Tim Newell worked in the Prison Service for England and Wales for thirty eight years in a variety of settings with young people as well as and adult offenders. His last command was as Governor of Grendon prison where he worked for ten years.

Grendon is a unique prison offering a therapeutic community experience for some of the most dangerous and damaged prisoners in England and Wales. Providing an environment that encourages men to take personal responsibility,  it is deeply reflective of restorative values.

Throughout his working life Tim has been involved with a variety of organisations outside the Prison Service, seeking to widen the context within which the sentence of those who commit offences is experienced.
He is a restorative worker through

• Supporting and encouraging RJ projects in prisons
• Developing Circles of Support and Accountability for sex offenders returning to community after their prison sentence
• Leading the development of residential, experiential work with those who have been bereaved by murder and manslaughter – Escaping Victimhood

This third outlet for restorative work, Escaping Victimhood, is a charity that delivers five day workshops for those bereaved by murder and manslaughter. The workshop provides

• an opportunity to be away from daily stresses in a peaceful, calm environment
• educational sessions about the nature of trauma and its impact on people
• a model of personal change, called the Hero’s Journey, which together with work on the enneagram provides participants with skills and insights into events that have affected them and with alternative responses to such experiences in future.
• Bodywork sessions to help relieve stresses that may have been dormant for some time – massage is often cited as one of the highlights of the workshop
• Creative and recreational activities in which participants can try out new skills and ways of expressing themselves through art, sculpture, photography, meditation tai chi and reiki

All the feedback we have had from the experience has shown that the work is meeting deep seated needs in people who have felt abandoned by the justice process.

Tim is also a consultant for a trust that supports prison staff in developing their award winning work – The Butler Trust. He is retiring a bit more each year.

Important Idea

A restorative approach takes people seriously. It assumes that they want to behave as adult humans in taking responsibility for what they have done, in being honest about the impact of harm upon them so that it can be recognised and resolved and in realising that conflict is complicated and calls for a response and a solution from all involved.

Restorative work is most effective when it is seen in the context of community justice – a reduction in our dependence on custodial solutions to crime, an increased commitment by local communities taking responsibility for resolving local conflict and a growth is restorative skills and expertise among stakeholders at all levels.

--Tim Newell

__________________________

Leading Edge

Tim continues his work in  developing responses to the needs of people bereaved by murder and manslaughter. This is informed

• by hiswork as a rj facilitator in meeting victims of crime who were much helped by being able to tell their story in full to someone,
• by my work as a prison governor meeting the families of those who had murdered and through this realising the trauma that persisted for years in their lives and
• by meeting those who represented groups of survivors of serious offences and realising that they had not achieved resolution of the tragedy of their experience even after many years.

__________________________

Reach Tim Newell at newell_tim@hotmail.com

Bibliography

May 2008