This presentation portrays two pieces of research that Forensic Psychologists in Serco prisons completed, bringing prisoner voice and experience of people convicted of sexual offences (PCoSOs). Exploring the experience of release from prison for male PCoSOs through a prisoner lens, gives an opportunity for desistence from further offending to be understood at ground level.
Firstly, participants in a Scottish prison who had been released and then recalled to prison were interviewed. The findings gave three themes, which demonstrated ways in which these individuals felt scared, judged and unsupported in the community. Secondly, prisoners in an English prison who had been transferred to an open prison then recalled back to closed conditions were interviewed. The PCoSOs reported feeling overwhelmed with the initial transition from closed to open prison conditions and not adequately prepared. Participants discussed how their return to closed conditions had a negative impact upon them and their hope for the future.
Implications and recommendations from the participants in both pieces of research will be discussed, to probe what can be done to more enable desistence in open prison and release. This will be considered with literature on risk management with the PCoSO population and desistence theories. It is essential to listen to the voices and lived experiences of PCoSOs, if we do not, this group of people will continue to struggle to be successfully reintegrated into society, increasing the risk of future offending and victims.
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Natalie Parrett CPsychol, AFBPsS
Director of Psychological Services, Justice and Immigration, Serco, United Kingdom
Natalie Parrett (MSc, CPsychol, AFBPsS) is a Principal Forensic Psychologist with 23 years experience working in prisons and secure hospitals in the UK. She is now the Director of Psychological Services for Serco prisons in the UK, providing the strategic leadership, oversight, is clinically responsible for the governance for Psychological Services and provides consultation and advice on psychological matters to the Prison Operational Directors. She has a particular interest in innovating and developing psychologically-informed prison practice and culture. Natalie is a peer reviewer for academic journals and her authored/co-authored research includes: “Who’s holding the trauma? ‘RE-ACT’: Increasing Prison Officer insights and reducing violence in prisons”; “Assessing female sexual offenders’ motivations and cognitions: An exploratory study”; “A re-examination of female child molesters’ implicit theories: Evidence of female specificity?” and “An interpretative phenomenological analysis of prison officer experiences when working with personality disordered offenders with intellectual disabilities.”
