Peer mentoring and the role of the voluntary sector in [re]producing ‘desistance’: identity, agency, values, change and power

Despite much enthusiasm for the practice of peer mentoring by ex-offenders it has received very little empirical scrutiny. This thesis examines the micro dynamics and intimate interactions within these relationships. In doing so it highlights how mentors are often much more than functional additions to existing criminal justice systems. They are also presented as teachers, co-operators and critical agents. The narratives in this study highlight how dominant forms of knowledge often minimise or miss the lived experiences of crime and change. In contrast, peer mentors place lived experiences at the centre of their approach and in doing so they critically question exclusionary practices and re-humanise themselves and their peers. The work of peer mentors also highlights and at times challenges the hidden power dynamics that are subsumed when ‘regular’ interventions take place. But, mentoring cannot avoid or operate outside of these power relationships. It can and does generate other power dynamics. Whilst many of these complex relations remain hidden in current evaluations of the practice they are rendered visible here. Data were obtained from qualitative interviews with eighteen peer mentors, twenty peer mentees, four service coordinators and two Probation officers, who were drawn from a range of voluntary sector providers in the North of England. Observations of practice were also carried out, including: volunteer recruitment processes; training courses; and formal supervision sessions. Where possible mentors were also observed facilitating group work with their peers. The analysis of the data drew upon techniques of thematic analysis and critical discourse analysis focusing upon how mentoring was described, performed and justified by participants. As a result of this analysis five overarching themes emerged. These are: identity, agency, values, change and power

Photovoice with care: A creative and accessible method for representing lived experiences

Photovoice is a research method with great promise as a tool for people looking to tell stories about their lives and work toward change, it also has much to offer criminology, creating insightful material from the perspectives of those most intimately connected to the research topic. This article reflects on photovoice as a resource for lived experience practitioners, activists, and leaders. The work we reflect upon is a co-designed, participatory study of a community-led crime prevention organisation: ‘Reformed’. We (Natasha and Kemi) founded Reformed after being released from prison to multiple barriers and low expectations from criminal justice professionals.Cheshire and Merseyside Social Work Teaching Partnership [2020–2022] Grant number [HSC 20-27]

Host parasite communications—Messages from helminths for the immune system:Parasite communication and cell-cell interactions

Helminths are metazoan organisms many of which have evolved parasitic life styles dependent on sophisticated manipulation of the host environment. Most notably, they down-regulate host immune responses to ensure their own survival, by exporting a range of immuno-modulatory mediators that interact with host cells and tissues. While a number of secreted immunoregulatory parasite proteins have been defined, new work also points to the release of extracellular vesicles, or exosomes, that interact with and manipulate host gene expression. These recent results are discussed in the overall context of how helminths communicate effectively with the host organism

Co-creating prisons knowledge inspired by collective autoethnography

This is a story, a kind of map, about a study we co-produced on prison peer support work. The social science community call these mapping stories methodology papers. We have tried to write this one in an informal (less academic) style to appeal to a broad audience – including people who live or have lived in prisons and who may not have had access to further education. ‘We’, the authors, are four people interested in prisons. Two of us became interested having lived parts of our lives in prison, two of us became interested by studying prisons at university. We met as part of a co-authorship project, which was originally made up of five former prisoner researchers and three academic researchers. Having published our original study in 2023, we decided to write about our pioneering work together. (All eight original co-authors were invited to co-write this methodology paper and four of the team decided to do so). We hope the method we introduce will be useful to those interested in capturing (often traumatic) lived experiences in a way that values and centres those most impacted, and that we address the concern that people with lived experience often only emerge in research as subjects, rather than authors.UKRI FLF grant number MR/T019085/

Prisoners regulating prisons: Voice, action, participation and riot

From SAGE Publishing via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: epub 2022-06-16Peer reviewed: TruePublication status: PublishedFunder: UK Research and Innovation; FundRef: https://doi.org/10.13039/100014013; Grant(s): MR/T019085/1 (2020-2024)Prisoners are a critical source of prison regulation around the world, but regulation by (rather than of) prisoners remains little analysed. In this article, we utilise the 1990 riots at HMP Strangeways (England), as a case study of prisoners (re)shaping imprisonment. We examine prisoners’ roles in these riots and subsequent cross-sectoral regulatory activities. We innovatively use the four-phase process of translation from actor-network theory to guide document analysis of (1) Lord Woolf’s official inquiry into the riots and (2) the voluntary organisation Prison Reform Trust’s follow-up report. We explore how participatory approaches could inform prison regulation through (former) prisoners partnering with external regulators throughout the processes of identifying problems and solutions to establish broader alliances seeking social change

The penal voluntary sector: a hybrid sociology

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in British Journal of Criminology following peer review. The version of record Tomczak, P. & Buck, G. (2019). The Penal Voluntary Sector: A Hybrid Sociology. The British Journal of Criminology, is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azy070The penal voluntary sector (PVS) is an important, complex, under-theorised area. Its non-profit, non-statutory organisations are highly significant in the operation of punishment around the world, yet ill-understood. Burgeoning scholarship has begun to examine specific parts of the sector, particularly individualised service delivery. We offer a five paradigm framework which more fully conceptualises the PVS, including different types of service delivery and important campaigning work. Our hybrid framework applies and extends Burrell and Morgan’s (1979) influential four paradigm model of social theory, which maps the theoretical diversity underpinning varying organisational activities. Our framework i) provides ideal-types which illustrate the range, fluidity and hybridity of PVS programmes and practices, and ii) highlights the (potential) roles of brokers in (re)directing activity

This is how it Feels: Activating Lived Experience in the Penal Voluntary Sector

Increasing calls for 'nothing about us without us' envision marginalised people as valuable and necessary contributors to policies and practices affecting them. In this paper, we examine what this type of inclusion feels like for criminalised people who share their lived experiences in penal voluntary sector organisations. Focus groups conducted in England and Scotland illustrated how this work was experienced as both safe, inclusionary and rewarding and exclusionary, shame-provoking and precarious. We highlight how these tensions of 'user involvement' impact criminalised individuals and compound wider inequalities within this sector. The individual, emotional and structural implications of activating lived experience therefore require careful consideration. We consider how the penal voluntary sector might more meaningfully and supportively engage criminalised individuals in service design and delivery. These considerations are significant for broader criminal justice and social service provision seeking to meaningfully involve those with lived experience

Mobilizing Metaphors in Criminological Analysis: A Case Study of Emotions in the Penal Voluntary Sector

Metaphors pervade media and political constructions of crime and justice, provoking responses and shaping actions. Scholarship in adjacent disciplines illustrates that emotion-metaphors offer unique insight into emotional and interpretive processes, valuably illuminating sense-making, problem solving, and action. Yet, metaphors are rarely analyzed within criminology, leaving an important opportunity for theorizing emotions and their implications largely unrealized. We explore the analytical and theoretical potential of emotion-metaphors for criminology, using empirical research conducted in the penal voluntary sectors of England and Scotland. Drawing on focus groups with volunteers and paid staff, we analyse the metaphors that non-profit practitioners mobilized to convey how their work felt: (i) absurd and unstable, (ii) vulnerable and constrained, (iii) devalued and discarded, and (iv) risky and all-consuming

Extracellular Vesicles from a Helminth Parasite Suppress Macrophage Activation and Constitute an Effective Vaccine for Protective Immunity

Recent studies have demonstrated that many parasites release extracellular vesicles (EVs), yet little is known about the specific interactions of EVs with immune cells or their functions during infection. We show that EVs secreted by the gastrointestinal nematode Heligmosomoides polygyrus are internalized by macrophages and modulate their activation. EV internalization causes downregulation of type 1 and type 2 immune-response-associated molecules (IL-6 and TNF, and Ym1 and RELMα) and inhibits expression of the IL-33 receptor subunit ST2. Co-incubation with EV antibodies abrogated suppression of alternative activation and was associated with increased co-localization of the EVs with lysosomes. Furthermore, mice vaccinated with EV-alum generated protective immunity against larval challenge, highlighting an important role in vivo. In contrast, ST2-deficient mice are highly susceptible to infection, and they are unable to clear parasites following EV vaccination. Hence, macrophage activation and the IL-33 pathway are targeted by H. polygyrus EVs, while neutralization of EV function facilitates parasite expulsion