Kirstine Szifris

This chapter provides a brief overview of the research undertaken. Whilst a technical appendices goes into more detail, here Szifris describes what the research involved, where it was delivered, and the people who participated. The chapter details data collection methods and analysis and outlines the preparation and pilot work.

This chapter begins with an outline of the discussion of Stoicism in Full Sutton. Asking participant to consider ‘the good life’ it provides the basis for a discussion of wellbeing. Participants were clear in articulating the relevance of philosophy in providing space to develop their own opinions, learning how to philosophise, and engaging in intellectual conversation. The second half of the chapter moves towards a discussion of self-reflection, articulating what the participants said they learnt about themselves in being part of the course.

Delivered through the medium of a Community of Philosophical Inquiry, this thesis outlines the experience of engaging prisoners in philosophical conversation, thereby articulat-ing the relevance of this type of education for those in long-term confinement. The research, which took place in two prisons, explores the role of prison education, community dialogue and active philosophising in encouraging personal development. With similar populations but contrasting characters, HMPs Grendon and Full Sutton provided the backdrop to grounded, ethnographically-led research. The research design reflects the exploratory nature of the approach. Derek Layder’s adaptive theory has provided a methodological framework, whilst the theoretical framework draws on desistance literature, prison sociology, and philosophical pedagogy to enhance and develop understanding of the emergent themes. However, as a criminological piece of research, it sits within the criminological, and more specifically, prison...

his programme of work aims to improve understanding of ‘best’ practice in functional skills education in England and Wales. As part of this, we are also seeking to develop our understanding of how to deliver a randomised controlled trial that will test the efficacy of different modes of delivering functional skills. This report outlines the process of setting up and testing a protocol for a (pilot) randomised controlled trial in an English prison. Overall, the research team successfully developed and put into practice a rigorous protocol that could be transferred to a full-efficacy trial. However, the trial encountered problems with recruitment that were related to disruption in the prison and changes in the wider prison estate. As such, it is difficult to draw conclusions about whether an RCT works in prisons.

This paper articulates the first ‘general theory’ of prison education, offering a new insight into the relevance of desistance theory and understanding of prison sociology to the lives of men engaged in education whilst in prison. Using a realist review method (Pawson, 2002b; Wong, 2013a) we develop a rough, initial general theory of prison education articulated in the form of three context-mechanism-outcome configurations (CMO). We then ‘test’ these CMOs by assessing the current evidence base through a systematic review of literature. This paper articulates three inter-related CMOs that we ground in prison sociology and desistance literature: ‘hook’, ‘safe space’ and ‘qualifications’. ‘Hook’ refers to engaging in prison education as a ‘hook for change’ and its impact on personal identity. ‘Safe space’ refers to the space an educational class can provide and its relevance to social identity. ‘Qualifications’ refers to the relevance of skills and qualifications gains. The literature ...

This article examines the extent to which the risk needs responsivity (RNR) model and desistance principles have been integrated and operationalised in the development of the Enablers of Change assessment and sentence planning tool developed by a Community Rehabilitation Company provider in England. We consider the constructs that underpin the tool, identifying points of departure and similarity between RNR principles (Andrews and Bonta, 2007), the ‘good lives’ model (Ward and Maruna, 2007) and desistance principles (McNeil and Weaver, 2010) and their integration. We examine how these constructs have been operationalised in the tool, which aims to assess needs, strengths, protective factors and contribute to risk assessment. Given the tool’s innovation, this article is of international significance and will make an original contribution to the evidence base on operationalising desistance in the management of people with convictions in England and Wales and other jurisdictions.