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Prisoner Policy Network

The Prisoner Policy Network (PPN) is an emerging network of current serving prisoners, ex-prisoners and connected organisations who want to share their experiences and ideas with policy makers. The PPN aims to share the views of people with experience of living in prison with those involved in prison policy development nationally through research, consultation and reports.

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Latest news & updates: Prisoner Policy Network

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01 / 06 / 22

Consultation launched on ethnicity and prisoners’ experience

PPN seeks views from inside on how ethncity and race affects experience of prison

Prisoner Policy Network reports

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Our current consultation question

How does my ethnicity or race affect my experience of prison?

Our latest national consultation is open to people from all backgrounds and ethnicities; so please let us know what you think.

Deadline for submissions 1st August 2022.

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PPN team

  • Paula Harriott Head of Prisoner Engagement
    Paula was previously Head of Involvement at Revolving Doors Agency 2015–2017, where she provided consultancy to two Big Lottery programmes on service user involvement, as well as supporting the acti...ve involvement of the Lived Experience Team in the national Liaison and Diversion service. As Head of Programmes at User Voice 2010–2015 she led on development of service user involvement in prison and probation, as well as forensic mental health services. She is a steering group member of Agenda, the coalition that seeks to support women and girls at risk and is a passionate advocate for highlighting the inequalities that affect vulnerable people in the criminal justice system and a trustee of the Community Chaplaincy Association. Her passion for working with excluded members of the community stems from personal experiences as a prisoner 2004-2012. Her personal experiences and associated research – The experience of being a female prisoner Listener, a qualitative study submitted as part of a post graduate diploma in integrative psychotherapy, and The Health Needs of Women Offenders in Resettlement, commissioned by HOB PCT – sharpened her commitment to raising awareness of the issues faced by prisoners and to campaign and proactively deliver services which support both prisoners and ex-offenders to progress personally and strategically past the stigma of imprisonment and multiple exclusion.
  • Soruche Saajedi Prisoner Engagement Manager
    Soruche has been working at PRT since September 2018, having previously graduated in MSc Public Policy at University of Bristol. Since joining the engagement team he has been working primarily on the ...Prisoner Policy Network, helping to grow and maintain membership, and helping to conduct consultations across the country on prison policy issues.
  • Marc Conway Prisoner Engagement Coordinator
    Marc has been working in some capacity with PRT since 2018, having joined as part of a development contract while still a serving prisoner serving an IPP sentence at HMP Spring Hill. Travelling in to ...work every day on licence until his release from prison, Marc has now worked across three teams at PRT: the Advice & Information team, Policy & Communications, and has now found his home with the engagement team where he coordinates our community network made up of former prisoners and family members.
  • Femi Laryea-Adekim Prisoner Engagement Coordinator
    Femi is a previous member of our Prisoner Policy Network who has now found himself working for the engagement team at PRT. Having spent a short sentence at HMP Pentonville where he was introduced to t...he network through a prison officer, Femi is now a valued member of  staff at PRT. His role primarily consists of providing admin support and coordinating PPN activities, especially in relation to projects in collaboration with the Building Futures team.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

  • The PPN was launched in July 2018 as part of the Prison Reform Trust’s strategic objective to give prisoners a stronger influence in how policy on prisons is made. It is:

    • A FREE to join network of prisoners, ex-prisoners, relatives and supporting organisations;
    • Hosted by the Prison Reform Trust; and
    • Makes sure that prisoners’ experiences are part of prison policy development nationally.

    It is an emerging network of current serving prisoners, ex-prisoners and connected organisations who want to share their experiences and ideas with policy makers. The PPN aims to share the views of people with experience of living in prison with those involved in prison policy development nationally through research, consultation and reports.

    We ask members to share their expertise and experience to develop practical solutions to some of the big challenges facing our prisons. It provides a space to share ideas and have them heard by a much wider audience. We then draw together all the responses and include them anonymously in a final published report, which is then shared with officials and ministers who have the power to make changes to prison policy.

    • Reforming how prisons operate is a complex task—changing the policy that directs the practice is key to achieving this.
    • Prison policy is developed through research, consultations and debate but prisoners are rarely part of the process.
    • The Prisoner Policy Network will be a collective voice using the Prison Reform Trust’s connections and expertise to make sure that the prisoner viewpoint—the lived expertise of imprisonment—is both heard and used in policy.
    • As an individual prisoner; by writing, phoning (or sending an email if you can).
    • If we can and there is an existing group or prison council who want us to, we will come to support a workshop at your prison.
    • When you make a contribution please send us your name, prison number and the prison you are in, or your address if you have been released. We will take this as your formal application to join the network.
    • Any published contributions will be anonymised.
    • Look out for the details of the PPN in Inside Time, and on National Prison Radio.

  • Write

    Prisoner Policy Network c/o
    Prison Reform Trust FREEPOST ND 6125
    London EC1B 1PN

    Phone

    Call our main switchboard on 020 7251 5070 and ask to speak to the PPN

    This line will be answered between 9.30am and 5.00pm, Monday to Friday except bank holidays and is globally cleared for all prisoners

    Email

    ppn@prisonreformtrust.org.uk