Dr Jo Bailey-Noblett

Jo gained her PhD for research in Criminology in April 2020.

The focus of her research was on prison officers perspectives of their understanding of rehabilitation and desistance and their role in supporting prisoners to change their criminal lifestyles.

Ideas for further research would be to look at the influence female officers have had on the prison regime and in particular their approaches to rehabilitation and desistance support for those in custody. And, how humane is the prison regime in Scotland and the UK. Her previous employment with Skills Development Scotland included working strategically for the Scottish Government on employability of offenders in custody and working in partnership with the Scottish Prison Service and Scottish Police Service initiatives and committees developing various strategies that focused on education, employment and training opportunities for those people leaving prisons.

At a practical level she designed a pre-release programme with contributions from prison officers and prisoners in HMP Barlinnie, which was facilitated by prison officers. An independent evaluation by the Job Centre Plus Government Agency identified the programme as an example of good practice.

Recent publications

‘Residential Wings Regime: An Impediment to Rehabilitation of Prisoners?’ The article reviews the regimes on residential wings and what prison officers consider they can feasibly undertake on their shift to support prisoners to attend purposeful activities, maintain contacts in their community and prepare for release and employment. https://howardleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/ECAN-bulletin-Spring-2019.pdf Bailey-Noblett, J. (2020). Prison Staff Perceptions of their Role in the Rehabilitation & Desistance Support of Prisoners. PhD. University of Strathclyde.