The power of football in prisoner rehabilitation
- Project timeframe
- 16/09/2019 - 31/08/2021
- Theme
- Communication and Cultures
- Amount awarded
- 9,178.00
- Funder ID
- The British Academy
Project leader: Dr Christopher Kay
The research aims to investigate the impact of football and sports coaching on the early desistance narratives of prisoners in England and Wales. It consists of an examination of the Twinning Project, a national programme which twins Premier League and English Football League clubs with prisons, offering sports coaching and employability courses to prisoners in an attempt to boost rehabilitation potential and influence early desistance narratives.
The work involves double narrative interviews with prisoners undertaking Twinning Project courses both before and after involvement with the Twinning Project. These interviews are supplemented by interviews with coaching staff, surveys with prison staff and the analysis of secondary data relating to the quality of prison life and the prison environment. Finally, a series of knowledge exchange festivals will be run which allow practitioners to share best practice, the researchers to disseminate the research findings and to demonstrate impact.