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Books & Papers

Group Dialogue Within Prisons, a paper published in the Groupwork Journal Vol 8 (1) 1995

Peter Garrett

What happens when Bohmian dialogue meets men serving life sentences? Before Virginia, before the Academy, Peter Garrett was testing these questions in Britain's maximum-security prisons. His 1995 Groupwork paper laid theoretical foundations that would shape decades of criminal justice practice.

Peter Garrett's 1995 paper in the Groupwork Journal represents a foundational document for prison dialogue practice. Writing years before the Virginia Department of Corrections work that would later bring international attention, Garrett describes early experiments bringing Bohmian dialogue into maximum-security settings in the UK. The paper addresses practical challenges that remain relevant today: how to establish genuine dialogue within institutional power structures, what happens when men serving life sentences encounter unfamiliar conversational norms, and how facilitators navigate the tension between security requirements and authentic exchange. Garrett draws on David Bohm's theoretical framework while grounding every insight in concrete prison experience. He examines group dynamics unique to incarcerated populations and considers what transformation means for people facing decades behind bars. For practitioners interested in criminal justice applications, this paper offers both historical perspective and enduring practical wisdom from someone who helped establish the field.

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Paper

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Books & Papers

Topics

Dialogue in prisons and justice settings

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