Prison-based Interventions for Muslim Offenders (PRIMO)

Prison-based Interventions for Muslim Offenders (PRIMO) is designing and trialling three connected courses to help prisoners build successful lives from their faith choices in prison.

The project aims to bring about an enduring and tested improvement in the way that Islam affects life in prison for the sustainable well-being of prisoners’ lives and for the knowledge and well-being of criminal justice professionals.

The three courses the project is trialling include:

• a twelve-hour course of Islamic education for prisoners to help them use their faith to turn around their lives
• a six-hour module of training for prison officers to help them identify the difference between productive and destructive forms of faith in prison
• a forty-hour course of continuing professional development for Muslim prison chaplains to support their pastoral work with prisoners and their understanding of prison life and faith

The project is using the Qur’anic idea of the Muslim Steward who cares for himself, others and the environment as the core ideal of Muslim personhood for these courses.

PRIMO is supported and guided by a world-class team of criminal justice practitioners, Muslim community figures, leading theologians and criminologists. PRIMO is funded independently by the Dawes Trust.

PRIMO is a Social Action Action Research Project Lead by Prof Matthew Wilkinson, Cardiff University and Co-Investigated by Prof Muzammil Quraishi, University of Salford