Building Bridges to the Community: the Kirkham Family Connectors (KFC) Prison Programme
| Date | 01 December 2018 |
| Author | ROB HESLOP,CLARE OGDEN‐WEBB,DAVID BEST,LAUREN JAY HALL,JACQUI DIXON |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12289 |
| Published date | 01 December 2018 |
The Howard Journal Vol57 No 4. December 2018 DOI: 10.1111/hojo.12289
ISSN 2059-1098, pp. 518–536
Building Bridges to the Community:
the Kirkham Family Connectors
(KFC) Prison Programme
LAUREN JAY HALL, DAVID BEST, CLARE OGDEN-WEBB,
JACQUI DIXON and ROB HESLOP
Lauren Jay Hall is Lecturer in Criminology, University of Lincoln; David
William Best is Professor of Criminology, Centre for Regional Economic and
Social Research, Sheffield Hallam University; Clare Ogden-Webb is Senior
Probation Officer; Jacqui Dixon is Probation Officer; Rob Heslop is Probation
Officer, HMP Kirkham
Abstract: Families represent a form of social capital that can influence effective reinte-
gration depending on the strength of the bond, and the nature of the relationship. An
innovative training programme delivered at HMP Kirkham was designed to mobilise
the strengths of prisoners, in the period prior to their release, by engaging family mem-
bers as bridges to community resources and by a shared planning process designed to
build stronger bonds between prisoners and their families. The conceptual framework
for the Kirkham Family Connectors (KFC) project is based on the principles of Asset
Based Community Development (ABCD) and Assertive Linkage (assisting individuals
in engaging with such assets). The project aimed to build prisoner resettlement capital by
identifying what each prisoner’s skills and strengths were, what enthused and engaged
them, and to create partnerships with family members to establish accessible pathways to
related resources in the communities to which they would be returning on their release.
Evaluation data show that the programme generated hope and a sense of partnership
among participants and key lessons for a strengths-based intervention to support the
prison-community transition. All three of the participating groups – staff,prisoners, and
families – reported positive engagement and an emerging sense of hope, and group cohe-
sion through shared goals. There is considerable scope for both peer and probation staff
delivery of the programme in the future, and for extending the scale and the scope of the
project.
Keywords: desistance; families; prison; recovery; resettlement; social capital
Relationships can be a life-changing resource for individuals attempting
desistance and recovery journeys (Best et al. 2015; Ruiu 2016; Sampson
and Laub 1993; Weaver 2014; Wilson 2014), and the resulting social capi-
tal has the capacity to help bridge the gap from prison to the community
518
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2018 The Howard League and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK
The Howard Journal Vol57 No 4. December 2018
ISSN 2059-1098, pp. 518–536
(Wolff and Draine 2004). The resources required by an individual pre-
release to support a smooth transition back into the community are vast;
numerous barriers are often encountered on the journey to resettlement
(Phillips and Lindsay 2011) and, as such, a pool of resources increases
the likelihood of success. Examples of barriers include limited access to
prosocial relationships, unstable accommodation and ill-defined employ-
ment pathways (Dickson and Polaschek 2014). Upon release, 44% of adults
in England and Wales will be reconvicted within one year, costing the
economy up to 13 billion pounds per annum (Ministry of Justice 2017,
Tables C1a, C2a), in addition to the huge emotional and personal toll, not
only on prisoners but also on their families and communities. The bar-
riers and stigmatisation experienced by released prisoners are increased
for individuals who are also recovering from alcohol and drug addiction.
People suffering from alcohol dependence are more likely to experience
social rejection and structural disadvantage compared with people who
suffer non-substance related mental health problems (Schomerus et al.
2011), and illicit drug use and alcohol dependence having been ranked
as in the top five most stigmatised conditions in the world (World Health
Organisation 2001). The need for interventions that support the successful
re-entry and reintegration of released prisoners is demonstrated by rates
of recidivism and overcrowding (Hunter et al. 2016); for ex-prisoners who
are also experiencing recovery from addiction, re-entry is potentially twice
as difficult, the need even more urgent, and the challenges more obstinate
and complex.
Recovery is a process characterised by the development of a recovery
identity, resulting in part from an increase in social connectedness and
changes in social network composition (Bathish et al. 2017). The research
around desistance from offending has also described this as a journey to-
wards social inclusion characterised by identity change, achieved when the
ex-offender is fully involved and accepted into the community, and in-
volves a complex interplay of both internal and external change (Farrall,
Bottoms and Shapland 2010; Healy 2012; Weaver 2012). As such, recovery
from addiction and desistance from crime are both socially mediated pro-
cesses, requiring social supports that focus on building personal strengths
and resources while encouraging engagement with the wider community
(Pillay, Best and Lubman 2014). Improving social connectedness, social
bonds and the quality of social group memberships is known to have the
capacity to improve our health and well-being and enhance our social iden-
tity, to the extent that the process has been labelled the social cure (Jetten,
Haslam and Haslam 2012; Sani 2012). The recovery movement encourages
a paradigm shift away from disease models of treatment towards overall
well-being, and therefore aligns with the principles of positive criminology
and strengths-based approaches (Best and Aston 2015; Seligman 2002).
In prison, visits from family or friends provide the opportunity to es-
tablish and enhance social support networks and can assist the formation
of a prosocial identity (Duwe and Clark 2012). Former prisoners engaged
in relationships that provide them with a meaningful role are more likely
to maintain such relationships because of the benefits they experience as a
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2018 The Howard League and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
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