People. I have some VERY exciting news. The Ministry of Justice have published the latest @unlockedgrads.bsky.social retention stats directly comparing retention outcomes for Unlocked officers vs those entering the same prisons via standard routes…

Pigeon Spying with Binoculars and Popcorn

ALT: Pigeon Spying with Binoculars and Popcorn

static.klipy.com

So great to see this write up of Unity wing at HMP Pentonville in Inside Time! This is one of two prison wings where we are running a pilot to test what happens when you apply the @unlockedgrads.bsky.social model of recruitment and training to an area of a prison. insidetime.org/comment/peop...

People, not houseplants, make ‘Scandi wing’ work

In March, Inside Time exclusively revealed plans for ‘Scandinavian-style’ wings at two London prisons, Pentonville and Wandsworth. They are up and running – and Raymond Smith is the first journalis…

insidetime.org

Brilliant day at Research Ed with some of my favourite education people! I was presenting on what teachers can learn from the best prison officers around how to build positive relationships with some of the hardest to reach. #REd26

Started as a graduate scheme 🎓 Developed world-leading expertise recruitment and training prison officers 👮‍♀️ Become a model - which this RCT is testing 📖 And the indicative results are very exciting indeed! 🙌

Unlocked Graduates@unlockedgrads.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Same prisoners. Same prisons. Different staffing model. Completely different outcomes? Read @rachelsylvester.bsky.social’s write up of the early findings of our Vanguard Wings project at HMP Wandsworth and HMP Pentonville 👇

Trying to increase inclusivity by lowering standards is at the heart of how we fail the most disadvantaged in our society.

Daily Mail@dailymail.co.uk · 6mo ago

Children should be allowed to wear tracksuits in class to make school uniform 'more inclusive', MPs say trib.al/dlnrvPu

Well worth reading this @londoncentric.media piece on the red vs blue school panic, which doesn’t yet seem to have corresponded with any actual incidents

Office working north London seems to have decided against working in Christmas week

The politicians are right! Let's move away from sweets and games consoles as rewards in prison! Instead let's have industrious environments, high-quality education and work, programmes to help behaviour change, and highly trained expert staff! Should cost about the same, right?

Writing in @russellwebster.com's blog, Unlocked's CEO and Founder @natashaporter.bsky.social explained the role that our new book Leading Prison Landings: The Unlocked Guide to Jailcraft can play in supporting prison officers to improve their relational practice and have the greatest possible impact

This is HUGE news! After 9 years of research and testing and analysis, we are FINALLY releasing this @unlockedgrads.bsky.social book! Harry Fletcher-Wood is the brilliant co-author, and there's even a foreword by the amazing Alison Liebling! 👊

Unlocked Graduates@unlockedgrads.bsky.social · last yr.

Finally, a toolkit for those doing the hardest job in the hardest place. Introducing Leading Prison Landings: The Unlocked Guide to Jailcraft – the first codification of what expert relational practice looks like as a prison officer and how to master it. unlockedgrads.org.uk/news-item/in...

Really struggling to understand how people can be AGAINST legislation that limits children’s access to pornography and extreme violence online. Especially because we know unfettered internet access is damaging children and our society, and is giving easy access to predators.

Low key offended that the Bluesky age verification thing took about a millisecond to work out from scanning my face that I am an adult. Also though, quite brilliant that this has been introduced!

Such a lovely evening with Public First / Stonehaven celebrating the arrival of summer! Loved catching up with so many of the best people 🙌 Also V&A is just the best place for an evening of summer drinks 💕

Delighted to be invited by @thefea.bsky.social to speak to a group of founders and CEOs about setting up a board of trustees. I have an incredible board at @unlockedgrads.bsky.social, and also lucky to be on a number of brilliant boards, so it was great to share what I’ve seen work and not!

'We must get real about how much support many prisoners need' ‪@natashaporter.bsky.social‬ of Unlocked Graduates warns that David Gauke's prisoner early release plan needs to unlock opportunities, not just doors

Take a look at my piece in @feweek.bsky.social on why the proposed incentives to get prisoners engaging in education have the potential to be incredible, but how easy it will be to screw the whole thing up (and of course, how to make sure it isn’t!) feweek.co.uk/early-prison...

Early release incentive could fix broken prison education

Plan to reward prisoners for engaging in education with early release must unlock real opportunities, not just doors

feweek.co.uk

Love seeing this! HMP Manchester had an urgent notification about 6 months ago (prison equivalent of special measures), and @unlockedgrads.bsky.social participants there really wanted to help create more rehabilitative opportunities for the prisoners in their care. This is one of those ideas!

Really brilliant, inspiring piece on how hugely rewarding - as well as challenging - being a foster parent is. (Also if you’re in London, Now Foster is up and running and offers extra support for new foster parents) www.thetimes.com/article/f8e4...

‘Fostering was exhausting. But it made our lives so much richer’

For ten years Caroline Scott and her husband were both parents and foster carers. She reveals what it takes to look after traumatised children, and why she adopted one of them

thetimes.com

Our COO at @unlockedgrads.bsky.social Libby is off on mat leave today, and we are so excited to be welcoming a new smallest person to the wider Unlocked family soon! I’m really proud to run an organisation where we really support incredible women to have children while in c-suite jobs 💪

Scandinavia is often an unhelpful comparator for public service reform, but I really believe this model could be transformative. Frontline staff being empowered and developed so they can lead a culture of rehabilitation is very exciting! observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Scandi beige: two crisis-hit prisons to convert wings into calming Nordic units | The Observer

Independent journalism | News, culture & style | Investigations, analysis, features, ideas, recipes, newsletters & podcasts that make sense of the world

observer.co.uk

Despite the headline here, I actually think this Gauke review recommendation could be a game changer and am very much in favour - but only if it’s delivered well! ‘No evidence’ early prison release scheme will work, expert warns www.thetimes.com/article/73ff...

‘No evidence’ early prison release scheme will work, expert warns

The government’s plan to reduce the prison population will fail without ‘purposeful activity’ in jails, says head of prison officer training scheme

thetimes.com

This from the Gauke sentencing review is exactly what is needed - sentencing which recognises and rewards prisoners’ engagement in purposeful activity and education whilst in prison. Now we need to build a prison system which can effectively deliver this.

I am on a train and then man next to me has just taken his shoes and socks off, and the man opposite has now taken his shoes off. Has this become a thing that people do?!

This is a must read article for anyone considering school mental health interventions. It also should make us more wary if considering how universal “trauma informed approaches” are rolled out across schools. Targeted approaches delivered by experts seem to have the best evidence.

Carl Hendrick@carlhendrick.substack.com · last yr.

Mental-health lessons not only don't work, in some cases they're making things worse. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... pbs.twimg.com/media/Grc4V5...

V interesting data crunching from @impetus.org.uk out today looking into who ends up being NEET ideally so we can stop it happening so often. And this really matters because 1 in 7 young adults are currently NEET!

Suddenly got subtitles? Not sure how I feel about this.

Here we go!

Hoping the return of EU youth mobility scheme means the return of a thriving aupair sector! www.thetimes.com/article/91ba...

Keir Starmer opens door to EU youth mobility scheme

The prime minister said the scheme would not herald a return to free movement

thetimes.com

Very proud to have these @unlockedgrads.bsky.social celebrated tonight at a Ministry of Justice awards event. Eli for introducing a library and culture of reading onto the induction unit where he works, and Jim for bringing in a system to better support diabetic prisoners across his prison!

The first time I went into a prison that held children, I saw a pile of familiar children’s books, including Jacqueline Wilson’s Sleepovers, outside the cell of a 15 year old boy who had to be unlocked by three prison officers wearing full riot gear. feweek.co.uk/locked-up-yo...

We know why locked-up young offenders know each other

New research exposes the startling truth about where young offenders come from

feweek.co.uk