Listening to Prisoners Raises Issues about Prison-Based Restorative Justice

Source: (2002) VOMA Connections. Summer 2002, Number 11. 1, 6

In this essay, Barb Toews writes on the basis of her work with prisoners and their families as Restorative Justice Program Manager for the Pennsylvania Prison Society. She reports that many prisoners have spoken of their desires to make amends for the harm they caused and of the lack of resources available to assist them in following through on those desires. The Restorative Justice Program she manages is in fact a direct response to assist prisoners with ways to engage victims and community members about their crimes, to seek restorative and reintegrative processes, and to challenge the prison environment toward a more restorative ideal. The experience of assisting prisoners in these ways enables her to identify in this article the challenges of conceptualizing the application of restorative justice in prison.