Prisoners have untapped skills

As we know, there are many processes and systems within prison that are failing, or are weak at least. We know that prisoners come from all kinds of different backgrounds; there is no stereotypical prisoner. This should be seen as an untapped strength or opportunity, as there are tens of thousands of people with skills and experience that could be used in prisons for the benefit of prisoners and officers.

I used to review governance structures for public sector organisations, focusing on how effectively they did what they existed to do. In this prison, the entire prisoner communication service – emails, letters, phone calls – seems close to collapse. Huge delays and communications that simply never arrive are commonplace.

When thinking about prisoners skills, I would, for example, be more than happy to undertake an independent review of current arrangements for prisoner comms and make recommendations as to how things could be improved. This would cost prisons thousands if they paid an outside consultant.

So long as the prisoners doing such work were unable to access sensitive or personal info and had the correct security clearance, I can see no reason not to look at what professional skills prisoners have, alongside the current skills required to do standard prison work. The only reason I can see for prison management not making use of such skills is that they would perhaps feel somewhat challenged by the concept that prisoners could help them do their jobs better.