Hexham Debate on prisons
The latest in the series of Hexham Debates herds from Dan Gunn, former prison governor for Barlinnie Special Unit
Friends from Hexham, Allendale and Stocksfield gathered last week to hear a talk on ‘Prison, prisoners, politics and power’, as part of the longstanding series of Hexham Debates. The event, on 21 April, which also attracted a large audience of non-Quakers, featured speaker Dan Gunn, a former prison governor for Barlinnie Special Unit.
The debate at St Mary’s Centre in Hexham centred on the ‘pros and cons of punishment, as well as deterrence and rehabilitation’.
Jenny Firth Cozens, co-organiser of the Hexham Debates and who is from Hexham Meeting, told the Friend: ‘Prison reform has always been an important part of Quakerism and, as someone in the steering group knew Dan Gunn, we wanted to think about how we might turn around our present problems in prisons. Also, the fact that we have so many people in prison is an important issue to many of us.
‘The debates are always very lively. People come with a lot of knowledge, but the speakers handle it very well.’
The debate is the fourth in a series of eleven events for the 2017-2018 season. Previous speakers have included: Michael Clarke, former director of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Services; Karyn McCluskey, chief executive of Community Justice Scotland; and Tom Mills, a lecturer from Aston University, who talked about the BBC.
Fenwick Kirton-Darling, clerk of Hexham Meeting and co-organiser of the Hexam Debates, told the Friend: ‘The debates were initiated by Caroline Westgate at Stocksfield Meeting, who started them when Tony Blair said in 2006 there should be a national debate on the renewal of Trident. Since then we’ve had many amazing speakers. People are keen to hear experts, so they can get a good in-depth view.’
The dates are organised jointly by the three Meetings in Tyne Valley: Hexham, Stocksfield and Allendale.
Correction (3 May 2018): ‘Stockwell’ was changed to ‘Stocksfield’.
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