By Dr Marion Vannier, Senior Lecturer in Criminology.

It was an absolute honour to co-organise, on June 16th, ‘Prisoner Leadership, Meaning, Value, and Role in Justice Reform’, a panel and dialogue on transformative approaches to penal policy, with Paula Harriott (Unlock) and Mandy Mahil (Clinks). Held at the House of Commons and generously hosted by MP Naushabah Khan, the event brought together contributors to the newly published book Prisoner Leaders: Leadership as Experience and Institution (Palgrave MacMillan), lived experience leaders, Members of Parliament, members of the Justice Select Committee, and representatives from HMPPS, the Ministry of Justice, and the voluntary sector.

We were especially fortunate to have Professor Shadd Maruna as our guest speaker, whose work has long challenged dominant narratives about rehabilitation, desistance, and the criminal justice system, and who recently wrote about the lived experience ‘movement’. His presence helped ground the event in long-standing evidence and radical possibility of reform.

At its core, the event centred on a simple but powerful truth: leadership exists in prisons. It is not hypothetical or aspirational; it is already present, often in unrecognised and unsupported forms. The challenge now is to learn from it, nourish it, and reframe our understanding of leadership in ways that include the voices of those who have lived the system from within.

What is Prison Leadership?

The Prisoner Leaders book, published by Palgrave Macmillan, asks a vital question: what does leadership look like inside prison walls, and how can recognising it transform the justice system?

Leadership in this context is rarely formal or hierarchical. The type of leadership identified in the book and discussed in Parliament operates without power or recognition. It is often relational, grounded in solidarity, forged through survival. It emerges in spaces of conflict, of education and employment, and in drug therapy, too. Leadership is deeply intersectional and brings together all of what makes the individual one: their gender, age, their ethnic origins and faith, and how and where they were raised.

The book brings these insights to light through chapters co-authored by people with lived experience of imprisonment working in policy and civil society, with those positioned in academia. This model of collaboration was not just part of the writing process; it was the heartbeat of the book. It aimed (most probably imperfectly) to place two forms of knowledge, experiential and professional, on equal footing, creating shared language and mutual respect. And that principle or aspiration was mirrored in the event itself, where that collaborative spirit was reflected in the messages and recommendations made to MPs and Justice Select Committee members.

A Conversation in a Context of Crisis

The conversation on prisoner leadership is not happening in a vacuum. The prison system in this country is in crisis. Overcrowding, underfunding, mental health breakdowns, rising deaths in custody, ageing populations, and crumbling infrastructure are daily realities. The recent Independent Sentencing Review only highlights what many already know, that the system is not functioning, and in many places, is actively harmful.

But reform cannot be limited to damage control or creating new spaces. There is momentum to reimagine what prison and justice even look like. And to do that, we need to centre the knowledge of those who have survived and rebuilt themselves within that broken system to discuss and reform.

The concept of ‘lived experience’, recognises that people with histories of imprisonment are agents of change. These individuals hold unparalleled insights into what has collapsed and, crucially, into what can be rebuilt. Their leadership is already shaping safer, more humane environments inside and beyond the prison walls. A term, in fine, to bring to light is ‘tokenism’, which was raised on numerous occasions. It refers to the dangers of ‘using’ this knowledge, of extracting it like oil from the ground with no recognition, with no referencing. This is where collaboration, to me, is the key.

Collaboration as the Engine to Change

If there is one word that defines the book and the event, it is indeed collaboration.
Not just between academics and practitioners or academics with people with lived experience, but collaboration that brings together people with lived experience, voluntary organisations, state actors, policymakers, and researchers. This kind of multi-directional collaboration, real, mutual, imperfect too, was the foundation of Prisoner Leaders. It is also what made the panel such a powerful space. Here are some ideas on how to take collaboration further:

The Collaboration Must Cross Sectors: Not just academics talking to each other, or charities talking to each other, but truly interdisciplinary conversations, with civil servants, prison staff, researchers, activists, and people with lived experience sharing space and decision-making power. And those who have experienced prison need to be recognised, resourced, and supported as active participants of change. It is the collaboration with others, with those who have different skillsets, that is the foundation for change.

Knowledge Parity as the driving force: The book and event were built on the principle that lived experience and academic expertise are equally valid and necessary. That principle challenged everyone involved in the book to rethink how to write, who to write with, and who the work is for. It shaped every chapter and set a standard we need to carry forward in how we develop prison reform.

A Humbling Process

From an academic and personal perspective, the editorial process and the event itself were deeply humbling. Despite years of working in and around criminal justice and the prison environment, this project was a sharp reminder of how little I, (we?), often know, and how often I, (we?) get it wrong.

From the language that is used, to the methods relied on, to the ways I (we?) gather, analyse, and interpret data, I once again realised how the conventional tools of academia are far from neutral. They can exclude, flatten, and misrepresent all at the same time. Being part of this collaborative process was a reminder of the importance of questioning both the content of research (who and what is included/excluded) and the role of the researcher in producing knowledge. I am not sharing anything new here; others have written about this long before me (for example, Alison Liebling, Yvonne Jewkes, amongst others).

To me, this experience was a vivid reminder that constant reflexivity, not as a box-ticking, grant applications or ethics approval exercises, but as a genuine ethical and intellectual endeavour, is vital. It is simply a question of knowledge equity, or ethics. It touches upon something deeper, which speaks to our deeply flawed humanity, to the importance of humility, and to our responsibilities vis à vis the society we are trying to understand and improve.

What Happens Next 

Needless to say, this is not the end of the work.

We have been officially invited to propose legislative changes based on the findings and ideas in Prisoner Leaders. This is an opportunity to reflect, and act, to propose and inspire new impending laws, grounded in lived experience, research, and collaborative insights.

This encouragement is hugely important. And it also comes with responsibility. If we are to shape future policy, it must be done in the same spirit in which this book was created, through collaboration, humility, and a commitment to shared leadership.

To make this possible, we need more editors willing to publish this kind of work (cf. the editorial team at Palgrave), and more publishers like Palgrave Macmillan who understand that co-authored, cross-boundary research deserves space and visibility. We also need funders to back this approach, to invest in research that is embedded, reflective, and socially engaged.

A Final Word of Thanks 

To everyone who made the event and this book possible, thank you. To Paula Harriott and Mandy Mhil, my incredible co-organisers. To our brilliant contributors, including in no particular order: Dr Emily Turner, Donna Arrondelle, Ben-mez Okoli, Kimmett Edgar, Dr Morwenna Bennallick, Femi Larya-Adekimi, Vlad-George Zaha and Steve Riley, Michael McCusker, Caragh Arthur and Usman Anwar, Nicholas Trajtenberg and Olga Sanchez Ribera. To Naushabah Khan MP, for hosting us so generously. And to Professor Shadd Maruna, for anchoring the conversation with clarity and compassion. Finally, thank you to the UKRI FLF grant and to my Department and School for their support.

The room was full, in every sense, with experience, disagreement, knowledge, solidarity, and hope. The dialogue around prisoner leadership is now in full motion.

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