This keynote from Karen Adriaanse, Senior Associate, reflects on findings from the Inspiration in Custody agenda activities and partnership work across the West Midlands region to establish best practice and help promote the importance of future delivery of this type of provision in prisons. The focus of the evaluation was on the impact the events and activities have had on motivating the prisoners to plan for their release and to take actions, while still in prison, that would enhance their chances of future employment or self-employment.

1. Positive steps forward
Karen Adriaanse
Senior Associate
22 March 2018

2. Inspiration in Custody in the WM 2017/18
 Motivational courses and speaker events
 Courses for employment and business start-ups
 Job fairs
42 events overall; 15 different types of events; 16 specialist provider
reaching 724 prisoners
Wide range of special projects involving 277 prisoners and 28 staff.
Just over 1000 attendances by prisoners.

3. Evaluating the activities
• seven focus groups with a total of 28 prisoners who has participated in
seven different courses on visits to HMP Featherstone, HMP Oakwood and
HMP Hewell
• one focus group at HMYOI Brinsford with four members of prison staff
who had participated in a one-day training event
• the review of completed evaluation forms from 20 courses in HMP
Featherstone, HMP Oakwood and HMP Hewell, HMP Birmingham, HMYOI
Brinsford, covering 10 different providers
• interviews with 6 key stakeholders, including prison staff, education
managers, employers and managers of the National Careers Service at
Prospects.

4. Dictionary definitions
Inspiration - noun
1. the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something,
especially to do something creative.
2. a sudden brilliant or timely idea.
synonyms: creativity, inventiveness, innovation, innovativeness,
ingenuity, imagination, imaginativeness, originality, individuality;
Motivation - noun
1. a reason or reasons for acting or behaving in a particular way.
synonyms: motive, motivating force, incentive, stimulus, stimulation,
inspiration, impulse, inducement, incitement, spur, goad, provocation;

5. The multi-faceted approach: Inspiration in
Custody
• consulting with prisoners on what motivates them
• working with partners in prisons and those in the community,
including employers
• providing prisoners with case studies of successful ex-offenders; and
• training prisoners to mentor and support other prisoners

6. Consulting with prisoners on what motivates
them
“I’d build a brand, as this doesn’t seem to be the case. Then I would
hold focus groups with many groups of prisoners and ask: ‘How can we
inspire you?’ and then ask all the groups to rank the suggestions.”

7. Working with partners in prisons and those in
the community, including employers
‘The Service Development Group has provided us with a focus on
inspiration. If that’s missing, there is a tendency for drift and
stagnation. It helps us keeps things fresh.’
‘I show visiting employers the industries and training workshops and
they are often very impressed in potential prisons have as a training
facility. They love it!’

8. Providing prisoners with case studies of
successful ex-offenders
‘Hearing how other individuals who were in the same position as me,
found a way to turn their life around and has given me a hope for the
future.’

9. Training prisoners to mentor and support other
prisoners.
‘I found the training the trainers course very hard work but so
rewarding when I got through it successfully. The course has helped me
increase my confidence, especially during the micro-teach activity. I
didn’t think I could teach anyone anything.’

10. What next?
• Ensuring that all prisoners are aware of the initiative and how it can
motivate them and hopefully reduce their chances of reoffending
• Measuring the impact of the activities on motivating those not
participating in learning and skills and work into taking positive action
to improve their skills while in custody, especially those with low
levels of English and maths
• Measuring the longer-term impact of the initiatives on prisoners in
custody and ex-offenders in the community.

11. Some useful references
• Adriaanse, K. (In Press) Review of prison education and training in England and Wales,
Exeter: dmh associates
• Hughes, D. (2018) Briefing Paper for the Education Select Committee on curtailment of
contracts for the National Careers Service in-custody from 1 April 2018, London: House of
Commons, February 2018
• Hughes, D. & Adriaanse, K. (In Press) An international literature review: education and
training in prisons, London: Prospects Group Services, December 2017
• Hughes, D., & Adriaanse, K. (2018) Adult Education: Important for Health and Well-Being,
Coventry, University of Warwick IER on behalf of the Institutes for Adult Learning
• Hughes, D., Adriaanse, K., & Barnes, S-A. (2016a) Adult Education: Too important to be
left to chance, commissioned by the All Parliamentary Group for Adult Education in
England, London: House of Commons, Westminster
CONTACT: dmh associates
Email: deirdre.hughes3@btinternet.com Visit: www.dmhassociates.org
Tel: 07533 545057
Twitter: @deirdretalks