Throughout Henley Royal Regatta, the world has the pleasure of enjoying some of the finest racing that this staple of the British summer calendar has to offer. However, as the regatta draws all the sparkling attention, the sport is being used to transform lives in six of London’s prisons.
Imogen Walsh, a former Lightweight World Champion, is the Prisons Manager at Fulham Reach Boat Club and heads up their “Boats Not Bars” project. Her mission is to reduce the reoffending rate of serving prisoners by providing opportunities to row in prison & on release.
Walsh has been working with prisons for four years and can see first-hand the impact the sport has on those inside prisons and back in the community.
She said: “I do a questionnaire at the beginning and end of each rowing course and I find it heart-breaking the number of people who would score themselves absolutely nothing on a scale of ten for the questions ‘Do you feel you have a support network?’ or ‘Do you think people believe in you?’.
“That’s really sad and what we are trying to give them is a community and it means we can see that change of mindset at the end of the course and they realise that they are not alone.”
Currently working in six prisons, but soon expanding into a seventh, Walsh must tailor her work depending on which groups of prisoners she is working with.
The former European Champion is in and out of Feltham Young Offenders each week and when inside, works alongside the NHS psychology team with a heavy focus on mental health.
Walsh explained: “With that group [at Feltham Young Offenders] we run the indoor rowing followed by a discussion session and we are trying to create a positive link between mental health and exercise.
“Whereas the other prison sites may focus on getting a qualification because the prisoners might want to go into the fitness industry or use it as a stepping stone to get another qualification.
“Getting them prepped for exams is a really big step for some of the prisoners for whom academia wasn’t a positive experience, however, the long-term objective across all the prisons is to prevent reoffending but the root to that is what varies.”
Nothing in the prison service happens quickly. The harsh reality is that the already limited funding is being stretched in all directions.
With no money being put into the programme by the prison service, Fulham Reach must fund their work themselves and recently took delivery of two additional rowing machines following a public appeal.
“We have had other prisons around the UK wanting to do it but again it comes down to funding which is preventing us from expanding.
“We deliver all our services for free which includes me going in and all of our follow-through care where they can come to the club, join the club for free, learn to row course but also if they want it then do further qualifications and that’s all funded by us at Fulham reach.
“I hate it, but the next piece in the puzzle comes down to the money so we can continue to deliver our services but also expand our programmes,” added Walsh.
Success for Walsh and Fulham is not about statistics, it’s about transforming lives and positively integrating people back into the community.
“The prison game is a long one and that’s partly what plays into policies. The way prisons are run is that they want quick results and answers but that’s not how this works particularly when people are behind bars for multiple years.
“Somebody I did work with in 2019 did get in touch a few months ago and we are putting plans in place for them to come and do some work experience at the club. It does happen but it’s a long game.
“We have had people come down on day release and we’re trying to get them more used to the club as an option and then hopefully they will follow through when they are fully released in due course but it’s a slow project,” added Walsh.
Throughout her time in the prisons, Walsh is not only working with prisoners but also challenging stereotypes that the public has.
“There is still a problem with wider society not really understanding but why would they?
“It’s something that’s not really discussed but my job is not just the work with the prisons but also highlighting this issue. We put people into prison as a punishment but we also want them to come out less likely to offend, We don’t want them to come out and do it again.
“We punish them to change their behaviours and we as a society haven’t got that idea in our heads yet. There still needs to be a change more broadly in how we view the purpose of prison,” said Walsh.
Walsh’s work has taken her across the channel, where she visited prisons in Belgium getting the opportunity to learn about Belgian attitudes to reoffending.
The Belgians are incredibly progressive in their approach to rehabilitation. When visiting with John MacAvoy, Walsh saw how prisoners are encouraged to use the cycling platform Zwift, thereby linking the powers of sport and the global community.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, British Rowing held its Indoor Championships virtually and this allowed Walsh and her prisoners to tap into the UK rowing community.
Despite limited WIFI, teams were able to enter from HMP Stocken, which allowed prisoners to feel like normal people.
Fulham Reach Boat Club have put forward the Boats Not Bars project for the Sports Business – Sports Innovation Award after all the work Walsh has done in London’s prisons.
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