Coaching for Change: Supporting Prison Staff from the Inside Out

ICPA 2025 Presentation by Karen Harrison and Tom Currie (PID053)

Authors

Professor Karen Harrison

Professor of Law and Penal Justice, University of Lincoln, England, United Kingdom

Karen Harrison is a Professor of Law and Penal Justice at Lincoln Law School, University of Lincoln, where she also serves as the Director of the Lincoln Centre for Crime and Justice. With a career spanning over 26 years in academia, Karen began her journey with a PhD focused on the implementation of the What Works policy in the Dyfed-Powys Probation Area, incorporating ethnographic research. Throughout her career, Karen has been involved in numerous empirical projects related to offender management, policing, and the disclosure of sexual abuse. Her recent research has concentrated on the health and wellbeing of prison governors, including an evaluation of equality, diversity, and inclusion experiences among members of the Prison Governor’s Association. Karen has authored and edited several books and academic journal papers, with her work being published in prominent journals and edited collections. She has also led and contributed to various funded projects and consultancy roles, particularly in collaboration with criminal justice organisations.

Tom_Currie

Head of Impact and Innovation, Spark Inside Coaching in Prison, England, United Kingdom

Tom Currie is Head of Impact and Innovation at Spark Inside. Spark Inside has been coaching men incarcerated in UK prisons since 2012 and coaching prison staff for over five years. Tom leads on a number of coaching-based initiatives in prisons that provide space for individuals and groups to make better, more informed choices. Tom’s career has spanned supporting international corporations to achieve culture change and he has worked as a facilitator in a wide range of settings supporting clients to increase self-awareness, change mindsets and challenge beliefs in support of developing new behaviours and habits. Since 2006, when he took his first role in the charity sector, Tom has designed, developed and managed a range of prison programmes. His role at Spark Inside combines the organisation’s drive to innovate with a keen commitment to understand and improve impact.

This resource is restricted to a higher membership level - please log in or upgrade your membership level to continue