Fiona Williams is a Psychologist with over 30 years of experience in HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS).  She is the Head of Interventions Services, a team of specialist staff who are responsible for the design of accredited programmes.  Her remit also includes responsibility for accredited programmes staff training and the quality assurance of all programme delivery across over 200 prison and probation delivery sites. Rosie Travers leads the evidence based practice team in HMPPS. This is a small team of staff dedicated to bringing the best available evidence into our everyday practice in prison and probation, scanning the latest academic research and translating that into practice-relevant headlines for busy colleagues, and helping evaluate what difference that makes. Rosie is a forensic psychologist and worked for many years developing and evaluating offending behaviour programmes before moving a few years ago into an evidence team with a wider remit. Alan Scott joined the Prison Service as an Assistant Governor in 1983 from university and was posted to HMYCC Wellingborough. He then moved to HMP Gartree before being posted to HMP Haverigg and then HMP Preston as Deputy Governor, where he was then promoted to Governor of HMP Preston. After running HMP Wymott, he became Area Manager South West then returned to the North West as Area Manager. He acted as Director of Prisons for 6 months prior to becoming Director of Public Sector Prison North. He was appointed AED for the NW and Women’s Estate in October 2023. Areas of responsibility held include Young Adult Lead for HMPPS until recently and Chair Of Rehabilitative Culture Programme Board. Shadd Maruna is Professor of Criminology at Queen’s University Belfast and the Past President of the American Society of Criminology. He is the author of the books Making Good and Rehabilitation: Beyond the Risk Paradigm with Tony Ward.  Key references: Mann, R. E., Hanson, R. K., & Thornton, D. (2010). Assessing risk for sexual recidivism: Some proposals on the nature of psychologically meaningful risk factors. Sexual Abuse, 22(2), 191-217. Mann, R. E., Fitzalan-Howard, F., & Tew, J. (2018). What is a rehabilitative prison culture? Prison Service Journal, 235, 3–9. Travers, R., Williams, F., & Willis, G. M. (2020). Recognising a trailblazer; celebrating a colleague; thanking a friend. Journal of Sexual Aggression, 26(2), 145-150. Maruna, S., & Mann, R. E. (2006). A fundamental attribution error? Rethinking cognitive distortions. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 11(2), 155-177.  De Vries Robbé, M., Mann, R. E., Maruna, S., & Thornton, D. (2015). An exploration of protective factors supporting desistance from sexual offending. Sexual Abuse, 27(1), 16-33.  Dean, C., Mann, R. E., Milner, R., & Maruna, S. (2007). Changing child sexual abusers' cognition. Aggressive Offenders' Cognition: Theory, Research, and Practice, 117-134.  Maruna, S., & Mann, R. (2019). Reconciling ‘desistance’and ‘what works’. Academic Insights, 1, 3-10.

Last week we very sadly lost Erwin James, who was a champion of prison reform through his journalism - a career he started while still serving a life sentence in prison. In 2021, we were honoured to welcome Erwin as a guest on the Forensic Psychology Podcast, and we wanted to repost that interview to remind ourselves of his thoughts on the role forensic psychologists played in his time in prison. Erwin James was a Guardian columnist and contributor - a career he started in 1998 while still serving in prison. He then became Editor in Chief of Inside Time, the national newspaper for people in prison. He became a writer in prison where he served 20 years of a mandatory life sentence. He was a Commissioner on the panel of the Westminster Commission on Miscarriages of Justice. Erwin was the author of three books: A Life Inside: A Prisoners Notebook, The Home Stretch: From Prison to Parole, and Redeemable: a Memoir of Darkness and Hope. Further reading: Levering Lewis. D. (1994, first published 1973). Prisoners of Honor: The Dreyfus Affair (1994).   Henry Holt & Company Solzhenitsyn, A. (2003, first published 1966). Cancer Ward. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Tolstoy, L. (1998, first published 1869). War and Peace.  Oxford University Press  www.thereader.org.uk

Jane Read has over 25 years experience of working within the High Security prison estate.  In that time she has worked in the Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder Programme (DSPD) and was closely involved in the development of the assessment & treatment models for this programme. For 15 years Jane was the director of psychological services at HMP Wakefield and since January 2018 she has been the clinical Framework Progression Lead for the Directorate of Security. In 2023 Jane was awarded an OBE for services to prison and the community. Debbie Marsh is has worked as a psychologist in HM Prison and Probation Service  for 25 years and is currently a regional lead psychologist in HMPPS. Debbie has experience working with a range of client groups. Her current specialism is in counter-terrorism. Within her role, Debbie provides organisational and professional leadership of psychology services across the service and including policy development and integration into wider agenda. Other key areas of work include risk assessment, interventions, crisis negotiations and working in discrete units. Key references: Madness Explained: Psychosis and Human Nature,  2004 Richard P. Bentall (Author), Aaron T. Beck (Foreword) Power Threat Meaning Framework - Overview version | BPS

Professor Huw Williams is a professor of Clinical Neuropsychology. He has pioneered research focusing on traumatic brain Injury in those involved in the criminal justice system, and neuro-rehabilitation and crime. He and colleagues have shown that a substantial number of people in contact with the law have traumatic brain Injuries. Findings have influenced screening and assessment for TBI nationally and internationally, contributing to changes in the UN Convention on Rights of the Child for enabling better support for those with neurodisability to lessen risk of criminalisation. He is a co-founder of the Criminal Justice and Acquired Brain Injury Group (CJAABIG) (Now ABI and Justice Group).

R. Karl Hanson, Ph.D., C.Psych., is one of the leading researchers in the field of risk assessment and treatment for individuals with a history of sexual offending. Originally trained as a clinical psychologist, he was a researcher and research manager in the area of corrections and crime policy for Public Safety Canada between 1991 and 2017. Dr. Hanson has published more than 175 articles, including several highly influential reviews.  He is the lead author of the Static-99R, STABLE-2007, and ACUTE-2007 risk tools, which are widely used for assessing the risk and needs of individuals with a history of sexual offending.  Based in Ottawa, Canada, he is currently President of the not-for-profit organization SAARNA (Society for the Advancement of Actuarial Risk Need Assessment) and adjunct faculty in the psychology department of Carleton University (Ottawa). Dr Philip Howard is the Head of Risk Assessment Data Science at the Ministry of Justice. He has worked as a statistician, social researcher and now data scientist on prison, probation and offender assessment issues since 1996. He is the author or co-author of each of the actuarial risk assessment instruments now in use in HMPPS. Key reference: Helmus, M. (2021) Estimating the Probability of Sexual Recidivism Among Men Charged or Convicted of Sexual Offences: Evidence Based Guidance for Applied Evaluators. Sexual Offending: Theory, Research, and Prevention,Vol. 16, Article e4283, https://doi.org/10.5964/sotrap.4283

Adrian Turner joined the prison service 1988 as a prison officer, working at Ashford Remand Centre. He subsequently worked at HMP Full Sutton, HMP Norwich, HMP Whitemoor, PSC Newbold Revel, HMP Lindholme, HMP Channings Wood, HMP Gloucester, HMP Eastwood Park, HMP Bristol, HMP Sudbury and currently works as the Senior Operational Lead for the open estate. Prior to working in headquarters he was Governing Governor of Sudbury open prison for seven years. He has worked at every level of HM Prison and Probation Service and in every type of establishment. His main motivation is to help rehabilitate prisoners and give them the skills they need to lead a crime free life. Sudbury was particularly strong in this area with around 50,000 ROTL events per year helping prisoners build and embed protective factors such as accommodation, employment, children and families which are known to be key to successful rehabilitation. At Sudbury they would routinely have between 150 and 200 prisoners at work in the community each day, working in multiple industries matched to their skills, knowledge and qualifications. This gave them the best opportunity to lead crime free lives on release creating safer communities. Dr Gary Goodley is a principal Forensic Psychologist working in prisons across the Midlands. He has over 16 years experience working in prisons, the last 10 of which have been spent based in open prisons. Gary recently completed a PhD evaluating the effectiveness of risk management protocols in open prisons. Key references: Andvig, E., Koffeld-Hamidane, S., Ausland, L. H., & Karlsson, B. (2021). Inmates’ perceptions and experiences of how they were prepared for release from a Norwegian open prison. Nordic journal of criminology, 22(2), 203-220. Clark, D. A., Fisher, M. J., & McDougall, C. (1993). A new methodology for assessing the level of risk in incarcerated offenders. The British Journal of Criminology, 33(3), 436-448. Goodley, G., & Pearson, D. (2023). Monitoring prisoners preparing for release: Who ‘fails’ in open prison conditions?. European Journal of Criminology, 14773708231183570. Goodley, G., & Pearson, D. (2023). Risk management in open prisons: A critical analysis and research agenda. Probation Journal, 02645505231173683. Mastrobuoni, G., & Terlizzese, D. (2022). Leave the door open? Prison conditions and recidivism. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 14(4), 200-233. McDougall, C., Pearson, D. A., Willoughby, H., & Bowles, R. A. (2013). Evaluation of the ADViSOR project: Cross‐situational behaviour monitoring of high‐risk offenders in prison and the community. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 18(2), 205-228. Statham, B. M., Winder, B., & Micklethwaite, D. (2021). Success within a UK open prison and surviving the ‘pains of freedom’. Psychology, Crime & Law, 27(8), 729-750.

Martine Ratcliffe has worked as a forensic psychologist for HM Prison and Probation Service for 20 years. She’s currently the national diversity and inclusion (D&I) lead for the Psychology Services Group. Her passion for D&I has been amplified through her work with men, women and children in custody and from personal experience as a mixed-race woman working within HMPPS. Dr Tansy Warrilow is a clinical psychologist at Rampton High Secure Hospital. She has introduced innovative techniques within her practice to address sources of cultural bias for clients. Lawrence Jones is a consultant clinical and forensic psychologist and has worked in community, prison and NHS settings with people who have offended with a range of mental health difficulties. He is a former chair of the DFP serving two terms. He has been involved with the DFP EDI committee. He is a white cisgendered man and acknowledges his privilege. He has co-edited a book on addressing bias in forensic practice. Yin, R.K. (1984), Case Study Research. Design and Methods, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA. Hammond, & O’Rourke, M. (2022) The Cumulative Modelling of Risk. In Liell, G.C., Fisher, M.J. & Jones, L.F. (Eds) Challenging Bias in Forensic Psychological Assessment and Testing: Theoretical and Practical Approaches to Working with Diverse Populations. On what to do:Day, A. Woldgabreal, Y., & Butcher, L. (2023) Cultural Bias in Forensic Assessment: Considerations and Suggestions 245-258. In Liell, G.C.,  Fisher, M.J. & Jones. L.F. (eds.)  Challenging bias in forensic psychological assessment and testing : theoretical and practical approaches to working with diverse populations. On grids: Blagden  N., & Needs, A. (2023) Personal Construct Psychology and Repertory Grids: Acknowledging and Exploring Perspectives  259-277. In Liell, G.C.,  Fisher, M.J. & Jones. L.F. (eds.)  Challenging bias in forensic psychological assessment and testing : theoretical and practical approaches to working with diverse populations.   And the fantastic website with software that analyses grids and introduces them too: https://www.idiogrid.com/

In this special mini-series of the Forensic Psychology Podcast, Sally and Kerensa talk to people who work as psychologists across the five directorates of the prison service, to get an idea of what their jobs entail and the environments they work in. Rebecca Ministro and Harriet Chapman both work in the directorate that covers prisons in Wales. For more information about careers in prisons, visit https://jobs.justice.gov.uk

In this special mini-series of the Forensic Psychology Podcast, Sally and Kerensa talk to people who work as psychologists across the five directorates of the prison service, to get an idea of what their jobs entail and the environments they work in. Poppy Marston and Rebecca Young both work in the directorate that covers women's prisons. For more information about careers in prisons, visit https://jobs.justice.gov.uk

In this special mini-series of the Forensic Psychology Podcast, Sally and Kerensa talk to people who work as psychologists across the five directorates of the prison service, to get an idea of what their jobs entail and the environments they work in. Alex Bonas and Mel Lewis both work in the Youth Custody Service with children and young adults. For more information about careers in prisons, visit https://jobs.justice.gov.uk

In this special mini-series of the Forensic Psychology Podcast, Sally and Kerensa talk to people who work as psychologists across the five directorates of the prison service, to get an idea of what their jobs entail and the environments they work in. Lucy Nuttall and James Bourton work in the directorate for the highest security prisons within the prison estate. For more information about careers in prisons, visit https://jobs.justice.gov.uk

In this special mini-series of the Forensic Psychology Podcast, Sally and Kerensa talk to people who work as psychologists across the five directorates of the prison service, to get an idea of what their jobs entail and the environments they work in. Elizabeth Kelly and Angelika Guttman both work in the directorate that covers men's prisons. For more information about careers in prisons, visit https://jobs.justice.gov.uk

Sally and Kerensa are joined by Zak and Jules, the hosts of the Prison Radio Association's brand new podcast Life After Prison. At the age of 20, Jules was convicted and sent to prison. During her time behind bars she developed a passion for exercise and achieved her professional gym qualifications. Since her release she's worked as a personal trainer, and through this work she got involved with National Prison Radio, leading in-cell workouts on-air. She then successfully applied to be the co-host of Life After Prison. Zak has served a total of around nine years in prison, across three sentences. After release he started podcasting as a way of bringing the conversations he'd had in prison to the outside world. He's passionate about helping talented people behind bars to achieve their potential and leave the criminal justice system.  Life After Prison is building a community of people who can support each other through the experience of release and reintegration to society. Click here to watch Life After Prison on YouTube: https://youtu.be/by2wkIfNcTE

This episode features a forensic psychologist who worked in Broadmoor secure hospital for nearly three decades. Derek Perkins, Ph.D. is a UK Consultant Clinical & Forensic Psychologist at West London NHS Trust, and Honorary Professor of Forensic Psychology at Royal Holloway University of London. He is the co-director of the online Protect research group on internet-related sexual offending, and a Trustee of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation child protection charity. Prof Perkins was Head of Psychological Services at Broadmoor Hospital (high secure psychiatric service for London and the South of England) from 1986-2013, having previously worked in the UK Prison Service and Midland Centre for Forensic Psychiatry. He has extensive experience in the assessment and treatment of sex offenders, including the interface between personality disorders and sexual offending, psychophysiological and other lab-based assessments of sexual interest, internet-related sexual offending, child sexual abuse and sexual homicide. He is regularly instructed in family and criminal court proceedings, including criminal court work and training in Hong Kong. Further reading: Bates, L (2021). Men Who Hate Women. Simon & Schuster UK. ISBN13: 9781398504653 Blackburn, R. (1995) The Psychology of Criminal Conduct: Theory, Research and Practice. ISBN: 978-0-471-96175-8 Black, D.A (2002) Broadmoor Interacts: Criminal Insanity Revisited: a Psychological Perspective on its Clinical Development. Barry Rose Law Publishers Ltd Gordon, H (2012) Broadmoor. London: Psychology News Press. ISBN 978-0-907-63335-8; Walton, J. & Hocken. K. (2020). Acceptance and Compassion as Interventions for Paraphilia. In Perkins. D., Akerman, G., Bartols, R. (eds).Assessing Sexual Interest and Arousal.

Sally and Kerensa will be presenting a brand new series called Behind the Crime on BBC Radio 4 on Wednesdays at 8pm. Starting on Wednesday 3 August, they'll be talking to three people who have committed criminal offences, putting those offences into the context of the lives they've led. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0019r5b These are powerful, emotional, dramatic conversations. They're also conversations that can help to explain why some people act in the ways they do. And they demonstrate the work that forensic psychologists do in prisons. So tune in to Behind the Crime on BBC Radio 4 or BBC Sounds.

This episode features two forensic psychologists working within the Youth Custody Service. Alisa Purton is a registered Forensic Psychologist and an Associate Fellow and Chartered Scientist of the British Psychological Society. Alisa joined the prison service in 2001 and has worked with children in custody since 2008. She is currently the lead psychologist for HMPPS Youth Custody Services which involves provision and management of psychology services for all children in custody across England and Wales. Ariane Hanman is a registered Forensic Psychologist. Ariane joined the prison service in 2006 and, like Alisa has worked with children in custody since 2008, giving them a joint 28 years’ experience with children in custody. She is a Cluster Lead Psychologist within youth custody and is currently seconded to the Operations portfolio within Youth Custody Services and is leading on the delivery of a Framework of Integrated Care. Further reading: Glynn, M. (2014) Black Men, Invisibility and Crime Offence Paralleling Behaviour: A Case Formulation Approach to Offender Assessment and Intervention Daffern, M., Jones, L. & Shine, J. (2010) Towards a Critical Race Theory of Desistance Lipsey, M. (2009) The Primary Factors that Characterize Effective Interventions with Juvenile Offenders: A Meta-Analytic Overview Miller, W. R. & Rollnick, S. (2012) Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change (Applications of Motivational Interviewing) Documentary: Australia’s Shame: http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2016/07/25/4504895.htm Album: Psychodrama by Dave

Dr Jo Wood is a Registered Forensic Psychologist who has worked for the probation service for over 20 years. She is the lead psychologist for the Manchester division and works with a range of agencies as part of her work within Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). She specialises in work with individuals who commit sexual or violent offences and also individuals who have learning difficulties.  Andrew Bates has worked as a Registered Forensic Psychologist since 1987 in custodial, community and voluntary sector settings. He has provided training, consultancy and professional supervision of other psychologists for many agencies including the NHS, NSPCC, social services and the private sector. He has worked full-time for the National Probation Service since 2001 undertaking assessment, treatment, case consultancy and research. His areas of forensic specialism are sexual offending, autism, learning disability, stalking and personality disorder. Further reading: Van der Kolk, Bessel A., (2015). The body keeps the score: brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. New York: Penguin Books. Robin Wilson: http://www.robinjwilson.com/

Erwin James has been a Guardian columnist and contributor since 1998. Currently he is Editor in Chief of Inside Time, the national newspaper for people in prison. He became a writer in prison where he served 20 years of a mandatory life sentence. He has been a consultant for Iain Duncan Smith MP on prisoner rehabilitation and a Commissioner on the panel of the Westminster Commission on Miscarriages of Justice. Erwin is the author of three books: A Life Inside: A Prisoners Notebook, The Home Stretch: From Prison to Parole, and Redeemable: a Memoir of Darkness and Hope. Further reading: Levering Lewis. D. (1994, first published 1973). Prisoners of Honor: The Dreyfus Affair (1994).   Henry Holt & Company Solzhenitsyn, A. (2003, first published 1966). Cancer Ward. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Tolstoy, L. (1998,  first published 1869). War and Peace.  Oxford University Press  www.thereader.org.uk

Martin Jones has been Chief Executive of the Parole Board since October 2015. He has spent the majority of the past 30 years working in the justice system in a range of delivery or policy roles. In the summer of 2021 Martin was awarded a CBE for services to victims, transparency and diversity in the parole system. Fiona Ainsworth is a Chartered Forensic Psychologist and associate fellow of the BPS. She worked in HMPPS for ten years, initially specialising in the assessment and treatment of people who commit sexual offences. In 2010 she left the prison service for self-employment and she joined the Parole Board in 2017.  Further reading: Mann, Howard, Tew (2018) What is Rehabilitative Culture? The Prison Service Journal, 235, 3-9 https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/parole-board

Gillian Sutcliffe is Chartered and Registered Forensic Psychologist. She has worked for HMPPS since 2001 and in women’s prisons for 3 years, currently based at HMP Low Newton. Gillian is national lead for safety of women, and an interest in developing practice for women convicted of sexual offences.  Becky Day is a Chartered and Registered Forensic Psychologist and has worked for HMPPS for over 12 years. She is the lead psychologist at HMP Foston Hall where she manages the delivery of psychological services. She has an interest in working with women who are convicted of firesetting and developing practice for specific offences such as stalking. Further reading: Gilbert, G (2020). Compassion from its evolution to a psychotherapy. Frontiers in psychology. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology Russell Kolts work found at his website: http://www.compassionatemind.net/