Debating Matters Beyond Bars: Jon Floyd and Heather Phillips

Initiated in 2015, Debating Matters Beyond Bars is a project
which takes DM's schools-debating format inside prisons. Using
our acclaimed substance-over-style format, teams of prisoners
engage in debate with one another on a whole range of
contemporary social, political and cultural topics. The programme
aims to inspire them to think about issues beyond their current
situation and to look forward to their life ahead – in other
words, beyond bars!


In this podcast, Mo Lovatt - DM's national coordinator - and
Geoff Kidder sat down with former Beyond Bars competitor Jon
Floyd to discuss the impact the programme had on him when he took
part in 2015 while he was serving his sentence. We were also
joined by Heather Phillips, the chief executive of Beating Time,
which runs, amongst other things, Inside Job – an employment
programme she set up with Jon in 2020. 


For Jon, taking part in Beyond Bars was the catalyst for starting
that programme with Heather as well as a whole range of
initiatives he’s been involved with since 2015. As he says in the
podcast, Beyond Bars gave him a purposeful activity, helped him
change direction and kickstarted his journey of rehabilitation.