Ethics in Prisons
In March 2007 IGE UK convened a consultation at St George’s House, Windsor Castle, supported by the Comino and Gordon Cook Foundations, looking at the impact of a prison education programme called Ethics and Choices that the Institute for Global Ethics had introduced into the North Carolina Penal Service in the late 1990’s, based on IGE’s generic Ethical Fitness® framework.
The consultation brought together representatives of the Scottish and English prison services. Two of the original trainers from the United States joined UK participants to share their experiences of introducing the Ethics and Choices programme into North Carolina prisons. The consultation resulted in a number of recommendations which included piloting Ethics and Choices seminars in Scotland and England in 2008 to build a broader understanding of the potential for the programme in the UK. A report of the consultation Promoting Ethical Understanding and Sensitive Care in Prisons (pdf) is available here.
Three pilot seminars took place in 2008 – for staff at HMP Ford in West Sussex, at the RSA in London and at the Scottish Prison Service College (SPSC) in Polmont. For a report of the findings, Ethics and Values in Prison Practice (pdf) click here.
Currently, the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (SCMH) is evaluating two further seminars held at the SPSC in Polmont (Nov 09) and at SCMH in London (Jan 10).