Lecturers at Staffordshire University regularly invite professionals on to campus to host guest lectures and workshops, in order to to benefit students’ learning with industry-related knowledge.
Eamon O’Shaughnessy, a Senior PTRI Officer at YOI Werrington, came to talk to our students about young offenders. Ebony Brint, a Criminal Justice with Offender Management student, tells us about the lecture.
Eamon visited us on the 25th of February 2019 and gave me and my other classmates a lecture on the HM YOI (Young Offenders Institute) estate and what it was like to work within a young offender’s institute. His information was very effective and helped me to understand the way that it all works, from the regime that they have to the first day in custody. He talked about his experience working in the prison estate and he gave his own personal stories on the sights that he had seen.
Eamon gave us lots of detailed information about the different categories that are in the prison estate and what each one means and he explained in great detail what certain words meant, to help [us] to understand the jargon that they use in the prison service. He mentioned the price that we pay to keep a young person in custody a year, so is it really worth it or is better to rehabilitate them in a different way?
His responsibilities seemed endless, but he said it made every day interesting as no two days were the same. One of his main roles is to teach physical education to the young boys as well as being a CusP (keyworker) officer where he offers support and guidance and just being a shoulder to cry on when the boys are having a hard day.
At first, I was sceptical about this guest lecture as I had no knowledge about how a Young Offenders Institute worked until I met Eamon, then my mindset was swayed. I thoroughly enjoyed the lecture and the workshop that he presented to me and my other colleagues and broadening my knowledge into the youth custody estate.
I felt that I found out everything that I needed to know and was given answers to my questions. It really has opened my eyes to the harsh reality that these young people must go through for mistakes that they made? At the end of the day they are still children! I have decided to consider working in the youth offending Estate.
