The Locked up Living Podcast: Surviving and thriving in prisons and other challenging environments

In this episode, we hear from Julian Conor Reid, an NHS drug and alcohol recovery worker at HMP Grendon. Julian shares his personal journey of addiction and recovery, highlighting how his own experiences have shaped his career path. He discusses the challenges of alcoholism and the inability to control or moderate drinking. Julian's story offers valuable insights into the world of addiction and the importance of recovery. Tune in to gain a deeper understanding of addiction and the work being done in custodial environments to support individuals on their recovery journey.

TIMESTAMPS

[00:07:22] Addiction and its definition.

[00:08:16] Addiction ahead of other areas.

[00:13:59] Advantage of having a lived experience.

[00:23:32] Limitations/vulnerabilities of having had a lived experience.

[00:28:04] Substance abuse/addiction in prisoners

[00:31:32] Effects of custodial period in addicts

[00:33:59] Environmental effects on addicts

[00:37:02] Toxic compassion in the recovery process

[00:40:35] Application of lived experience in other addict fields.

[00:45:39] Spiritual prominence in addicts.

[00:53:55] Keeping yourself emotionally nourished

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Connect with Jullian Reid on LinkedIn

Thanks for tuning in!

If you liked our show, please LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW, like, and subscribe!

Find us on the following streaming platforms:

Podbean

Apple

Spotify

Google Podcasts

IHeart Radio

See show highlights below.

David Russell is Community Safety & Justice Manager at Midlothian Council and the lead for the development of Restorative Justice. Prior to this he was a senior practitioner with Barnardo's specialising in work with children and young people with harmful sexual behaviour and / or who had experienced sexual abuse or exploitation. David has extensive experience in providing assessments and interventions for vulnerable children, adolescents and adults within the field of sexual harm and

violence and has also worked in custodial settings. David provides training independently on a range of themes about sexual violence and has facilitated multi-disciplinary training internationally. He currently sits on the NOTA Scotland executive committee and is the chair of the Community Justice Scotland network. He is also the chair of the national advisory panel for the third sector organisation, Thriving Survivors in which he supports the practice and development of restorative justice in cases of sexual harm.

Gael Cochrane is a Learning Development and Innovation Lead for Community Justice Scotland, tasked with driving learning through innovation. Gael focuses on the design and delivery of world-class training and professional development in collaboration with justice sector partners and the wider Scottish workforce.

1. The researchers found that reading and transcribing content related to sexual harm had a significant impact on them emotionally.

See the conversation highlights at the bottom

Harry Maguire was the Director of Community Restorative Justice Ireland from 2011-2022. He has a long record in peace work since being released from prison in 1998. A Republican ex-prisoner Harry has spent 25yrs working on peace building projects across Belfast, from Chairing Interaction Belfast a cross community interface project through to spearheading engagement between Nationalist communities and the Criminal Justice System.

The work of developing restorative justice and community safety projects has been the focus of his work for 24yrs. Harry is an accredited restorative practitioner, trainer and facilitator. He is an experienced mediator and has worked with all the agencies that compromise the CJS. Harry views the building of positive working relationships based on mutual respect as key to advancement for communities who wish to have a say on all matters criminal justice.

Harry also chaired the first West Belfast Community Safety Forum, an important and valuable project that was the first opportunity for Community and the CJS to collectively engage across a range of issues. Harry has also sat on the Principle PCSP and the RJ Forum NI.

Harry has travelled the length and breadth of these islands presenting the lessons learned from his experience in developing RJ projects to a wide and varied audience. From communities in need, Criminal Justice Agencies and academia, all have been able to avail of the knowledge gained. This has been  so of the international community who watch and learn from the work of the community based restorative justice programmes in the north.

1. Community Restorative Justice Ireland is involved in restorative justice and restorative practice.

2. They work in communities affected by conflict and violence.

3. They aim to address the underlying issues and not just the presenting issue.

4. They believe in involving the community and individuals in finding solutions.

5. They have seen positive outcomes and resolution through their work.

6. They advocate for strategic approaches and early intervention.

7. They have expanded their work to different areas.

8. They emphasize the importance of understanding the drivers and dynamics of conflict.

9. They believe in teaching conflict resolution skills from a young age.

10. They have worked with both Catholic and Protestant communities.

11. They faced challenges in engaging with the police due to the legacy of conflict.

12. They believe in addressing antisocial behavior, crime, and criminality in the community.

13. They mention violent responses to crime, including executions and beatings.

14. They believe in finding non-violent and dialogue-based solutions.

Welcome back to Locked Up Living Podcast, Today we are joined by Tamara Cherry, who's a trauma researcher, author, and communications consultant who spent the bulk of her career as an award-winning crime reporter in some of Canada's largest newsrooms, including the Toronto Star, the Toronto Sun, and CTV News Toronto. In 2019, she left journalism to launch Pick Up Communications, a public relations firm that supports trauma survivors and relevant stakeholders. She is also the author of the Trauma Beat, a case for rethinking the business of bad news, where she draws on the experiences of more than a hundred trauma survivors from homicides to traffic fatalities, sexual violence, to mass violence as she reflects on all the way she gets things wrong as a crime reporter when she thought she was getting them right.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Connect with Tamara Cherry on LinkedIn

Thanks for tuning in!

If you liked our show, please LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW, like, and subscribe!

Find us on the following streaming platforms:

Podbean

Apple

Spotify

Google Podcasts

IHeart Radio

It is not often that we get to talk to an elite sportsperson (Tanni Grey Thompson excepted) but Jan Rosenthal, midfield giant from the German League talks about his life on the field, the culture enveloping elite and yound players and the challenges of an empty life after retirement or career failure. Jan talks about his own work in helping players and others in making these adjustments. Jan is also notable for being a rare example of an outfield player in a major league, saving a penalty. He didn't even boast about this when I mentioned Wolfsburg in the convesation.

https://gfycat.com/plaintiverawjoey-goalkeeperhighlights

Today’s guest is Jan Rosenthal who is a former professional football player and has played for German First League Clubs like Hannover 96, SC Freiburg and Eintracht Frankfurt.

Eyal has spent his life thinking about the kind of dilemma we mostly seek to avoid. What is it like to work in a prison or a meat packing plant? How does this affect the way you relate to others?

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/books/review/dirty-work-eyal-press.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/16/podcasts/the-daily/the-sunday-read-the-moral-crisis-of-americas-doctors.html

Eyal Press is a writer and journalist who contributes to The New Yorker, The New York Times and other publications. He is also a sociologist with a PhD from New York University which along with his family background goes some way to explaining his deep sensitivity . He was born in Israel and grew up in Buffalo, which served as the backdrop of his first book, Absolute Convictions (2006). His second book, Beautiful Souls (2012), examined the nature of moral courage through the stories of individuals who risked their careers, and sometimes their lives, to defy unjust orders. His most recent book, Dirty Work (2021), examines the morally troubling jobs that society tacitly condones and the hidden class of workers who do them. A recipient of the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism, he has received an Andrew Carnegie fellowship, a Cullman Center fellowship at the New York Public Library and a Puffin Foundation fellowship at Type Media Center. Eyal is also a Podcaster himself cou can see the link in the shownotes.

Jens is a psychologist working in collaboration with HMPPS to understand online radicalisation.

'One of the more sobering findings is the prevalence of mental health issues (in the widest sense) among those labelled as radicalised extremists. Prevalence is quite high, and it is highest among those who got radicalised through online influences. And, as many have expected, autism spectrum condition is at the top of the list, but is by no means the only entry.'

Jens is Associate Professor of Psychology and a member of the Department of Psychology in the School of Social Sciences.

Jens is currently course leader for the MSc Cyberpsychology. In the past, he has been a course leader at the UG level and an Associate Course Leader for the Professional Doctorate in Forensic Psychology. His teaching focuses on Social Psychology and Cyberpsychology. He also regularly supervises 3rd year dissertations, Masters projects and PhD-level projects.

Jens studied at the Universities of Tuebingen, Germany and Massachusetts, US. He completed his doctoral work in 2005 in the area of small group decision-making and negotiation under the supervision of Michael Diehl.

Peter Duffy is a very honest and straight talking man. Since this conversation he has retired from his job in the Isle of Man and the NHS. What a tragic loss. But this, often painful, conversation, tells why he thinks now is the time.

Dr Peter Duffy is a consultant Urological surgeon.  He was lead clinician of the department in Morecambe Bay Trust from 2003 and in about 2008 they won a major national award for the quality and efficiency of this speciality service.  He began to be concerned about the direction of the Trust and eventually stood down from his position as lead clinician and was eventually unfairly dismissed in 2016 after having just won the Trust’s doctor of the year award!

As a whistleblower, it proved impossible to find work in the UK’s NHS and he took up a job on the Isle of Man in early 2017.  In 2018 I won my case for unfair constructive dismissal in the Manchester Employment Tribunal.

In 2020 – 2021 we had the COVID pandemic, which almost completely separated him from his family for some 18 months as a result of the Manx lockdown.  During this period, he was awarded an MBE for his work with the COVID +ve cases on the island.

https://www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/health/lancaster-whistle-blower-peter-duffy-quits-his-profession-amid-fears-hes-being-hunted-by-the-nhs-4173054

Leah Dawang serves as Unyte’s Partnership Cultivation Manager, envisioning all

Check out these links.

https://hubs.la/Q01M4yd20

https://www.linkedin.com/company/integrated-listening-systems/

Jessica Pandian is the author of 'Deaths of racialised people in prison 2015 – 2022: Challenging racism and discrimination.' (link below)

She has an MPhil in Latin American Studies from the University of Cambridge, in which she researched anti-Black policing, gang violence, and racial resistance across Latin America and the Caribbean. Jessica joined INQUEST at the beginning 2021 as a researcher with specialist focus on state violence and structural racism. She now works as a policy and research officer with a broader focus.  

Despite decades of activism from bereaved people and their supporters, too often the deaths of racialised people in prison have been dismissed, and the role of racism has been overlooked and ignored.

INQUEST’s new report, Deaths of racialised people in prison 2015 – 2022: Challenging racism and discrimination, makes a powerful intervention as it uncovers new data and tells the stories of 22 racialised people and how they died preventable and premature deaths in prison.

The report specifically looks at the deaths of Black and mixed-race people; Asian and mixed-race people; Middle Eastern and mixed-race people; people of Eastern European nationality; White Irish people and White Gypsy or Irish Traveller people.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/31/britain-jail-sentence-death-sentence-prisons-justice?CMP=share_btn_link