Time for Change

Abstract

This final chapter of The Good Prison Officer: Inside Perspectives explores how prisons in England, Wales, Jersey, and Scotland compare with Nordic Exceptionalism. Evaluating how to develop a rehabilitative prison culture by implementing key recommendations from a unique and previously excluded vantage point when it comes to recidivism, desistance literature, and policy implementation. The key recommendations are aligned with the Prisons Strategy White Paper (2021) released by the government of England and Wales. The chapter aims to constructively contribute to UK prisons by developing exceptional and inclusive models of practice. One that treats prisoners as valued members of society; increasing the likelihood that prisoners return to communities wanting to make a positive contribution. Generating a collaborative and coproduced approach to responding to crime, involving those who have desisted and left persistent crime behind. The authors of the book argue that relational, trauma-responsive care of prisoners will reduce high reoffending rates. However, prison officers require assistance from the government to carve out the conditions for a prison culture that enables them to become, desistance facilitators and good prison officers.