Question: what do you do to help the prisoners

Sally Tilt answered on 8 Mar 2019: last edited 8 Mar 2019 1:50 pm

Thanks for the question – there are quite a few ways, but I’ll give a few examples:

– For some people in prison, they say that they really don’t want to commit a crime – but that they ‘did it without thinking’. We can probably all think of times when we act in impulsively or without thinking things through – but for most of us this isn’t in situations that leads us to prison. So for this example, I would show the person some ways to think things through or solve problems, and to avoid jumping into a situation without thinking.
– I sometimes work with people who have started fires. For these people the first step is to understand why they started the fire. Some people find it exciting, other people do it when they are feeling stressed, and some people do it with a group of friends. Once we’ve worked out the story for that person we can work together to try to avoid it happening again.
– For other prisoners I interview them, and based on what the science tells us about reoffending, I try to explain whether this person seems likely to commit another offence. This can then help the parole board – who decide whether to release prisoners – if they are ready to be released. It might not seem like helping the person at the time, if I say they are not ready, but in the long run it can provide an opportunity for them to prepare a little more for their release.

I appreciate you taking the time to ask about my job.