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Navigating Mental Health in the Male Open Prison re-examines how mental health is managed within the male open prison, focusing on the under-explored role of peer support during transfer, transition, and adaptation. Schreeche-Powell addresses a neglected gap in penal research by investigating how ‘well-meaning interventions’ can produce unintended, iatrogenic harms. Through the lens of power and pain, the book critically explores how peer-led support operates at a time of heightened stress and uncertainty to support adaptation and transition to the open prison environment.
With attention to theory, lived experience, and policy development, this book offers a vital and timely analysis of peer support and how it can better support those navigating the emotional and institutional complexities of open prison life.
Peer support schemes have become increasingly popular in prisons and have achieved some success. Ed Schreeche-Powell’s insider research offers a more critical account of peer support in open prisons. When poorly implemented in the neo-liberal prison, such schemes can become superficial tickbox exercises, used to reduce staff costs and encourage prisoner self-regulation. Schreeche-Powell reveals that to thrive, peer support schemes need proper investment and must be situated in an empowering culture.
This book will be of interest to prison staff and policy makers as well as scholars with an interest in prisons and the transformative potential of lived experience.
Ed Schreeche-Powell is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology and programme leader in Criminology and Criminal Psychology at The University of Greenwich, UK, and an Associate Lecturer in Social and Forensic Psychology.
Foreword; Shadd Maruna
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. ‘Pain Delivery’: Enduring Issues and (Forgotten) Pains
Chapter 3. ‘Pain Management’: Peer Support in Prison
Chapter 4. Researching Lived Experience with Lived Experience
Chapter 5. Cultures of Knowledge: Structural and Institutional Constraint and Impediment in Peer Support
Chapter 6. Responsibilisation: ‘It’s not really what it says on the tin’
Chapter 7. The Unintended Outcomes of Well-meaning Intervention? The Iatrogenic Outcomes of Peer Support
Chapter 8. Programme Theory: Absences and Deficiencies
Chapter 9. Unintended Harm, Unresolved Challenges: Concluding Thoughts