Using British Guiana/Guyana as an example, it provides an overview of our work on mental health and substance abuse historically and now. It will specify the history and legacies of Britain’s prison system in Guyana and highlight the experiences of those that live and work there today. It will suggest that collaborative participant action research benefits academics and prisons personnel, whilst also ensuring the research has real-world impact. This can bring about culturally appropriate and lasting change.
The article will illustrate how colonial legacies continue to influence and dictate the prison system, its infrastructure, regimes, prisoners and staff, in Britain’s former colonies, and proposes an inclusive approach to research as reparative scholarship.
