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A growing body of research has explored the contribution of prison art interventions indicating that these hold substantial rehabilitative value. Recent literature in this area has drawn attention to the need to expand social action and community-enhanced art interventions with the aim of aiding incarcerated individuals to reconnect to the community. The following research focused on a unique artist-led prison intervention model, wherein participants who are currently imprisoned create alongside participants who are art students from the local university. This joint space aimed to connect people by providing opportunities to engage with creativity in ways that are both individually and socially transformative. Through a phenomenological approach, this model was explored, aiming to yield relevant insights into the quality and processes of change it enhanced. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 18 participants involved in the workshop, and data were analyzed aiming to establish an insider's conceptualization of the meaning for them of the art group experience. The findings point to participants' experience of the workshop as a unique space in which barriers and stigmatic preconceptions were broken and where a sense of acceptance, belonging, and bonding developed in a nonjudgmental atmosphere of joint creativity. Understandings of the way these essential elements of the joint creative experience served to promote implicit processes toward growth and positive trajectories of change are discussed in light of the broaden-and-build and polyvagal theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, children's involvement in County Lines drug trafficking (CL) has been of increasing concern to national government, the police and safeguarding agencies. However, few studies have explored how child victims of county lines are identified by the police. This exploratory research study provides insights into the police decision-making process for identifying child victims of CL. Interviews with eight police officers from three police forces in South England were conducted to understand how they came to recognise children involved in CL as victims and in turn, how this related to decisions to refer children into the UK's formal victim-identification system – the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). The research found decisions to recognise children as victims and later refer them into the NRM varied amongst the police officers in the sample. This was because officers had different understandings of what constitutes modern slavery, considered different factors in their decisions about signs of exploitation, displayed varying attitudes towards children involved in CL and viewed their duties in CL cases differently to one another. The research also identifies various barriers in the process of victim-identification. The most significant barrier appeared to be the over-reliance on victim accounts, compounded by the inability of children to disclose exploitation. The notion that children involved in CL may have experienced differing levels of exploitation and display varying levels of willingness to facilitate CL drug dealing, further complicated understandings of what constitutes a victim and in turn an NRM referral. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retaining participants in longitudinal studies is important but challenging when retracing them after a substantial gap between study phases. Utilising our nine year mixed-methods longitudinal study of 54 families affected by paternal imprisonment, we qualitatively analysed our processes and experiences of retracing participants after a seven year gap in contact. Paying attention to the spatio-temporal features that are traditionally an analytical focus of qualitative longitudinal research helped to enhance our retention rates, and our fieldwork strategies can be more deeply understood as part of the 'timescape' of qualitative longitudinal research. In this paper, we describe the spatio-temporal contours that shaped our efforts, successes and failures, and distil the material practices that they led to during our 'tracking treks' through the timescape of longitudinal fieldwork. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There are high rates of mental disorders among prisoners. Prisoners are also likely to have difficulties with intimate relationships, perhaps related to the imprisonment, but their mental health may be relevant. There is a dearth of research on intimate relationship qualities and mental health of offenders and their partners over time.Aims: To explore mental health and relationship trajectories among men in prison, and their partners, before the men's release, through a time 6 months post-release, and then again 8 years later, and to test associations between relationship quality and mental health.Method: Data stem from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded longitudinal 'Families and Imprisonment Research' (FAIR) project on paternal imprisonment and family resilience. Inclusion criteria for the study were men serving a short- to medium-term prison sentence who were within 4 months of release; with a current or ex-partner with whom they have at least one child; and for whom there were data on mental health and relationship factors during imprisonment, and at 6 months and 8 years post-release. Similar data were also obtained for their (ex-)partners.Results: The main sample comprised 39 men and 39 women who were in the same 'family set' for the first two waves, and after 8 years, 26 men and 30 women were retained. Just over 40% of the men and their (ex-)partners each disclosed that they had a mental health problem preceding his release. Proportions fluctuated slightly over time, with some dissonance between self-perceived disorder and self-ratings on a symptoms rating scale. Twenty-nine couples sustained their relationship during the transition between prison and release, but after 8 years, only four remained together. There was little evidence of association between measures of mental health and relationship quality among either the men or their partners.Conclusions: The findings challenge assumptions about the extent to which partners can play fully supportive roles in a former prisoner's transition from institutional life back into the community, as partners are also likely to be experiencing difficulties during this time. Thus, former prisoners and their families should be afforded equal access to support and assistance during offender rehabilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relevance of young people ' s experiences of mental health interventions with Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) before and during their time with youth offending services. Design/methodology/approach – This qualitative interpretive study involved 14 interviews with young people who had offended, five of their carers and five CAMHS professionals from one local authority. Findings – The paper identifies understanding, recognition, respect and trust as key principles in the practitioner-young person relationship, and in the intervention process more broadly, and suggests that systematic consultation with young people and their caregivers about their experience of mental health interventions would be beneficial. It notes important similarities and differences in the views of the different parties which shed further light on reasons why a young person may or may not engage with mental health services. Research limitations/implications – The study is based on a small sample of young people from one service, but it is hoped that the findings will be a useful springboard for other services to reflect upon. Practical implications – The paper proposes the importance of recognising young people ' s agency in the intervention process and the value of systematic consultation with young people and their caregivers for securing their engagement in interventions. Originality/value – The study takes a multi-perspective approach (of young people, their carers and practitioners) to capture the synergies and tensions in the expectations of and interactions between young people, practitioners and caregivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article highlights three dimensions to understanding children's well-being during and after parental imprisonment which have not been fully explored in current research. A consideration of 'time' reveals the importance of children's past experiences and their anticipated futures. A focus on 'space' highlights the impact of new or altered environmental dynamics. A study of 'agency' illuminates how children cope within structural, material and social confines which intensify vulnerability and dependency. This integrated perspective reveals important differences in individual children's experiences and commonalities in broader systemic and social constraints on prisoners' children. The paper analyses data from a prospective longitudinal study of 35 prisoners' children during and after their (step) father's imprisonment to illustrate the arguments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many young people in the youth justice system in England and Wales are educationally marginalised and systemic barriers to their engagement with education persist. This article presents an analytical framework for understanding how education and youth justice practices shape young people's educational pathways during their time in the youth justice system with the aim of understanding the systemic dynamics that encourage or impede young people's engagement with education. It draws on data from a case study of 32 young people who were serving either a community or a custodial sentence under the supervision of one youth offending team in England and Wales. Using as analytical starting points Bourdieu's and Wacquant's conceptualisations of competing dynamics within the ‘bureaucratic field’ of state governance and Hodkinson's careership theory, this article discusses the interplay between exclusionary and inclusionary interests operating within and between the agencies of education and youth justice and the extent to which they play a role in sustaining young people's involvement in education or compounding their educational and social marginalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Theories of social bonding and social capital support the argument that positive family relationships are important for resilience in resettlement after release from prison. However, this topic has rarely been addressed in prospective longitudinal studies of resettlement processes. This study gathered interview data from 39 family pairs of British male prisoners and their (ex-)partners before and after release. Questions on the father’s relationship, involvement and contact with the family were used as an index to predict seven resettlement outcomes. At the bivariate level and after control of pre-prison risk variables, family relationships predicted positive outcomes with finding accommodation, alcohol and drug use, the extent to which ex-prisoners felt they were coping with resettlement challenges and the quality of post-release family relations. In contrast, difficulties with employment and finance were neither related to previous family relations nor to the other resettlement outcomes. The findings suggest no general protective influence of family relationships during resettlement, but a strong effect on social and emotional aspects. Theoretical issues, limitations and potential practical consequences are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This study compared prisoners' and their (ex-)partners' forecasts and actual experiences of life after prison. The aims were to: (1) assess prisoners' self-expectancies of problems and actual resettlement experiences; (2) compare prisoners' post-release expectations and experiences to their partners' forecasts and valuations of these outcomes; (3) examine whether pre-prison factors have an effect on each partners' outlook of the future; (4) examine the predictive utility of each partners' expectations on the men's post-release outcomes; and (5) explore a range of resettlement issues which may play a vital role in pathways for reducing reoffending (i.e., family relationships, accommodation, finances, employment, alcohol use, and drug use). Method We employed a prospective longitudinal design and used semi-structured interviews to gather quantitative and qualitative data from 39 male prisoners in England and their respective (ex-)partners. Results The couples showed relatively strong agreement on the men's post-release difficulties compared to their earlier predictions; however, there was some variation in the 'realism' and 'optimism' of their outlooks. Their expectations were partially based on pre-prison factors: higher frequencies of pre-prison problems were positively associated with anticipated difficulties post-release. Pre-release expectations significantly predicted the men's post-release difficulties with substance use and relationship factors. Conclusion Overall, our findings lend support to a dual hypothesis on the function of prisoners' cognitions of future resettlement. On one hand, a 'realistic view' is important in recognizing when one is at risk for adversity. On the other hand, a 'positive mindset' has been associated with active coping and positive outcomes (e.g., desistance). The findings also underscore the importance of a holistic, family perspective in release and resettlement planning, and highlight key areas for targeted service delivery to promote successful desistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]