King’s Conference: Looking at Life Behind Bars
King’s Sixth Formers got a look at life behind bars when three former prisoners visited A Level students to tell of the harsh reality of a criminal conviction. The day-long conference ‘Behind Bars: Crime & Deviance’ was hosted by King’s and run by True Life Conferences to examine whether our prisons should be for punishment, retribution or rehabilitation.
The conference aims to cover issues including crime prevention, the legal system, forensic psychology, drug awareness, mental health awareness and tackling stereotypes. Carey Ratcliffe, King’s Psychology teacher, said: “Learning from those who have lived part of their lives behind bars gives our students a real-life glimpse not only of the true consequences of crime but of the many professionals who dedicate their lives to helping them change their behaviour.”
Joining King’s pupils for the day were fellow A-Level Psychology students from Stockport Grammar School and Manchester High School for Girls.
Conference Manager Andrew Lewis introduced former prisoners Brian and Jim who spoke not just of the difficulties of life behind bars, but reflected on their crimes and the impact of a criminal record on their opportunities after release.
Andrew, from True Life, said: “We aim to show young people who want to work in related sectors such as the Law, policing, social work, psychology and prison welfare what the costs and realities of prison life are. What it is like to be labelled and then dealing with what can be a life-long stigma. We ask pupils to examine whether prison is really the best solution for some offences and whether the short sharp shock approach ever works. We also look at more serious offending, how those offenders think, and how we manage the segregation of dangerous individuals from society and the nature of punishment for wrong doing.”
