We’re about to begin work in several new prisons and it’s prompted us to write down something we don’t say often enough publicly: the difference between a programme that survives its first six months and one that doesn’t rarely comes down to the content. It comes down to how it’s set up on Day 1.
Here are three things we’ve learned that matter more than anything else.
1. Get executive oversight from the start
Programmes that thrive have a governor who is visibly behind them. Not just sign-off, but presence: attending quarterly review meetings, being seen to back the work in the early days when staff are still deciding whether this is worth their attention etc.
The Head of Education, Skills and Work and the Head of Reducing Reoffending need to be briefed and closely involved while the programme is being operationalised, not looped in once it’s running. Staff take their cues from leadership. If leadership treats it as a priority, staff do too.
2. Choose your first cohort deliberately
It’s tempting to prioritise the prisoners who need the programme most. Resist that instinct for Cohort 1.
The first group should be selected for adherence and motivation, because they will become your peer mentors and ambassadors, the people who make future recruitment easier because other prisoners trust what they say about the programme. That sometimes means including prison officers in the same cohort too. It benefits them personally and professionally, and it gives them direct insight into what they’re asking prisoners to commit to, which pays off in how they support the programme afterwards.
3. Build the timetable around the regime, not against it
Prisoner movement is difficult. Regimes get shortened or shut down when staffing is tight. A programme that depends on smooth free-flow will keep losing sessions to circumstances outside anyone’s control.
Two things help. Firstly, where the programme is hosted matters. Choosing a room and a session slot that isn’t dependent on movement across wings reduces how often it gets cancelled. Secondly, running sessions at the start of a morning or afternoon block, even if that means prisoners arrive a little later to education or work activity afterwards, tends to be more resilient than trying to fit around existing movement. This only works if education and vocational instructors are aware of it and ready to integrate latecomers without disruption.
Alternatively, some prisons have extended the length of ENHANCE sessions to incorporate other purposeful and meaningful activity. ENHANCE is an effective hook to engage with hard to reach cohorts so maximising this contact time has proven to be very valuable.
If you’re about to launch ENHANCE in your own prison and want to talk through the above in more detail we would welcome the conversation. These lessons can be applied to other settings as well such as schools and colleges so feel free to connect to gain further insights.
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We’re about to begin work in several new prisons and it’s prompted us to write down something we don’t say often enough publicly: the difference between a programme that survives its first six months and one that doesn’t rarely comes down to the content.
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