“A society is measured by the treatment of its prisoners”
Winston Churchill
The article below exemplifies the impact economy + philanthropy at its very best – Lady Edwina Grosvenor, English aristocrat, criminologist + prominent prison reformer helping amongst the most vulnerable in society.
Despite a childhood of immense privilege, she is the founding investor + ambassador for The Clink Restaurant chain, which trains prisoners in catering. She is also the founder of the charity One Small Thing + Hope Street, a residential community designed to keep women + their children together, reducing the number of women in prison + addressing the root causes of trauma.
And while some prisoners may be written off as ‘evil’, the reality is:
– Incarcerated populations exhibit disproportionately high levels of childhood trauma, including abuse, neglect + household dysfunction (ACEs), which are heavily linked to adult criminality, mental health struggles + violence
– Studies show over 60% of young offenders report prior trauma, with high exposure to witnessing domestic violence (41%) or being in care (24%)
– 50% to 75% of inmates are functionally illiterate or have reading skills below 4th-grade level
The impact of the above is significant including:
Emotional Regulation: Trauma hinders the ability to manage emotions + cope with stress, leading to poor decision-making
Violent Tendencies: High scores in childhood trauma (physical/emotional abuse, neglect) are directly linked to increased, violent tendencies
Substance Abuse: Childhood abuse is strongly associated with substance abuse, which often leads to incarceration
Re-traumatization: Childhood trauma predicts higher rates of anxiety, depression + suicide attempts among prisoners, with standard prison environments often triggering past traumatic experiences, leading to hopelessness or anger
It’s easy to judge + polarise people as good or bad which is why her work is so important.
Like it or not, for many, criminal behavior acts as an often, sole, maladaptive response to internal chaos + past trauma.
As the outstanding Gabor Maté, Canadican physician, author + trauma expert says:
“If you study prison populations as I have, you see a common preponderance of childhood trauma and mental illness. The two go together. So a lot of the people are being punished for being mentally ill + they are mentally ill because they were traumatized as kids. So what we have in prisons are the most traumatized people in our society.”
Which is why, I suppose, in his superb documentary: “The Wisdom of Trauma”, he stresses the importance of asking prisoners:
“What happened to you?”
v
“What did you do?”
Why does this kind of attitude matter?
Because most decent people care about peace +, cheesy as it sounds, leaving the world a better place.
In the words of Barack Obama:
“Learning to stand in somebody else’s shoes, to see through their eyes, that’s how peace begins. And it’s up to you to make that happen. Empathy is a quality of character that can change the world.”
Read the article in The Independent: “It’s a complete scandal’: The aristocrat fighting to help prison children escape the stigma of crime” here
