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Supporting the mental health of young men in prison: analysing the roles, risks and complexities of peer mentors
Thu, September 4, 5:30 to 6:45pm, Communications Building (CN), CN 2105Abstract
Peer support schemes have become accepted as a feature of social and emotional support across prison systems (Bagnall et al., 2015), and in wider criminal legal practice (Brierley et al., 2025). Research has indicated that there are positive effects both for providers and recipients of peer support, including providing a sense of meaning and purpose in prison, the attainment of new skills, and evidence of potential impact on wellbeing (South et al., 2014, Bagnall et al., 2015). However, these studies also indicate that there are some negative effects associated with the emotional burden of providing support, which are underexplored.
Drawing on two focus groups with young men aged 18-21 in a Young Offenders' Institution in the United Kingdom, this paper will explore the roles and experiences of peer mentors and mentees. The paper will foreground and analyse young men's experiences within the unique institutional setting of prison, firstly as a challenging place for young men to manage their mental health, as well as situating their experiences within the context of a decade-and-a-half of austerity and neoliberalism in prison policy and the subsequent impacts on the provision of prison-based supports and prisoner health (Ismail, 2019). This paper will explore the roles, benefits, risks and conflicts associated with prison-based peer support within this context.
This paper assesses and confirms the positive potential of peer support for both mentors and mentees, as well as the emotional toll that the provision of this support can take. Additionally, this paper will identify the factors that create additional barriers within the prison to the utilisation of both formal and informal peer support. The paper concludes with a discussion about the spaces, conversations and actions required to create effective peer support in future.