A new paper has been published in the Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, by Director of the Centre for Health and Justice Professor Eddie Kane and Institute fellow Dr Isabel Gois.

The paper proposes that regular philosophy sessions, when delivered in tandem with other programmes already available to prisoners, have the potential to play a supportive role in prisons by providing a space where metacognition sometimes described as ‘thinking about thinking’ or ‘cognition about cognition' can be nurtured and developed. Metacognitive skills and abilities play a key role in how we think, conduct ourselves, and relate to others and evidence shows that interventions tailored to improve metacognitive functioning have a positive effect on how people acquire and make strategic use of new knowledge, respond flexibly to problems and changes in the environment, and interact with others in empathetic ways. In addition, philosophical inquiry is different from other methods of improving metacognition because it does not have a narrow focus on skills for self-improvement. Instead, it seeks to create a collaborative environment where individuals come together to help each other in developing a more accurate, insightful and fruitful understanding of our shared humanity, as well as sustain resilience in the face of life's challenges.

Read the full paper on The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice.