S UB THEME ONE : T HREAT OF MANIPULATION

All participants reported being conscious of the potential for prisoners to manipulate them o e ope ati g out of ulterior motives . E a ples of p iso e s ulte io oti es i luded trying to get a positive court report from the therapist and prisoners doing therapy to satisf pa ole oa ds. Ma the apists e ou ted a i gs the e ei ed f o offi e s to

e a e p iso e s a ipulati e eha iou , a d Ma ia a d Hele elo spoke of the

gua d that they had to put up:

Erm, also you get told things about certain prisoners, like the e a ipulati e o the e e , the ll ou k o , the ll t a d get thi gs out of ou, that ki d of thi g. “o agai , it s, ou ki d of got a othe gua d up he ou e o ki g ith the i a se se that ou e thi ki g a out that (Maria,2,5-8).

You have to be on guard, in the sense that they are very manipulative, or can be e a ipulati e. Not e ause the e ei g ast , e ause the see ou as a means to an end. You might be able to get something that perhaps makes their life better in prison (Helen,4,15-17).

The language Maria and Helen used was reflective of the participants experiencing p iso e s as o i g to the ap a ti g so ethi g; Ma ia spoke a out the getting

thi gs out of he a d Hele of he a ilit to get thi gs for the prisoners. Thus there was

a dynamic conveyed of the therapists having something valuable which they needed to protect to prevent it ei g take th ough a ipulatio .

The othe aspe t of a ipulati e th eat pa ti ipa ts e pe ie ed as the potential for the therapist to be deceived by the client. Barbara talks of the setting up of a false intimacy

eated p iso e s dupli it :

They might be grooming you so to speak, to get sort of close to you and get sort of a nice, friendly relationship with ou goi g a d the the ll pou e a d sa do ou think you could bring this in for me, or do you think you could take this out for me and so you always have to be careful from that point of view (Barbara, 3,7-10).

Ba a a s la guage i di ated that she perceived prisoners as being deliberately predatory,

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The therapists identified that a potential consequence of being deceived was that the authorities would perceive the therapist as corrupt, and would punish and remove them from their work. The therapists also feared they would be left feeling victimised, naïve, vulnerable and embarrassed. Sarah spoke of her loss of confidence in herself and trust for her client when probation officers shared some information with her and she realised her client had misled her:

But I suppose it did sort of make me erm, less confident at times, you know to want to, you know, to assert my opinion quite so assertively. Erm, you know, in case I was sort of shot down by you know other professionals sat round that table (Sarah,

31,9-11).

Sarah appeared to feel shamed at realising she had been deceived, further compounded by e pe ie i g the p ofessio als as less tha u de sta di g; she fea ed ei g shot do by

them. Naïvety was seen as something that would not be tolerated by prison staff and this attitude to be shared by the therapists. Barbara frequently emphasised experience as being important in identifying potential manipulators. She described her thoughts when it

da ed o he that a p iso e as t i g to de ei e he as ei g, ‘oh here we go again,

what a waste of ti e , ou k o , a d pa t of ou thi ks, the ust thi k I as o yesterday (Barbara, 21,11-12). Barbara was scornful of the idea that she may be

manipulated and her irritation was evident, an emotion many participants reported feeling towards the time-wasters as these p iso e s e e f e ue tl alled. F ust atio as triggered when therapists felt their time was being taken away from others who needed them and who were genuinely interested in therapy, but frustration was also generated by the p iso e s desi e to t i k the a d the assu ptio that the ight e stupid e ough to fall for it.

Participants described developing strategies to identify which prisoners were there for the

ight easo s (Barbara, 3,19), and who were ti e aste s ho wanted so ethi g.

These st ategies appea ed to e i g ai ed; Lu efe ed to the sta da d espo se ,

she activated upon realising a prisoner may have ulterior motives and Barbara said she ould put he professional hat on and go through the otio s (24,5) when she thought a p iso e as the e to a ipulate he . Esta lishi g a p iso e s oti es o u ed e ea l in the therapy, as Lucy described when speaking of the challenges of the work:

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The challenge is actually the first meeting, who are they going to be, what do they want, erm from therapy, what are their understandings, erm you know, and what are the ulterior motives (Lucy, 24,19-25,2).

Barbara spoke of identifying timewasters quickly:

But you can usually very quickly weed those out f o the sta t o e ou e got a it of e pe ie e ou a , ou a see that the e ot, the e ot the e fo the ight reasons (Barbara, 3,16-18).

These strategies were spoken of in a matter of fact, almost detached and dismissive tone, ea h pa ti ipa t appa e tl e og isi g that deali g ith ti e aste s is a i e ita le pa t of the o k. Ba a a s p o ess of eedi g out included setting the prisoner homework to test his commitment to therapy and motivation to change. Just as participants experienced prisoners as having the potential to pounce like a bird of prey, they avoided becoming prey s iffi g out a d testi g the p iso e s oti es. Helen captured this in her explanation of ho she espo ded to p iso e s ho see ed to ha e ulte io oti es: and then it

becomes like a game of sussing out what they do want from me. Which I find intriguing. I should t sa that, should I, ut I do (Helen, 29,17-18). Helen frankly described playing the

p iso e s at thei o game a ipulati g the i to gi i g a a hat it as the e e t i g to take f o he a d she des i ed e jo i g this detection game. It was apparent however, that she felt this was something she should not admit to. Other tactics to dete pote tial ti e aste s were described, for example therapists reported stating at the beginning of therapy what they could and could not offer, thus disarming potential manipulators with their openness, a directly contrasting behaviour to that of their potential clients.