The Lived Experience of 'Carrots' and 'Risks': Voices from within the Criminal Justice System.

Abstract

The current Justice Minister David Gauke has recently announced plans to increase the use of workplace Release on Temporary Licence or ROTL. In this article we draw on data from an on-going Photographic electronic Narrative (PeN) project, initially funded through an ISRF mid-career fellowship, collected from ROTL men on enhanced work placements at LandWorks, an offender resettlement charity based in South Devon. The voices of those on the margins of the criminal justice system, in the spaces between prison and release, are rarely captured. Reflecting on their narratives, we argue that whilst Gauke’s employment and education strategy is laudable, the risks may be considered too high for some, unless provision can be made to fully support and protect individual prisoners when they are on workplace ROTL.