Jakari was 18 years old when he started to engage with the PLAN A programme in prison. He’d been convicted for a violent offence and was struggling with spells of self-harm. He shared having been a long-term carer for his parent before prison. Members of his family...
Steve and Luke were referred to the restorative approaches service after having had a fight, during which they were both injured. At first Steve did not want to have a restorative meeting with Luke, feeling as though he would not be able to say the right thing,...
Liam had been in custody for 3 years, and was diagnosed with complex mental health issues. He was suspected to have undiagnosed learning difficulties. Liam was referred to Belong’s restorative approaches service, as he was often manipulated by other prisoners. As he...
Part way through the first lockdown, news emerged about people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds being more vulnerable to COVID-19. This coincided with the tragic killing of George Floyd in the US. Subsequently, there was a significant rise in...
Although peer support programs have had a long history in UK prisons, in recent years, the sector has benefitted from an increase in research evidencing the benefits of service user involvement in prison programmes. According to the HM Inspectorate of Prisons (2016),...
