Prison officers are the agents of change within our prisons. The relationships they are able to build with the prisoners in their care have the power to transform the lives of some of society’s most challenging and vulnerable people. To do this incredibly complex job well, prison officers need to be outstanding problem solvers, committed to continually honing their relational practice and mastering a range of effective strategies to promote change, ultimately improving outcomes for prisoners. Staff on the frontline need to know exactly what the most effective prison officers are doing that makes a difference. They deserve the highest quality training and development opportunities to support them to master these strategies themselves and build them into their everyday practice.
In this session, we will define these strategies and share the lessons that Unlocked Graduates has learnt on our award-winning programme in prisons across England and Wales, recruiting and training nearly 900 outstanding prison officers since 2017. We will provide evidence that being an excellent prison officer is something that can be learnt, demonstrating the power of an instructional coaching model and sharing a useful framework for prison officers wanting to reflect on and develop their own professional practice. The evidence we have gathered to date suggests that supporting prison officers to master this repertoire of techniques can make a big difference, maintaining staff wellbeing, promoting rehabilitation, and creating safer environments for both staff and people in custody.
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Tessa Jennett
Head of Region (North), Unlocked Graduates, United Kingdom
Tessa Jennett is Head of Region (North) for Unlocked Graduates, overseeing participants on the core leadership development programme across ten prisons across North England and Wales. She also oversees the Unlocked Vanguard project working to test and evaluate the impact on prisoner outcomes when a values-aligned group of staff are trained, supported and empowered to lead wings differently with relational practice, safety and rehabilitation at their core. Tessa joined Unlocked in 2022, coming from a background of social entrepreneurship and innovation, coaching and programme management, with experience across a number of third-sector organisations spanning the youth, education and international development sectors and a keen interest in ethical leadership.
