Radical Alternatives to Prison (RAP)

Radical Alternatives to Prison (RAP) was set up in 1970 in London by a group of ex-prisoners and people connected with the prison service. We are very pleased to have Ros Kane speaking, one of the co-founders of RAP, along with the late Sandra Roskowski. Ros practiced as a psychiatric social worker at Wormwood Scrubs Prison Hospital before helping found the organisation.

Ros’s talk will cover why RAP was set up, how it operated and what it proposed as alternatives (schemes from both sides of the Atlantic).  She will survey the magazines and booklets RAP published, its opposition to control units and the new Holloway prison, and how it set up its own alternative to prison in East London. Ros will assess what RAP achieved, as well describing a few unconventional prisons and their outcomes. Finally, she will consider other aspects of crime and imprisonment from a modern-day perspective.