Key details
Dr Ed Schreeche-Powell
Associate Professor of Criminology
Ed Schreeche-Powell is Associate Professor of Criminology at the University of Greenwich and Programme Leader for the BSc (Hons) Criminology and Criminal Psychology. His research centres on imprisonment, penal power, institutional withdrawal, lived experience, and the changing organisation of authority in late modern punishment. His work develops the concept of institutional withdrawal to explain how penal power can operate through omission, responsibilisation, and the retreat of institutional obligation, particularly within open prisons. He also advances the concept of double liminality to theorise the ambiguous position of prisoners navigating both imprisonment and transition towards release.
His earlier research on peer-led intervention developed the concept of Intervention Iatrogenesis, highlighting the unintended harms of well-intentioned penal interventions. His monograph, Navigating Mental Health in the Male Open Prison: Pains, Power and Peer Support (Emerald, 2025), was nominated for the British Society of Criminology Book Prize. He is also author of forthcoming books on open prisons and institutional withdrawal, and Series Editor of Bristol University Press’s Lived Experience in Criminal Justice series.
Drawing on lived experience of imprisonment, Ed’s current work examines penal authority, institutional retreat, transitional imprisonment, knowledge environments, and the redistribution of responsibility between prisons, staff, prisoners, and peer-support structures in contemporary punishment.
Responsibilities within the university
Programme Leader for the BSc Criminology and Criminal Psychology
Medway Campus Link Tutor
Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Module Leader;
- Crime Controversies and Critical Theory (Level 7)
- Crime in the City, Crime and the State (Level 6)
- Criminological Perspectives (Level 5)
Awards
- Student Led Teaching Awards 2025- Inspirational Teaching Award (Nominee)
- British Society of Criminology Annual Book Prize Nominee
Recognition
- Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
- Member British Society of Criminology
- External Examiner Liverpool John Moores University (UG)
- External Examiner London Metropolitan University (PG)
- Peer Reviewer for The European Journal of Probation
- Peer Reviewer for The Journal of Prison Education Research
- Member of the British Convict Criminology Group
- Associate Member of the British Psychological Society
- Associate Lecturer in Social Psychology and Forensic Psychology for The Open University
- Expert Court Witness (Prison Conditions)
- Peer Reviewer for Incarceration, BMC Psychology, The European Journal of Probation, Journal of Prison Education Research (JPER), International Criminal Justice Review, The Howard Journal, Criminology & Criminal Justice (CCJ), Critical Criminology, and Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology
Research / Scholarly interests
Ed is interested in all aspects of research surrounding prisons and penal policy, with particular focus on prisoner mental health and wellbeing, safer custody and power-sharing initiatives in prison. Ed is also interested in the programme theory and impact evaluation of interventions in custodial settings as well as a broader interest in punitiveness within the Criminal Justice System in Western Europe. Ed is also interested in the use of lived experience to offer new criminological perspectives and is an active member of the British Convict Criminology Group.
Key funded projects
- Schreeche-Powell, E. and Simpson, E. (2026) ‘Elevating Voices, Shaping Change: An Outcome Evaluation of the ELEVATE CJS Leadership Programme
- Simpson, E. and Schreeche-Powell, E. (2024). An Eye-Opener and a Door-Opener: A Process Evaluation of the ELEVATE CJS Leadership Programme
Media activity
Schreeche-Powell, E. (2020) ‘I’m an ex-prisoner and education saved my life’, The Conversation, 13 January [online], Available at I'm an ex-prisoner and education behind bars saved my life (theconversation.com)