Solutions Journalism: Prison of the mind

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 15 January 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Around the world, prison populations are bursting at the seams, but in some European countries, they are closing and reoffending rates are down. The trend has been attributed to a novel approach to justice, one that places the mental health of offenders at its heart. Forensic psychologist Dr Jenny Okolo investigates whether prison systems around the world could benefit from a similar approach. Jenny speaks to Dr Marrit de Vries from the Dutch Institute for Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology, to learn about a novel approach to mental health intervention pioneered in the Netherlands. And in Sweden, we hear from Dr Martin Lardén from Karolinska Institutet’s Center for violence prevention, who discusses the efficacy of the Risk-Need-Responsivity model, an approach which positions the offender at the heart of the strategies devised to address the causes of their crime. And Rivelino Rigters, who draws on lived experience from within the criminal justice system, reflects on how a kinder, community-focused approach could stop crime from happening in the first place.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is the documentary from the BBC World Service.
0:05.9	So I've just got home after a really long day on one of the secure psychiatric wards.
0:12.5	I'm Jenny Okolo. I'm an occupational therapist and I work specifically in psychiatry in the UK.
0:18.4	I tried out a sensory group.
0:21.3	I help people that might be suffering
0:23.4	from mental health issues such as psychosis,
0:26.4	depression or eating disorders.
0:28.4	I brought some of my essential oils
0:29.9	and I research how to create your own stressful.
0:34.6	I work specifically in forensic mental health.
0:37.4	That's mental health that intersects with our justice system.
0:43.7	I want to dismantle the idea that committing a crime means your life is over.
0:49.4	I've always looked into why and how we can support people instead.
0:53.4	One of the guys gave me some feedback and said, actually, miss, this was really nice.
0:58.5	Like I've never considered this before.
1:05.5	In many countries around the world, prison populations are exploding.
1:13.8	Prisons in the UK are so full that prisoners are being released early, while the United States has the highest prison population in the world.
1:20.3	But in some European countries, something strange is happening. Prisons are closing, and reoffending rates are down as well.
1:30.5	It's all thanks to a new way of thinking about prisons and prisoners.
1:34.3	It's really about assuming that the people are locked up are human beings.
1:37.9	It really is quite an effective system, more effective than just a general prison sentence.
1:43.2	Because you just don't think of the right question sometimes if you're within a system
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.