Understanding Peer Mentoring in a Women's Prison

• In Event: Prison Working Group: Life in women's prisons: Adjustment, quality of life, and peer support

Abstract

This qualitative study investigates peer mentoring within the context of an operational women's prison in England and Wales, aiming to deepen understanding across three key areas. It explores how both inmates and staff perceive and understand peer mentoring, examines the impact of serving as a peer mentor on incarcerated women, and evaluates the broader implications for prison governance and the continuity of the mentorship role. Adopting a gendered approach, the study prioritises the perspectives and experiences of female peer mentors, conducting interviews and focus groups at HMP Holloway prior to its closure in 2016. Core principles of peer mentoring for incarcerated women, including sameness, authenticity, boundaries, and mutual aid, emerge from the research findings. The study reveals practical and personal gains accruing to peer mentors, such as empowerment and identity repair, while acknowledging role conflict and emotional impact. Peer mentoring also plays a role in facilitating desistance and achieving correctional objectives, reflecting its multifaceted nature within prison settings. The research highlights the utilisation of peer mentors by the prison to support operational functioning and the continuity of mentoring beyond release, albeit with inherent fragility due to mentors' ex-offender status. The conclusion provides a critical and positive assessment of peer mentoring, recommending the recognition and leveraging of mentors' unique strengths and skills, along with increased support and resources for their continued involvement.

Author

• April Smith, University of Portsmouth