Great symposium last week hosted by wonderful organisation our new partner Safe Ground. Held at the National Theatre, Anthony Anaxagorou started the session with “I am not a Poet”. There was an ongoing performance from Playing ON a theatre company who produce quality theatre and workshops, transforming the lives of disenfranchised people. Lots of interesting discussion from panellists who included Vicky Pryce, Gareth Davies and Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League. And Charlotte Weinberg and Professor Renos Papadopos stimulated discussion from the audience. Some themes and quotations: rehabilitation and punishment–are they incompatible, Noel Smith quoted from the Big Issue “People can come in illiterate and come out 20 years later still illiterate” ; the importance of the family in stopping reoffending; education and employment the keys to not reoffending; the importance of community, of communication, of reclaiming justice as a social issue, and the question what would a restorative prison look like. To bring about change we need will and money. Plenty of food for thought and calls to action. Here is SafeGround’s wordle of the event.
