ABSTRACT
Runforever – Marathon running in prison suggests new paths for humanising healthcare
Runforever proposes engaging in marathon running can be an educational path for improved health and well-being in the prison setting. In February 2023, in collaboration with HMP Grampian, we started a running club as a bridge welcoming at the same time runners from inside and outside the prison to address underlying health inequalities, inequities and stigmatisation which affect the prisoner population in Scotland prison.
By suggesting a different idea of education (educere – leading out. Ingold 2018, Masschelein 2010) in prison setting and beyond, Runforever offers a new perspective on rehabilitation and a new way to engage with prisoners/people and humanise prison care/health care. Runners are empowered on paths of awareness, attention and listening, enabling them to develop improved health, self-care, self-management and health life choices.
The project combines conventional forms of evaluation and data gathering with other ways of valuing the process from the inside. Inspired by the notion of warm data (Bateson 2023), stories of running from the prisoners’ perspectives are captured through the Runningstories Radio Show and Photovoice giving voice to prisoners as runners to be peer mentors to fellow prisoners.
Building on Hannah’s (2014) perspective on health as a “result of healthy relationships, where a quality of life is held in common”, the running club is working as a microcosm where prisoners can be together in a dignified and supportive environment, providing the context in which the traumatic experiences that have contributed to their offending can be reframed. Thanks to this approach, Runforever is now in close dialogue with the recently established HMP Recovery, Health & Well-Being Strategy Group which acknowledges the impact of social determinants of health (social inequalities/inequities and adverse childhood experiences).
References
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