#Smartrehabilitation Conference

Today I was at a conference at the OU campus in Milton Keynes. As some of you know my day job involves working with OU students studying in prison and today was a conference organised by the Prisoner Learning Alliance of which the OU is a member. It brought together some big hitters from many of the agencies involved in prison education and in the wider environment of supporting these learners as well as eminent criminologists. The keynote speakers were Steven Miller from Ofsted , Professor Fergus McNeill from the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research and the lady shown here hidden behind the OU lectern. She's Emily Thomas from the MOJ Transforming Rehabilitation Through The Gate Implementation Team; she's the former Governor of HMYOI Cookham Wood. As well as keynotes the plenary sessions including panel discussions with folk like Mark Johnson, founder of User Voice.

We also - and whisper this - saw two serving prisoners, actually in prison prisoners, locked up prisoners, talking to us live via a Skype link from a prison. To be honest I thought there was more chance of me having a unicorn as a pet but it was there in front of us. This is a project running in a Welsh prison which uses it so that the men can keep in touch with their family. It's strictly controlled and supervised but it's all there and happening; technology is seeping into custodial settings albeit at a pace that makes the pitch drop experiment seem recklessly exuberant.

But the bestest thing was an opportunity to spend time with colleagues and friends and to catch up with them away from the normal pressures of where we usually meet. It's also nice to show them that the university isn't just a pretty logo, loads of printed materials, our tutors and - worst still - me turning up from time to time. The MK campus is impressive at the best of times but for colleagues who often work in ageing buildings with limited resources it's nice to be in a comfortable space and not to have to unlock gates every few yards to get anywhere - including the loo.

A smashing day to finish a good but tiring week. A degree ceremony on Wednesday and two sites visited yesterday. Now I must check that the beer in the fridge is still in date and, perhaps, enjoy some.