Maggie Leese - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Maggie Leese

Routledge eBooks, Sep 30, 2022

Education Committee call for evidence on Prison Education, Apr 21, 2021

Automatic recognition of handwritten digit string with unknown length has many potential real app... more Automatic recognition of handwritten digit string with unknown length has many potential real applications. The most challenging step in this problem is how to efficiently segment connected and/or overlapped digits exhibited in the input image. Most existing numeral string segmentation approaches combine several segmentation hypotheses to handle various types of connected digits. This paper proposes a new handwritten digit string recognition without applying any explicit segmentation techniques. The proposed method uses a new cascade of hybrid principal component analysis network (PCANet) and support vector machine (SVM) classifier called PCA-SVMNet. PCANet is an emerging unsupervised simple deep neural network typically with only two convolutional layers. The proposed PCA-SVMNet model adds a new fully connected layer trained separately using SVM optimization method. Cascaded stages of PCA-SVMNet classifiers are constructed and trained to recognize various types of isolated and connected digits. Every PCA-SVMNet classifier is trained separately using combinations of real and synthetic touching digits. The first 1D-PCA-SVMNet stage is trained to recognize isolated handwritten digits (0. .. 9) while forwarding non-isolated digits to the next stages. Each of the following stages is designed to recognize a class of connected digits and forwards the higher class to its successor. Multiple stages can be added accordingly to classify more complex touching digits. The experimental results using NIST SD19 real dataset show that the cascade of PCA-SVMNet classifier efficiently recognizes unknown handwritten digit string without applying any sophisticated segmentation methods. The proposed method achieves state-of-the-art recognition accuracy compared to other segmentation-free techniques.

TEAMALPHA NEWSLETTER TeamAlpha are academics, doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers ass... more TEAMALPHA NEWSLETTER TeamAlpha are academics, doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers associated with the 'Co-producing Alcohol, Criminal Justice and Public Health Research' theme of the Centre for Social Innovation in SSSHL, Teesside University At the heart of the work that TEAMALPHA do is co-production with stakeholders and the community. CURRENT RESEARCH GROUPS 1. Alcohol research (contact Prof Dorothy Newbury-Birch) 2. Prison research (contact Dr Maggie Leese) 3. Co-production research (contact Prof Dorothy Newbury-Birch) 4. Sexual behaviour and sexual offending (contact Dr Maggie Leese) 5. Trauma research (contact Lynn Miles) CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS TITLE FUNDER CI CONTACT A two-arm parallel group individually randomised prison pilot study of a male remand alcohol intervention for selfefficacy enhancement: the APPRAISE study

International Journal of Prisoner Health, 2020

Purpose This paper aims to provide an overview of the Italian Ministry of Justice response to COV... more Purpose This paper aims to provide an overview of the Italian Ministry of Justice response to COVID-19 in Italian prisons, with particular focus on the conditions of super-maximum security (supermax) prisoners. Design/methodology/approach The paper is presented in the form of viewpoint and involves the reconciliation of peer-reviewed publications, technical documents and experts’ opinions. Findings The paper poses critical challenges on the risk of social inequalities and substandard of care for supermax prisoners. Research limitations/implications Because the COVID-19 emergency represents an evolving situation, the research describes an instantaneous scenario of the problem, possibly subjected to further dynamics. Practical implications The paper rises relevant challenges in terms of equalities and human rights, which should be considered by policymakers. Social implications The research highlights the importance of the health protection for supermax prisoners during COVID-19 as it...

OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying, 2020

Urgent measures established to contain the transmission of COVID-19 and prevent biological hazard... more Urgent measures established to contain the transmission of COVID-19 and prevent biological hazards included very restrictive interventions on public Holy Masses and funerals. Italy banned any burial procedure and the decision particularly affected both catholic and islamic communities. The dignity of death and the religious competence as cultural competence during COVID-19 epidemic represent important aspects of the epidemic preparedness. This article provides relevant considerations about the topic from an ethical perspective.

Mental Health Review Journal, 2019

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand how patients on a low security personality dis... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand how patients on a low security personality disorder ward experienced multi-disciplinary team (MDT) meetings, in order to suggest improvements that would benefit the patients and clinical teams. Design/methodology/approach The design was a case study where all patients on a low secure ward that specialised in personality disorders were approached to take part in the research. The study utilised non-participant observations of the MDT meeting (n=11), followed by individual interviews with the patients (n=10). Findings The data were subjected to a thematic analysis and this illuminated five themes relating to the patients’ experience of the MDT meetings namely, the importance of leave applications, the formality of the meetings, the opportunity to check on progress, decision-making and the importance of communication. Practical implications The findings suggest that small changes could be made to improve the patients’ experience of the...

Child & Family Social Work, 2016

The aim of the Leeds Beckett Repository is to provide open access to our research, as required by... more The aim of the Leeds Beckett Repository is to provide open access to our research, as required by funder policies and permitted by publishers and copyright law. The Leeds Beckett repository holds a wide range of publications, each of which has been checked for copyright and the relevant embargo period has been applied by the Research Services team. We operate on a standard take-down policy. If you are the author or publisher of an output and you would like it removed from the repository, please contact us and we will investigate on a case-by-case basis.

Journal of Further and Higher Education, 2010

... Parkinson, G. and Forrester, G. 'Mind the gap': Students' expectations and per... more ... Parkinson, G. and Forrester, G. 'Mind the gap': Students' expectations and perceptions of induction to distance learning in higher education. Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association annual conference. ... “Pierre Bourdieu on art, literature and culture”. ...

Child Care in Practice, 2013

ABSTRACT The subject of engaging mothers in appropriate family support continues to be debated an... more ABSTRACT The subject of engaging mothers in appropriate family support continues to be debated and this paper explores the complex factors that influenced one mother's willingness to accept support. In addition, it captures how her family support worker built and sustained a “help-providing” and “help-receiving” relationship despite the mother's resistance. This paper reports on data that were gathered as part of a larger research study based in two Sure Start Children's Centres and draws on one case study as an exemplar that illustrates the nature of family support. By presenting Zoe's story, this paper draws on personal construct theory to examine the reasons why one mother refused to engage in support services based on her negative self-construct. The findings identify that the building and sustaining of relationships with vulnerable and excluded mothers is complex and requires workers to manage and negotiate their everyday interactions and adapt the support offered. In addition, they identify how these “help-providing” and “help-receiving” relationships enable mothers to access the support that they need and refine their negative self-constructs and predict more positive outcomes for their family.

British Journal of Educational Technology, 2009

With increasing student numbers and a diverse student body, it is crucial to consider a range of ... more With increasing student numbers and a diverse student body, it is crucial to consider a range of methods to engage students in learning and teaching activities. This project was used to encourage 1st-year undergraduate students to engage in out of class activities between taught sessions. The project used a virtual learning environment (VLE) known as Wolverhampton Online Learning Framework (WOLF) to encourage collaborative working within learning sets. The central aim was to investigate the potential to improve communication and mutual support between students and also to encourage students to make links between taught sessions. They were given weekly tasks that needed to be completed within their learning sets and they then posted the work in folders within WOLF by a set time. This allowed for timely feedback from the tutor and it facilitated sharing of resources across the sets. The final element involved students using their new knowledge to peer-teach the whole group in short presentations at the beginning of the next taught session. Feedback was collected in three ways, including focus groups, module feedback forms and a short questionnaire about the use of the VLE. Overall, the students' feedback was positive and they commented on gaining a number of skills including, using technology, group working and presentations. In addition to this, the overall pass rate for the module was higher and the average student grade had also increased.

The findings demonstrates that there has been a reduction in drug supply entering the prison.  T... more The findings demonstrates that there has been a reduction in drug supply entering the prison.  The security measure that appear to act as the main deterrent is the presence of the scanners.  Prisoners and staff were most aware of the photocopying of mail, the use of scanners in visits and reception, and intelligence-led searches.  Visitors were most aware of the scanners in visits and the impact of sending personal belongings and mail into the prison.

This small scale research study was carried out by Leeds Beckett University in collaboration with... more This small scale research study was carried out by Leeds Beckett University in collaboration with West Midlands Police, to explore how mental health issues impact on police custody suites. A significant number of people with mental illness will come into contact with the police on a daily basis, and Bradley (2009) proposed that, there needs to be improvements made to police training in mental health awareness and where appropriate, people with mental illness should be diverted to suitable services which meet their needs. Despite this, the Independent Commission on Mental Health and Policing (2013) noted cases where people have, “died or [have been] seriously injured following police contact, or [within] police custody” (p.6), and the findings from this review inform police conduct around the safety of detainees. The Crisis Care Concordant promotes partnerships between the police, health and social care to improve the experience of people in mental health crisis (Department of Health...

Child & Family Social Work, 2014

The Leeds Beckett repository holds a wide range of publications, each of which has been checked f... more The Leeds Beckett repository holds a wide range of publications, each of which has been checked for copyright and the relevant embargo period has been applied by the Research Services team. We operate on a standard take-down policy. If you are the author or publisher of an output and you would like it removed from the repository, please contact us and we will investigate on a case-by-case basis.

Introduction More than a decade ago, the Corston Report (2007)1 suggested that custody should onl... more Introduction More than a decade ago, the Corston Report (2007)1 suggested that custody should only be used for those women who have committed serious and/or violent crimes; striking a balance between “retributive justice” and the inherent vulnerabilities including past abuse and mental illness, prevalent amongst this group. Consequently, there has been a move to promote alternatives to custody for women, recognising that they have different needs to their male counterparts.2 Despite this acknowledgement, female incarceration rates remain high, with women more likely than men to receive a custodial sentence for their first offence.3 The increasing numbers of women given a custodial sentence can be linked to harsher sentencing and a reduction in community disposals, with 84% of women in prison serving custodial sentences for non-violent offences.4 Almost half of women in prison have been convicted of theft but despite a 4% reduction in convictions for theft between 2009-2013, the numb...

International Health

Childhood detention represents an integral part of the public health response to the COVID-19 eme... more Childhood detention represents an integral part of the public health response to the COVID-19 emergency. Prison conditions in Italy put detained minors at grave risk of contracting sudden acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. To date (29 April 2020), the Italian penitentiary system is housing 161 minors (147 males), most of them in pre-trial custody, as well as 50 children <3 y of age residing with their mothers in detention. Furthermore, the government reported 5265 unaccompanied minor migrants, mainly from Gambia and Egypt. The fundamental approach to be followed in childhood detention during COVID-19 is prevention of the introduction of infectious agents into detention facilities, limiting the spread within the prison and reducing the possibility of spread from the prison to the outside community. This appears challenging in countries like Italy with intense SARS-CoV-2 transmission. The current COVID-19 pandemic shows the need to provide a comprehens...

The Journal of Adult Protection

The issue of mental health and policing is a subject that has been debated from a number of diffe... more The issue of mental health and policing is a subject that has been debated from a number of different perspectives. The purpose of this paper is to report on the findings of a case study that explored mental health difficulties and vulnerability within police custody. Design/methodology/approach The design of the study was qualitative, and it utilised telephone, semi-structured interviews with all levels of the custody staff. This approach was taken because the aim of the study was to explore how people in different roles within the organisation, worked to safeguard vulnerable people in custody. Findings The findings from this study identified a number of interesting themes that could be explored further in later studies. Overall the respondents expressed frustration that vulnerable people find themselves in police custody for low-level crime, when it could have been avoided with improved mental health services in the community. Additionally, the findings demonstrated that despite the processes that are designed to safeguard the detainee, tensions still exist including, timely access to mental health assessments, appropriate training and support for staff, and the use of appropriate adults. Research limitations/implications Although the study was small in scale, the custody facility delivered detainee facilities for about 5000 individuals per year. The research and information obtained supported the police lead for mental health to identify opportunities for improving the customer journey, as well as recognising the need for further research to identify how officers and staff relate to vulnerable individuals in contact with the police service. Originality/value Despite the limitations of the study, the findings have captured interesting data from a range of professionals working in one police custody suite, and therefore it presents a holistic overview of some key issues around mental health, vulnerability and safeguarding within the context of police custody.