Supporting imprisoned women who self-harm: exploring prison staff strategies

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of prison staff working with imprisoned women who self-harm in English prisons. In this small-scale study, 14 prison staff in three English prisons were interviewed to examine the strategies currently used by them to support imprisoned women who self-harm. Design/methodology/approach: Thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006) was used to identify three key themes: “developing a relationship”, “self-help strategies” and “relational interventions”. Findings: Many staff expressed some dissatisfaction in the techniques available to support the women, and felt their utility can be restricted by the prison regime. Research limitations/implications: This study suggests that there is currently a deficit in the provision of training and support for prison staff, who are expected to fulfil a dual role as both custodian and carer of imprisoned women. Further research into prison staff’s perception of the training currently available could highlight gaps between current theory and practice in the management of self-harm and thus indicate content for future training programmes. Research exploring the impact of working with imprisoned women who self-harm is suggested to identify strategies for supporting staff. It must be acknowledged that this is a small-scale qualitative study and the findings are from only three prisons and may not apply to staff in other settings. Originality/value: Currently few studies have focussed on the perspective of prison staff. This study is one of very few studies which focusses on the techniques and resources available to support the women, from the perspective of the prison staff

Care or custody?:an evaluation of palliative care in prisons in North West England

This study aimed to evaluate health professionals' views about palliative care provision in prisons in the counties of Cumbria and Lancashire in the North West of England. Seventeen prison healthcare staff and nine specialist palliative care staff participated in semi-structured interviews and 16 prison healthcare staff completed a questionnaire designed to measure knowledge, skills and confidence in relation to palliative care. The findings highlighted tensions between the philosophies of care and custody, and the many challenges in providing palliative care in a custodial setting. This paper presents two illustrative case study examples, and suggests ways in which some of these challenges can be overcome in practice

Changing Shape and Shifting Boundaries — The Media Portrayal of Probation in Ireland

Literature on the media representation of probation highlights that probation as a ‘brand’ and concept is poorly understood and lacks public visibility. This has implications for its legitimacy and credibility. In this article we explore probation’s visibility in one country, the Republic of Ireland, through a critical analysis of print media representations of probationover a 12-year period (2001 to 2012). While our study finds that the majority of the coverage of probation was either positive or neutral in tone, we note a recent shift towards a more negative tone that we argue is reflective of the changing shape of the penal-probation boundaries. These changes are linked to resourcing of the criminal justice system and have implications for the public perception of probation. <br/

Custodial sentencing of children: prospects for reversing the tide

This article examines the extent of custodial sentencing of children in England and Wales and locates it within the context of Article 37 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Drawing on a recent survey, undertaken by NACRO on behalf of the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales, the evidence for the existence of ‘justice by geography’ in terms of the use of custody is reviewed, and factors which might account for variations in sentencing practice are explored. Finally, an assessment is given of the prospects for reversing the recent trend to deprive increasing numbers of children of their liberty, in the light of current developments in policy and practice