Biography
Bradley Read is a graduate of the Cambridge Institute of Criminology’s MSt. in Applied Penology and Criminology programme (2022). He is also a full time Regional Prison Governor in the Southwest. With 12 years’ experience as a practitioner working in front line prison management roles, his experience and interests in crime and criminal justice are wide and varied. After completion of his MSt, Bradley continued at Cambridge University to begin his PhD part-time, under the supervision of Professor Alison Liebling and Dr Lucy Wilmott, which builds on his master’s research into the Parole System in England and Wales. He is a current postgraduate member of Trinity Hall and alumni of Homerton College.
Research
Bradleys previous masters research was a qualitative study, conducted during the COVID pandemic, with 15 serving prisoners exploring their perceptions of the parole process in England and Wales. Key findings included evidence of the powerful effects, of negativity and contextual truth in reports, on prisoners’ self-identity and the detrimental effect on prisoners trying to form their future selves post offending, potentially impacting on desistance. The power of human interactions in the parole process and how they can contribute to prisoners feeling ‘seen’ and the benefits to engagement. A question, percolating throughout his current research interests is “Can you have moral outcomes without human interactions”.
Current interests include the moral quality and impact of parole and its processes on prisoners, the power and impact of political decision making and public perceptions on parole development in England and Wales. He is also interested in the role of ‘Human Vibrations’ in building connections which help sustain and develop prisoners’ identities leading to greater chances of rehabilitation, and how reduced connections or more automatic process can break the societal connections and frameworks needed to sustain the citizen contract.
Other criminological interests include ethics, penology and penal theory, punishment, community sentencing, history of crime, pains of imprisonment, alternatives to prison.
