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followed,71 and it has also been used in a police context.72 In Liebling’s
research on the quality of life in prisons,73 AI interviews were used to
identify “what matters” to staff as well as to prisoners, explore the
positive resources, experiences and imaginations of staff and prisoners
and the possible effect these positive experiences can have on the quality
of life in prisons. Furthermore, they enable a “healthy process of selfreflection” among staff and prisoners with a view to transforming
situations, processes and organizational structures.
Examples of AI questions used are:
• In here, what gives you life and energy?
• Reflecting on other prisons you know, where/when do you think relations
between staff and prisoners have been at their best?
• If you were in charge of training prison staff, what would you most
emphasize about how they should relate to inmates?
• What is the best that happened to you during your time in this prison?
• What is the ideal for staff prisoner relationships?
Liebling and her team conclude “that the method of appreciative inquiry
has a distinct power and relevance in prison setting. There is something
distinctly energizing about the exploration of the best expectations of
people and organizations.”74
Members of NPMs participating in a series of online meetings within the
framework of the current project in May and June 2020, where Liebling
presented her research and this method, expressed great interest in
using it in their work, but also highlighted the need to, firstly, adapt it
to the characteristics of NPM work, in particular its time restraints, and,
secondly, to have specific training on how to concretely use it in their
practice.
71. Andrew Jefferson and Liv Gaborit, Human Rights in Prisons. Comparing Institutional Encounters in
Kosovo, Sierra Leone, and the Philippines (Palgrave Macmillan 2015).
72. Walter Suntinger and Moritz Birk, ‘Appreciative Inquiry: Mobilising Potentials within Police Organizations to Realize Human Rights’, in: Ralf Alleweldt (ed.), Fair Treatment of Persons in Police Custody
(Springer Verlag 2021) [hereinafter: Suntinger/Birk].
73. See more in Prisons Research Center (University of Cambridge), ‘MQPL+: Analyses of Quality, Culture, and Values in Individual Prisons’ (11 February 2016) <https://www.prc.crim.cam.ac.uk/directory/
research-themes/mqpl> [hereinafter: Prison Research Center].
74. Liebling/Price/Elliot, 93.
Systemic Thinking in Preventive Human Rights Monitoring
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