the-BA : Serving time: the psychology of prison

Bar Casa, Cheltenham
5 June 2003

The recent ‘Psychology of prison’ sciBAr was held in Casa, Cheltenham as part of the ‘Time and Space’ themed Cheltenham Science Festival.

The speaker was Liz Bird, South West Area Psychologist and Suicide Prevention Coordinator for HM Prisons.

She gave an interesting talk, which covered various different aspects of prisoner psychology including the effects of incarceration on offenders, Prisoner profiles and statistics on the background of offenders.

Discussion after Liz’s talk was thought provoking and occasionally heated, touching on such themes as rehabilitation and its effectiveness at preventing reoffending; capital punishment; and alternative methods within prisons including:

Meditation
Deterrents, including the example of young people who may start to commit serious offences going into prison for 24 hours to see the reality of prison life.
Art and drama activities
Restorative justice/Mediation, which involves offenders meeting victims of crime.

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