Hope, harmony and humanity: creating a positive social climate in a democratic therapeutic community prison and the implications for penal practice
| Date | 05 February 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JCP-06-2017-0030 |
| Pages | 44-57 |
| Published date | 05 February 2018 |
| Author | Jamie Bennett,Richard Shuker |
Hope, harmony and humanity: creating a
positive social climate in a democratic
therapeutic community prison and the
implications for penal practice
Jamie Bennett and Richard Shuker
Abstract
Purpose –There has been growing attention given to the concept of social climate as an element of prison
practice. Research has indicated that more positive social climates can improve safety, psychological
well-being, quality of life and contribute towards reduced reoffending. The purpose of this paper is to
consider how the more positive social climates found in democratic therapeutic communities are constructed
and how these practices can be replicated in other settings.
Design/methodology/approach –This paper adopts a reflective practice approach. The intention is to look
back at the concept of social climate in prisons and in particular within a prison-based democratic therapeutic
community (DTC); draw upon research and theory in order to critically evaluate the nature and effectiveness
of that social climate, and; draw wider lessons about the nurturing and maintenance of social climates that
may have broader relevance in prisons.
Findings –It is concluded that understanding and managing social climate is an essential aspect of
improving the safety and effectiveness of prisons. Developing practices that enhance social climate requires
looking beyond mainstream prison practices, towards niches such as specialist units and prisons, including
DTCs and other therapeutic communities, and psychologically informed environments, as well as looking at
practices in other settings including forensic mental health. Taking this wider perspective can be source of
ideas and practice that could inform a profound culture change.
Originality/value –The paper offers an attempt to understand the distinct practices that create a more
positive social climate in DTCs and consider how elements of this could be exported to other prisons.
This has implications for both penal theory and practice.
Keywords Prisons, Social climate, Democratic therapeutic communities, Penal practice,
Prison management, Prison reform
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
There is a growing academic and organisational interest in the social climate of prisons. Prisons
are, to a significant extent, closed and self-contained worlds that have a distinctive social order,
albeit this can vary from establishment to establishment and over time. Attempts have been
made to describe measure and alter social climate in order to humanise the environment, reduce
harm and promote individual personal development. The notion of social climate is also central to
the democratic therapeutic community (DTC) approach, which deploys psychotherapeutic
interventions within a social milieu characterised by the “daily nurturance of an independent,
cohesive, pro-social environment”(Stevens, 2013, p. 12). The DTC method has been
successfully developed in prison settings in England as an intervention for men who have
committed serious offences, and emphasises the importance of social arrangements and
relationships as the basis for change. This paper is concerned with the overlap between the
Received 26 June 2017
Revised 19 August 2017
Accepted 5 September 2017
Jamie Bennett is the
Governor of HM Prison
Grendon and Springhill,
Grendon Underwood, UK; and
a Research Associate,
Centre for Criminology,
University of Oxford,
Oxford, UK.
Richard Shuker is the Head of
Clinical Services, HM Prison
Grendon, Grendon
Underwood, UK.
PAG E 44
j
JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY
j
VOL. 8 NO. 1 2018, pp. 44-57, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2009-3829 DOI 10.1108/JCP-06-2017-0030
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