Interview with Gareth Dyson, MSt in Applied Criminology, Penology and Management

Can you briefly summarise your time at the Institute of Criminology?

I spent two years on the Masters. The accommodation and staff were both really lovely. I was properly inducted into Cambridge life as much as we could at that time. COVID restrictions were still on for my first year, but every effort was made to give us the overall Cambridge experience.

The first year was a lot of learning of new concepts, with guidance about how prison service policies are put into place. But it showed that there's a lot more thought that should go into making those decisions. This was a good insight into using evidence-based approaches.

It also exposed me to a lot of areas within the criminal justice sector that I wouldn't ordinarily get a chance to see, as an HMPPS employee. Being on the cohort with magistrates, ex-practicing solicitors and lawyers was really interesting. Having people from probation was also eye-opening for me, because it was a different approach to the same outcomes as mine.

What convinced you to study Criminology?

When I joined the prison service, I always wanted to do another qualification. I always wanted to do a Masters and see how I felt with that, then decide if I wanted to do anything further.

Sociology really interested me because working in prisons is basically working with people and figuring out why people do certain things. It’s all about recognising behavioural patterns, things I saw on a daily basis. Things like the effect enclosed spaces have on large groups of people, or how light affects social interaction.

And weirdly enough, what really turned me towards Criminology and Penology was talking to prisoners. Because they've got a unique perspective on how things work, but they also record their own experience as they go along. They’re very vocal about the bad things, but also about the things they pick up along the way.

I really wanted to study this a bit more. So the application came up for the Masters, and the first time I applied I didn't get through. But when I spoke to some other people who had done the Masters, they spoke about how it opened their eyes to different things.

They spoke about the challenges of studying while still working, but all of it really interested me and threw me more into wanting to do it. It’s also quite nice to have a Masters certificate to put on your wall.

Why did you decide to come to Cambridge?

It's a whole experience in itself. It's a lovely thing to be part of, studying here, exploring the historic city, going punting, going out for the meals on a Wednesday and feeling part of Cambridge. Seeing your colleagues getting a sense of the history and culture of the city, it’s a brilliant experience. The study part is a large part of it, but there’s also taking time to feel like you’re part of an ongoing tradition. You know, you get capes, gowns, you get to drink out of a horn and all sorts of things.

Can you briefly describe your thesis?

Like I said, I was really interested in people in spaces. At that period of time, I was the Head of Residence, Healthcare and Segregation at the prison I worked in, which made me really interested in the interactions within care and separation units. These areas are supposed to be deeper custody, but they have the potential of causing psychological harm to isolated people. So, I wanted to understand how staff navigate that space, what draws them to work there, and what motivates them to stay.

The title of my thesis was ‘Exploring the motivations and impacts of prison officers working on care and separation units’. It looked at why they wanted to be there, their experiences when they were there, and the trends within these systems. There's a sense of pride in working there, and a sense of achievement with getting into that unit. But there was a lot of intrinsic motivation in being there as well, because you got to work closely with prisoners. It felt like they were fulfilling the mandate in the prison service to do rehabilitative work.

But it was in an area of punishment. There were big contradictions with working in a punishment site, but one where great care and humanity can reveal itself.

What was the most important thing this course has taught you?

There were a number of things.

The first important point was that when you work in a prison, you feel like the whole world is encapsulated with those walls. It's a small community in itself, with your Governor as the king and everybody else being ruled by them. Doing the Masters opened my eyes to just how much larger the prison service is, and also some of the challenges faced by magistrates and lawmakers around assigning people with mental health problems to custody, whether that be mental secure units or prisons. So, it gave me the other side of the story. It’s not just a case of everybody just ends up in prison and you just got to deal with it. You also have to think about how many measures there are before people get sent to prison. So that was that was one really important part of the course.

Another thing that was initially frustrating, but in a fun and cherished way, was when you're going through all the papers, academic journals and books, you can't just have an opinion anymore. You have to have an opinion based on some empirical evidence.

You have to look at the research and go, “I think this, but what backs up that decision?” Initially, I just wanted to have an opinion about something, without having to show any evidence it works. But I found that the more you more went into it, the more I built in that that style of thinking into my general work practise.

For my manager and some of the people around me, it was a little bit of a rub. My manager at the time said, “I hope you don't bring any of that academic stuff back to us”. And I said, “well, I am going to, but I'll try and do it in a way that doesn't seem very hoity and such”. But it really helped me develop my thinking about what evidence there is to back things up.

How has what you learned on this course influenced your work afterwards?

If I'm going to write this policy or guidance document, I ask myself “what do I want to achieve?” But now I also ask, “what existing research shows this is actually a worthwhile endeavour?”

One of my favourite things from it is that there's a desistance graph, which I refer to all the time, not just for statements of prisoner behaviour but also morally. Just to think, if we're going to do an intervention, based on what I've seen and what I've learned from my time studying, I need to make sure I'm not making things worse. I need to make sure I'm making things better.

So, it affected me professionally, in my interaction with others, but also morally. I’m working in this area where I can do huge amounts of good, but also huge amounts of damage and harm if not managed properly.

Now, I always extol the value of people going on the Masters and encourage people I work with to do that. It will really help open your eyes to what’s out there, and that's for their benefit.

A lion's share of why I do that is for their benefit. I just want more people working off of fact rather than just opinion. The more people that have done that, the better. my job will be, because the service will make sensible decisions.

What advice would you give to somebody who was starting your course?

I would say structure your time and have a good sense of purpose when you're there.

My experience was slightly different, because I found out I was dyslexic when I got there. So, I had to do my day job, do my family life, and figure out what this meant for my academic stuff. I had to be quite disciplined to do all those bits and pieces.

But anybody studying this should definitely have a strong sense of purpose. What do you want to get out of the Masters? Do you want to go further on to study? Do you really want to take something back to your workplace? Or do you just want something that you can be really proud of, that you can share with your family?

I'm really proud of my achievement. And when people are saying “well, I'm not sure if I have time” or “I'm not sure if I'll be able to fit it all in”, I just say that the staff are very supportive. They're very aware of the work that we do and the pressures we're under.

There are loads of support to help you get through it, but be really disciplined and say, “OK, this is what I'm doing work wise. This is the time I'm going to give myself to do the academic study”. And if you do that, then it won't seem like such a burden.

Underpinning all of it is the fact it's massively achievable. If I could do it, then I'm sure anybody else could.