Voluntary sector actors in community justice: A case study of St Giles Trust and ex-offender peer

338 Pages·2017·3.01 MB·English

by  Dennis Gough

Voluntary sector actors in community justice: A case study of St Giles
Trust and ex-offender peer mentoring.

Dennis Gough
‘The thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree
of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Portsmouth.’

June 2017

University of Portsmouth

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Whilst registered as a candidate for the above degree, I have not been registered for any other
research award. The results and conclusions embodied in this thesis are the work of the named
candidate and have not been submitted for any other academic award’

Dissemination.

Gough, D (2018) ‘Birds of a feather desist together‘: Ex-offender peer mentoring, identity change
and leaving crime behind’ in Lea, J and King, S (2018 in press ed) Privatisation and Criminal Justice:
Legitimacy and Change, Bristol, Policy Press
(This publication is based on work contained in Chapter 3 and Chapter 6)
Gough, D (2012) “Revolution: Marketisation, the penal system and the voluntary sector” in
Silvestri (ed) Critical reflections: social and criminal justice in the first year of the coalition
government, Centre for Crime and Justice, London
(This publication is based on work contained in an earlier version of Chapter 2)

Gough, D (2010) ‘Multi-agency working in corrections. Cooperation and competition in
probation practice’ in A, Pycroft, and D, Gough, (2010 ed) Multi agency working in criminal
justice. Control and care in correctional practice. Bristol, Policy Press.
(This publication is based on work contained in an earlier version of Chapter 2)
Conference papers.
Ex-Offender Incorporation in Rehabilitation. Innovative practice or members of the shadow penal
state? The Third World Conference on Probation 12- 14 September 2017, Shinangawa Prince
Hotel, Tokyo, Japan. (This paper was based on work contained in Chapter 3 and Chapter 6)
‘Birds of a Feather desist together. Peer mentors and Transforming Rehabilitation’ at Privatising
Criminal Justice Conference. University of Leicester 17th September 2015. (This paper was based
on work contained in Chapter 3 and Chapter 6)
'New Actors in Corrections. Governing offender rehabilitation through the voluntary sector and
peer mentor in England and Wales’. Invited paper delivered to Institute of Criminal Justice
Research, University of Southampton, Wednesday 25th February 2014. (This paper was based on
work contained in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3)
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“Old lags, wise friends or new experts?’ Ex-offenders and the ‘rehabilitation revolution.’ Paper
delivered to the British Criminology Conference ‘Crime, Justice, and Welfare: Can the Metropole
Listen?’ 10-12 July 2014, University of Liverpool. (This paper was based on work contained in
Chapter 2, Chapter 3 and Chapter 6)

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Abstract

Successive governments have envisaged an increasingly central role for the penal voluntary
sector in a community justice marketplace in England and Wales. The recent Coalition
government’s (2013) Transforming Rehabilitation reform agenda served to mainstream the
diverse charities of the penal voluntary sector in the reconfiguration of work formerly the
preserve of a statutory Probation Service and more latterly independent, Probation Service
Trusts. In addition a less well remarked theme in the government reforms was the incorporation
of ex-offender peer mentor volunteer roles into the penal sphere.
By an analysis of government strategic documents and empirical research into a single case study
of a penal voluntary sector charity, this thesis analyses two new voluntary sector actors in
community justice. It offers a thematic analysis of a case study of St Giles Trust, an important
and high profile charity in the penal voluntary sector and secondly, it offers a critically analysis
of empirical research into individual volunteers by a specific focus upon the subjective
understandings, experiences and practices of ex –offender peer mentor volunteers.
The research questions relate to the relationship between neoliberal penal reforms and
marketization strategies and the penal voluntary sector’s institutionalisation and independence
from government noting the extent to which a penal voluntary sector charity can expand penal
power and concomitantly be able to deliver real benefits for service users. The thesis also sheds
light on the multiplicity of subjective understandings of peer mentoring including consideration
of the extent to which such roles reflect government agendas to reduce recidivism and manage
risk and to what extent is the peer mentoring role is imbued with acts of kindness and care.
Whilst recent academic attention of the penal voluntary sector has identified significant
heterogeneity amongst the sector, the thesis makes an original contribution to knowledge by a
detailed analysis of the internal hybridity and diversity inherent within a single penal voluntary
sector organisation. The thesis notes how the involvement in marketization and contractual
relations with government impact unevenly within St Giles Trust and the peer mentor led
delivery. It presents research findings which detail an array of ways in which the charity has
been influenced by government penal agendas. However, St Giles Trust’s contractual relations
with government to deliver key interventions in the penal sector do not preclude an
independence of voice and action and a freedom to follow their charitable mission through
multiple sources of funding and an innovative peer mentor delivery model .

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Contents

Voluntary sector actors in community justice: A case study of St Giles Trust and ex-offender peer
mentoring ............................................................................................................................................. 10
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 10
Chapter One: New voluntary actors and the architecture of community justice in late modernity .... 16

Late modernity and challenges to crime control .............................................................................. 16
New economic and social realities and the relationship to crime .................................................... 19
Neoliberal and Conservative mentalities as an antidote to late modern problem of crime. ........... 20
Conservative, law and order government agendas .......................................................................... 21
The turn to Neoliberal governmental rationalities ........................................................................... 23
Analysing plurality in Community Justice - Foucault’s governmentality thesis ................................ 26
The Neo–Liberal penal subject – empowered and responsible. ...................................................... 28
The need for a Liquid penology - shadow states and plural punishment ......................................... 31
Conclusion – The penal voluntary sector and peer mentor volunteer in community justice ........ 36
Chapter 2: The ‘hyperactive mainstreaming’ of the penal voluntary sector in community justice in
England and Wales ................................................................................................................................ 41

Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 41
The call to the Penal Voluntary sector to reform public services ..................................................... 41
Defining the core characteristics of ‘a loose and baggy monster” ................................................... 42
Constructing the penal voluntary sector as governable terrain ....................................................... 46
A “penal baggy monster”? - Scope and Scale of the Penal Voluntary Sector ................................... 48
The Charity and Punishment Nexus .................................................................................................. 51
The Voluntary Sector with Probation - cooperation and complementary practice ......................... 51
Third Sector for the Third Way: Labour government and community justice reform 1997-2010 .... 52
The Carter Review of Correctional Services: ‘End to end’ management and the pluralisation of
community justice ............................................................................................................................. 55
The Coalition government, austerity and the development of the “Big Society” in England and
Wales................................................................................................................................................. 57
Breaking the Cycle via a ‘Big Society’: The Coalition government and community justice reform 60
‘Transforming Rehabilitation’: The Penal Voluntary sector as Probation in a marketised community
justice ................................................................................................................................................ 62
Wither the Transformation of Rehabilitation? Post-Coalition penal reform ................................... 66
Key themes for research: The effects of Neoliberal reforms on the Penal Voluntary sector........... 69
Risks for the penal voluntary sector in the marketization of community justice ............................. 69
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“Stick to your Knitting!” Maintaining independence and distinctiveness or co-option to the state?
.......................................................................................................................................................... 71
Mission creep and turning private? The impact of Neoliberal contract culture on the penal
voluntary sector in a community justice market. ............................................................................. 74
The penal voluntary sector and payment by results (PbR): Crime controlled or harnessing
innovation? ....................................................................................................................................... 76
Conclusion – The State and Penal Voluntary Sector - From working together to market
competition ....................................................................................................................................... 79
Chapter 3: Peer mentor volunteers and the governance of community justice in England and Wales
.............................................................................................................................................................. 83

The penal voluntary sector and volunteering ................................................................................... 83
Governmental mainstreaming of the volunteer ............................................................................... 85
“Using the products of the problem to help solve the problem” - Early advocates of the ‘offender
as correctional manpower’ ............................................................................................................... 87
Governing penal reform: Peer mentors and reconfiguring the ex-offender .................................... 90
“Similarity breeds approbation”. The elastic construction of ‘peer mentoring’. ............................ 94
Peer Mentoring and an evidence base. ............................................................................................ 95
Birds of a feather desist together? Peer mentoring and leaving crime behind ............................... 98
Mutual aid, Generativity and Desistance from crime ..................................................................... 103
Chapter 4: Research Methodology: Voluntary sector actors in community justice ........................... 106

Epistemology ................................................................................................................................... 106
Key research questions ................................................................................................................... 109
Governmentality as Epistemology .................................................................................................. 109
Governmentality and empirical research ...................................................................................... 110
Research Methodology ................................................................................................................... 113
St Giles Trust and Case Study design .............................................................................................. 114
St Giles Trust as emblem of the penal voluntary sector ................................................................. 117
St Giles Trust peer-led delivery model ............................................................................................ 118
St Giles Trust Programmes at the time of Transforming Rehabilitation (2013) reform agenda ... 118
St Giles Trust and developing a penal mission ................................................................................ 120
Research through relationships: Reflecting upon the research process at St Giles Trust. ............. 123
Semi-structured interviews ............................................................................................................. 127
Documentary analysis ..................................................................................................................... 131
Ethical issues in research ................................................................................................................ 134
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‘Making sense after seeing things’: Thematic Coding and data analysis using qualitative data
analysis software............................................................................................................................. 137
Chapter 5: Crime Controlled? Responsibilisation and agency in the penal voluntary sector ............ 145

Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 145
Constructing the Thematic Network ............................................................................................... 147
Crime Controlled: governing crime reduction through the penal voluntary sector ...................... 151
St Giles Trust contracting with the state: Mission drift or the fining tuning of purpose .... 155
‘Charitable and correctional’: targeting risk and criminogenic need and the end of
universalism. .............................................................................................................................. 157
Conditionality and acceptable enforcement in service delivery .................................................... 160
Responsibilisation and replacing the statutory sector ................................................................... 161
The Penal Voluntary sector: Controlling the charitable mission .................................................... 164
St Giles Trust: “Sticking our necks out” and keeping a critical voice ............................................. 167
“We will just walk away”: St Giles Trust agency and resistance to co-option by the state .. 169
Multiple funding and ‘multiple faces’ of the penal voluntary sector. ................................... 172
Resistance and adaptation to working with penal agendas ........................................................... 177
“St Giles Trust are not the prison but they are in the prison”: Reforming the penal system from the
inside ............................................................................................................................................... 180
St Giles Trust: A ‘desistogenic’ place to ‘go straight’ ............................................................... 184
St Giles Trust and Institutional Generativity and mutual aid .......................................................... 186
The underpinning values of a “desistogenic place”- Acceptance, De-Labelling and unconditional
trust ................................................................................................................................................. 188
St Giles Trust as a family: Intersectionality, belonging and the importance of familial bonds ...... 192
The volunteer peer mentor as bulwark against St Giles Trust mission drift .................................. 196
St Giles Trust, structural constraints and not moving on .............................................................. 198
St Giles Trust as a ‘Hybrid’ penal voluntary sector organisation .................................................... 200
Chapter 6: Governmental and subjective rationalities of the ex-offender as ‘peer mentor’ ............ 203

Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 203
Governing Rehabilitation: Technologies of power and technologies of the self. .......................... 203
Thematic Network .......................................................................................................................... 204
Technologies of Power: The governmental mainstreaming of the peer mentor as ‘active
rehabilitation subject’ or ‘self-correcting offender’ ....................................................................... 207
Peer Mentoring and improving the penal system .......................................................................... 212
Technologies of the self and subjective constructions of peer mentoring..................................... 214
Subjective rationalities of Peer mentors: Morality, Instrumentalism and individualism ............... 214
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‘Getting Ahead’: Instrumental rationalities in peer mentor motivations ....................................... 216
The peer mentor as the self-correcting offender: Active, resilient and personally responsible .... 220
Generative, disciplinary and surveillant peer mentor subjectivities ............................................. 225
Disciplinary Power: Making the right choices and doing the right thing ........................................ 227
Peer mentoring, identity and the desistance from crime ............................................................... 231
Subjectivities, life changes or new beginnings ............................................................................... 234
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 237
Chapter 7: ‘Making up’ the peer mentor as the professional ‘ex’-offender: contested knowledge and
new skills in community justice .......................................................................................................... 238

Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 238
Constructing the Thematic Network ............................................................................................... 238
Peer mentors and experiential expertise ....................................................................................... 239
New markets and new knowledges ................................................................................................ 241
The Probation field and boundaried knowledge ............................................................................ 243
Empirical research findings: The governmental and subjective construction of the peer mentor
through experiential knowledge and expertise .............................................................................. 246
Experiential knowledge and peer mentor subjectivities: The importance of “having been there”
........................................................................................................................................................ 250
The ex –offender as peer mentor- Abandoning the deviant past or legitimizing knowledge for peer
mentor future. ................................................................................................................................ 252
Peer Mentor subjectivities: ‘knowledge’ and ‘gaming the system’ ................................................ 256
Street level knowledge and gaming the system ............................................................................. 258
‘Having been there’ as a community justice practice ‘tool’ ........................................................... 259
New Knowledge and a Crisis of Legitimacy for the Statutory Sector ............................................. 261
Value limits of the statutory sector ................................................................................................ 264
Knowledge limits of the statutory sector........................................................................................ 266
Peer Mentor roles and the undermining of formal statutory supervision ..................................... 268
Conclusion: Peer mentors and transformation in the community justice role .............................. 270
Conclusion: Discovering the penal voluntary sector........................................................................... 271

Summary of Research Findings: St Giles Trust as Neoliberal and Generative ................................ 272
Governmental and Subjective constructions of ex-offender peer mentoring volunteering .......... 276
A desistogenic place for reinvention .............................................................................................. 277
Understanding complex and inconsistent research findings .......................................................... 280
Governing Rehabilitation ‘at a distance’ ......................................................................................... 281
Governing Rehabilitation ‘through individual freedom’ ................................................................. 284
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Hybridisation as key to conceptualising charity in the Penal Voluntary Sector ............................. 286
Voluntary Actors in Corrections: Shaping future research agendas ............................................... 291
References .......................................................................................................................................... 294

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Voluntary sector actors in community justice: A case study of St Giles
Trust and ex-offender peer mentoring

Introduction

The transformations in the penal system have long been central interests for criminology. Indeed
the transformations in the conceptualisation and delivery of punishment seems to be a key
feature of the discipline of criminology in contemporary times. Whether we are witnessing a post-
modern penality (Pratt 2000), a new penology (Feeley and Simon 1992), a culture of control
(Garland 2001) or an eclectic mix of volatile and contradictory arrangements (OMalley 1997),
theorists all agree that penal arrangements are undergoing significant transformation away from
universal welfarist rehabilitative practice. Indeed in summarising the extent of change, Daems
(2008) notes that whilst the analytical labels capturing penal change are many, one agreement
is indeed that transformation is an inherent feature within the field. Central to these analyses of
transformation are both the radical changes in punitive mentalities, that is the values and ethics
underpinning new modes or technologies of punishment.
This thesis takes as its central concern the governmental mainstreaming of the penal voluntary
sector actors in community justice earmarking a radical shake up with respect to who delivers
punishment in England and Wales. It traces the development of the penal voluntary sector in
community justice as a result of a Neoliberal restructuring of the field to incorporate a diverse
array of voluntary and private providers and individual volunteer actors in a community justice
and rehabilitation marketplace. It is worth noting that much more has been written and
understood about earlier Neoliberal transformations in social care, health and education than
the penal sphere. As Salamon (1989, 2015:2149) has noted despite the mainstreaming of the
voluntary sector in a plethora of policy fields including punishment and rehabilitation services,
the relationship between government and charity have “largely escaped close scrutiny and serious
public and policy attention”. Similarly, Corcoran (2011) has noted that the voluntary sector
organisations in punishment and rehabilitation is under researched and despite the pioneering
empirical research of Tomczak (2016) on the penal voluntary sector in England and Wales, the
academic research agenda can only be described as embryonic at present. In addition, the edited
collection on the Voluntary Sector Institutions and Individuals in Prisons by Abrams, Hughes,
Meek and Inderbitzin (2016) is heralded by Shadd Maruna as a “first of its kind collection”. In this
collection the need to contribute to knowledge in this particular field is noted by Abrams etal
(2016:4) when they state, “while the voluntary [or Third] sector is largely responsible for a diverse
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