Kurdish delegation visit

Dr Elaine Crawley, Director of the Salford University Centre for Prison Studies (SUCPS), has had her expertise called on again recently when she was invited to the Kurdistan region of Iraq by Judge Qadir Hama Jan, Executive Member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and Director of General Security (Asaish) Kurdistan Region, Sulaimaniyah.

Her research visit was funded by the British Institute for The Study of Iraq (BISI). During her 3 week visit, Elaine, whose academic expertise is in the field of prisons research (prison officer professionalisation, officer cultures and officer well-being) conducted interviews with prison officers in five detainee prisons. In her post-project reports to the British Institute and to Judge Qadir Hama Jan, she concluded that "There is an urgent need for a formal programme of training in Kurdistan. At present, officers receive no training at all and simply do the best they can, usually by 'shadowing' longer-serving staff. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this can lead to significant stress and demoralisation amongst prison staff, and an impoverished regime for prisoners".

Following her visit, Elaine was contacted by Judge Qadir Hama Jan to ask about the possibility of our own Prison Service training Kurdish Prison officers. As a criminologist who believes that research should, wherever possible, lead to practical and positive outcomes, Elaine has been discussing the possibilities of cross-national training with the National Offender Management Service (NOMS).

As a first step in the process of developing a training programme for Kurdish prison officers, Elaine has been working closely with Dr Francesca Emmett, International Relations Manager for NOMS. With Francesca's help, Elaine is currently securing visas for a delegation to make a ten day visit to England. The delegation will comprise of 16 senior security officials (Major Generals, Colonels and Directors of individual prisons), and they will arrive in Manchester in mid-April.

After visiting the University, the delegation will visit a number of prisons and the National Prison Staff Training College before going on to the National Offender Management Headquarters in London to meet senior officials. Elaine says 2If a training programme for Kurdish prison officers can be established, especially a programme of 'Training for Trainers', it will vastly improve the skills-base of officers working in the detainee prisons of Kurdistan. Moreover, providing 'Training for Trainers' is a means of ensuring that the content and quality of training will develop and improve over time, especially as the Kurdish-British training partnership develops."

Elaine can be contacted for further information at e.crawley@salford.ac.uk