Prisons and Probation

• Arts in prisons
• Communication and sound – deafness
• Design of interior layout – improving environments
• Desistance/Rehabilitation
• Ethnicity and minority groups
• Functional assessment
• Healthy and sustainable food
• Healthy settings/prisons
• Horticulture and environmental activities
• Intervention programmes
• Mental and physical wellbeing
• Nutrition and physical activity
• Sex offenders
• Substance misuse
• The impact of family members who offend/are incarcerated
• Trauma informed approaches
• Violence
• Whole system approaches.

Think Deaf

Dr. Laura Kelly Corless is a leading UK scholar in the area of d/Deaf prisoners, receiving her PhD in 2017, before going on to publish her findings in a number of peer reviewed journals. In 2017, she was awarded Prison Service Journal outstanding article of the year for the article entitled ‘Suffering in Silence: The unmet needs of d/Deaf prisoners’ and received the award at a presentation at HMP Grendon. Since completing her PhD, Laura has sought to raise awareness about the significant issues experienced by d/Deaf people in prison and has presented her work to staff at the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman and the Parole Board. In 2019 she was awarded funding to create a set of 'Think Deaf' documents in conjunction with the School of Design and the Criminal Justice Partnership. This included a leaflet and poster which was sent to all prisons in England and Wales, both of which drew attention to the realities of prison for this population and outlined the adjustments that prisons must make in order to meet the needs of this vulnerable cohort. After receiving the Prison Service Journal award in 2017, Laura's work began to receive local media attention, including an appearance on BBC Radio Lancashire, and most recently a significant segment on BBC2's See Hear in 2019.

Laura has completed post-doctoral research with members of the Psychosocial Research Unit, exploring the impact of theatre-based interventions with vulnerable groups such as prisoners and young offenders. The value of create methods as a mechanism to evoke positive change continues to be of interest to Laura, who is currently putting the final touches to an article on this topic with Dr Michelle Baybutt. Laura has also carried out research with her colleague Dr Abi Stark, looking at the value of a debating programme with prisoners and prison officers, the findings from which they are currently writing up.

Laura runs an annual prisoner/student learning programme called Debating Differences, which involves final year Law and Criminology students and prisoners from HMP Kirkham, who come together to debate a number of issues in contemporary society. The purpose of this scheme is to break down barriers, to increase communication skills and confidence levels, and to teach participants how to put together arguments and participate in structured debates.

Laura has recently published an article for the Conversation with Dr Daniel McCulloch from the Open University, entitled ‘Why deaf prisoners have been in a state of lockdown since well before COVID-19’. This piece explores the ways in which the isolation and exclusion that characterises the 'pandemic prison' are part of the normal experience of prison for d/Deaf prisoners. This work marks the next step in Laura’s research journey, as she and Dan now have plans to build on this article by presenting a paper at this year’s British Society of Criminology conference, and then to produce further academic work in this area. The article is available at: https://theconversation.com/why-deaf-prisoners-have-been-in-a-state-of-lockdown-since-well-before-covid-19-158173

For further information about the Think Deaf resources that Laura has created, please contact here on LKelly-Corless@uclan.ac.uk

Codd, Helen (2024) Older People in Prison. In: Research Handbook on Law, Society and Ageing. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN 978 1 80392 528 8

Davies, Pamela, Barlow, Charlotte and Fish, Rebecca (2024) ‘It was a challenge to look at things from a perpetrator perspective’. The Problem of Holding domestically abusive men to account in Multi-agency Partnership work. Criminology & Criminal Justice . ISSN 1748-8958

Hale, Hannah, Bracewell, Kelly , Bellussi, Laura, Jenkins, Ruth, Alexander, Joanne, Devaney, John and Callaghan, Jane E. M. (2024) The Child Protection Response to Domestic Violence and Abuse: a Scoping Review of Interagency Interventions, Models and Collaboration. Journal of Family Violence . ISSN 0885-7482

Wainwright, John Peter , Burke, Lol and Collett, Steve (2024) ‘A lack of cultural understanding and sometimes interest’: Towards half a century of anti-racist policy, practice and strategy within probation. Probation Journal . ISSN 0264-5505

Behan, C. and Stark, A. (2023) Prisons and Imprisonment: An Introduction, Palgrave McMillan, DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09301-2

Baybutt, M.and Kelly-Corless, L. (2022) Moving forwards: Using creative methods for people in prison with care experience. Prison Service Journal, 258 . pp. 32-38. ISSN 0300-3558

Kelly-Corless, L. (2022) No longer free to be Deaf: Cultural, medical and social understandings of d/Deafness in prison. Disability and Society . ISSN 0968-7599

Stark, A. (2022) Anticipated Citizenship in the Shadow of Imprisonment. Probation Journal, SAGE Journals pp. 1 -8. doi:10.1177/02645505221105392

Thomson, G., Mortimer, R., Baybutt, M. and Whittaker, K. (2022) Evaluation of Birth Companions perinatal and peer support provision in two prison settings in England: A mixed-methods study. International Journal of Prisoner Health. ISSN 1744-920

Baybutt, M. and Dooris, M.T (2021) COVID-19: a catalyst to transform our future? [Editorial]. International Journal of Health Promotion and Education, 59 (1). pp. 1-4. ISSN 1463-5240

Kelly-Corless, L. and McCulloch, D. (2021) Why deaf prisoners have been in a state of lockdown since well before COVID-19.The Conversation .

Nicholson, Dave and Mckeown, Michael (2021) Bringing Community Wealth Building to Justice: Back to a mutual future for probation? British Journal of Community Justice, 17 (2). pp. 150-168. ISSN 1475-0279

Rowlands, James and Bracewell, Devine-Wright, H., Baybutt, M., and Meek, R. (2019) Producing food in English and Welsh prisons. Appetite, 143 (104433). ISSN 0195-6663Farrier, A., Baybutt, M., and Dooris, M. T. (2019) Mental Health and Wellbeing Benefits from a Prisons Horticultural Programme. International Journal of Prisoner Health, 15 (1). pp. 91-104. ISSN 1744-9200

Froggett, L., Kelly-Corless, L., and Manley, J. (2019) ‘Feeling real and rehearsal for reality: psychosocial aspects of ‘forum theatre’ in care settings and prisons’, Journal of Psychosocial Studies, 12 (1-2). pp. 23-39

Kelly-Corless, L. (2019) ‘Delving into the unknown: An experience of doing research with d/Deaf prisoners’, Qualitative enquiry [online] Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/107780

McKeown, M., Thomson, G., Scholes, A., Duxbury, J. et al. (2019) Restraint minimisation in mental health care: legitimate or illegitimate force? An ethnographic study. Sociology of Health & Illness. October 2019.

Baybutt, M., Dooris, M. T., and Farrier, A. (2018) Growing Health in UK Prison Settings. Health Promotion International, 34 (4). pp. 792-802. ISSN 0957-4824

Codd, H. (2018). Every Child Matters? Global Perspectives on Incarcerated Mothers and their Children. In: Parental Imprisonment and Children’s Rights. Routledge.

Farrier, A., Baybutt, M., & Dooris, M. (2018). Mental health and wellbeing benefits from a prisons horticultural programme. International Journal of Prisoner Health.

Kelly, L. M. (2018). Sounding out d/Deafness: the experiences of d/Deaf prisoners. Journal of Criminal Psychology, 8(1), 20-32.

Transitions, into, within, and out of imprisonment.
11 March 2024

Following on from the success of the British Society of Criminology conference 2023, hosted by the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), the Prisons and Probation strand of the UCLan Criminal Justice Partnership (CJP) hosted a free one day conference in March in collaboration with the BSC’s Prison Research Network (PRN).

This was the PRN’s first face-to-face event since the pandemic and enabled researchers and practitioners across the UK to come together to connect, network and discuss their research and ideas. Over 80 attendees registered to attend the event.

The keynote address was delivered by Professor David Best, Leeds Trinity University with presentations from both academics, PhD students, Practitioners and people with Lived Experience throughout the day. We were also delighted to have Deeds Not Words come along with some of their products.

“Just get on with it”: A qualitative exploration of health and wellbeing of prison operational managers and Governor grades in England.
28 March 2023

We were delighted to welcome Dr Helen Nichols University of Hull, Prof. Karen Harrison, and Rachael Mason from the University of Lincoln to present our first CJP Prisons and Probation seminar of 2023.

Based on semi-structured interviews with 63 prison operational managers and Governor grades, this seminar discussed their findings, with key themes including: workload challenges, work life balance, a macho culture, not feeling valued and frustration over a lack of autonomy and responsibility; all of which have led some to follow a ‘path of disenchantment’.

They concluded that health and wellbeing amongst PGA members was not good and concluded by proposing next steps, including implications for policy and practice.

What do we really understand about the harms of parental imprisonment.
March 2023

During this face to face interactive workshop Leanne Manning from Children Heard and Seen (CHAS) discussed the harms of parental imprisonment on the children of prisoners.

CHAS support children, young people and their families who are impacted by parental imprisonment. It is estimated that 312,000 children each year have a parent in prison, although there is no database of who these children are and whether they are receiving support. As the prison population continues to rise, so does the number of children impacted. CHAS over the past eight years have worked alongside over 230 families and over 800 children and young people. CHAS supports children within their own communities whether there is contact with the parent in prison or not.

Recourse: Early Intervention and Diversion for Women in the Criminal Justice System.
28 February 2022

In February we were delighted to host our fourth female offenders conference with Lancashire Women. The event disseminated findings from the Lancashire Women’s Recourse project which was set up in 2020 to widen the offer of holistic support and diversion opportunities across all of Lancashire Constabulary’s Out of Court Disposals. This then resulted with Lancashire Women partnering with the Criminal Justice team to promote diversion and raise awareness of the dedicated support which can be provided to females..

Over 70 practitioners, academics and students attended the event at UCLan’s Westleigh Centre The event looked at the outcomes and impact of the pilot project and considered the effect that becoming involved in the criminal justice system has on women.

Speakers included:

• Helena Cryer, Lancashire Constabulary
• Therese Sanders, Lancashire Women
• Justin Srivastava, Lancashire Constabulary
• Janine Boyarin, Lancashire Women
• Siobhan Collingwood, Lancashire Violence Reduction Network

What do we mean by rehabilitation?
13 April 2021

We were delighted to have Gethin Jones from Unlocking Potential present about his experiences across the system that includes Foster Care, Children’s Homes, Secure Units, Youth Estate, Community Orders, Adult Estate, Homeless Hostels, Rehabs, Detoxes and more. His reflections provided powerful insights into his experiences of trauma and in terms of influencing what works, what doesn’t, and why. Gethin challenged thoughts on rehabilitation and change as most people go through an identity shift that is linked to desistance.

Pathways to Desistance, Recovery and Reintegration.
10 March 2020

Shortly before the Covid 19 lockdown we were pleased to have Prof. David Best from the University of Derby visit to a present as part of the CJP Seminar Series. After his inspiring presentation David was joined in a panel discussion by Graham Beck, Governor of HMP Wymott

Female Offenders Whole Systems Approach.
9 March 2020

In March we hosted our third female offenders event with Lancashire Women. The event led by Prof. Helen Codd disseminated findings from the three year Ministry of Justice funded Lancashire Women’s Female Offenders: Whole Systems approach

Over 70 practitioners, academics and students attended the event at UCLan’s Westleigh Centre

Launch of the Prison strand seminar series.
8 April 2019

In April we were honoured that Alan Scott, Executive Director of Prison Service North came to UCLan to launch the Prison Seminar Series. Alan’s talk was a reflection on his many years’ experience working in the Prison Service and the development of a rehabilitative prison culture.

Hate Crime and Restorative Justice Conference.
16 October 2017

The Criminal Justice Partnership in partnership with UCLan Law School and Merseyside CRC held a Hate Crime and Restorative Justice Conference at the university, with over 70 delegates attending from a range of agencies.

Presentations were given by Dr. Kim McGuire (UCLan Law School) and Ian Hutchinson (Merseyside CRC) who discussed the implementation of an offender focused hate crime restorative justice programme called Dignity Plus.

Gary Stephenson (Restorative Solutions) highlighted the issues around hate crime referral rates and providing victims with an opportunity to ask questions about their victimisation. Helena Cryer and Phil Cawley, both from Lancashire Constabulary’s Restorative Justice Unit, outlined how restorative justice is being used more by Lancashire Constabulary, with responses to hate crime now adopting restorative justice processes when appropriate.

The occurrence of transsexual hate crime was raised by Steph Holmes, with Steph talking about the support group Chrysalis and how the trans community are also affected by hate crime. A key message from this talk was increasing the confidence of victims to come forward and report their experiences of hate crime. This message was reflected in Mel Close’s presentation (Disability Equality), which focused upon disability and hate crime and how disabled individuals are often reluctant to report incidents of hate because they are either unsure how or scared of getting people into trouble.

Throughout all talks, the underreporting of hate crime was a common theme, with speakers and delegates agreeing that more needs to be done to raise awareness of hate crime, how to report it and the potential benefits of restorative justice processes.

UCLan Distinguished Visitor Programme.
2 and 3 February 2017

As part of our Distinguished Visitor series Professor Shadd Maruna, Professor of Criminology in the School of Law, University of Manchester was invited to present a series of events by Professor Helen Codd; three public engagement events were held over the two days.

The first was a public lecture titled ‘A Conversation with Shadd Maruna ’The “Rehabilitative Culture” Approach in British Prisons: Cheers and Fears Regarding a Hopeful New Development.Road from Crime. The second event was hosted at HMP Kirkham and had an audience of over 60 people. The focus of the talk centred upon rehabilitation and the difficulties of achieving this within prisons. The final event involved a showing of the documentary on desistance, with a panel and audience discussion following the screening. Again this was attended with a very diverse audience of people working in the criminal justice sector, students and academics.

Commenting on the visit Professor Maruna stated:

"I had a tremendous time at UCLan and HMP Kirkham. At all of the talks, I was particularly impressed with the great mix of participants from across several universities, three or more area prisons, youth offending teams, probation, and well beyond. The various presentations – especially the “Road from Crime” documentary – really seemed to generate some important discussions across these different groups. I probably left learning more than the other attendees. I also left really impressed at the cross-disciplinary partnerships developing at UCLan and the rehabilitative culture being created at Kirkham. I certainly plan on keeping up some of the connections I made."

Community Based Interventions for Women in the Criminal Justice System – Improving Outcomes.
14 October 2016

This event was attended by over 60 delegates and Jenny Earle from Prison Reform Trust was the keynote speaker.

The conference organised by UCLan Criminal Justice Partnership and Lancashire Women's Centres provided an opportunity for delegates to:

• Learn from key policy makers about current priorities for services for women.
• Engage with academics, key agencies, partners and service users in discussions on future directions.
• Hear about Lancashire Women's Centres practice and the findings from UCLan's evaluation of Lancashire Women's Centres’ interventions for women.

23rd November 2016 Public seminar on Restorative Justice Stories: insights into victims' and offenders' experiences presented by Phil Cawley Restorative Justice Manager, Lancashire Constabulary

Innovations in Restorative Justice: Emerging Conversations – one-day symposium.
June 2015

UCLan held an event with over 100 practitioners and academics from a range of sectors including the police, probation and youth justice. The event provided an opportunity to:

• Understand and discuss the latest research on restorative justice and its effectiveness.
• Hear about success stories and innovations in the field.
• Engage in conversations with academic experts and practitioners on ways forward for restorative justice.

• Laura Kelly-Corless
• Abi Stark
• Ruth Parkes
• Leona Mydlowski
• Shiobhan Rogers
• Helen Codd
• Michelle Baybutt
• Alan Farrier
• Richard Vipond
• Ian Palmer
• Simon Retford
• Nicola Graham-Kevan
• Lucy Nicholson

For further information, email the criminal justice team.