Papers by Lucy Wainwright
Because states must rebut the presumption of responsibility, all prisoner deaths must be investig... more Because states must rebut the presumption of responsibility, all prisoner deaths must be investigated. These investigations frequently illustrate the tip of an iceberg of rights abuses and systemic hazards but have largely escaped analysis in prison-monitoring scholarship. Focusing on suicides, we assemble some of the first evidence illustrating how the staff of the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, who investigate prisoner deaths in England and Wales, seek to prevent further deaths. Ombudsman investigations are widely regarded as ineffective, yet there are competing constructions regarding why this is and what could be done to improve outcomes. As a result of organizational norms and constraints, ombudsman staff have offered narrow accounts of prisoner suicides, focusing on the failure of frontline staff to comply with prison policies. By contrast, prison staff and coroners have focused on systemic hazards or "accidents waiting to happen," including imprisoning people with severe mental illness, illegal drugs, unsafe facilities, and inadequate staffing. These differing constructions lock penal actors into an unproductive cycle of blame shifting that contributes to high suicide numbers. We reconceptualize prisoner deaths as occurring at the intersection of systemic hazards, organizational contexts, and individual errors. We hope that this reconceptualization facilitates broader investigations that are more likely to prevent prisoner deaths.
Incarceration
Prison suicide is a global concern, with rates consistently exceeding those in non-incarcerated p... more Prison suicide is a global concern, with rates consistently exceeding those in non-incarcerated populations. Prisoners deliver (suicide prevention) initiatives in jurisdictions around the world. As part of a research project seeking to foreground prisoner voices in criminological knowledge, former prisoners and academics coproduced an innovative, retrospective examination of peer-delivered prison suicide prevention in England. Our collaborative, autoethnographic research design involved focus group discussions and co-authored outputs. We offer fresh perspectives on peer-delivered suicide prevention, revealing overlooked limitations including traumatisation through ‘volunteering’. Findings include: the riskiness of prison peer support; inconsistencies in training and conditions; the importance of (supported) peer provision; and proposals for safer service development.
Incarceration
Internationally, prisoner mortality rates are up to 50% above those in the community. Although pr... more Internationally, prisoner mortality rates are up to 50% above those in the community. Although prisoner deaths are frequent and have significant implications across a broad range of stakeholder groups, these harms are rarely acknowledged. We address this by presenting original data from semi-structured interviews with 19 senior Prison Service staff (representing 8 prisons and 11 regions) and 16 Ombudsman investigators in England and Wales. These professional groups have received limited consideration in previous research. Without negating implications for bereaved families and other prisoners, we demonstrate that scholars have grasped neither the impacts of prisoner deaths on investigators, nor the extent of the harms experienced through investigations. All stakeholders benefit from reducing prisoner suicides, but death investigations do not enable stakeholders’ ‘shared ground’ to be mobilised. Currently, death investigations compound the harms of deaths.
Fostering positive future selves in mid-adolescence has shown promising results in reducing probl... more Fostering positive future selves in mid-adolescence has shown promising results in reducing problematic behaviour, though little work has been done outside the USA or with younger children. We explored the link between future selves and delinquency in a younger sample of boys (M[age]=12, SD=0.73, N=126) in the UK, at the nascent stage of self-identity and anti-social behaviour. Participants, who varied in degree of selfreported delinquency and risk, described their short and long term possible selves and strategies to achieve them. Unlike findings for older samples (14+), we found no association between delinquency and future selves. Exposure to criminogenic risk revealed some differences regarding the nature of future selves. Those with delinquency and higher risk had fewer strategies for reaching goals. Findings are discussed in relation to self-identity theory, and the timing and nature of interventions for children of this age.
Health & Justice
Background The impact of COVID-19 has been exceptional, particularly on the National Health Servi... more Background The impact of COVID-19 has been exceptional, particularly on the National Health Service which has juggled COVID affected patients alongside related staff shortages and the existing (and growing) health needs of the population. In prisons too, healthcare teams have been balancing patient needs against staffing shortfalls, but with additional strains unique to the prison population. Such strains include drastic lockdown regimes and prolonged isolation, the need to consider health alongside security, known health inequalities within prisoner groups, and an ageing and ethnically diverse population (both groups disproportionately affected by COVID). The aim of this paper is to contribute to emerging research on the impact of COVID-19 on prison healthcare. Methods We conducted 44 in depth interviews (over phone or video) across three groups: prison leavers, healthcare staff and decision makers, between July and December 2021. Framework analysis was undertaken. Results Three th...
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, Aug 26, 2016
Fostering positive future selves in mid-adolescence has shown promising results in reducing probl... more Fostering positive future selves in mid-adolescence has shown promising results in reducing problematic behaviour, though little work has been done outside the USA or with younger children. We explored the link between future selves and delinquency in a younger sample of boys (M[age]=12, SD=0.73, N=126) in the UK, at the nascent stage of self-identity and antisocial behaviour. Participants, who varied in degree of selfreported delinquency and risk, described their short and long term possible selves and strategies to achieve them. Unlike findings for older samples (14+), we found no association between delinquency and future selves. Exposure to criminogenic risk revealed some differences regarding the nature of future selves. Those with delinquency and higher risk had fewer strategies for reaching goals. Findings are discussed in relation to self-identity theory, and the timing and nature of interventions for children of this age.
Psychology, Crime & Law, 2014
The study of young offenders has tended to focus on adolescents, despite knowledge that those who... more The study of young offenders has tended to focus on adolescents, despite knowledge that those who are engaging in criminality during childhood are more likely to experience long-lasting, life-impairing consequences. This qualitative study investigated how child offenders experience the process of desisting from crime. It was hoped that this would provide further insight for those involved with prevention programmes for young offenders. Seven young people aged between 10 and 18, engaging with the Preventing Youth Offending Project (PYOP) in the UK were interviewed, and the data collected was subject to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Four themes emerged from the narratives, all converging on a changed self-identity for those successfully desisting. PYOP aims to enhance the lives of young people, and this approach appears to encourage this identity transformation through the provision of purposeful activity, supported education and mentoring. The increasing popularity of strengths-based enhancement approaches to rehabilitation, such as the Good Lives Model (GLM), is discussed in relation to its potential role in the prevention of criminality in young people. It is proposed that the GLM principles could provide essential foundations for early intervention approaches as well as rehabilitative measures for established offenders.
Psychology, Crime & Law, 2014
Expertise literature in mainstream cognitive psychology is rarely applied to criminal behaviour. ... more Expertise literature in mainstream cognitive psychology is rarely applied to criminal behaviour. Yet, if closely scrutinised, examples of the characteristics of expertise can be identified in many studies examining the cognitive processes of offenders, especially regarding residential burglary. We evaluated two new methodologies that might improve our understanding of cognitive processing in offenders through empirically observing offending behaviour and decision-making in a freeresponding environment. We tested hypotheses regarding expertise in burglars in a small, exploratory study observing the behaviour of 'expert' offenders (ex-burglars) and novices (students)
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Papers by Lucy Wainwright