The Quest for Desistance: Implementing Educational Programmes for Inmates

UCL Centre for Education and Criminal Justice

The 'Blue-Sky' seminar series aims to bring together practitioners and academics to consider blue-sky possibilities.

University College London

This online seminar will explore the implementation of educational programs for young inmates in order to enhance their identity and enable healthy social bonds. Results from studies evaluating the effectiveness of prison education programmes (Empowering Learning Models in Prison -ELMIP, and Convict Upskills Pathway (CUP) programmes in Cyprus Prisons). Ultimately, this seminar hopes to begin to answer the following question: What types of prison education programmes are most effective in developing the necessary skills, characteristics, and attitudes of young prisoners for reintegration into society post-release? Our panellists for this event are Dr. Olga Solomontos - Kountouri and Dr. Maria Petridou. This seminar will be chaired by Prof. Jane Hurry.<h3></h3><h3>1.	Empowering Learning Models in Prison (ELMIP): A socio-ecological approach in training both inmates and prison guards</h3>Empowering Learning Models in Prison -ELMIP- is an educational program, which aims to offer basic and soft skills to inmates in order to empower their smooth integration into society, which in turn will prevent the attraction to radicalism. Following the socio-ecological approach, the program also offers training to prison staff, so as to be capable to deal with radicalism and to support inmates in their initiation of desistance. The perceived merit of the program for inmates and prison staff was investigated using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Main results for the inmates showed that participation in ELMIP was associated with an increase in their perceived utility and perceived competency in basic skills; they were also more likely to have positive aspirations for their future self. Prison staff highly regarded both their and the inmates’ participation in the program; their attitudes towards ELMIP’s usefulness on improving cultural diversity became more positive after the training program. Furthermore, participation in the program was associated with an increase in the prison staff’s self-reported knowledge in recognizing and preventing radicalization in prison. Qualitative data showed that both inmates and prison staff highly valued the program. Findings regarding the valuation of ELMIP by both inmates and prison staff are discussed in the light of socio-ecological approach and desistance theories. S﻿peaker:Dr Olga Solomontos-Kountouri is an Associate Professor of Developmental Psychology, Head of the Master ‘Application of Psychology and Counseling in the Community’ and Head of Research and International Relations at the Theological School of the Church of Cyprus. She is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Institute of Education -UCL. She has a PhD on Developmental Psychology and a Master on Child Development from the IoE -UCL. She served as an appointed member of the Prison Council from 2016 to 2022. She develops two main research directions: The first concerns the developmental psychology of adolescence on three areas: (a) identity (b) delinquency and (c) bullying. The second line of research focusses on applied psychology on the above three areas in two target groups: (a) the education of young offenders during their imprisonment that aims at occupational and social rehabilitation and (b) the implementation of prevention and intervention programs to reduce bullying and victimization in secondary school students. With her research group implements educational intervention programs to inmates, i.e., ELMIP, CUP, SEMELI, Golden Thread, RECOMMIT. She is the chair of organizing the European Association of Research on Adolescence (EARA) Conference 2024 in Cyprus.<h3>2. Convict Upskills Pathway (CUP) in Cyprus Prison: Technical, basic and soft skills training for inmates’ reintegration in the labor market and society</h3>The community often stigmatizes inmates as people who do not have abilities and are dangerous to the country’s safety and coherence. Punitive prison systems have been proven ineffective in helping inmates to desist from crime, whereas prison systems that employ human-centered approaches empower inmates to develop their positive identity, values, and healthy social bonds. The CUP aims to design a program that promotes vocational identity and enhances inmates’ long-term employability, through a combination of coherent courses on basic, soft and technical skills. The Cyprus Blueprint Pathway was designed by local partners after guidance and training from CUP’s coordinating institution. The workshop focuses on the effectiveness of the pilot CUP training which combined basic, technical, and soft skills in the Cyprus Prison Department, aiming to empower personal and vocational values after their release. The results showed that inmates exhibited better soft skills and more positive values as well as higher self-esteem and inner strengths after the CUP training. Moreover, educators identified the inmates’ progress in soft skills through the training. These findings highlight the protective role of prison psychoeducation in inmates’ well-being, employability, reintegration, and crime desistance. S﻿peaker:Dr. Maria Petridou holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the Department of Psychology of the University of Cyprus and is a registered Clinical Psychologist and member of the Board of Directors of the Cyprus Psychological Association. She obtained a degree in Psychology from the University of Cyprus and a master degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Leiden (Netherlands). Her research interests focus on the study of neuropsychobiological factors associated with the development of anxiety, delinquent, antisocial behaviour, and empathy in children, adolescents and adults. In her doctoral dissertation, she developed an innovative intervention using video games to increase self-control and improve cognitive and emotional skills in young adults with anxiety and externalizing problems. Currently, she is working as a special academic staff at the Theological School of the Church of Cyprus, teaching psychology and counselling courses at undergraduate and postgraduate level, and supervising undergraduate and postgraduate theses. She participates in the development of psychoeducational programs implemented in Cyprus Prisons Department to support detainees’ reintegration. She is also a Research and Postdoctoral Associate at the Laboratory of Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Cyprus.T﻿his event complies with the UCL general privacy notice: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/legal-services/privacy/general-privacy-notice

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The Quest for Desistance: Implementing Educational Programmes for Inmates

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