“I was a good day for us overall – I really hope some things start to change for the better now!” (Service User)

“It was a good idea to get the staff to come down and seems like they wanna work with us lot…. fingers crossed the changes happen.” (Service User)

I recently took part in my first User Voice co-production event, to kick-off HMP Forest Bank’s new Prison Council Model. The day was a huge success and both residents and staff felt it was of great benefit to come together and discuss ways in which to improve prison life. The question that User Voice asked the group was:

How do we make HMP Forest Bank a safe place to live and work?

Most of us arrived in Manchester the day before the event and we met the other members of staff who travelled to Forest Bank on Thursday morning. Alex and I spent some time in the afternoon before preparing the chapel – bringing resources into the prison, getting posters up on the wall and setting up the chairs in a circle.

We were expecting between 30-40 residents, prison staff and User Voice staff, so we had to get prepped and organized!

On the morning of the event, we all arrived at HMP Forest Bank early. It was good to see staff members from all over the country and we all had different roles to play during the day. Staff and residents came into the chapel after 9am and all helped themselves to tea, coffee, and biscuits. This gave User Voice staff the opportunity to chat to both the staff and residents. It was also a good opportunity for User Voice staff to find out more about the different roles of the prison staff who attended. Once the event started, we encouraged everyone to spread out and asked the prison staff to sit next to some of the residents – we wanted to break down the “them and us” culture that can sometimes hinder communication in the prison setting.

The rest of the morning consisted of brainstorming ideas, writing them on post-it notes and then sorting them into four categories, which we identified as: regime, visits, healthcare, and canteen. Then four User Voice staff facilitated breakout groups, where all the proposed ideas were discussed in more detail. Both staff and residents moved around the room to join different discussions – the room was buzzing with solutions to problems!

After a well-earned break, the solutions we stuck up on the wall and everyone was given 10 sticky dots, which they could use to vote for their favorites. It was great to watch the staff and residents come together and to hear them discussing the best solutions for the prison. By the end of this activity, the votes were counted. Alex then announced the most popular solutions to take forward and turn into proposals. The Governor had the last word and thanked User Voice for facilitating the event. He said that he felt the event had been a great success for all involved and that he looked forward to working on the proposals with the prison council.

We then enjoyed a buffet lunch, where we all had a chance to mingle and chat to each other. User Voice staff worked together to tidy up the chapel before going outside to get a photo of some of the Team. We all agreed that it had been a great day and that we had all enjoyed working as a team. Being part of this event at HMP Forest Bank has given me a good insight into running a launch event for starting a successful prison council.

I am now looking forward to running my own co-production event at HMP Peterborough in the New Year!

By Samira