Offender Rehabilitation Programmes: The Role of the Prison Officer

This book shows how prison officers may be able to significantly influence extra-programmatic conditions, to enhance rehabilitation outcomes and contribute to reducing reoffending. It does so through a detailed review of the literature relating to prison-based rehabilitation programmes, examining factors influencing their outcomes and the effects of the prison officer role.

Firstly the book explores current understandings about the role of the prison and effective offender rehabilitation programmes. It then describes the processes of the integrative review of how prison officers can support rehabilitation programmes in prisons. Review findings suggest three main routes by which prison officers can contribute to enhancing rehabilitation outcomes: influencing prison social environments, enhancing prisoner treatment readiness and programme engagement and identifying and supporting prisoners’ wider needs. This book also explores avenues for further research in this area using a declarative sentence mapping approach.

Bridging two previously distinct areas of research - prison officers and their role; and prison rehabilitation interventions – this book offers new understanding in the real-world context of prisons and their staff as to how we can enhance rehabilitation outcomes. It will be of great interest to academics in penology, forensic psychology, probation, and offender rehabilitation fields. The book is also valuable to postgraduate students and professionals working on prison policy.

Laura M. Small joined His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service in 2019 as a participant in the Unlocked Graduates Leadership Programme. She worked as a prison officer at a women’s prison whilst completing her master’s degree in Leadership and Custodial Environments and undertaking the research that forms the basis for this book. In 2021, Laura began her training to be a probation officer before becoming a policy advisor for the probation service in 2023. She continues to be committed to improving rehabilitation efforts and our criminal justice system more widely.

Paul M.W. Hackett is the originator of the Declarative Mapping Approach to social science research and is Visiting Research Professor at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nigeria, a Professor of ethnography and research methods at Emerson College, UK, Visiting Scholar at the Royal Anthropological Institute and a Visiting Professor at the University of Suffolk, in the School of Health Studies and the Department of Criminology. He is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.