For about two years now, Nadia Biermans, along with others, has been trying to apply restorative justice ideas and practices in Flemish prisons. Based on her experiences, in this paper she raises some questions and makes certain observations about restorative justice in the prison system. She begins by explaining how restorative justice in Belgian prisons began and how it is organized. This leads to discussion of the question of whether restorative justice has a place in prison, the issue of educating and persuading the wider public about restorative justice, and successful ingredients for introducing restorative justice in prisons.

Biermans and Hoop explore in this paper the development of a restorative approach in the Belgian prison system. The beginnings can be found in the early and mid 1990s in work done in certain Belgian universities, in policy initiatives by the Ministry of Justice, and in reactions to a particular set of notorious crimes against young people in Belgium. On this basis the authors review the policy framework for restorative justice in prisons, the mission and tasks of the project, and the work of consultants in assisting the restorative justice in prisons program.

For many years a prison governor in Scotland and England, Coyle addresses the issue of restorative justice in the prison setting from considerable personal experience. On this basis, he discusses the reality of the prison today, particularly rates of incarceration and various attitudes toward imprisonment in societies. This leads him to ask what should be the vision for the future concerning prisons. In response he sketches restorative justice principles and practices, and suggests ways to apply them comprehensively to the operation and management of a prison.

Dinsdale, Jennifer (2002). Restorative Justice in HM Prison Holme House: A Research Paper Restorative Justice in Prison Project. The International Centre for Prison Studies.

The International Centre for Prison Studies initiated the Restorative Prison Project to examine the conceptual framework for imprisonment and to work with the Prison Service in Great Britain to apply restorative principles in the prison setting. One site for this work is HM Prison Holme House in northeast England. In 2001 Jennifer Dinsdale, a graduate student unaffiliated with the Restorative Prison Project, conducted research into the feasibility of restorative schemes in Holme House. She looked particularly at prisoners’ perceptions of the impact of their crimes on their victims, the openness of prisoners to engaging in reparative activities, and prisoners’ perspectives on their relationship to the community outside the prison. This paper reports her research findings.

As David Eyckmans, Dirk Dufraing, and Marianne Regelbrugge point out, to understand the topic they address in this presentation, it is important to recognize that Belgium is a federal state consisting of communities and regions. Determination of law and policy in Belgium is shared by the federal government and regional communities and their authorities. The Flemish region is one of those communities. In general, with respect to criminal justice the federal government has responsibility for major functions concerning sanctions and incarceration of offenders. The communities have responsibility more for aid and social services, including those to prisoners and their victims. Since 2000 the federal Minister of Justice has begun to incorporate aspects of restorative justice in prison policy. Against this background, the authors detail the way the Flemish community, in cooperation with federal justice authorities and other organizations, is trying to pursue a restorative initiative toward prisoners and their victims. The authors discuss in this regard the conceptual framework for and outcomes of victim-offender mediation in prison.

Hagemann, Otmar (2003). Victimization in Prison Paper submitted for the XIth International Symposium on Victimology. 13-18 July 2003, Stellenbosch, South Africa. Downloaded 21 August 2003.

Otmar Hagemann, a sociologist at a university in Germany, in this paper looks at the issue of male prisoners as victims of violence and degrading treatment in prisons. To do this he sketches the Mare Balticum project. He and colleagues from several countries that border the Baltic Sea are researching conditions of life and work in closed prisons for sanctioned offenders. From the data collected the researchers are developing a picture of victimization in prison. Hagemann discusses data on inter-prisoner violence and data on structural violence against prisoners. This leads to more detailed examination of specific categories of violence and their effects on victims/prisoners in prison settings. Finally, Hagemann presents an alternative model of a restorative prison.

In theory the prison is a place where inmates engage in gainful employment a significant part of each day. This study examines that conception and determines that it is not true. Included in this study is a sketch of the history of prison as a place of work, connected at least in part with the idea of reform or rehabilitation of the offender. Detailed attention is given to issues related to training for employment and to prison industry. In short, the study finds many problematic realities that contradict the notion of gainful prison work. The study concludes with proposals for an alternative model for prison work, a model being explored in the Restorative Prison project.

SACRO (Safeguarding Communities Reducing Offending) is the largest NGO (non governmental organisation) operating in the criminal justice sector in Scotland. SACRO has pioneered communication between those injured by crime and those responsible since the late ‘80s through its diversion from prosecution and Youth Justice services. Since 2002, a number of requests have been made to SACRO by Criminal Justice Social Work Departments and the Scottish Prison Service to facilitate communication within a post sentence context between those harmed by and those responsible for severe violent crime. SACRO has provided training from David Doerfler, an experienced Victim-Offender Mediator from Texas USA, to meet these requests. This has led to the development of a new SACRO initiative called TASC (Talk After Severe Crime), which operates to date on a limited spot purchase basis. In this new service the words ‘victim’ and ‘offender’ are replaced by: person injured and person responsible. The new service takes its language from the broader human sciences discourse in order to maximise the potential for increased understanding between all those affected. (excerpt)

As Marc Levin remarks, Texas has a reputation for being very tough on crime. However, he further observes, Texas is increasingly doing more than simply being “tough on crime.” It has become one of the first states to put into operation certain kinds of restorative justice programs. With this in mind, Levin first reviews the historical evolution of restorative justice and modern principles of restorative justice. Then he highlights a number of specific restorative justice programs in Texas involving the following: restitution; victims’ rights and services; specialized courts; victim-offender interaction; and prison ministries. On this basis, Levin explores the future of restorative justice in Texas in terms of enhanced victim involvement, expanded programs and specialized courts, reduction of prison and probation populations, school discipline, juvenile justice, and domestic violence.

There has been a recent burgeoning of interest in Restorative Justice (RJ) in prisons in the United Kingdom (UK), much of it dependent on the enthusiasm of local prison governors and staff, and the particular circumstances in those prisons. In the UK, there are no 'systematic' (i.e., regular, predictable, or thought out) or 'systemic' (i.e., involving the whole prison system) RJ processes that apply to all prisons. Nevertheless, it is possible to categorize different forms of RJ and to develop a framework that relates RJ initiatives to different aspects of the prison system and the criminal justice system in general. Initiatives can be categorized by the amount of interface they have with outside bodies, the criminal justice system in general, or the justice system within the prison. This article is an attempt to do this and to see if such a classification is useful. (excerpt)

The authors remark that although there is as yet no comprehensive literature on Restorative Justice in custodial settings, this report demonstrates the range of activities already being practised. Of all the countries covered in this report, only Belgium carries out restorative justice policy in a custodial setting as a result of national policy. Initiatives elsewhere are carried out by a wide range of interested and dedicated individuals or groups such as prison officers, prison governors, probation officers, psychologists, boards of visitors, chaplains or citizens. As can be seen in the report, a variety of RJ processes can be carried out at different stages of a prison sentence and in a variety of prison procedures, e.g., adjudications, parole hearings and complaints.

This workshop briefly outlines the work of the HMP Bristol Restorative Justice Project, with particular focus on the issues raised by work in prisons. The HMP Bristol Restorative Justice Project (RJP) was a year-long pilot project that ran from April 2003 until March 2004. At the time HMP Bristol was a Category A (the most secure rating) local prison for men. The RJP employed one member of staff, and its remit was to: • Introduce the principles of restorative justice to the prison, in collaboration with community agencies. • To deliver an ‘enhanced’ victim contact service. • To design and implement victim impact group work programmes and individual work with prisoners. (excerpt)

As Anne Mace observes, the prison population in England and Wales at the beginning of the new millennium is at record levels. More people are being sent to prison and for longer sentences. The experience of prison, however, has little about it that is likely to reduce re-offending after release, she contends. Hence, Mace proposes a new way to think about the aims of prison sentences and time in prison. Building on principles and practices of restorative justice, she argues for a comprehensive prison regime in which inmates would be enabled to accept responsibility for their lives and actions, undertake direct or indirect restorative actions for the benefit of victims or the wider community, and begin to restore their own lives, thus equipping themselves for renewed citizenship and life apart from crime.

Tim Newell, former prison governor in England, states that restorative approaches to crime and conflict resolution represent a cultural challenge to attitudes and assumptions that dominate prison governance and dynamics. Nevertheless, the problem-solving approach of restorative justice has much to offer. Restorative justice can be a culture-changing process for prisons toward becoming more effective in meeting the long-term needs of offenders, victims, and communities, as well as being a more harmonious environment for prisoners, staff, and management. Against this background, Newell discusses organizational and cultural change, paradigms and organizational structures, and the application of restorative ideas in prisons.

Tim Newell served as a prison governor in England for over three decades. Retired from the Prison Service, he now works as a restorative justice facilitator. In this paper, he reports on a six month project he carried out as a Cropwood Fellow (a program of the Institute of Criminology at Cambridge University) on the potential of restorative practice in prisons. Specifically, through this project he examined the extent to which concepts of restorative justice, developed in community settings, can be applied in custodial settings. After defining restorative justice, he discusses some characteristics of correctional systems, the nature of his project and research method, and key results of his research.

In March 2001 Tim Newell, Governor of Grendon Prison in England and advocate of restorative justice, visited, with other governors of English prisons, the Belgian Prison Service. The aim was to learn more about the Belgian Prison Service’s work with restorative justice. Following his visit, Newell wrote this paper. He discusses the genesis of the Belgian interest in restorative justice in prisons, specific elements of their approach to restorative custody, and examples of programs from particular prisons.

This document presents an evaluation by Brian Phillips of the Alternatives to Violence Project in Aotearoa/New Zealand (AVP). AVP began in 1975 as a collaboration between a group of Quakers and a number of inmates in a prison in New York state. At the instigation of Quakers in New Zealand, the Alternatives to Violence Project in Aotearoa/New Zealand began in Auckland in 1992. Phillips conducted this evaluation to assess the effectiveness of the work done by the AVP workshops in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Following an introduction, the document covers the following areas: a background to the project and AVP workshops; a summary of previous research; a description of the evaluation process; the survey results; and an analysis of the results with recommendations to improve the project.

This paper describes a program that originated as a prisoners restorative justice group which operated from December 2001 till June 2002 in a prison in Ardennes, Belgium. The work of the group built on confidence and on the direct implementation of restorative justice values in the group itself. The program involves professionals paired with ex-prisoners to teach three-dimensional respect (to self, others and environment) in prisons and schools. The program has been operating in three (very different) prisons since January 2003 with a lot of very positive informal contacts, and will officially begin in the educational sector on 10 May 2003.

This project arose as a continuation of earlier research on Quaker other-regarding behavior (see Sloane, 2001). That line of inquiry led to an ethnographic study of inmates in the Delaware Correction Center who were participating in Alternatives-to-Violence Program (AVP) workshops. These workshops were originally developed by the Quakers in response to requests from inmates at Attica prison for some way to address violence at the prison. The workshops are facilitated by outside volunteers (non-prison employees) and focus on developing social skills. The intent is to help the inmates cope with potentially violent situations, by recognizing when they are likely to occur, improve interpersonal communications in order to mitigate the situation, and develop a sense of other-valuing to reduce the likelihood of resorting to violence. The workshops are managed by inmate trainers, but with the support and involvement of outside volunteer co-trainers. AVP workshops are typically two or three days in length, depending on the specific module. Both inmates, as well as outside trainers are volunteers, their qualifications being completion of all AVP modules in addition to the “train-the-trainer" workshop. Participants start with the basic workshop, progress to the advanced, and from there to the adjunct modules which include Bias Awareness and Manly Awareness. The ethnographic study, completed in May of 2001 (Sloane 2001), suggested that AVP participants’ behaviors were modified by their involvement in these workshops. Abstract courtesy of the Centre for Restorative Justice, Simon Fraser University, http://www.sfu.ca/cfrj/index.html.

Stern notes that the literature on restorative justice is wide ranging, but that certain common principles emerge. These include the focus on the relationship between the perpetrator and the victim, satisfaction for the victim within a framework of reconciliation and forgiveness, and accountability and restoration for the offender. Also, restorative justice is increasingly being brought to bear on imprisonment itself. The application of restorative justice principles in prison is seen as having several elements: offender awareness of the impact on the victim; restorative activities in prison; restorative principles and processes for conflict resolution in prison; and community relationships for reintegration of released offenders. In this paper, Stern summarizes and analyzes literature on restorative efforts in prisons concerning victims and the impact crime has on them.

Barb Toews is the Restorative Justice Program Manager with the Pennsylvania Prison Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Prison Society is a not-for-profit agency serving individuals and families in crisis due to incarceration. This article is a reprint of an article she wrote and published in 2002 in VOMA Connections (number 11, Summer). In the article she highlights what she has found through her work to be genuine and deep desires and needs of inmates for restorative processes to respond to and make amends for, to the extent possible, the harm they caused by their crimes. As she explores these desires and needs, she laments the few avenues inmates have to apologize, express remorse, or make amends; and she states that those who are listening to inmates are only beginning to understand the challenges of conceptualizing the application of restorative justice in prison.

Increasingly, Corrections departments throughout the world are implementing restorative programmes in the prison context. This work raises several issues related to the appropriateness of restorative justice in prison and objectives to be met by such programmes. Daniel W. Van Ness, executive director of the Centre for Justice and Reconciliation at Prison Fellowship International presents this overview of the use of restorative justice in prison. This paper was originally presented at Symposium on Restorative Justice and Peace in Colombia, Cali,Colombia, 9-12 February 2005.

Essentially a chaplain’s role is to be a confidential and non-judgmental listener to prisoners, believing in them as valuable human beings deserving of our utmost respect and dignity. Given that most of the women prisoners I encounter in prison have experienced in their lifetimes a stripping of their self value and respect, this function of a respectful and non-judgmental listener is paramount for the nurturing of the women’s innate potential for change, healing and positive life contribution for themselves and for others. This function is an important ingredient that fosters the work of restorative justice. Ultimately from a chaplaincy perspective, restorative justice is about working towards mending a three-fold relationship rift: a rift within offenders/prisoners; a rift between offenders/prisoners and the offended community; and a rift between prisoners/offenders and their families. In religious terms, the process of mending this three-fold rift is about reconciliation. For chaplains restorative justice is the practical implication for the spiritual foundation of all major Faith traditions by the very nature of the function of religion. The aim of all religions is the aim of building Integrity - i.e. the task of binding together in wholeness what is separated. The practical implications of this common raison d’être are outlined in the chaplains’ tasks, which lend themselves more to the positive building values of restorative justice rather than punitive justice.

The Sycamore Tree Project^® is an intensive in-prison programme that brings groups of victims into prisons to meet with unrelated offenders.They talk about the effects of crime, the harms it causes, and how to make things right. Prison Fellowship of England and Wales implemented the programme in 1998. In this article, Peter Walker, executive director, offers a description of the programme and examples of its impact.

Since starting the programme in 1997, Prison Fellowship New Zealand (PFNZ) has implemented the Sycamore Tree run the programme three times at Arohata Prison, and four times at Rimutaka Prison, and seven times at Hawkes Bay Regional Prison. They have all been successful, and the anecdotal evidence from both offenders and victims is that the programme has had a positive impact. (excerpt)

Around four years ago, Prison Fellowship International (PFI) decided to develop a programme that would bring small groups of victim volunteers into prisons to meet with small groups of prisoners to talk about their experiences with crime. The victims and offenders are not related (that is, the victims are not the particular victims of those offenders), and studies in North America and Europe had suggested that this kind of meeting are useful for both victims and offenders. PFI convened an international design team to explore how such a program might be constructed and to oversee development of the curriculum. This was a task the team took seriously, since the issues and group dynamics generated in these meetings could be quite powerful. The project, known as the Sycamore Tree Project, was launched in a men's prison in Houston, Texas. The second programme was in Arohata Woman’s Prison, New Zealand. A third ran in a men’s prison in England. PFI evaluated the pilot programme and a team has re-written the “Sycamore Tree" manual. (excerpt)