Restorative detention: a state-of-the-art review

This paper examines the evolving concept of restorative detention, tracing its intellectual roots and assessing its empirical promise and persistent challenges. Restorative justice, once framed in opposition to punitive systems, is increasingly considered complementary to criminal procedures and applicable within prisons. The authors map push factors – shortcomings of contemporary incarceration, insights from desistance theory and the Good Lives Model – and pull factors – positive RJ outcomes outside custody – that drive experimentation with in‑prison restorative practices. Building on Dhami and colleagues’ critique, the paper reviews diverse initiatives (e.g. Mending Bridges, Bridges to Life, Restorative Reasoning Programme, Circles of Support and Accountability) and recent empirical studies across jurisdictions, including qualitative programme evaluations, experimental, and survey research. Findings point to individual benefits (increased accountability, emotional processing, and reductions in reoffending), organisational gains (culture change, relational leadership, de‑escalation skills), and flexible, low‑cost models suited to varied prison contexts. Yet significant tensions remain: voluntariness, confidentiality, victim involvement, institutional cultures of control, resource limits, and fragmented evaluation frameworks. The authors conclude that restorative detention is feasible and valuable but requires sustained leadership commitment, coherent policy, adequate resources, rigorous longitudinal evaluation, and careful attention to the ethical and procedural tensions between restorative values and the coercive nature of detention.