working together

who want to achieve the samegoals. Where people cometogether with shared goals andshared responsibilities they willlook out for and support eachother. Prisoners and staff are thenmore likely to work together andyou see the mutual support andinterest they have in eachanother.

RS: The point abouthaving shared goals isinteresting. In your experiencehow do you get to a positionwhere people want to work inthe same direction?

TG: You do need goodleadership from the staff group.The staff group have to worktogether. However anycommunity still need clearlydefined goals if they are going towork effectively together. Thestaff group can help the prisonersto achieve those goals. We have

‘constitutions’4 on the wings but the staff also need toset that example and to role model the process of socialbehaviour. You also need good role models within theprisoner group. People who have the ability to defineand shape a culture.

RS:How important is it to be able to defineand shape the expectations we have of prisoners?

TG: Very important, but where the conditions areright this is something they will establish forthemselves. If it’s something the prisoners have comeup with themselves, then it makes it more valid in theireyes. If they question it or if we just told them this ishow it’s going to be, it would just reinforce how thingshave always been; whereas if they all work

All of the variouselements work

together in order toprovide an

environment inwhich men are

invested with trustand responsibility,are encouraged toexplore their ownbackground and

history, and developnew skills.

3. Brookes, M. (2010), “Putting principles into practice: the therapeutic community regime at HMP Grendon and its relationship with the‘good lives’ model”, in Shuker, R. and Sullivan, E. (Eds), Grendon and the Emergence of Forensic Therapeutic Communities:Developments in research and practice, Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, pp. 99-113: p.103

4. The ‘Wing Constitution’ provides the code of conduct and expectations required of residents. It gives an account of the proceduresand rules residents are required to adhere to and forms an agreement between the staff team and residents which guides behaviourand participation in the regime.


collaboratively with the staff and amongst themselves itholds more weight.

RS:At Grendon the prisoners are jointlyinvolved in writing the constitution with staff.They sign up to it, and periodically revise it. Isuppose the question is what makes prisonerswant to adhere to it? Why do they want to buyinto it?

CC: The most important thing is the relationshipsthey have with the staff. If you have staff who areenthusiastic, who want to help them, then that inspiresthe prisoners. That’s why we can work together withthem. It’s why we can collaborate and agree goals andtargets. But there’s also something else, and it’s aboutcommunication. One of the important things is thatwithin Grendon we can build really positive relationshipswith the men. We have the open door policy in theoffice where residents come inand you will sit and you’ll talk.And it could be about therapy butit could be about what theywatched on television last night.

RS: And this connectionwith staff is an importantfactor in prisoners wanting toengage with the regime?

TG: Yes, prisoners need toknow that staff are approachable,they can approach them at anytime, be it just to have a generalchat about football or TV or ifthey’ve got deeper things theywant to discuss, but that’s why it works so well becauseall the staff are approachable and the prisoners feel ableto talk to them. If their personal officer’s not in and thegroup facilitator’s not in, they’re still able to go to otherstaff as well.

AB: It’s easy to lose this in prisons and end upbanging doors, counting, running around. Here I canhave a two-hour chat with someone over the contentsof Iron Bru. A lad I work with is fascinated with thechemicals and the difference between sugar-freebecause that’s what he’s interested in. I have to acceptthat. And I’m sat there listening to this and I’m chippingin thinking this is just great. I’ve got time to. I’ve gottime to talk to this lad about, to me, very mundanethings, but to him this is a major event in his life.

RS: Is it just time that allows this connectionto form or is there something else which enablesthis, which then leads to the sense ofcollaboration that you were talking about?

AB: One important feature of the work here is theway all disciples work alongside each other. Here we

have a good rapport with civilian staff and we worktogether and collaborate.

TG: A lot of prisoners come from mainstreamprisons and they don’t trust psychologists, they don’ttrust clinical staff and they don’t trust uniform staff.When they come here and see us working alongsidethe clinical staff that sends a really strong messageabout collaboration. Again, it’s the role modelling thathelps as well. It’s also about getting the right people in.It’s about getting the right people involved in thetherapy and that’s also very important.

RS: You’ve mentioned the time you spentwith residents. You’ve mentioned the importanceof having shared goals and how this can helpcreate a climate where people collaborate. Whatelse do you feel that the work at Grendon tells usabout how to create a culture where people start

to embrace the idea ofwanting to make changes intheir lives?

CC: For me the connectionwith families is really important. Iknow other prisons have familydays, but they don’t quite dothem like Grendon does. Herethe families can come down tothe wing. They can meet thestaff, they can meet the othercommunity members; they canvisualise them then when theyphone, where the telephone boxis; they can visualise their room.

Promoting relationships with families is key. Prisonerstalk a lot about the changes their families notice inthem and the boost this gives them.

TG: The culture of tolerance is also hugelyimportant. If men make a mistake, it’s the fact that westill want to work with them. Tempers may get frayedor a bit heated, exchanges may get heated sometimesbut the fact is, staff will sit down and talk thingsthrough with residents and try and encourage them todo things in a different way, either through us or theirpeers, or the groups. It surprises some of them. Whenthey break rules they think ‘oh I’m going to get kickedout now’ and sometimes they might be put up for‘commitment’5, but the fact is it’s still done through thecommunity and they get that support. It bowls themover sometimes, the amount of support they do get.They come to see making mistakes as a way of learningto get things right. We can ask ‘Why did you do that?What were you thinking?’ And the men will reallyengage with each other when they are considering theanswers to these questions.

The culture oftolerance is also

hugely important. Ifmen make a

mistake, it’s the factthat we still want to

work with them.

5. Commitment refers to a resident being held account for their behaviour and engagement in the therapeutic community. Sanctionsincluding termination of a residents place can be applied in cases where commitment is not being demonstrated.


RS: Tolerance seems to be a really importantpart in creating a culture which helps peoplechange and helps people rehabilitate. I waswondering what your views were on how far thisis something which other prisons can adopt? Canthis part of our culture be relevant elsewhere?

AB: It can be down to individual staff. For examplewe had a lad here, he’s gone back to mainstream, hewas voted out of the community. We worked with himfor three years. I paid him a visit when I was on acontrol and restraint course a couple of weeks ago. Iwas chatting with one of the officers who was on hisspur and he says he found that if he gives this guy a jobto do, he does it really well and if he keeps him workinghe keeps his head down and he obeys the regime. Heknows that finding ways to keep him off ‘basic’6 is veryimportant, he is likely to go back on an ACCT plan, andpossibly become confrontational.So he finds a way to support him.He noticed if he kept this guyworking his behaviour wouldimprove. So, yes tolerance ispossible and in the right contextcan be a very helpful strategy.

RS: You’ve mentioned theconnection between tolerance,working together and a senseof collaboration. Is theresomething about the way yougo about your work herewhich is different to how youunderstood your role in otherprisons?

CC: Yes I think there is. Forexample we organised having a Christmas meal withthe families. We’d made table decorations, we’ddecorated the wing. And the main issue here was whenwas the last time the men actually sat down with theirfamily at Christmas. It was just a meal, but it was reallyimportant. When was the last time the men spentquality time with their families, and sat down and hada Christmas meal? But just even sitting down with themand having eaten dinner at a table with them, that’sparamount really. But to do this you have to view yourrole from a different angle.

AB: This can also provide people with a sense ofhope.

RS: Hope? In what sense? AB: Take family days.7 These are events full of

hope. Men can be part of a community where they’resat down having a meal with their mum and dad. Visitscan also be very powerful. On a normal visit, things arefar more constrained. You’re sat at a table with a bib on

and you can’t get off your chair. Your hands are meantto stay on the table. Whereas here, in our normal visits,you know, things are far more informal. You can buyyourself and your family a drink and the men start torealise that things can be different, prison can be aplace of opportunities.

RS: In the example you’ve just given, there issomething about the importance of being able toconnect residents, not just with the staff team,but also with their families. The way we helppeople connect with families seems to be verypowerful.

CC:Yes it’s very important. Small things like goingup and buying their family dinner or buying them acake that can instil a sense of responsibility and dignity.Residents have paid for these things often out of their

own wages. But there’s also anissue of transparency. I’mthinking about the families beinginvolved in their journey. Whenthey come onto the wing theycan talk to staff. The targets canbe discussed. So they have anunderstanding of how theirbrother, son, father or husband isgoing and how much progress hehas made. And that’s important.

RS: You’ve all emphasisedthe importance ofrelationships. What role dorelationships have in shapingthe culture at Grendon andwhy do you think are they

particularly positive?TG:First of all you’re just seen as real people not

just the uniform. You can sit and talk to residents andyou can get to know about their lives and understandhow and why they come to see things the way they do.Instead of just seeing prisoners as a robber or amurderer you come to understand what sort ofbackground they have. Sometimes you find yourselfthinking ‘what chance do they really have’. It just givesyou that little bit of empathy and more compassion, Isuppose, and get to recognise the progress they makeas well. And to some extent they get to know a bitabout you as a person and why you’re the person youare. The fact we might talk to them about what we’vedone at the weekend, obviously within limits, showswe’re actually willing to form a connection — and thatwe’re human. That’s really important.A lot of these guyshave had issues with authority figures throughout theirlives, and now they learn they can trust us.

Small things likegoing up and

buying their familydinner or buyingthem a cake that

can instil a sense ofresponsibility and

dignity.

6. A Basic regime is part of the Incentives and Earned Privileges system where prisoners are entitled to the most limited level of privileges.7. Family days provide opportunities for family members to visit their relatives on their community. Families can dine together, cell visits

are allowed and they are able to learn more about the experience of their relatives participating in treatment.


RS: Getting people to talk to each other andgetting to know each other seems very important.How can this be achieved in practice?

AB: I’ve always tried to make time to walk roundthe landings and just have a chat with prisoners. I didn’tsit in the office during association. I’d build up a bit ofdialogue and then sometimes prisoners would come tome with a problem and I’d say ‘I’ll sort that out for you’.Here you’ve got the time but it’s also part of the cultureand an expectation. If you get that rapport right, evenif the guy is a bit of a trouble-maker it can make such adifference.

RS: So allowing people to get to know youand seeing this ‘human’ side to you, you see thatas really important?

TG: It’s very important. For example look at the useof first name terms which I admit, I struggled with whenI first came here. That was one of the biggest things Iknew I was going to find hard,but I’ve got to be honest, itworks. I never thought I’d ever saythat but it’s a massive thing, itreally is and it helps the residentssee us again as a person andsomebody who wants to relate tothem.

AB: I always call prisoners bytheir first name. It was almost tobreak the barriers. Even whereI’ve worked in other prisons, thatbroke down barriers.

RS: You seem to be sayingthat using first names can have a disproportionateimpact on making relationships positive. Do youhave any other thoughts about what helpsstrengthen the quality of relationships?

TG: The emphasis on spending informal time withresidents is really important. They have time to talk tous, they have that time to actually chat with us. Also thejoint activities such as entertainment evenings and staffparticipating in these, is an important part of theculture. Again, it shows our willingness to get involvedand their willingness to accept us being involved.

RS: You also seem to be saying thatrelationships become enhanced here because youallow people to have a responsibility whichsomehow empowers them.

AB: Yes for example the wing has a chairman8 anda vice chairman who are voted in by other residents. Ifyou go for a job you have to be voted in. When you getvoted into the job you have a say on things. I’ve beenpulled up by the community for when I’ve said the

wrong thing, I’ve been told off by the community andhad to own my part where I’ve got things wrong.

RS: We’ve been talking about giving prisonersresponsibility, we’ve been talking about howpeople collaborate and also about how people getto know each other and how important that is.Could these features of a regime work withinother prisons?

CC: There needs to be a way of getting theresidents to be committed, be proud of their area and,their wing and for people to work together.

AB: Communal eating can be an important part ofthis. Staff here eat together with the residents. That’simportant. It’s a massive thing to share these things

RS: That’s interesting. You say that sharedliving, shared working together, shared facilities,these things are very important.

TG: It’s essential to be honest. Even when theynormally mix together, doingthings together gets to people.When people start to getinvolved together and makedecisions together and plantogether that’s huge.

RS: It sounds likecollaboration is particularlyimportant. In your view howcould a culture ofcollaboration and involvementbe established in otherregimes?

TG: Some of the things residents are involved inhere, such quiz nights, the entertainment nights, there’sno reason you couldn’t do those on a wing or part of awing in other prisons, it’s just findings ways to getpeople involved that’s the challenge. For example wehave the community team building days. These get allthe staff and residents involved. We played dodge balllast time. It might be hard to sell it to staff initially butwhere you’re getting staff and prisoners to join intogether, there is a lot of fun to it particularly when amember of staff from my wing was smiling and thatmember of staff isn’t really known for smiling a greatdeal, and he knew he was smiling and enjoyed himself.You know, quite a lot of people commented on thatand wow, but he got involved, and it was interesting tosee how it does get people. It got people talking backon the wing as well. But he’d enjoyed it although triedto play it down a bit but again, it helped. Those thingscan have a real impact. They help hugely in breakingdown barriers.

When people startto get involved

together and makedecisions togetherand plan together

that’s huge.

8. The Chair and Vice Chairman are elected members of the community. They are responsible for chairing the twice weekly wingmeetings, managing wing business and a conduit between the resident community and staff team


CC: Yes, residents see the other side to us.

CC: Also building on residents’ strengths has a bigimpact. The community recently worked together indesigning a mural in remembrance of the holocaust.

AB: Yeah, that was really goodCC: People will get involved. On our wing we also

organise creative activities such as these and it’s sussingout and building on people’s strengths. When you’vegot two people involved at thestart you’ve got ten by the end ofthe hour.

AB: I think it’s all abouttaking pride in your own wing.

RS: The issue of pride hasbeen commented on a fewtimes today. How do you getpeople proud of where theylive, and actively part ofwhat’s going on?

CC: For me, I’m proud ofGrendon. And I love being here.

RS: Why?CC: Because I think it works

and I see people change. I like tobe part of that person’s journeyat the beginning and seeingthem two or three years later atthe end. But for me, if I’m proudof where I work then I’m proudof whatever community I go on.

RS: Could you expand onwhy being proud of where youwork has an impact on howyou approach your work?

CC: I’ve always beenenthusiastic and I’ve always likedto get involved. This encouragesthe residents to see past theuniform and helps them to seeyou as you are. For example someof the residents didn’t want totake part in the RemembranceDay event, and nobody was really getting involved.Anyway after a lot of discussion people started to takepart. It was absolutely brilliant and everybody was really,really proud of what they’d achieved. The enthusiasmwas infectious.

RS: So your approach to your work helpedpeople to become proud of where they live andwork, where they felt they’d achieved somethingmeaningful.

CC: Yes, yesAB: And that’s seen sometimes in the events like

the art event we just had. I walked around and there

was immense pride. Someone asked ‘why isn’t thiswork being displayed?’ So we’re now going to get thework displayed because they are brilliant bits ofartwork. The resident had done this from his own headand he’s quite chuffed that he’s now had positivefeedback from the Governor. And suddenly this re-invigorated him. And it helps that the Governors arevery visible, they’ll go onto the wings and say, nice one

lads. Again, it’s because theywant to do it.

TG: Responsibility in termsof ‘rep’ jobs9 is also veryimportant. How, one of thecleaners sees someone take pridein their work and then everyonecan take a bit of pride in theirparticular area and this bringspeople together, people can seewhat can be achieved and thatcan make a difference to howthey see themselves.

CC: I just remember onyour wing Tris, when you haveAdam (resident) down there anddoing the World Cup event. Hegot everybody involved in CWing.

TG: Yes this became a reallyimportant community event,getting people involved together.You just need a few peopleinvolved to start with and it’sinfectious sometimes, it does getto other people.

RS: You’ve touched onsomething which is fairlyunique to therapeuticcommunity regime, which isthe extent to which residentstake responsibility. Is thereany way in which that part ofthe culture at Grendon couldwork in a more active way in

other prisons, where prisoners have moreresponsibility for day to day living and decisionmaking?

AB: It’s all about the ownership and the expectationswe have of people. For example we don’t shout ‘gym’and we don’t shout ‘ exercise’ because people know theregime and take responsibility for themselves. In a waypeople follow the regime without us.

RS: Are there other ways in which peoplecould be given more responsibility and have moreinvolvement for where they live?

Responsibility interms of ‘rep’ jobs9

is also veryimportant. How,

one of the cleanerssees someone takepride in their workand then everyone

can take a bit ofpride in their

particular area andthis brings peopletogether, peoplecan see what canbe achieved andthat can make a

difference to howthey see

themselves.

9 ‘Rep’ jobs are positions of responsibility residents are elected into on their community by other prisoners


TG: Allowing people to have pride is veryimportant. It’s a rolling programme here where youhave different people at different stages in theirtherapy. With peer support and modelling people startto see taking responsibility as routine. People find iteasier to listen to their peers than to listen to staff.

RS: From your experiences of working in atherapeutic community, how do you consider thatthe challenges of setting up a rehabilitativeculture in mainstream prisons can be overcome?

TG: For one you need experienced staff. Staff whohave jail-craft. But you also need staff who are openminded and with the right values. That’s very important.The other issue is getting staff to buy into things.

CC: You also need enthusiasm and you need beliefRS: How would you create that?TG: Get staff to come and look round places such

as therapeutic communities where they can see peopleworking along side each and staff and prisonerscollaborating together. Come here and see what we do.Spend a couple of days here

RS: What would that help achieve?TG: Other colleagues could see how it works, they

could see the benefits of a regime such as this. Theycould see the informal relationships that we have withthe prisoners. The fact that they take ownership fortheir own lives. That it works. By talking to differentstaff and prisoners this would pay real dividends.

AB: Yes it’s important to see the ways in whichprisoners take responsibility; what it means to be wingchairman; how it feels to see prisoners sorting out theirown problems and conflicts.

TG: They’ll also see the real changes, the positivechanges in people they used to work with. That wouldbe really powerful.

RS: What else motivates men to comply,engage and becoming involved? Are there anyeasy wins, do you think. Changes or initiativesthat could make a real impact and could beimplemented relatively easily?

AB: Giving people positive feedback who havealways been criticised. Prisoners often struggle toaccept that. It might just be a wing cleaner’s done areally good job. So I’d say you’ve done a cracking jobthere. I know it’s a very basic level but when they do

something good and actually feel valued that has a realimpact on relationships and how they see themselves asprisoners.

RS: You say it’s basic but do practices whichcelebrate achievement and provide recognitionhave a particularly powerful impact?

TG: Yes, I think so. You see some guys they’ve gotall these certificates of things they’ve done and they’rereally proud of it. And just having that to show someevidence of what they’ve achieved is a big deal to somepeople. It give them a sense of pride.

RS: What would you say has been the mostimportant part of your work in creating a morerehabilitative culture?

AB: I’ve got time. I come through that gate in themorning and I’m not in a rush. I get on the wing. I’mnot in a rush. We unlock. I’m not rushing. I can stand inthe corridor and talk. If there’s a problem I’ve got timeto deal with it. I’ve got time to implement new ideas ortime to resolve little issues without having to worryabout the clock ticking away. And for me that’s the bigthing I’ve noticed here.

CC: For me it’s building healthy workingrelationships with the men. I also think that theimportant thing is being a pro-social role model.Anything which helps prisoners to see you for who youare and not a uniform is particularly important.Breaking down those barriers is best achieved bybuilding relationships and getting to know people.

TG: Something that stands out for me is the fact Ican be myself. What I mean by that is if I do make amistake I’ll own it straight away and I’m not afraid tosay I shouldn’t have said that or shouldn’t have donethat. But I can still be me. I can have a laugh or a jokewith the guys and it’s these relationships which are soimportant.

AB: I also think that getting a sense of pride on thewings is so important. It’s about getting people involvedin making the wing somewhere they wantto live and making their lives meaningful. It’s about allowing people to have a genuine inputand involvement.

RS: Thanks everybody for taking part in theinterview.

Prison Service Journal Prison Service JournalIssue 244Issue 244

Contents

3 Rehabilitative Culture Part 2:An update on evidence and practiceDr Ruth E. Mann

Editorial Comment2

11 Creating an Enabling EnvironmentDr Jamie Bennett

May your choices reflect your hopes, not yourfears. -The importance of reciprocal hopein prison growthDr Sarah Lewis and Steve Robertson

17

Dr Jamie Bennett is Governor ofHMP Long Lartin and was Governorof Grendon and Springhill between2012 and 2019. Matt Tilt isGovernor of HMP Onley and wasDeputy Governor of HMP Grendonand Springhill between 2015and 2018.

Rehabilitative Culture in a HighSecurity prison.Dr Bill Davies

Dr Ruth E. Mann, RehabilitativeCulture Lead, Public Sector Prisons North

Purpose and editorial arrangements

The Prison Service Journal is a peer reviewed journal published by HM Prison Service of England and Wales.

Its purpose is to promote discussion on issues related to the work of the Prison Service, the wider criminal justice

system and associated fields. It aims to present reliable information and a range of views about these issues.

The editor is responsible for the style and content of each edition, and for managing production and the

Journal’s budget. The editor is supported by an editorial board — a body of volunteers all of whom have worked

for the Prison Service in various capacities. The editorial board considers all articles submitted and decides the out-

line and composition of each edition, although the editor retains an over-riding discretion in deciding which arti-

cles are published and their precise length and language.

From May 2011 each edition is available electronically from the website of the Centre for Crimeand Justice Studies. This is available at http://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/psj.html

Circulation of editions and submission of articles

Six editions of the Journal, printed at HMP Leyhill, are published each year with a circulation of approximately

6,500 per edition. The editor welcomes articles which should be up to c.4,000 words and submitted by email to

[email protected] or as hard copy and on disk to Prison Service Journal, c/o Print Shop Manager,

HMP Leyhill, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, GL12 8BT. All other correspondence may also be sent to the

Editor at this address or to [email protected].

Footnotes are preferred to endnotes, which must be kept to a minimum. All articles are subject to peer

review and may be altered in accordance with house style. No payments are made for articles.

Subscriptions

The Journal is distributed to every Prison Service establishment in England and Wales. Individual members of

staff need not subscribe and can obtain free copies from their establishment. Subscriptions are invited from other

individuals and bodies outside the Prison Service at the following rates, which include postage:

United Kingdom

single copy £7.00



Overseas

single copy £10.00



Orders for subscriptions (and back copies which are charged at the single copy rate) should be sent with a

cheque made payable to ‘HM Prison Service’ to Prison Service Journal, c/o Print Shop Manager, HMP Leyhill,

Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, GL12 8BT.

Dr Sarah Lewis is Director of PenalReform Solutions and Steve Robertson is Deputy Governorof HMP Guys Marsh.

26Stuart Greene and Andy Robinsonare serving prisoners at HMP FullSutton. Dr Bill Davies is a SeniorLecturer in Criminology at LeedsBeckett University, and Director of theLeeds Beckett Centre for Universityand Prison Partnerships.


29Georgina Barkham-Perry is a PhDstudent at the Department ofCriminology, University of Leicester

Paul AddicottHMPPS

Dr Ruth ArmstrongUniversity of Cambridge

Dr Rachel BellHMP SendAlli Black

HMP KirkhamMaggie Bolger

Prison Service College, Newbold RevelProfessor Alyson Brown

Edge Hill UniversityGareth EvansIndependentDr Ben Crewe

University of CambridgeDr Sacha Darke

University of Westminster Dr Michael Fiddler

University of GreenwichDr Kate GoochUniversity of Bath

Dr Darren WoodwardUniversity Centre, Grimsby

Dr David MaguireUniversity College, London Dr Jamie Bennett (Editor)Governor HMP Long Lartin

Paul Crossey (Deputy Editor)HMP Huntercombe

Dr Karen Harrison (Reviews Editor)University of Hull

Steve HallIndependent

Professor Yvonne JewkesUniversity of BathDr Helen JohnstonUniversity of HullDr Bill Davies

Leeds Beckett UniversityMartin Kettle

Church of EnglandDr Victoria KnightDe Montfort University

Monica LloydUniversity of Birmingham

Dr Amy LudlowUniversity of Cambridge

Professor Anne-Marie McAlindenQueen’s University, Belfast

Dr Ruth MannHMPPS

William PayneIndependentGeorge PughHMP BelmarshDr David ScottOpen University

Christopher StaceyUnlock

Ray TaylorHMPPS

Mike WheatleyHMPPS

Kim WorkmanRethinking Crime and Punishment, NZ

Dr David HoneywellUniversity of DurhamJackson JosephHMP Leyhill

Editorial Board


OURNALJ

Special Edition

Rehabilitative Culture

This edition includes:


Dr Ruth E. Mann

Creating an Enabling EnvironmentDr Jamie Bennett and Matt Tilt

‘May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.’-The importance of reciprocal hope in prison growth

Dr Sarah Lewis and Steve Robertson


Stuart Greene, Andy Robinson and Dr Bill Davies


Rehabilitative Culture in a progressive closed prisonDr Ruth Armstrong and Dr Amy Ludlow

Living in an open prisonDr Jamie Bennett

Prison Officers’ Perspectives on Five Minute Interventionsand Rehabilitative Culture in a Local Prison

Catherine Vickers-Pinchbeck

Staff perceptions of rehabilitative cultureLucy Newton

Working in a Rehabilitative CultureRichard Shuker, Andy Bray, Clare Cowell and Tris Green


OURNALJ P R I S O N S E R V I C E

OURNALJJuly 2019 No 244

prison service journal - centre for crime and justice studies · beckett university, and director...

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