Restorative Justice Conference in HMP Lewes: A Case Study

A young woman working alone in a betting shop in Brighton was robbed. The young man who robbed her grabbed the collar of her jacket and forced her into the staff area. She fell to the floor, he pulled her top up, then took £210 from her pocket. He had also taken £105 from the cashier’s drawer. The young man was sentenced to three years in prison and has spent almost all of that time in HMP Lewes. A referral for Restorative Justice was received from the young woman who wanted to ask him why he had done it, and Nicky Fenner from the Police Restorative Justice team and I worked together on the case. We talked online to the young woman as she had, in the meantime, moved to the North of England. The young man agreed to take part, and we met him several times. A face-to-face conference was arranged for 30^th March in HMP Lewes.

Both of the parties were very nervous at the start of the conference, which Nicky and I facilitated, but as we progressed through the meeting, it became obvious that they were gradually relaxing. Both of them shared their stories. The young man apologised for what he had done and was clearly moved when the young woman talked about how the robbery had affected her and the extent of the harm caused. The meeting was also attended by Amanda Knight, who runs the LAMS Project that the young man works on in the prison. Towards the end of the meeting, she was able to share some of the positive work that the young man had been engaged in. The young man, who had previously had a gambling addiction, was given advice from the young woman regarding support that was available to help. The meeting ended with the young man and woman hugging each other.

The young man said that it was one of the scariest but most rewarding things he had done. The young woman said that she found the meeting to be so rewarding and like a weight had been lifted.