Muestra

Well they are incredibly manipulative, they can be incredibly manipulative. Erm, a d I, I thi k that the d p o a l ause su h agg a atio that ou d e asked to go

(Belinda,2,2-7).

Belinda appeared to experience a sense of limited options being open to her; either serve the p iso e s i te ests o fa e ei g dis issed f o he jo . This e t a t suggested that her allegiance and orientation to the prisoners was affected by more threatening

influences: the ill ha e ou . “he pe ei ed the p iso e s as smelling out he lo alt , much like animals used their senses to identify fellow pack members or threatening outside s. He use of the o d mincemeat a d its efe e e to the sa i g ake mincemeat out of ou also o e ed he pe eptio of the p iso e s pote tiall

dest u ti e po e . Pe haps e ause of this, Beli da late i di ated that hilst she as on

their side , , she ai tai ed a dista e et ee he a d he lie t:

We e e t offi e s ight, so the efo e e e e, e e e t thei f ie ds, a d ou

had to keep very distant boundaries, but we were somebody they could go to for help, so e od the ould talk to, so e od , eah e e e t (short pause) we

e e t goi g to epo t the , e e e t goi g to put the o a ha ge, e e e t goi g to, judge the (Belinda,5,5-8).

62

This extract reinforced the notion of Belinda defining her therapeutic role in terms of being different from the officers but also highlighted her awareness of maintaining some safe dista e. Whilst she a e on the side , of the p iso e s, she is ot in their side with them.

Another dimension in which participants experienced their difference from officers was in their acceptance and containment of priso e s e otio al ul e a ilit . Typically, prison offi e s e e pe ei ed the the apists as ei g u a le to deal ith the p iso e s emotional needs because they were too busy, inadequately trained, or unwilling. It is important to say here that the majority of the therapists took care to state that they did not experience all officers this way. Nevertheless, seven out of the eight participants felt that officers were at times unhelpful, insensitive or deliberately persecutory towards the prisoners. As such, the therapists experienced their interactions with prisoners in distress as being qualitatively different from those of the officers. Sarah gave an example of this by des i i g p iso offi e s eha iou hilst she as t i g to o tai a e dist essed prisoner:

There were two male members of staff stood at the door tapping their watches, erm, making it very, very apparent that I needed to be winding up that discussion even though I had a lady literally breaking down in tears in front of me

(Sarah,14,19-22).

B tappi g thei at hes the offi e s o u i ated that, the e is o ti e fo dist ess o e otio . The offi e s appea ed to adopt a e otio all u espo si e sta e, lea i g “a ah to put togethe the pie es of the p iso e ho as breaking do .

E a dis losed ho ha d it as to ai tai o e tio ith the p iso e s e otio al vulnerability when officers displayed so little sensitivity:

You might go to an office with them, with the officers and you know, they want to

hand over about their level of self-ha a d it s all just ki da spoke a out, ell eah it s all a out the past a use is t it, she s got flash a ks at the o e t , it s all spoke a out so asuall , that I thi k so eti es it s ha d as a the apist to, to hold on to the horror of their experiences (Emma,8,6-10).

63

Emma wanted to be able to hold o to the horror of the experiences in order give the prisoner clients an empathic response, reflective of her desire to remain emotionally available to prisoners in a way the officers were not.

Helen conveyed the difference in perspective between her and the officers in respect of a client who suffered from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD):

This particular chappy I had who had OCD he um, it was horrendous because the, the, the um offi e s thought he as putti g it o , a d he as so ippled it. I e never seen anyone so crippled by it. A lot of, lot of work there was needed with him. Erm, and what was sad was that they moved him from somewhere that was getting him the help, which did t ake se se to e at all (Helen, 27,16-21).

Hele des i ed that it as isuall appa e t seen that he lie t as crippled his OCD; her perspective being that he was obviously suffering and in need of therapeutic work. She appeared to find it ha d to ake se se of, a d as sadde ed the offi e s cynical interpretation of his disorder and subsequent unhelpful actions. This extract is i di ati e of the a i hi h the the apists appea ed to o se e a d espo d to p iso e s vulnerability, in contrast to officers who appeared either to fail to notice it or fail to

respond sensitively.

Indeed, some prison officers were seen as being dismissive of therapy. Belinda (14,1) efe ed to a elief that the ap as fluffy bunny rabbits and white clouds a d “a ah said there was a myth in prison that therapists left prisoners in a worse state:

There is sometimes erm, quite unfortunately this label attached to therapists o ki g ith p iso e s, is that e e goi g to ope up all these a s of o s a d that ou k o e e goi g to lea e these i di iduals i a eall dist essed state, a d ou k o e e ot goi g to, I suppose lose do the ate ial that e had been working on (Sarah, 10,18-21).

In several important ways, participants appeared to experience a clear distinction between their role and the relationship they offered to prisoners and the role and relationship offered by the officers.

64

3.2.2S

-

:B

The therapists described extending their commitment to their clients in their interaction with prison staff by adopting a protective or advocate role. This appeared to be in response to it essi g the lie t s ul e a ilit a d the th eat the pe ei ed the offi e s o p iso authorities as posing. As such, participants appeared to take up a middle position from which they attempted to increase the opportunity for the needs of the prisoners to be met. This gi es a se o d ea i g to Hele s e pla atio of he ole: It see s like it s a us a d

the situatio , a d as a the apist ou a e so eti es p i ileged to ot ei g us o a the , ut to e a so eo e i - et ee (Helen, 4,2-3). It could be seen that Helen was

identifying herself as being between two, often opposing sides. This perspective was shared by a number of the participants who linked the hostility between officers and prisoners to their desire to offer the participants some protection. For example, Belinda described a situation in which she acted as a protective intermediary when a client of hers was being transferred to another prison:

When she was transferred, I was asked to stay on to erm, to help her through, and when she was told she was moving, they, the officers and those three [three

officers] was incredibly antagonist, and I was really glad that I was there because

[…] oh o as he, ou k o , t i g to sti he up, a d I thi k he as a ti g a fight, I really do. I think some of the officers wanted a fight. And err so anyway I

ipped that i the ud, sa i g ok, so a d so [prisoner], I goi g to help ou . ‘ight, a d the ould t do a thi g the a d she, she so t of e t do a d e packed her stuff (Belinda, 6,12-18).

This e t a t e po e full o e s Beli da s se se that she eeded to p ote t the prisoner both physically and emotionally. She linked her offer to help the prisoner as being the shield that prevented the officers from doing anything further to antagonise her client – the ould t do a thi g the . “he also aided the offi e s, helpi g the to a hie e their task of moving the prisoner, though it is clear that she was primarily motivated by her o ie tatio to he lie t s eeds. Beli da e t o to sa sometimes we were used as a

idge. A d that s fi e , ; de o st ati g a lea a a e ess a d a epta e of this aspect of her role in the middle.

Barbara adopted an intermediary role that was similarly protective in nature but in contrast to Beli da, the e as o e og itio of he also se i g the offi e s side. He iddle

65

position was akin to that of a translator, helping prisoners to understand and interact with the offi e s. He e, she gi es a e a ple of ho she autio s a p iso e to e a e offi e s unforgiving behaviour:

I so t of e i d hi that, ou e to e a eful ith i te a tio , pa ti ula l ith officers, because one wrong thing written in your personal file by an officer can follo ou a ou d, a d if the e got a g udge agai st ou a d afte all the e o l hu a a d ou k o , I ll a e hi a d the ll ite so ethi g i the file (Barbara,

13,15-18).

The e is a se se that Ba a a a epted the offi e s ali ious eha iou as i e ita le, pa t of thei i ate falli ilit of ei g only human . “he atte pted to d a he lie t s attention to this in order to keep him safe in prison and later she went on to describe how she e te ded he i te edia ole fu the a ti el de elopi g p iso e s asse ti e ess skills in order to empower them in their interactions with the officers.

The participants generally experienced their middle role as being important and valuable, pa ti ula l to the p iso e ; Hele des i ed it as a privilege , to e i this positio . Emma identified challenges associated with this aspect of her role:

They [officers] might, you know, ask you to have a word. Erm, because they know that ou e got a good appo t, o elatio ship ith that i di idual a d I thi k it s very hard (short pause) to so eti es keep a fi g asp of ou ide tit […] it as kinda discussed in our team that we were also kinda advocates for the client, erm, in a place where their autonomy was being erm, kinda taken away from them, to a certain extent (Emma, 14, 14-20).

Emma spoke of the difficulty of retaining a firm identity and role as a therapist because of the pull to assist officers who benefit from the rapport the therapists have with the prisoners. She saw the position of advocate as one that was adopted by the group; the apists see the ole as e essa e ause p iso e s auto o is ei g take a a . She went on to say that because other staff were not helpful in assisting prisoners with practical problems, it e ui es ou to step i hi h pla es a fu the question mark over

your identity Emma, 15, 8-9). In identifying needs on both sides, she experienced

difficulty remaining in the middle rather than being pulled more to one side or the other and also difficulty in retaining her identity as a therapist.

66

I e pe ie i g the halle ges asso iated ith ei g i the iddle , othe pa ti ipants rejected the intermediary role or explicitly attempted to limit the amount to which they were used as an advocate by prisoner-clients. Maria described a process whereby she initially felt the pull to assist prisoners with their practical problems in the absence of help from other staff helping the prisoners:

I d ki d of feel like I ha e to like o ta t people fo the a d do thi gs, so I d e d up u i g a ou d, a d o I e ki da lea t that I just eall ou da ied ith that and I say this is my ole […] if the e e just getti g i to - e e like the so ial worker, which does happen, to try and be a kind of a bit more boundaried about that I think (Maria, 7,14-19)

Maria had learned over time to become more role-boundaried and explicitly explained the limits of her role to prisoners in order to limit her activities to those of a therapist. Rob chose to separate himself as much as possible from the prison regime mainly in order to decrease the role-conflict he would otherwise experience. Here, he describes how his identity would come under threat, limiting his capacity to work as a clinician:

Ki da, ou ole gets, ou k o , ou e ot see just as a the apist ou e see as, a bit more when, you know, you get ingrained into the environment, so, ou e goi g to ACCT (self-harm) e ie s a d ou e ha i g to o e t o this a d that, whereas here [from a psychologically distant position] I can just kinda step back, and not do that