Supporting uniformed officers delivering therapy within a prison therapeutic community for sexual offenders
| Date | 14 December 2010 |
| Published date | 14 December 2010 |
| Pages | 40-45 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.5042/mhrj.2010.0738 |
| Author | Michael Brookes |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Mental Health Review Journal Volume 15 Issue 4 December 2010 © Pier Professional Ltd
40
Michael Brookes
Director of Therapeutic Communities, HMP Grendon; Visiting Professor; Faculty of Education, Law and Social
Sciences, Birmingham City University, UK
Supporting uniformed officers
delivering therapy within a
prison therapeutic community
for sexual offenders
Abstract
HMP Grendon operates as a series of therapeutic communities (TCs), one of which is for sex offenders
who have committed very serious sexual offences, many against children and young adults. Prison officers,
who form a significant part of the multidisciplinary staff team, have both therapeutic and discipline
responsibilities. It is therefore essential that processes are in place to enable these officers to manage
emotions evoked from hearing unpleasant material of a sexual nature and to prevent this exposure
negatively impacting upon the way their custodial duties are performed. This paper outlines the different
support mechanisms available to prison officers and their views on these arrangements.
Key words
Prison officers, therapeutic communities, supervision, support.
HMP Grendon
The 1939 East-Hubert report (East & Hubert,
1939) recommended that an establishment
should be built that would assist prisoners
who functioned poorly in other prisons to
improve their psychological well-being and
social functioning. This led to HMP Grendon, a
Category B prison with an operational capacity
of 240, being built in the grounds of the
country’s first open prison – HMP Springhill.
HMP Grendon opened in 1962 and based
its regime on the therapeutic community (TC)
model adopted at the Henderson Hospital.
Central to this group-based psychotherapeutic
intervention are small groups and resident/
staff community meetings. The small groups,
for between eight and ten men, are held three
mornings a week and the community meetings
are held two mornings a week. Grendon is
now an accredited CSAP (Correctional Services
Accreditation Panel) intervention. This is the
same body that accredits the National Offender
Management Service’s (NOMS) offending
behaviour programmes.
Prisoners apply for a place at Grendon and the
requirement is that they should have more than
18 months left to serve. If they were of Category A
status, they need to have been removed from this
security level for at least the previous six months.
Applicants should have had no positive drug tests
and should not have engaged in acts of self-harm
for the previous two months. They should have
accepted responsibility for their offence(s) and
must sign a compact agreeing to abide by TC
principles. Prisoners with a severe and enduring
mental illness are not accepted at Grendon.
While all of Grendon’s T Cs have some
prisone rs who have commit ted sex ual off ences,
one co mmunity (A Wing) c ontains solely
sexual offenders. T his is becaus e resid ents
in the other communities would find it too
difficu lt to tolerate , emoti onally, the details of
10.5042/mhrj.2010.0738
DELIVERING
THERAPY
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