Chairman Tony Brown welcomed club members to the 499th meeting of Henley Probus and briefed the meeting on the plans for the celebration of our 500th meeting, scheduled for August 13th.
Following a short business update, including a report from the Treasurer.
This month’s guest speaker was Janine Kilroe, who gave a very interesting and enlightening illustrated talk on “Working with Some of the Most Dangerous Men in the Country. Years Inside.”
Janine was an IT teacher within various prisons for 7 years; the 4 categories of prisons range from the most secure Cat A (highest category) to Cat D (open prison) and Janine shared her experiences in a number of men prisons in which she taught. Her experiences confirmed many issues that are frequently reported in the national press (e.g., major capacity problems, the lack of trained officers, drug dealing inside prisons, prisoner deaths).
Janine explained that the prison environment does not readily lend itself to improving the behaviour of young prisoners, and thus does not reduce the risk of them returning to prison after release. Janine finished her talk by mentioning The Koestler Trust which is a leading charity for arts in UK prisons and encourages prison inmates to take part in arts which brings prison arts to the public through exhibitions, publications and events.
The talk concluded with thanks and a very warm message of appreciation from Club members.