FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Save the Dates:

PORSCH Conference 2025

Tuesday July 15th 2025 at The Hub, Durham University, Durham.

This 1 day conference is being organised to celebrate 20 years of the PORSCH network. The conference will concentrate on how to move the CJS forward, reduce the prison population and improve the resettlement and rehabilitation of offenders as well as supporting staff working with offenders.

Professor Graham Towl will chair the day.

Joy Allen, Durham Police & Crime Commissioner will introduce the day

Professor Andrew Gray will give the inaugural ‘Professor Andrew Gray Lecture’

Professor Alison Liebling, Paula Harriott and Andi Brierley will give keynote lectures.

Other confirmed speakers include:

Professor Amanda Perry; Associate Professor Wendy Dyer; Dr Stephanie Scot; Nicola Cadett.

To register your interest, please use the contacts page above.

Potential themes for future events:

PORSCH is now organising in-person events for 2024/5. Contributions of ideas or content to these will be welcomed - please use the contact page. PORSCH events are part of its initiative to enhance offender health research and development capacity. Current events in planning are:

Support & Housing for Offenders released early. (On-line Autumn 2025)

The effect of custody on women and families. (In-person for Autumn 2025)

All these and other events will be announced here and communicated via the membership e-mail news service. If you would like to hear more or would like to contribute, please get in touch via the Contact page. 

Previous Events

Physical Health of Offenders:

This event, chaired by Dr Jon Carey, was held on March 19th 2025 at the Fenton Lounge, Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough.

Dr Brian Docherty gave the keynote speech. He has been a prison and community GP since the seventies; a former Vice-Chair and Chair of County Durham and Darlington Health Authority; a non - executive director of its successor Strategic Health Authority; and for four years, the Medical Director for the Durham Cluster of Prisons. Dr Docherty recounted the changes in Prison Health over the past five decades offering insights and suggestions for the future in his talk, The Mulberry Bush Revisited.

He recommended two reports:

NCEPOD - Prison Healthcare (2024)

patient_or_prisoner_rps.pdf

Angela Spence, Director of Nursing & Head of Healthcare HMP Frankland from Spectrum Community Health CIC presented: Bridging Care Through Collaboration: HMP Frankland Virtual Ward. Her talk offered a new model for developing collaborative model of care with local health services.

Dr Ross Huddlestone from Ridgeway Secure Psychiatric Services discussed: ‘GP Services in Ridgeway - Primary Care in a Secure Unit’. He offered a new way of working as a GP in forensic services by encouraging service users to register with his Zetland GP practice, they would be registered as a branch practice and have all the benefits of being registered with a GP practice.

Dr Anne Aboaja & Sarah Bentley discussed Ridgeways Sleep Research Project: Sleep Intervention Effectiveness Study Tailored for Adult Inpatients (SIESTA). They explained that their aim is to co-design a low-intensity sleep intervention for inpatients by recruiting patients, staff and carers to have their say on what they believe can improve sleep for inpatients. They plan to triangulate surveys, focus groups and a systematic review to develop a sleep intervention and outcome measures.

PowerPoints are available on request by using the contact page above.

Ethics in Research: Perspectives from the NHS and HMPPS.

This on-line workshop, chaired by Prof. Graham Towl on the 31st of October 2024, was presented by Kevin Ahmed, from the Health Research Authority and Katie Hughes from the Ministry of Justice.

Kevin talked about the submission and approval process for REC applications and offered practical advice on making a successful application using the IRAS system.

Katie discussed the additional need for NRC approval to carry out research with HMPPS staff or offenders in prisons or the community.

PowerPoints from both presentations are available on request using the contact’s page.

The Prisoner Buddy Support Programme in North East Prisons

This on-line workshop was presented by Angela Craggs, Durham County Council on  Monday 8th July 2024.

The workshop explained how the Buddy Support Worker Programme for prisoners was developed and described how the Programme places a robust system around the recruitment, management and supervision of Buddies in delivering support to prisoners.

What Next for Offender Health?

 Held on the 22nd of May 2024 at the Durham Centre, this event looked at what impact will the increasing and changing composition of the offender population have on its health and wellbeing and those of the staff that serve them? What are the primary care challenges to offender health? What impact will change to national mental health care provision have on the services for the offender population? What will be the impact on offender health and social care commissioning of the changing health care needs and health and justice services? What are the challenges for health and justice of changing information technologies and artificial intelligence?

The speakers were:

 What Next for Prisons? 

Simon Walters, Director of North East Prison Group

 What Next for Health and Justice Commissioning?

Jessica Redhead, Head of Health and Justice, NHS England (North East and Cumbria)

 What Next for Enhanced Primary Care?

Linda Harris, CEO of Spectrum Community Healthcare CIC

 What Next for Mental Health Services?

Lisa Taylor, Director of Operations and Transformation, Health and Justice Services, Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS FT

Challenges of conducting research in prisons

Held on the 19th April 2024 at the Durham Centre, Belmont Industrial Estate, Durham. Speakers were Dr Alice Bennett, Dr Sarah Leonard, Dr Jennifer Rainbow & Dr Christina Straub. This event heard from academic and practitioner perspectives on prison research and went on to discuss how early career researchers could be supported; how people with intellectual disabilities or different literacy levels could be included; the need for good supervision and self care for researchers.

PowerPoints available using the contacts page.

Building a Community of Research Practice for Offender Health:

A round table event of interested contributors that looked at furthering research into offender health in the region.

Further Developments in the Health and Wellbeing of Female Offenders

20 June 2023 Included sessions on:

Female Recovery through Engagement and Empowerment (FREE) DI Michel Bostock, Durham Police,

The reception health screening template for female offenders Charlotte Winter, Health and Justice, NHS England (North East and Cumbria),

The ‘Believed' project - RSACC specialist sexual violence service in Low Newton Dr Kate O’Brien, Durham University, and Isabel Owens (CEO, RSACC)

AgeUK programme for older prisoners in HMP Low Newton Joe Peterson, AgeUK North East Prisons

Meeting Needs and Building Resilience of Health and Justice Staff in the Criminal Justice System: Report from Project 1: What so we currently know?

November 30th, 2022. This event received and discussed the commissioned report from Nichola Cadet (Sheffield Hallam University) and Dr Dan Rippon (Northumbria University). The findings identified risk and protective factors evident in the research literature, policy documents and published workforce data on health and justice staff.

Developments in the Health and Wellbeing of Female Offenders

9th March 2022. First of two workshops. Programme included:  Physical Health Inequalities in Imprisoned Women with Serious Mental Illness by Prof Tammi Walker, Professor of Forensic Psychology, Durham University; A Place To Be by Lisa Boyack and Dawn Harrison, Changing Lives, on their creative work with women involved in the criminal justice system; The intergenerational traumatic impact of maternal imprisonment by Sophie Mitchell, Lecturer, Northumbria University; Evidence for Effectiveness of Health and Social Care Interventions in the Secure Women’s Estate by Dr Nat Wright and Pip Hearty, Research Team, Spectrum CIC.  

Meeting Needs and Building Resilience of Health and Justice Staff in the Criminal Justice System: developing a research and support programme.

PORSCH held three events on this in 2021 :

(a) Workshop that formulated an outline Research and Service Development Programme, 23 September 2021. based on work of (b) and (c):

(b) Planning Group Workshop on Wednesday 13th May 2021. that built on January conference and produced a set of programme objectives, methods, and resource requirements.

(c) Supporting Health and Justice Staff in the Criminal Justice System: what is needed and what can be provided? A Video Conference held on Wednesday 27th January 2021 that (1) identified the health and wellbeing needs of health and justice staff in facing the challenges of service provision for offenders both in general and during the Covid-19 pandemic, and (2) considered a range of support services for staff in meeting these needs.

Autism and Consent:  how the neuro-divergent person is treated less fairly in the Criminal Justice System.

A webinar led by Ann Attwood and Professor Elaine Hall (Northumbria Law School) 9th September 2021 (postponed from March 2020) that enhanced understanding of the concept of consent among those with an autistic spectrum disorder and considered effective policy and practice for criminal justice and health organisations in providing their services

Sexual Violence in Further and Higher Education

A conference held on the 16th July 2019 at New College Durham. This event focused on raising awareness of and preventing sexual violence in further and higher education. Discussions included developing policy and practice for increasing reporting rates, how sexual violence in educational institutions sits within what we think we know about sex offenders including their health and social care conditions, and potential new research and development directions on tackling sexual violence. The programme included: Sexual Violence in Further and Higher Education: A View from the Office for Students (Emma Douthwaite, Safeguarding and Welfare Manager), New research into sexual violence in FE (Rachel Watters – NUS Women’s Officer), FE and HE – addressing sexual violence (Karl Fairley and Andrew Stephenson, Vice Principals at New College), Disability and the Intersectional Context of Sexual Violence in FE and Transitions into HE (Amelia McLoughlan, Durham University), The Role of Sexual Assault Referral Centres (Alison Foster, The Meadows, Sexual Assault Referral Centre Durham), Future Directions (Dr Tammi Walker, Huddersfield University)

Understanding Addiction:  Determinants of Dependence and Response, conference 27th March 2019 Durham. Event increased awareness and understanding of the dependency in addiction and examined psychological ad pharmacological responses with particular reference to secure settings. Programme included: The Biology of Dependence by Dr Mohammed Shoaib, Psychosocial Treatment of Dependence by Dr Kirk Musgrave, Pharmacological Management by Prof Eilish Gilvarry.

The Changing Role of the Chaplaincy in the Changing Criminal Justice System; a seminar led by Rev Kate Brooke, Managing Chaplain HMP Holme House, 5th March 2019, at Collingwood College Durham University. Kate raised awareness of the changing role of the Chaplaincy within prisons and considered the challenges to its effectiveness in both a more secular world and one dominated by management performance that did not recognise the ability of chaplaincy to connect with the ‘beingness’ of offenders.

Forensic Aspects of Sleep: research and service developments (with Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS FT, and with CrimNEt Uiversity of York) Wednesday 23rd January  2019, Middlesbrough. Whole day conference of practitioners and academics to forge coalitions of interest around future research and service developments. Programme included: Dr Helen Oatway: Sleep disturbance in clinical settings; Dr Gethin Rees: Sexsomnia as a legal defence; Dr Scott Cairney: Measuring sleep and sleep deprivation; Dr Jack Kennedy: Measuring sleep in a young forensic population using accelerometers; Dr Paul Reading: Measuring inadequate sleep and its effects beyond sleepiness, and contriuitions from those suffering from sleep disorders.

Trauma and Resilience in Children and Young People’s Mental Health (with Northern England Clinical Networks and NHS England Health and Justice North East and Cumbria) 19th November 2018, Chester-le-Street. The wide ranging programme included a family centred approach to building resilience and sessions on trauma recovery with young people who offend. Service users and carers also contributed.

Prolific Self Harm Briefing for Ministry of Justice Prison Safety Team Ministry of Justice:  13th November 2018 Durham. Ministry of Justice official reported the following key take-home messages from this round table meeting: Make use of every prison staff member, and major on staff support; The importance of contact with prisoners’ families; Improve links to voluntary and third sector organisations; Build a team who can provide insights into specific cohorts (where there are spikes); Communicate widely and look for peer endorsement

Food for Thought?  Nutritional Challenges in Prisons  (24th July 2018, Durham). This seminar raised awareness of the links between nutrition, health and behaviour for those in prisons. The programme included: Diet and Nutrition – Evidence and Issues for the Prison Population (Kevin Williamson, Consultant Nutritionist, Clinical Lead, Centre for Nutrition and Behaviour, Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust) and The Addictive Properties of Food and Food Products (Louis Palmer, Research Assistant, Centre for Nutrition and Behaviour, Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust).

Research and Development in Forensic Psychiatry, North East and Yorkshire (14th May 2018, Middlesbrough). This joint event with Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust and CrimNet from the University of York presented Current and Planned Research and Development Projects in Offender Mental Health in TEWV, PORSCH, CrimNet and NIHR, described research support and advice services in TEWV, PORSCH, CrimNet and NIHR, and concluded with table sessions to discuss project ideas and support needs.

Offender Learning and Intellectual Disabilities: research and service developments (second conference, 26th April 2018, with CrimNet, University of York). This event was organised as the first on this topic w(January in Durham) was heavily over subscribed. The programme shared recent work on (1) Interventions for Sex Offenders with Learning and Intellectual Disabilities (Dr Kerensa Hocken, HMPPS Midlands Cluster Lead Psychologist for Sexual Offending Strategy); (2) Responsive Prisons? The experiences of prisoners with Learning Disabilities in a High Security Prison (Hayley Sharp,  Forensic Psychologist, HMP Full Sutton), (3) Structured Assessment of Protective Factors for Violence Risk (SAPROV), Learning Disabilities Version (Dr Jon Carey, Community Psychiatric Nurse, and Eric Jones, Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS FT); and (4) Developmental disability and screening in police custody suites - redeveloping and implementing a new risk assessment for police custody officers (Dr Iain McKinnon, Consultant Psychiatrist in Secure Services, Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer in Psychiatry, Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University),

Oral Health and Dental Services in North East Prisons: barriers and enablers to oral health (15th March  2018, Seminar Durham), led by Jonathan Lewney, Specialty Registrar in Dental Public Health, Public Health England. Jonathan reported results from an in-depth review of oral health and dental services in prisons in the North East and Cumbria and discussed potential solutions with seminar participants.

Offenders with Learning and Intellectual Disabilities: research and service developments (23rd January 2018, conference Durham). The programme shared recent work on: (1) Interventions for Sex Offenders with Learning and Intellectual Disabilities (Dr Kerensa Hocken, HMPPS Midlands Cluster Lead Psychologist for Sexual Offending Strategy); (2) Consistent, appropriate and timely response in offender pathways for learning and intellectual disabilities (including Assessment of Risk and Manageability of Individuals with Developmental and Intellectual Limitations who Offend Sexually (ARMIDILOS) (Dr Mark Bradley and Neil Peters, Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS FT), (3) Developmental disability and screening in police custody suites - redeveloping and implementing a new risk assessment for police custody officers (Dr Iain McKinnon, Consultant Psychiatrist in Secure Services, Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer in Psychiatry, Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University), (4) Structured Assessment of Protective Factors for Violence Risk (SAPROV), Learning Disabilities Version (Dr Jon Carey, Community Psychiatric Nurse, and Eric Jones, Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS FT); (5) Coproducing interventions for those with Learning and Intellectual Disabilities in secure units and the community (Dr Tina Cook, Professorial Fellow Department of Disability and Education, Liverpool Hope  University). 

PORSCH supported two events by its partners in the Autumn of 2017: (1) Forensic Future Focus, hosted by Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust Ridgeway Services on 11th October; and (2) Collaborative Commissioning for Mental Health Services for Children and Young People in Contact with the Criminal Justice System, hosted by NHS England Health and Justice Cumbria and North East on September 14th

Alcohol Screening and Brief Interventions for Female Prisoners: a seminar led by Jen Ferguson (13th July 2017, Durham). Jen Ferguson, Graduate Tutor PRSIM-A and PhD student Teesside University, presented ideas for a PhD project to assess the feasibility of brief interventions to address alcohol dependency in the female estate. Participants made very helpful observations and suggestions for developing the project.

Safe Spaces: learning and growth for prisoners: a seminar led by Claire O'Sullivan (6th June 2017, Durham). Claire O'Sullivan, Probation Officer at HMP Frankland, shared findings of her recent Master's research at Cambridge University in which she explored how to provide safe spaces for long term prisoners to grow and develop.

Competent Compassion: a seminar led by Dr Joss Bray (4th May 2017, Durham). Dr Bray outlined his concept and how to measure it in the practice of offender health and social care. A link will be provided soon to the Competent Compassion website.

Prevention of Offender Suicide in the Criminal Justice System (16th March 2017 with Collingwood College Durham University). Topics and speakers included: Suicide Prevention in Prison; evidence informed policy and practice (Prof Graham Towl, Professor of Psychology Durham University; Member, Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody); Cognitive Behaviour Suicide Prevention for Prisoners (Daniel Pratt, Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, University of Manchester); The Risk of Self-harm and Deficits in the Ability to Solve Problems (Dr Amanda Perry, Department of Health Sciences, University of York); Interventions to Reduce Self-harm and Self-inflicted Deaths (David Minchella and Charlotte Randall, Higher Assistant Psychologists, TEWV NHS Trust); Prison Officers’ Experiences of Working with Adult Male Offenders Who Engage in Suicidal Behaviour (Fiona Sweeney, Postgraduate, York University)

Deaths of Offenders in the Criminal Justice System (23rd February 2017, with CrimNet, University of York). An event to support the launch of the University of York Crime Research Network (CrimNet) and PORSCH's membership in Yorkshire. The conference featured national and regional policy, research and service developments. Topics and speakers included evidence from the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody (Juliet Lyons, Chair); A review of criminal justice suicide research (Dr Jane Senior and Dr Tammi Walker, Manchester University); Non-custodial deaths (Dr Jake Phillips, Sheffield Hallam University); Deaths from natural causes in prison culture, regimes and relationships (Carol Robinson, PhD student, York University); The use of prison as a place of safety for women with complex mental health needs (Tamara Pattinson, Office of HM Inspector of Prisons (formerly Governor Staff HMP Low Newton); Prison Suicide and its Regulation (Dr Philippa Tomczak, Criminology Research Fellow, University of Sheffield); Nigel Newcomen (Prisons and Probation Ombudsman) was prevented from attending by train disruption but his talk was available with the others in the conference drop box.

Research Informed Practice for Managing Older Prisoners (11th November 2016, HMP Northumberland, supporting Northumbria University). PORSCH supported this ESRC Festival of Social Science Event event by Paul Biddle and Louise Ridley of Northumbria University at HMP Northumberland that included presentations on the Northumberland Older Prisoners Project, learning and good practice (from the Office of the Prison and Probation Ombudsman), the Older Prisoner Health and Social Care Assessment and Plan pilot, The Tuesday morning 'Inside Out' Club, a group of older prisoners talking about their experiences, and a panel session of questions and answers.

Getting it together: making a positive impact on offender mental health (11th October 2016, Durham, supporting Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust). PORSCH supported and chaired this event by Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys (TEWV) NHS Trust, including the following: Introduction (Brent Kilmurray, Chief Operating Officer, TEWV); The Police Perspective (DCC Simon Nickless, Cleveland Police);The Court Perspective (Roger Elsey, District Judge); The Prison Perspective (Ian Blakeman, Executive Governor HMP Holme House and HMP Kirklevington Grange); The Commissioner's Perspective (Julie Dhuny, NHS England Health and Justice (Cumbria and North East); An International Perspective (Dr Ann Aboaja, MPH MRGPsych, Edinburgh University); How Can We Get it All Together? (Lord Keith Bradley).

Exploring Offender Health and the Role of the Voluntary Sector in the North East (13th September 2016, Durham). PORSCH supported and chaired event with CLiNKS that included sessions on: The Health Landscape – A National Perspective (Anne Fox, Clinks CEO, & Hazel Alcraft, Clinks Health Development Officer); Commissioning for Offender Health in the North East (Julie Dhuny, NHS Health and Justice Head of Commissioning, Cumbria and North East); Women’s Health Research (Dr Mike Chase, University of East London); Showcase voluntary organisation working in the Community: Make Your Way CIC (Loree Moran-Wilson).

The Use of Prison as a Place of Safety for Women with Complex Mental Health Needs (7th June 2016, House of Lords). Tamara Pattinson, who was one of the Governing staff at HMP Low Newton (now with the Office of Her Majesty's Inspector of Prisons) and member of the PORSCH Management Group, has completed this research. Her report is available on the Griffins Society website at http://www.thegriffinssociety.org/our-research/our-research-listings. The Griffins Society funded Tamara’s research. PORSCH supported it including by hosting a focus group in April 2015. The Griffins Society hosted a meeting at the House of Lords on 7th June 2016 to discuss the report. Lord Keith Bradley chaired and guests included Baroness Corston and leading figures from criminal justice and health including the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, the Prison Inspectorate, Prison Governors, the Magistrates Association, the Law Commission, NHS commissioners, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and charities such as Agenda, CLiNKS, The Pilgrim Trust, the Prison Reform Trust and Revolving Doors Agency and academic researchers. At the meeting, Tamara presented her findings and, on behalf of PORSCH, Prof Andrew Gray acted as discussant. Members recognised the findings and agreed on the need to widen mental health screening of women offenders, enhance mental health awareness training throughout the criminal justice system, increase mental health service capacity, and reform the Bail Act.

Arts and Crafts and Offender Health (Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, 2nd March 2016). Included displays of offender arts and crafts and talks on the following; The Koestler Exhibition: an artist's view (Angus Anderson, artist and former chairman Action Space); Outside-in: art as therapy (Julie Bagwash, artist and former service user); Creative Sessions at the Westgate Unit, HMP Frankland (Charlie Darby-Willis, Reader in Residence, and Teresa O'Brien, Art Teacher); Making a Drama in a Women's Prison and its Impact: Key Change (Catrina McHugh, Open Clasp); Durham Ghosts of our Future Project (Sheila Mulhearn, Writer in Residence HMP Durham, and Prof Maggie O'Neill Durham University).

Relationships of Young People Who Offend with People, Services and Substances (with County Durham Youth Offending Service at County Hall, Durham, 14th March 2016). Sessions included: Implementing Youth Justice Policy: evidence from research (Prof Jo Phoenix, Leicester University); Child to Adult Violence Programme: developing, funding and evaluating a new service (Debbie Cooper Gateshead YOT and Jenny Johnstone, Newcastle University); Meaningful Conversations in Youth Justice, County Durham Youth Offending Service SLCN Strategy  (Sarah Caden, Gill Eshelby and colleagues, Durham YOS); Intermediaries to enable communication with children and young people (Amy Harrison and Kimberly Collins, Triangle); 'Me and My Worker’: perspectives of young people, safe carers, and practitioners of developing relationships in child sexual abuse intervention (Josie Philips, Durham University); Structured Assessment of Protective Factors for Violence risk (SAPROV) Youth Version (Jon Carey and Michael Taylor TEWV); What can we do about alcohol related harm amongst young offenders? (Prof Dorothy Newbury-Birch, Teesside University);  Using Asset Plus: YJB holistic single assessment and intervention plan for young people (Tony Hodgson)

The Involvement of Services Users in Offender Health Research and Service Development (15th January 2016, Collingwood College Durham University). Sessions included: The User Voice in Offender Health Research and Service Development (Dr Lucy Wainwright, Research and Evaluation Manager, User Voice, and Tracey, service user); Understanding research, consent and ethics: a participatory research methodology in a medium secure unit for men with a learning disability (Dr Tina Cook, Northumbria University); Creative Sessions: the experience of staff-prisoner team development at the Westgate Unit HMP Frankland (Alice Bennet and Bernadette Connolly, HMP Frankland); Drug rehab service: user engagement in the development of peer mentoring in HMP Frankland (Sue Ford and Debra Johnstone, Lifeline); The Child to Adult Violence Programme (Debbie Cooper and Vicky Harrison, Gateshead Youth Offending Service); Prison health trainers: the role of the service user in development (Kara Danks, PhD student Northumbria University)