Changing prisoners' conversations on violence against women

Prison workshops on ending male violence against women and girls are changing conversations among inmates.

Hundreds of convicted criminals in Northern Ireland's prisons have been voluntarily learning about the issue.

The charity White Ribbon NI's chief executive Tahnee McCorry has been running the workshops across Hydebank Wood, Magilligan and Maghaberry prisons.

"It sort of opened up a discussion - something that wouldn't have been talked about," one prisoner at Hydebank told BBC News NI.

"Sometimes when we've been down with Tahnee we would bring that topic of discussion that we were learning and focusing on that day back on to the landing."

'Safer for my daughter'

The sessions involve case study scenario work, learning safe ways to intervene in concerning situations and being given techniques on how to manage disclosures by a victim.

Another young prisoner at Hydebank said the workshops had changed his views on violence against women and girls.

"I didn't really think much of it to be honest with you," he told BBC News NI.

"But the more I did the course, the more I realised how important it is and how much violence against women and girls actually happens in Northern Ireland.

"There's a lot of things that you wouldn't even realise [are violence], like jokes... It all builds up, it leads to bigger things, crimes and things you wouldn't really think about.

"I have a daughter and I would like the communities to be safer for her too."

The workshops promote honest, "no holds barred" conversations, Ms McCorry said

The workshops are "encouraging certain conversations in rooms where [they] just haven't been had before," Ms McCorry said, adding that she hopes it will "transform attitudes in the long run".

"It is open to anyone with any type of offence. As long as you want to learn, you want to engage, and you want to challenge yourself."

"This is a no holds barred conversation," Ms McCorry said.

Domestic abuse prosecutions

In the past year there were more than 2,500 prosecutions under the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act 2021, and more than 90% of those convicted were male.

In 2023/24 there were 1,877 people in prisons in Northern Ireland - 1,787 were men, more than a third were under 39 years of age and violent crimes made up the largest proportion of offences.

Many of the young men at Hydebank Wood, where the project was piloted, grew up witnessing domestic violence.

"When I came in here, that wasn't on my radar," said Ms McCorry.

"I hadn't truly thought about the fact that the young man I was working with would have been so impacted by the experiences that they'd had when they were younger, when they watched violence against their mother, who was their primary caregiver, who was risk assessing her life every single day.

"I can see from talking to the men in here how that changed the trajectory of their whole life, there's no way it couldn't. It's not an excuse, but it's a reason.

"Unless we break those kind of cycles, we're going to keep seeing a lot of the same issues in Northern Ireland."

Hydebank unit manager Cathy Russell says the course has "changed the whole conversation"

Unit manager Cathy Russell said the course was "absolutely unique" in terms of what is typically available in prisons and that it was changing the community within Hydebank.

"The boys will have conversations that we would never have had before," Ms Russell said.

"Young men are coming to us, coming forward, asking to be a part of it, it's changed the whole conversation around violence against women and girls in this community."

People often question how it is possible to measure results when new campaigns and policies are launched around the issue of violence against women and girls.

Ms McCorry admitted that can be a difficult and frustrating query.

"It'll be hard to know, and these changes will be slow. And it's frustrating at times when you're asked about the changes that your programme leads to," she said.

"People mean the three month changes or the six month changes, but I'm looking at the 10 year changes, I'm looking at the cycles this breaks.

"It's a big mountain to climb, but hopefully it'll happen."

Fiona Greene says her organisation also works with women in prison

The Northern Ireland Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders works with offenders to improve their welfare and prevent reoffending.

Chief executive Fiona Greene said it was not just male offenders who were being educated around the issue of violence.

She said the charity had a team who work at Hydebank's women's prison.

"They work with women in the criminal justice system while they're in custody, coming out of custody or when in the community," she said. "We have to work with women and girls to recognise the signs and symptoms of it."