'The personal and professional demands were considerable: Bob’s style of working called for resiliency and courage.' Photo: Based on book cover of The Prison Psychiatrist’s Wife, by Sue Johnson
The Prison Psychiatrist’s Wife, by Sue Johnson
Author: Sue Johnson. Review by Tim Newell.
This is a beautifully-written account of the experience of working creatively in a top security setting. It is a strongly-felt account, by our friend Sue Johnson, of what it was like to be alongside her ground-breaking psychiatrist husband Bob Johnson as they put original ideas of creativity, compassion, and challenge in the most demanding of settings in prison.
In 1991, Bob Johnson was asked by the governor of HMP Parkhurst, on the Isle of Wight, to work with the most dangerous prisoners there. Sue was invited on the preliminary visit, and she and Bob met staff and prisoners – one of whom asked if she would let Bob come. There was a clear felt need. Bob agreed.
The experience of working on the wing was unusual and exploratory. The personal and professional demands were considerable: Bob’s style of working called for resiliency and courage. There were very good reasons why Sue was fully involved.
Bob’s approach was to help men consider the roots of their violence through early childhood experience. Frozen fear was explored within a relationship of trust and consent. Friends will remember this work through the James Nayler Trust, founded by Sue and Bob, to provide much-needed help for people with disturbed experience.
To facilitate their work, Bob filmed the sessions so there was a record of developments. He gained the confidence of the men through a consistent presence and his enthusiastic personality. There were occasional threats, which the prison reacted to, and a quiet scepticism from fellow medical staff. Few officers showed enthusiasm, but respected Bob’s consistency and commitment. He had good support from the governor.
Sue describes how the stresses of prison life were lived through her. This reflects the experience of many prison families. Her book is a rare insight into those stresses.
Bob’s work in Parkhurst proved too successful for political survival during the era of then-home secretary Michael Howard. Bob showed that compassion and trust succeed in gaining consent, so that working with the trauma of childhood gave understanding and increasing confidence and control to disturbed prisoners.
Sue expresses her anger at the games being played out within the high-risk setting. Bob seeks to reassure her, but her anger bubbles over in a very powerful description. Bob’s work continues to be challenged by the medical establishment. They cannot look at his truth.
The Prison Service does not emerge very well out of the book, with resentful officers, and a mixed response from senior staff. Bob Johnson was championed by the governor, John Marriott, but he was removed from command following the escape of three high-profile prisoners. The Special Unit was closed. For many of the men Bob Johnson worked with there, the world has changed in that they understand why they did what they did, and that it need never happen again.
Comments
I have great respect for Bob Johnson’s work at Parkhurst and the challenges he faced not only with being ‘onside’ with often very violently disturbed men, but also with being one of the few practitioners in prisons who worked to uncover the roots of such violent and disturbed behaviour. I look forward to reading Sue Johnson’s account of this!
By janekingvoice on 28th February 2023 - 17:55
Please login to add a comment
