Vigilance can reveal that Prisoners at one of Europe’s busiest prisons, HMP Birmingham in the West Midlands, have completed the final heats in a pioneering new prison debating initiative in the UK. Six teams, comprising some 40 prisoners, were judged in an intense day of debates on topics such as drugs in sport, the criminalisation of the television licence fee, votes for prisoners and whether free speech has its limits. Two teams of four prisoners will now battle it out for the Debating Matters Beyond Bars winners’ trophy on September 15th.
Debate preparation and training has been provided over the summer by the Institute of Ideas’ Debating Matters team, and the panel of 11 judges included Hugo Rifkind from The Times; Max Wind-Cowie deputy director of think tank Respublica; Miranda Green a BBC political commentator; and Ian Dunt from politics.co.uk and contributor to The Independent.
Vigilance learnt that the debate final, to be held inside the prison on September 15th, will incorporate a Question Time-style panel discussion including the Green party’s Natalie Bennett; writer and broadcaster Edwina Currie; Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) board member Vicky Pryce; the Reverend Fr. Christopher Jamison director of the National Office for Vocation and Dr Ken McLaughlin, senior lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University. The panel of judges for the final will also include leading educator, and author of the Coates Review into Prison Education, Dame Sally Coates.
Claire Fox, founder and director of the Institute of Ideas behind the Debating Matters initiative, said: “Perhaps ironically, this day of debates in prison was liberating for all concerned. The prisoners showed huge courage in making formal, well-researched speeches in front of their peers and happily submitted to cross-examination by high profile judges.
“What was so inspiring was watching them react to their grilling by referring to their research and developing their arguments (and confidence) as they went along.”
Prison Director at HMP Birmingham, Pete Small, said: “Exploring how prisoners can resolve conflict in different ways should be a critical goal for everyone in the penal system. Our pilot debating initiative this summer will make an important contribution to helping better equip prisoners for a life away from crime on release, through developing listening skills and suspending judgment through debating these complex subjects.”
HMP Birmingham is one of Britain’s busiest prisons and looks after approximately 10,000 prisoners a year. It transferred to G4S management in 2011 and independent research published in 2015 said that the public service ethos of the prison had been “re-kindled” since the transfer.