The RECOOP Over 50’s Peer-led Buddy Support Service for Older People in Prison: ‘radical help’ as ‘mutual aid’ in the Criminal Justice System?

Abstract

In this thought-piece and position paper we argue that the RECOOP peer-led Buddy support service provides an example of best practice in working with older people in prison. In addition, we go beyond exploring the value of this service simply as a practical response to meeting the unmet needs of older people in prison, and reflect on how this service embodies mutual aid and provides a template for ‘radical help’ across all criminal justice services, prefiguring a more democratic criminal justice system (Nicholson, 2019).‘Radical help’ is about new ways of organising, living and growing that have been developed by communities across the UK, with human connection at its heart. When people feel supported by strong human relationships change happens, and when we design new systems that make this sort of collaboration feel simple and easy, people want to join in (Cottam, 2018). In this article we argue that this is exactly what RECOOP Buddies do with older people in prison, and that this scheme has the potential to be a model for the ‘radical help’ of ‘mutual aid’ across the wider Criminal Justice System as a whole.