Moral Case Deliberation with prison staff : Moral themes, evaluation and impact on moral craftsmanship

Working in prisons can be tough and challenging. Dutch prison staff participated in Moral Case Deliberation sessions: group dialogues in which professionals reflect on complex moral situations from their practice. Prison staff indicated that they face many moral dilemmas on a daily basis.

This book focuses on the moral themes, evaluation and impact of Moral Case Deliberations. We analyze what ‘moral craftsmanship’ means, and whether Moral Case Deliberation has a positive impact on the moral craftsmanship of staff. We present the results of this study and show, for example, how the sessions stimulated the moral learning of prison staff and empowered some to ask questions or speak up.

We hope this research will inspire many, and stimulate institutions to keep providing ethics support to prison staff, to help them deal with the moral complexity of their practice.