Insiders' Views of their Role: Toward their Training

Abstract

Research on peer-led support programs in prisons suggests that these programs are beneficial. One such program is the Insiders Scheme. Preliminary reports on its effectiveness suggest that it has a positive impact on prisoners as well as on the Insiders themselves. Nevertheless, there is no detailed information on the ways in which the Insiders perceive their role. Information may help to set targets for training of Insiders. Therefore, in the present qualitative study, focus group meetings were undertaken with all three Insiders in a male prison, using an interview-guide approach to describe the ways in which the Insiders perceived their role. The anonymized transcripts of these meetings were analysed inductively by following established conventions to ground analysis in the data. Insiders evaluated their role in terms of the different aspects of their role, the strategies that they used to help other prisoners, the personal impact of their role, the difficulties that they experienced during the course of their work, and possible ways of improving their role. The present findings contribute to an evidence-base for peer-centred training for the Insiders Scheme and therefore highlight the value of undertaking qualitative research among Insiders to identify specific targets for their training.

“It’s Sort of Reaffirmed to Me That I’m Not a Monster, I’m Not a Terrible Person”: Sex Offenders’ Movements Toward Desistance via Peer-Support Roles in Prison

“…All of these benefits appeared to protect participants against the negativity associated with imprisonment, and enable them to serve their sentences constructively. As such, this study reiterates research findings that suggest the implications of peer-support in prisons go beyond basic peer to peer helping (see, for example, Davies, 1994;Boothby, 2011;Perrin & Blagden, 2014).…”

“…All participants were convicted sex offenders and their time spent in prison ranged from 2 years and 6 months to over 27 years. Further demographic information is presented in This project explored three of the most widespread peer-support schemes in operation across the UK: The Samaritans prison 'Listener' scheme (Foster & Magee, 2011), the 'Insiders' scheme (Boothby, 2011), and the 'Shannon Trust Mentoring' scheme (Shannon Trust, 2005a). As such, all participants were either 'Listeners', 'Insiders', or 'Shannon Trust Mentors'.…”

Towards better child protection programmes: a qualitative evaluation of Youth Disseminating Life Skills Programme

“…Developing a theory was thought to be premature given the fact that there was little evidence on this area. This approach has been also used elsewhere (Krespi Boothby, 2011;Tankurt, Krespi Boothby, Acarli, Kalayoglu, Kanmaz & Yankol 2016). Reliability trustworthiness of the data was achieved by providing transcript material to illustrate the themes identified, and coherence, theoretical validity and catalytic validity formed the basis of validity trustworthiness of the analysis (Guba & Lincoln, 1989;Stiles, 1993).…”

“Because you’ve got faith it doesn’t mean that you’ve got wings on your back”: a qualitative analysis of the accounts of Christian prisoners serving time for a sexual offence

“…Participants spoke about what they now did in their lives to try to live up to the ideal they envisaged God wanted them to, and this led to them volunteering and helping others in numerous ways. This took the form of as part of a formal group, such as the Insider scheme (where experienced prisoners help new arrivals into the prison to settle; see Boothby, 2011), the Samaritans' Listener scheme (Samaritans, 2014), a local bereavement group or the Toe-to-Toe scheme (where prisoners help other prisoners learn to read; see Shannon Trust, 2005), or as individuals helping others. y'know that same wanting to make sure people are okay fits in with when I was in chapel y'know people that came to me with problems you would talk it through with them you would help them and y'know I suppose the caring side does come through love your neighbour as yourself P4Extract 7 I think because you've got faith it doesn't mean that you've got wings on your back y'know I think a lot of people they seem to accuse Christians of being the ultimate perfect human being and sadly we're not y'know we're still we're still very much the same people we were before we come into faith but uh but with the faith you have a bit more of the correct guidance in life and uh life in general how how one should be (P10)…”