Home → Resources → Programme Resources → Articles → Prison

Prison

Up one level

Real People, Real Stories: Victims Face Fear and Find Healing in Prison

The Sycamore Tree Project® (STP) brings indirect victims and offenders together for a series of in-prison meetings to discuss crime and its impact. Recently, the Australian Broadcasting Company radio programme "Street Stories" followed two victims as they participated in a STP course in Acacia Prison. Through the interview, the victims tell their stories of victimization and describe the myriad of emotions and thoughts they experienced in the programme.

Nelson, David E.. . Implementation and Effects of a Restorative Justice Program in a Correctional Facility.

Restorative justice is one of the varied processes utilized by prison and jail administrators to bring about a change of offender attitude while incarcerated, in efforts to return a productive, tax-paying citizen back to the community upon release. This study examines the implementation of a plan of restorative justice at a Missouri correctional institution. Data pertaining to three measures of offender behavior were collected from institutional records for the years 1996-2000; two years before and after the restorative justice program was implemented. The results indicate a positive impact on the population studied, indicating definite changes in offender behavior by showing a reduction in the three measures of behavior studies. (author’s abstract)

Littlechild, Brian. An Evaluation of the Implementation of a Restorative Justice Approach in a Residential Unit for Young People in Hertfordshire: Final Report

This evaluation of the introduction of a restorative justice (RJ) approach in a young person's residential unit was undertaken at the request of the Hertfordshire Youth Justice Service. Staff at Hertfordshire County Council Children School and Families Service's Stanfield residential young person's unit had agreed to be trained in, and implement, a RJ approach when dealing with problematic and/or criminal behaviour exhibited by residents. It was agreed that the independent evaluator would conduct interviews with staff and young people in order to examine how attitudes and practice changed between the pre-introduction period and six months afterwards. Nine staff were interviewed prior to the introduction of RJ, and six staff six months afterwards, utilizing semi-structured interview schedules. Two group sessions with staff were led by the evaluator, one in the unit for younger residents and one in the unit for older residents. The group sessions took place six months after the implementation, and focussed upon the effects and processes of the implementation of the RJ approach, and allowed substantial periods of time to explore the issues raised in the individual semi-structured interviews. At the end of the implementation period, two interviews with young people took place; one within the younger person's unit, and the other within the older young person's unit. Rates of recorded police call outs, and incidents recorded within the establishment, were also examined. (excerpt)

Helfgott, Jacqueline B and Lovell, Madeline L and Lawrence, Charles F and Lovell, Madeline L. Accountability, healing, and hope through storytelling and dialogue

In this article, the authors describe the Citizens, Victims, and Offenders Restoring Justice (CVORJ) project. A response to legislative changes in the state correctional system, CVORJ was a prison-based program conducted as a pilot study at the Washington State Reformatory. It began in 1997 and continued into 2000. CVORJ consisted of a twelve-week program with a weekly meeting and ongoing follow-up discussions about the effects of crime. Readings and discussions about restorative justice were also part of the program. Participants included victims of crime, offenders, and citizens. The authors of the article look at the structure of the program, selection of seminar participants, the seminar process, and findings from a program evaluation.

Immarigeon, Russ. Prison-Based Victim Offender Reconciliation Programs

Twenty years after the first victim-offender reconciliation meeting, victim-offender meetings are increasingly being held in prisons. This chapter describes victim-offender reconciliation programs at five sites in Canada, the U.K., and the U.S. These programs have slightly different objectives than community-based victim-offender mediation programs; they emphasize sharing information and healing rather than restitution. They differ from one another in several ways, including continuity, objectives, and origins. This chapter identifies operational issues and reviews relevant evaluation research. Several recommendations are made to support further prison use of victim-offender meetings.

Editor. Sycamore Tree programme: ‘a journey for them all’

A community-based restorative justice programme that involves groups of crime victims meeting with groups of offenders is to be introduced to prisons in Palmerston North, Wanganui and Invercargill over the next six months. The Sycamore Tree programme, run by the Prison Fellowship of New Zealand, has been operating successfully at Hawke’s Bay Prison for the last three years.“We’ve had glowing feedback from our participants,� says Jackie Katounas, who has been facilitating the programme in Hastings.The Department of Corrections is funding an extension of the programme into Manawatu Prison from August, Wanganui Prison from September, and Invercargill Prison from November. The voluntary programme involves groups of six inmates and six victims of unrelated crimes coming together for eight two-hour sessions. (excerpt)

Blomquist, Todd. Restorative Justice – Reflections on Dialogue

At the time of writing this reflection, Todd Blomquist was a resident of the Restorative Justice Unit at Grande Cache Institution, Alberta, Canada. Here he shares aspects of his personal journey into crime, as well his experiences in prison, particularly his exposure to restorative justice ideas and values through peacemaking circles at Grande Cache Institution. He credits these circles with his growing awareness of the impact of his crimes and his lifestyle decisions on himself and on others. He expresses the growth and hope he has gained from restorative justice ideas, the circles and peer support in the Restorative Justice Unit, and the welding career he is learning while incarcerated.

Haarala, Lloyd. A Community Within

A member and elder of the Anishinaabe of N.W. Angle Band #33, Lake of the Woods, Ontario, Lloyd Haarala is also the native spiritual advisor at William Head Institution, a correctional facility in British Columbia. He tells in this article of a recent Spring Fasting opportunity at William Head Institution. A former inmate nearing the end of his Warrant Expiry Date asked and received permission to live in the facility for the week of fasting to help current inmates. Haarala explains how this exemplifies the value held among First Nations’ people of giving back to their communities. This emphasis on community, also found in restorative justice, is as much a matter of the heart as the head, says Haarala. Further, restorative justice as the importance of family and community should be the norm for society in general, not only when crime or wrongdoing occur.

Newell, Tim. Restorative Justice in Prisons: The Possibility of Change

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.

Anderson, Samantha and Karp, David R. Vermont’s Restorative Reentry Program: A Pilot in Burlington’s Old North End

The Vermont Department of Corrections (VDOC) has been one of the pioneers of restorative justice in the United States. VDOC continues this role with the application of restorative principles to their reentry program. A basic component of this effort is to modify Vermont’s reparative board model to organize community volunteers more effectively for participation in restorative justice panels. A restorative justice panel consists of community volunteers who meet with offenders reentering society. Community members provide advice and support for offenders on reentry. Samantha Anderson and David Karp review a pilot program for a restorative justice panel in the Old North End of Burlington, Vermont, a district with high crime rates and a significant number of released offenders.

Monahan, Lynn Hunt and Niesyn, Patricia A and Monahan, James J and Niesyn, Patricia A and Gaboury, Mario T and Monahan, James J. Victims' Voices in the Correctional Setting: Cognitive Gains in an Offender Education Program

Restorative justice asserts that the offender has a responsibility to repair the harm done, to be accountable rather that just do time. The restorative justice philosophy can be found in a variety of settings, with one of the most recent settings incorporated into a range of sentencing and offender treatment approaches. A promising approach is the victim-awareness education program which allows inmates an opportunity to know about the scope of victimization, as well as develop insight into its aftereffects in the life of the victim. In 1997, the Connecticut Department of Correction initiated a 40-hour victim-awareness education program, VOICES, and classes began in 1998. This study analyzed data from the fall 1998 to December 2001 to assess the effectiveness of the program. A 50-item questionnaire was developed and administered to participants in the VOICES program before beginning the program and after its completion. The intent was to measure knowledge of and sensitivity of the impact of crime on victims. The results of the study provided significant support to the hypothesis that the VOICES program would produce increases in specific aspects of offender knowledge of and sensitivity to crime victims. Those offenders exposed to the program had a significant increase in knowledge of the facts of victimization and increased knowledge of victim rights. They were also more sensitive to the plight of victims. Abstract courtesy of National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org.

Kratcoski, Peter C. Correctional Counseling and Treatment.

This book consists of a collection of essays by various authors. The essays are oriented around correctional counseling and treatment. The aim in producing this volume is to provide information on a number of, but not all, treatment techniques being used in American corrections. The book then focuses on the most widely used techniques, especially those that can be applied to juveniles and adults in both institutional and community settings. The chapters are organized into the following sections: Section I, assessment of the effectiveness of correctional treatment; Section II, correctional personnel; Section III, crime prevention and restorative justice; Section IV, treatment programs for juvenile offenders; Section V, classification for correctional treatment; Section VI, casework counseling and crisis intervention; Section VII, cognitive and behavioral based therapies; Section VIII, group counseling in corrections; Section IX, special areas of correctional treatment; and Section X, particular needs in correctional treatment programs.

Forget, Marc. Restorative justice in prisons: An evolution from Victim Offender Mediation in 1998, to a restorative prison wing in 2001, to a holistic, multi-sector project in 2004.

The three projects that are highlighted in this presentation were selected because they represent a very broad spectrum of restorative approaches applied to the prison environment. Each of these 3 projects is in a different phase of implementation. The first project is the oldest (1998), and provides a lot of evaluative data; the second project has been operating for 4 years and is currently undergoing its fist evaluation; the third project is the newest, and not all aspects of its programs have been implemented yet. (excerpt)

Moore, Peni. Rehabilitation for Change in Fiji: A Women's Initiative

Peni Moore describes the work of Women's Action for Change in Fijian prisons. The group uses drama as an educational tool. The main goal was to help offenders understand the impact of their behaviors and to help themlearn non-violent ways of dealing with conflict. The group worked to change attitudes towards domestic violence.

Tumim, Stephen. Minding the Gap

In England the phrase “mind the gap� is used to refer to the space between the platform and the train in the London Underground. Stephen Tumim employs it to describe the space – that is, the distance or alienation – created when a crime is committed. The perpetrator creates a gap between himself or herself and the victim. The gap can also refer to the distance created by society in locking offenders away in prisons. Some would argue that the gap should be kept wide – keep offenders far from society for as long as possible. Tumim, in contrast, contends that the gap should be kept narrow to help offenders, as much as possible, re-enter society as productive and law-abiding citizens. To Tumin, this sense of “minding the gap� is how he understands relational justice. Hence, he explains in this article what relational justice is and how relational justice can function in a prison setting.

Newell, Tim. Restorative Justice in Prisons

In this document Tim Newell presents a summary report on the Restorative Justice in Prisons Project. This project was carried out from October 2001 to March 2002. It was based in the Thames Valley Partnership and sponsored by the Prisoner Administration Group at the Prison Service Headquarters. His report covers an introduction to restorative justice in general (especially in relation to other approaches to criminal justice and custodial sentencing of offenders), a description of a restorative approach to prisons themselves, and specific conclusions and recommendations with respect to the project and to restorative justice in prisons.

Giffard, Chris. Restorative Justice in Prisons: An Option for South Africa?

In general, claims Chris Giffard, restorative justice is used as an alternative to imprisonment. Does this mean that prisons and restorative justice are mutually exclusive? While most restorative justice thought and effort have gone into its application as a means of addressing crime in the community rather than through punitive incarceration, there have been initiatives to develop a restorative justice approach within the context of the prison itself. Prison-based restorative justice, Giffard says, has certain key components: transformed relationships within the prison; restorative interaction between victims and offenders; restoration or reparation by the offender; and relationships between the community and the prison. Giffard highlights some prison-based restorative justice projects around the world, and then turns to the possibilities of such an approach in South African prisons.

Mace, Anne. Restorative Principles in the Prison Setting. A Vision for the Future

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.

Anonymous. 'Profound Impact on Inmates'

This article introduces the Sycamore Tree community-based restorative justice programme of Prison Fellowship of New Zealand, which will be started at the Waikeria and Auckland prisons. The programme is organized by Christians and begins with offenders who volunteer to participate in the sessions. It has four objectives--reconciliation, reparation, transformation, and a reduction in reoffending--and can lead to prisoners dealing with other surrounding issues. The celebration meal also affords prison management personnel an opportunity to involve families and victims in rehabilitation.

Umbreit, Mark S and Brown, Kathy and Vos, Betty and Brown, Kathy and Coates, Robert B and Vos, Betty. Victim-Offender Dialogue in Violent Cases: The Texas and Ohio Experience. Part One: Restorative Justice Study

This first in a two-part series on the use of victim-offender dialog (VOD) in cases of violent crime summarizes the major findings from studies of the Texas and Ohio experiences with VOD in cases of violent crimes. Between 1997 and 2001, the Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking at the University of Minnesota, in collaboration with the National Organization for Victim Assistance, began a study of VOD in violent and serious crimes. The analysis of the data was completed late in 2002.