Partners, guests or competitors: Relationships between criminal justice and third sector staff in prisons

Recent policy documents have promoted partnership working between criminal justice agencies and third sector organizations (TSOs) as a means to tackle re-offending. However, the context in which such partnership working takes place has received little attention despite the fact that relationships between frontline criminal justice staff and TSOs are likely to be crucial to successful initiatives. This article draws on qualitative interviews with prison staff and representatives from TSOs in eight prisons to examine relations between the two groups and to consider whether TSOs are treated as partners, guests or competitors in prisons.