A prison-based model of Circles of Support and Accountability

1. A prison-based model of Circles of Support and Accountability Dr. Rosie Kitson-Boyce Lecturer at Nottingham Trent University, UK Affiliated with the Safer Living Foundation

2. Today: • Who the Safer Living Foundation are • What their prison-based CoSA model is and how it runs • SLF Prison-based CoSA research findings • Future research

3. The Safer Living Foundation (SLF) A joint venture between HMP Whatton and Nottingham Trent University, and is supported by the likes of the National Probation Service (East Midlands) and Nottinghamshire Police. Founded in 2014 Objectives: • To promote the protection of people from, and the prevention of, sexual crime. • To promote the rehabilitation of persons who have committed or who are likely to commit sexual offences against others.

4. The Safer Living Foundation (SLF) Current projects: CoSA - Prison-based Circles, Community Circles, Young People’s Circles The Aurora Project - a therapy and support servicefor individuals in the midlands who are concerned that they may sexually offend The Apollo Project -  individual therapeutically-informed coaching from a team of three volunteers supervised by the Coordinator. The Corbett Centre for prisoner reintegration

5. A UK prison-based model CoSA Following the success of the community CoSA projects in the UK, a prison-based model of CoSA was established in the UK in 2014. Concern some high risk prisoners were leaving the prison without family or community support. • Particularly those with Intellectual Disabilities and the elderly • These type of sex offenders are particularly vulnerable and can often find the transition from prison to the community the most difficult and socially isolating. • Known that social isolation is a significant risk factor for further reoffending

6. A UK prison-based model CoSA • The CoSA begin approximately 3 months before a Core Members’ release from prison. • The volunteers come in to the prison for weekly circle sessions with the Core Member. • They then continue in the community once the Core Members have been released for approximately 18 months – using the same volunteers for continuity of support • Meetings occur formally at the Corbett Centre once a month and then informally the rest of the time i.e. in coffee shops, social activities such as bowling, cooking for the volunteers at the CC.

7. A UK prison-based model CoSA Core Member criteria: Convicted of a sexual offence and be residing at the prison High to very high risk of reoffending using the RM2000 (Thornton et al., 2003) Socially or emotionally isolated on release – assessed through self report & supporting evidence from offender manager/ offender supervisor Elderly (55+) Intellectually Disabled (IQ<80, impairment of adaptive & social functioning) Those who do not meet the above criteria but who for example have a severe lack of social support on release will still be considered

8. A UK prison-based model CoSA Since the start of the project: 54 referrals, of those 20 prison-based CoSA started • 5 unexpected endings due to recall (4 breaching licence conditions, 1 disengagement, none for sexual offences) • 9 planned endings • 6 running circles Reasons the may have been referred but not started: • Too low risk • Relocating outside of Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire area • Deemed a risk to the volunteers • Declined the circle

9. The research so far Quantitative data is being collected: Hope scale Personal Grown Initiative scale Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale-short version MOS Social Support Survey Adapted Emotional Loneliness Questionnaire Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being scale Dynamic Risk Review

10. The research so far Qualitative and Mixed method data collected from the core members at 3 time points: T1. Prior to the core members starting the prison-model CoSA (n=9) T2. Just before the core members were due to be released back in to the community (n=6) T3. Once the core members were in the community but still part of the CoSA (n=7) Qualitative interviews were also collected from volunteers (n=10).

11. CoSA: A UK prison-model Knowing they’ll have support Without the CoSA the Core Members would be facing release alone ‘They (Prison-model coordinator) approached me yeah because I haven’t got any erm support network out there at all, there’s no family, friends or anything’ Core Member participant 2 The importance of this support coming from ‘normal’, ‘non-professionals’ was evident – volunteering and not being paid to be there ‘Because you know, they’re volunteers, they come all this way to see a prisoner but they want to come and see you for a purpose…we talked a lot about it and it’s wonderful.’ Core Member participant 7 Social relations characterised by a sense of ‘we-ness’ improves well-being, assists the ex-offender in realising their pro social aspirations and motivates change (Weaver & McNeill, 2015)

12. CoSA: A UK prison-model Building relationships Enables time and space for relationships to be built and dynamics to settle before the reality of release sets in. ‘as I say it takes erm several times to meet each other and talk to each other and understand each other and trust each other but once that’s all done it’s good.’ Core member participant 7 Indivdiuals are more likely to accept direct guidance regarding desistance from people whereby the relationships involve rapport and listening to one another (Barry, 2007; McCulloch 2005) HMP Whatton - a safe place, which reduces anxiety and additional ‘head space’ for the prisoners to reflect upon the self and contemplate change. (Blagden, Winder & Hames, 2016) Would prison-models of CoSA be as beneficial in different prisons with different climates?

13. CoSA: A UK prison-model Being prepared Time for the volunteers to help prepare the Core Members for possible risky situations on release and to discuss management strategies in relation to their restrictions - in language they understand. ‘Err explaining things to me in a different light, how I deal with like err somethings I don’t grab and they’re on about doing like roleplays, I don’t mind doing that, they talk to me and everything so that’s a good thing.’ Core Member participant 4 ‘obviously the later (prison) sessions were really useful in terms of us discussing potential licence conditions that obviously we’d need to know, boundaries as well, he’s not allowed within certain areas, which is obviously really important for us, because he has got family living around that area but not directly in that area.’ Volunteer participant 9

14. CoSA: A UK prison-model Through the gate Core members are supported through the difficult and often scary period from prison to community ‘It was good because we’d already met inside **** (prison) I think we met for 6 months inside before so it was good to have a couple of familiar faces…I think the bond needs to be there before you leave prison because if it’s not there, if you’re not fully committed before you leave then there’s always a chance that someone might just say no it’s not working on the outside. You won’t be committed unless you’re bonded and you need that bond on the inside I think’ Core member participant 10 The coordinator meets the Core Member on the other side of the gate with their mobile phone. The volunteers then meet with them within the first couple of days on release from prison. ‘with the group yeah I found them very supportive, they was always there straight away swapping phone numbers and stuff like that and then they explained to me who was going to be on duty that weekend you know if anything happened I could get in touch with them and they’re still doing that now.’ Core member participant 2

15. CoSA: A UK prison-model Staying on track Encourages them to ‘stay on track’ and stops them slipping back in to old behaviour during the sensitive period of release A low-key indirect method of achieving accountability was through the volunteers asking probing questions about what they had be doing and who they had soon since the last meeting. ‘They ask me questions about what’s happened in the fortnight prior to meeting them and we discuss them, we discuss anything like I’m discussing with you, we’ll just talk about you know things’ Core Member participant 8 ‘Well knowing that there’s somebody out there that just takes the time out to ask these questions, cause if you’re say I’d come out of prison before all this was available, there’d be nobody, I’d be stuck on me own I’d be ‘let’s go and have a fricking pint’ and then you know with me one’s too many and 20’s not enough and I’d just carry on drinking and I’d end up dead or I’d end up committing further offences and stuff like that, so it’s not a road I want to go down so just to know that there’s somebody that can take 5 minutes ‘you ok, how’s it going?’ and take time out of their day to come along and meet me wherever and just have a chat about things.’ Core Member participant 2

16. CoSA: A UK prison-model Doing risk management The volunteers appeared much less confident and reported confusion surrounding their accountability role ‘I don’t know I think part of me feels a bit nervous about that aspect because it’s like you know when you’re trying to turn over a new leaf, I think I’m just conscious of you know perhaps he doesn’t want to talk about or he doesn’t want to go over it so ‘ok we won’t go there, we won’t discuss it’ but actually certain things like that do need to be discussed and I think it’s all part of a learning curve for me as a person and a volunteer to be more assertive on those matters but it is on the forefront of my mind and I know it needs to be done so I’m not going to overlook it entirely but I just need to get more confident about, I dunno what I can and can’t speak about with him’ Volunteer participant 5 Erm knowing more of the risk factors that we’re looking for erm I know it’s been, it was discussed in the training but I probably would have liked a refresher on that before we went back in to the community you know ‘what are we looking for, what are we supposed to be keeping an eye out for in case this happens?’ Volunteer participant 2 The SLF have since introduced a risk escalation protocol which provides the volunteers with the risk factors for their Core Member – includes behaviour and language for the volunteers to be mindful of

17. Assisting desistance through a prison-model of CoSA Re-entry, can be seen as part of the desistance process and a period of time beginning well before release and continuing after offenders have re-joined society The lack of support offenders receive generally during this transitional period from prison to community can make the process difficult and uncertain. (Elliott & Zajac, 2015) This period can be a considerably more vulnerable time for those with intellectual disabilities or who are elderly due to additional difficulties in establishing a social network (Cummins & Lau, 2003; Crawley & Sparks, 2006)

18. Assisting desistance through a prison-model of CoSA • For Core Members a prison-based model CoSA appears to provide additional benefits and through-care during the transitional period from prison to community • Enables relationships between CMs and volunteers to become established prior to release so that support is in place once the re-entry phase of desistance is reached. • Also during the re-entry phase the recognition and acceptance of the Core Members’ new non-offender identity, by people in their social environment i.e. the volunteers, serves to reinforce the commitment to change and weakens further the deviant, offender identity. • Offering support to help the Core Members develop new social bonds with the wider community is reported to help counteract any feelings of disconnectedness that may be felt through perceived stigmatisation from society (McNeill, 2009).

19. Assisting desistance through a prison-model of CoSA Is it enough? The perceived stigmatisation from members of the general public was reported as a significant barrier to successful reintegration Despite the additional benefits of the prison-model Core Members are still worried about never being able to leave the ‘sex offender’ label behind. Concerned that they will always face restrictions and are afraid of people finding out. ‘There is no normal once you’ve been inside really, you’re forever under conditions, even after probation finishes you’re still under conditions, you’re not free really’ Core member participant 9 “I suppose I’m under, I feel under pressure, I feel that I’m an outsider I suppose in how I feel…I don’t feel that I’m relaxed, I can’t relax, I don’t know how…I feel I’ve lost my place like in the community” Core Member participant 6

20. Assisting desistance through a prison-model of CoSA Is it enough? Importance of a network realignment with pro-social others in order for successful desistance to occur (Paternoster & Bushway, 2009) By the third time-point none of the participants had been able to establish any pro-social relationships outside of the volunteers. If the Core Members have not been able to bridge to other social groups by the end of the CoSA, problems could arise due to the links between social isolation, loneliness and the risk of reoffending (McCartan & Kemshall, 2017) Interviewer: How have you been in terms of socialising outside of the circle? Core Member participant: Erm well I don’t really because erm if I’m making, forming a friendship it’s on me licence conditions that I have to inform them of my offences.

21. Assisting desistance through a prison-model of CoSA What happens after? From the findings at this stage in the participants’ journey one cannot conclude whether or not the participants will reach full desistance from crime Desistance is rarely instantaneous, with time needed instead for individuals to gradually commit themselves to their new pro-social lifestyles (Serin & Lloyd, 2009) Possible that without the support of the volunteers in the prison-model CoSA, the barriers to reintegration would have presented much larger hurdles to the participants. Or is the social isolation experienced on release from prison by many individuals convicted of sexual crimes just delayed?

22. The next steps for research Interviews - 6 months Post-CoSA Exploration in to whether the additional benefits of the prison-based model is enough for the participants to reach desistance Are they able to withstand the societal challenges to reintegration once the volunteers are no longer there to support them. Daily life explored along with their level of support and involvement in the community now the volunteers are no longer there • 5 interviews booked in for next week with individuals who have previously been a member on a prison-model CoSA • Data collection will then roll along as individuals finish their prison-model CoSA

23. The next steps for research Are the CoSA volunteers mediators for change? Volunteers felt their experience as a volunteer was impacting positively on their friends and family’s views of the successful reintegration of individuals who have been convicted of sexual offences Other research on CoSA has found that volunteers are hesitant to speak to family and friends Exposure to individuals convicted of sexual offences has been reported consistently within the literature as having a positive impact on the attitudes towards such individuals (Harper et al., 2017) – could the volunteers act as a mediator to influence the attitudes of those around them? • Questionnaires administered to the friends and family of the CoSA volunteers at two timepoints –pre volunteering and 6-9 months in to volunteer role • Using Qualtrics (for the online version) and paper copies also • Questionnaires are currently being piloted with SLF CoSA volunteers to ensure they capture and measure what is required

24. Conclusion The prison-model CoSA supports the Core Members’ transition from prison to community through: • Building relationships prior to release • Preparing them for release through discussions & roleplay • Offers support ‘through the gate’ • Supports their journey towards desistance once in the community What happens when the volunteers are no longer there?

25. Thank you for listeningrosie.kitsonboyce@ntu.ac.uk@RosieBoyce1SLF Trustees:Dr Lynn Saunders HonDr KerensaHockenDr Nicholas BlagdenProf. Belinda WinderRebecca LievesleyProf. Geraldine AckermanDr Dave Rowson

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