Care or control? expanding the scope for understanding peer mentoring and implications for women's prisons

This study explores the role of peer mentoring in a women's prison in England and Wales, focusing on its contributions to emotional well-being and the wider functioning of the prison. Drawing on qualitative interviews and focus groups with peer mentors, mentees, prison officers, and project workers, the findings highlight how peer mentors are perceived to ease staff workload and provide emotional support to other women in prison. However, the study found a paradox in peer mentoring, as while grounded in care, it also functions as a tool of informal control. This raises ethical considerations around institutional reliance on peer mentors, blurred boundaries between peer and staff roles, and the emotional labour involved. The paper concludes with recommendations for structured supervision, clearer role definitions, and enhanced support mechanisms to safeguard mentors’ well-being and ensure the ethical sustainability of peer mentoring programmes.