Narratives of hope: small stories of desistance; building social capital amid on-going Covid 19 restrictions at HMP/YOI Winchester

刑罚改革是必要的、紧迫的，并表明了我们的道德和伦理指南针。英国监狱系统的监禁率是西欧最高的，超过44%的人在释放后一年内再次犯罪。对于那些已经服刑10次以上的人，重犯率上升到77%。（PRT, 2022，第2页）。监狱本质上是压迫性的环境，并且可能是“残忍的，许多囚犯被困在肮脏、肮脏和不光彩的牢房里”（Clarke, 2017）。在2019冠状病毒病大流行近两年带来的严格限制以及“英格兰和威尔士监狱标准下降的十年”（PRT， 2021年）之后，这种情况进一步加剧。2016年的科茨审查强调了康复的潜力，“改变个人的生活，有助于建立更安全的社区，减少重新犯罪的重大经济和社会成本（英国每年估计95 - 130亿英镑）”。康复本身就是一个复杂的、有问题的、有争议的术语。Martinson（1974）建立了“nothing works”学说，McGuire（2004）将其修改为“what works”。Maruna（2019）断言，“什么有效”或“停止”研究都无法产生减少犯罪的“秘密公式”，但我们仍然需要所有可能的社会科学证据来理解“犯罪的复杂性”。这项民族志研究通过调查监狱戏剧教育（囚犯设计的戏剧）的价值来解决这个问题，将康复作为社会资本，并将其与被描述为“绝望”的监狱环境相结合（霍华德监狱改革联盟，2022）。当前政府优先考虑的康复教育，“学术资格和实践技能的实现，使囚犯，准备工作释放”（司法部，2021年）。然而，这并不能解决囚犯复杂的社会和情感层次的人类需求。国家刑事司法艺术联盟（NCJAA）（2021年）断言，获得艺术和创造性活动对于囚犯更全面的健康和福祉至关重要，因此这些活动可以发挥至关重要的作用。然而，以监狱为基础的艺术实践往往“过于依赖轶事证据”（司法部，2019年），无法证明与支持抵抗理论相关的有效性。为了解决这一差距，本民族志研究试图理解和证明监狱戏剧在康复背景下的贡献，重点是抵抗和社会资本的发展。该研究将考虑阻力理论（Cernkovich等人，2002；Maruna等人，2019）在囚犯对其经历的描述中是如何明显的。Todd-Kvam（2021）断言，阻力在“微观层面”发展，并得到社会网络和关系的支持。“停止”通常被理解为不仅仅是没有犯罪，而是维持无犯罪行为，本身就是一个积极的过程。这是一段追求积极生活的旅程”（Maruna, 2007, p. 652）。社会资本“在监狱环境中很少受到关注”（Butler et al. 2016, p. 1）。布迪厄（1986）指出，社会资本是建立在个人通过社会网络的成员身份来获得利益和发明解决问题的潜力之上的。该研究将考虑阻力和社会资本如何出现在囚犯在监禁和释放后的新叙述中，以及它们如何可能为长期生活改变之前的新康复模式提供信息。该研究为访问HMP/YOI温彻斯特提供了难得的机会；被英国皇家监狱总督察描述为“全国最麻烦和暴力的监狱之一”，“囚犯没有足够的事情可做”，“因为缺乏活动而感到无聊和沮丧”（2022年）。

Penal reform is necessary, urgent, and indicative of our moral and ethical compass. The UK's prison system has, 'the highest imprisonment rates in western Europe, with more than 44% reconvicted of another offence within one year of release. For those who have served more than 10 previous custodial sentences the rate of reoffending rises to 77%.' (PRT, 2022, p. 2). Prisons are inherently oppressive environments, and can be, 'brutalising with many inmates trapped in squalid, dirty and disgraceful cells' (Clarke, 2017). This context has been intensified following nearly two years of severe restrictions brought about by the Covid 19 pandemic, and a 'decade of declining standards in prisons in England and Wales' (PRT, 2021).The 2016 Coates review highlights the potential of rehabilitation to, 'transform individuals' lives and contribute to building safer communities and reducing the significant financial and social costs of reoffending (UK annual estimate £9.5-£13 billion)'. Rehabilitation is an inherently complex, problematic, and debated term. Martinson (1974) established the 'nothing works' doctrine, this was revised by McGuire (2004) with 'what works'. Maruna (2019) asserts that neither 'what works' or 'desistance' research is capable of producing a 'secret formula' to reduce crime, but we still need all possible social science evidence to make sense out of the 'complexity of crime'. Thisethnographic study address this by investigating the value of prison theatre education (theatre devised by prisoners) for framing rehabilitation as social capital and desistance as set against a prison context described as 'desperate' (Howard League for Prison Reform, 2022).The current government prioritises rehabilitative education as, 'the attainment of academic qualifications and practical skills, so prisoners are, equipped for work on release' (MoJ, 2021). However, this fails to address the complex hierarchy of social and emotional human needs of prisoners. The National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance (NCJAA) (2021) asserts that access to arts and creative activity is essential for more holistic prisoner health and wellbeing, and therefore these activities have a crucial role to play. However, prison-based arts practices often, 'rely too much on anecdotal evidence' (MoJ, 2019) to be able to demonstrate efficacy in relation to supporting theories of desistance.To address this gap, this ethnographic study seeks to understand and evidence the contribution of prison theatre within a rehabilitative context focused on desistance and the development of social capital. The study will consider how desistance theories (Cernkovich et al.,2002; Maruna et al., 2019) are evident in prisoner's accounts of their experiences. Todd-Kvam (2021) asserts that desistance develops at 'micro levels' and is supported by social networks and relationships. Desistance is typically understood to be 'more than just an absence of crime, it is the maintenance of crime-free behaviour and is an active process in itself. It is a journey that involves the pursuit of a positive life' (Maruna, 2007, p. 652).Social capital, 'has received little attention in the prison setting' (Butler et al. 2016, p. 1). Bourdieu (1986) states that social capital is built on the potential of individuals to secure benefits and invent solutions to problems through membership in social networks. The study will consider how desistance and social capital emerge in prisoners' new narratives in custody and post release, and how they might inform new modalities of rehabilitation that precede long-term life change.The research presents a rare opportunity to access HMP/YOI Winchester; described by HM Chief Inspector of prisons as 'one of the 'most troubled and violent prisons in the country' with 'prisoners not having enough to do' and feeling 'bored and frustrated by the lack of activity' (2022).