Prison Reform Trust reposted this
I feel proud to see the Equality Advocate Project recognised in the Prison Reform Trust’s latest report, Potential Unlocked: Building a Sustainable Prison Workforce. This recognition beautifully reflects the importance of trust, collaboration, and humanity in building positive change within our prisons. At HMP Wayland, we’ve had the privilege of seeing the transformative impact of empowering prisoners as Equality Advocates. Their contributions have fostered a culture of fairness, inclusion, and shared problem-solving, strengthening the bonds between staff and prisoners. The project’s success in reducing violence, building trust, and supporting rehabilitation shows what is possible when respect and understanding take centre stage. What moves me most are the ripple effects, how this initiative has shaped allyship training and keyworker programs under the OMiC framework. It reminds us all to see the person behind the label and value their lived experiences as a force for positive change. Thank you to the Prison Reform Trust and Peter Lawson, for shining a light on this vital work. And my deepest gratitude to the visionary leaders, the Zahid Mubarek Trust team, Khatuna Tsintsadze, Wayland’s dedicated staff Amy Beasley Jenny Chilton, our incredible Equality Advocates, and their families, whose commitment and courage make this journey possible.
We are thrilled to see our Equality Advocate Project highlighted as an example of good practice in the timely new report “Potential Unlocked: building a sustainable prison workforce”, published earlier this week by the Prison Reform Trust. Written by PRT’s former director and former prison governor, Peter Dawson, the report’s findings are based on evidence gathered through focus groups with prisoners in seven prisons HM Prison and Probation Service. The Equality Advocate Project significantly enhances fairness and procedural justice in prisons while contributing to reduced violence, stronger staff-prisoner relationships, and improved rehabilitation outcomes for prisoners who complete the course and gain work experience in custody and after release “In a more ambitious and structured example, the Zahid Mubarek Trust (ZMT) has, in a number of prisons, trained prisoners to help staff deliver the prison service’s policies on diversity, including the handling of complaints. Prisoners receive a 14 week training course from ZMT, but then work alongside diversity leads in prisons. In two prisons, the governor has extended that to allow trained prisoners to deliver sessions to officers learning to be keyworkers under the OMiC programme. In one prison we visited, the trusting relationships built up as a consequence over an extended period had led to the formation of an ad hoc group of staff and prisoners, jointly chaired, tasked with identifying priorities for positive change within the prison. Their conclusion was that prisoners with experience of working with ZMT should design and deliver training sessions with the aim of helping prison staff see prisoners as more than just prisoners. That work is in its infancy, but those we spoke to agreed that it was only possible because of a broader culture within the prison, supported by successive governors, that sought to involve prisoners in solving problems that affected them. It also profited from the personal relationships of trust engendered by staff and prisoners working together and committing to innovation that might be viewed with suspicion by their peers on both sides of the divide that they were seeking to bridge.” These achievements were made possible through the support and commitment of the visionary leaders we have had the privilege of working alongside. Thank you Kevin Clark and Ralph Lubkowski Sevcan Bikim Kudu MBE Amy Beasley We are proud to work with incredible prison staff from Unlocked Graduates
