'Trying to make it matter': The challenges of assimilating a resettlement culture into a 'local' prison
Article
Cracknell, M. 2023. 'Trying to make it matter': The challenges of assimilating a resettlement culture into a 'local' prison. Criminology & Criminal Justice. 23 (2), pp. 165-182. https://doi.org/10.1177/17488958211037469
Type | Article |
---|---|
Title | 'Trying to make it matter': The challenges of assimilating a resettlement culture into a 'local' prison |
Authors | Cracknell, M. |
Abstract | As part of the Transforming Rehabilitation reforms, 70 ‘local’ prisons in England and Wales were re-designated as resettlement prisons, in order to provide additional through-the-gate support to individuals serving short sentences. Drawing on staff and prisoner interviews in one case study resettlement prison, this paper considers what challenges were involved with implementing a resettlement culture in a local prison. Findings firstly outline factors inhibiting the resettlement status of the prison, these include: a tension between attempts to implement a more expansive resettlement remit into the prison, while also fulfilling more longstanding core institutional duties; the size and churn of the prison population; wide-scale apathy caused by change fatigue; and government austerity policies which caused significant difficulties in the day-to-day staffing of the prison. This paper then turns to practitioner responses to the re-designation, finding that practitioners interpreted resettlement in two limited ways: top-down managerial attempts to instil a wider resettlement culture into the prison, and resistance from prison officers who felt unwilling or unable to expand their roles beyond custodial and security concerns. This paper concludes by outlining how this set of inter-related barriers frustrated staff and prisoners alike, eroding a sense of hope and purpose and impeding true cultural change. |
Keywords | Austerity; resettlement; prison cultures; prison policy; through the gate; transforming rehabilitation |
Publisher | SAGE Publications |
Journal | Criminology & Criminal Justice |
ISSN | 1748-8958 |
Electronic | 1748-8966 |
Publication dates | |
Online | 13 Aug 2021 |
Apr 2023 | |
Publication process dates | |
Deposited | 26 Jul 2021 |
Accepted | 15 Jul 2021 |
Output status | Published |
Publisher's version | License |
Accepted author manuscript | File Access Level Restricted |
Copyright Statement | Cracknell, M. (2023). ‘Trying to make it matter’: The challenges of assimilating a resettlement culture into a ‘local’ prison. Criminology & Criminal Justice, 23(2), 165-182. |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1177/17488958211037469 |
Web of Science identifier | WOS:000684888700001 |
Language | English |
https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/89708
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