Topical questions in the House of
Commons
Our
probation officers do a vital job—it is one that I value highly—in turning
offenders’ lives around, and the prisons and probation Minister
is conducting a comprehensive review of the probation system that is focused on
improving the quality of our probation services. As with our plans for prisons,
we want a simpler, clearer system, with specific outcome measures such as
getting offenders off drugs, improving educational standards, and getting
offenders into apprenticeships and work. We also want closer working with the
Prison Service. We will set out our more detailed plans after our review is
completed in April.
What
action are the Government taking to address the specific needs of women in the
justice system?
We are
working to ensure that we take proper account of the specific needs of women at
every stage of the criminal justice system so that they receive the support
that they need to make positive changes in their lives. We want to see fewer
women offending and reoffending, and we will set out our strategy for how we
manage female offenders in 2017.
May I
give the Secretary of
State another opportunity to answer my question? She told the House
that she has had meetings to discuss the record levels of suicide in our
prisons. Has she actually visited a prison mental health service—and if not,
why not?
I have
visited a number of prisons where I have discussed mental health services. I
have already answered the hon. Lady’s question.
There is
obviously a careful risk assessment before people are moved into open prison. I
am not aware of the specific facts of the case that the hon. Gentleman has
outlined, but I will be happy to meet him to discuss it.
Prisoners
serving IPP—imprisonment for
public protection—sentences have remained in custody long beyond their tariff
and long after the coalition Government abolished such sentences. I understand
that a dedicated Ministry of Justice unit is looking into the position of IPP
prisoners. Will the Secretary of
State tell us exactly what it is doing?
Woodhill
prison in my constituency
has had more suicides than any other prison this year. Will my right hon.
Friend assure me that she is working urgently with the governor to address the
situation?
I can
assure my hon. Friend that we are working urgently with the governor to address
the situation, as well as addressing the overall issue of the number of
suicides in our prisons, which is far too high.
Reoffending
rates among young offenders remain stubbornly high. Earlier this year, the
Association of Youth Offending Team Managers said that there had been a record
cut in funding for youth offending teams. What is the Secretary of
State doing to address that?
The hon.
Lady will not have to wait long before we release the Charlie Taylor report and
the Government’s response, which will explain how we will improve outcomes in
youth justice.
On her first day in office, the
Prime Minister
said:
“If you are black you are treated more harshly by the criminal
justice system than if you are white.”
I am pleased to be working with
Mr Lammy
on a review of the treatment of, and outcomes for, black, Asian and minority
ethnic individuals in the criminal justice system. What steps will the
Secretary of State
take to act on the emerging findings, which show that, in respect of arrests
and charging, such people are disproportionately affected?
I am delighted that my hon. Friend has joined that review, to which I am
sure that she will make a major contribution. Clearly there are issues
throughout the criminal justice system that we need to examine, but I am
certainly keen to see more diversity throughout our legal services industry and
our judiciary, and we are working very hard on that.
Education
budgets are being devolved to prison governors. Will each of those budgets be
ring-fenced for education spending purposes?
Given the Government’s welcome development of a
corruption prevention strategy for our prisons, will the
Minister
look personally at the allegations of systemic corruption raised by BuzzFeed
News today on the basis that this presents a serious risk of undermining our
prison system?
I completely agree with my hon. Friend. While the vast
majority
of prison officers are hard-working and dedicated, there is a small minority
that is an issue. We acknowledge that in the
White Paper,
and we are reporting early next year on our corruption strategy. We are also
considering options for a prison-specific offence of corruption to crack down
on that scourge.
When the
previous Labour
Government changed the law so that prisoners had to be released
halfway through their sentence irrespective of how badly they behaved or if
they were still a risk to the public, the then Conservative Opposition
were apoplectic and voted against the change. Do the Government think that the
then Conservative party was wrong to oppose that change in the law?
I refer
my hon. Friend to the answer I gave earlier today and last week to the Select Committee.
I think
this show will run—probably for some years to come. https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2016-12-06b.110.7
IPP sentence is a life sentence also
given to the vulnerable those with disability’s.
that once in court their lack of understanding grows
as their lives are taken over by opaque court procedures and legalistic
terminology, and in prison many are left to fend for themselves in a shadowy
world of not quite knowing what is going on around them or what is expected of
them.
In the European court is against
whole-life sentences
.It was argued that his very hopelessness made a person dangerous.
"Dr Stephanie Hill, consultant in psychology because having no hope you
having little concern for others in light of his whole-life order this manifests
itself in an assaults others.It me it is total madness to give young people 99 years sentence for minor crimes in comparison to
those who commit much worse crimes. To warrant
an IPP you would have to of had to commit 3 similar crimes all though you have punished for
those individual crimes .
“One prisoner quoted in the inside
time,) The IPP is a life sentence but you might as well be dead because I was
given a death sentence. At least if I was dead it would put me out of my
misery.”
The whole-life tariff is against
all principles of international law as it denies any possibility of reform of
rehabilitation.
Whole-life jail sentences without any prospect of release
amount to inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners, the European court
of human rights has ruled. In its decision, the Strasbourg court said there
had been a violation of article 3 of the European convention on human rights,
which prohibits inhuman and degrading treatment. The judgment said: "For a
life sentence to remain compatible with article 3 there had to be both a possibility
of release and a possibility of review."
Thousands were sentenced to an IPP most are over tariff some by 3 times there original date.
This would effect and take down the best of people and affect their mental state.
Mental ill-health is one of the
most predominant and challenging issues in prisons this is closely associated
with the unacceptably high rates of suicide and self-harm in custody. Government
have got to its highest ever this year, prisoner had been identified as having
mental health needs before their death. A high proportion of the Prison population
has mental health needs these needs range from mild high forms of depression
this can be treated with medication and support. But only if staff can be more sympathetic to prisoners when
prisoners are taking medication that their behaviour could change as a result.
A report in 2015 by the prison
reform trust contained 82 recommendations (Department of Health, 2009), and
most of these are being taken forward – including my recommendation for a
nationwide liaison and diversion service.
So why do we have a crises? Should we be asking for a investigation into the government
mishandling ?Who takes that on?
Death have been
rising at a alarming rate, who is responsibility for 32 deaths
this year 2016)?
It is essential is for all prison
staff to be educated to recognise hidden disabilities those groups more at risk and to understand the symptoms of mental
ill-health subsequently they those care and support. Staff training is,
therefore is crucial but, too often I
read , these investigations have found that staff lacked the necessary
mental health awareness training, therefore, the mental health needs of
prisoners were neglected because signs were missed.
Prison staff needs to work
together to develop an effective plan of care and to deliver appropriate
treatment, and support so that they may be able to overcome their mental health
difficulties, at least learn to manage. Unfortunately, mental health conditions
cause sufferers to present difficult and challenging behaviour, which staff may
deal with as a behavioural rather than a mental health problem.
"Learning disorders are born
due to poor functioning of the brain and can influence the individual mental
processes such as word recognition, memory, reading comprehension, auditory
language processing and mathematical analysis. Learning disorders can also be
associated with different types of ADHD, behavioural disorders and sensory
disabilities.
Prison and probation staff was
failing to identify people with learning disabilities, meaning opportunities to
help those offenders were missed, according to independent inspectors. Today
they published the second report of a joint inspection into people with
learning disabilities within the criminal justice system.
The report, A joint inspection of
the treatment of offenders with learning disabilities within the criminal
justice system: phase two in custody and the community, reflects the findings
of HM Inspectorate of Probation and HM Inspectorate of Prisons. The first
inspection, published in January 2014, looked at what happened when someone is
arrested and in police custody through to when someone first appears in court
and is sentenced. Inspectors noted the poor quality of services, inefficient
processes and confusion among police, court service and probation staff about
what constituted a learning disability. This second inspection presents an
equally bleak picture about the experience of offenders with learning
disabilities in prison and while subject to supervision in the community.
The first inspection found that
no clear definition or agreement exists across criminal justice and health
organisations about what constitutes learning difficulties or disabilities.
Although believed to be a sizeable minority, possibly as high as 30%, there is
no way of knowing the number of people with such conditions within the criminal
justice system. Adequate provision is, consequently, not always made by the
agencies involved to cater for their specific needs. The second inspection
found that within probation and particularly in prisons, identification of
offenders with learning disabilities remained a problem and as a result, the
needs of people with learning disabilities were often missed.
Inspectors were concerned to
find: Screening tools were not used routinely by probation officers or in prisons,
and there was an over-reliance on disclosure of the existence of learning
disabilities by the offender/prisoner or their family;
-
information about prisoners’ learning
disabilities was rarely appropriately shared with relevant staff;
-
practitioners were frustrated by the lack of
support from social and health care agencies;
- some prisoners had learning disability nurses
but, generally, offender supervisors did not consult them regularly;
- although some initiatives and guidance were
being developed by national and local leaders, frontline staff and some
managers were either unaware or unable to implement it;
- and the Equality Act 2010 makes it clear that
public authorities have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to meet the needs
of service users with a disability (including a learning disability), but in
most cases managers and staff in prisons or probation services were not doing
this.
However, inspectors also found
that:
·
there were pockets of good practice and examples
of staff developing supportive relationships and ‘going the extra mile’ but
these were the exception, rather than the norm; and
·
Offender managers and supervisors working in the
community were keen to receive advice and guidance and those with direct access
to community psychiatric nurses felt supported, however, most community
psychiatric nurses were not trained or experienced in working with people with
learning disabilities.
·
The chief inspectors made recommendations for
improvement, which included: ensuring that prison and probation services comply
with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 by making necessary adjustments
to services delivered to those with learning disabilities, introducing a
screening tool across the prison estate for learning disabilities and adapting
interventions for people with learning disabilities to help reduce the risk of re offending.
Chief Inspector of Prisons Nick
Hardwick said on behalf of both inspectorates:
“In prisons we were alarmed that
there were extremely poor systems for identifying prisoners with learning
disabilities; in one prison we were even told that they could not identify a
single prisoner who had a learning disability.
This lack of identification is
unacceptable. Even where a learning disability was identified, it was not
always sufficiently taken into account in prison processes such as behaviour
management or anti-bullying measures. Not surprisingly therefore, some
prisoners with a learning disability told us about getting into trouble with
staff or being bullied because of their learning disability.
We are also concerned that little
thought was given to the need to adapt the regimes to meet the needs of
prisoners with learning disabilities who may find understanding and following
prison routines very difficult. http://www.mac-uk.org/wped/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Dept-of-Health-Bradley-Report-Exec-Summary.pdf
Film
By Danny Mc Dowell & Graham Keeton http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/dannyandgraham
https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/cjji/media/press-releases/2015/03/learningdisailitiespt2news/
Comments
I
would like to thank everyone who helped me with my book Prisoners in
Limbo and I do hope those in Authority will take note of what the book
contains.
I want to say to each and everyone of you who have
loved ones locked up that you will get your loved ones out and you must
stay positive. If there is anything I can do to help the cause sign
petitions, letter then please let me know.
Although I was not an IPP prisoner I was given a life sentence at the age of 19 and was releas
ed
when I was 32 so I know the road ahead is not plain sailing however
change is going to come and you will be reunited with your loved ones.
My thoughts are with all of you and your families this Christmas and lets see a new beginning in the new year 2017.
Just been informed my son is on a
suicide watch, apparently he is struggling to cope at the moment. He has had a
difficult year to cope with had a court case , which even though he was found
not guilty the parole board has requested all the statements from the officers
involved to be presented at the parole hearing . his probation officer went to
see him for only the 2cd time in two years and accused him of showing signs of
a personality disorder ,which he has since been examined and its been proved he
hasn’t . I complained about her to her boss and now she has written a negative
report about him for parole. He is coming up to 10 years inside in january 7and
a half years over tariff and it looks like they want to stitch him up again .
ive so had enough of these people , they don’t have a heart any of them .
prison officers can beat our loved ones , then charge them with assault and
when your family member proves in court the officers were the guilty ones and
he was the victim it means nothing , They just turn to the parole board and
probation to get their revenge . The bloody system is a joke , and as for them
all being independent bodies I find it hard to believe . So worried about my
son at the moment, he is a very strong man but they are really pushing him to
his limits . sorry for the rant everyone just needed to sound off im feeling a
bit stressed myself today
Adams Just to let yous know an ipp has just got release
from cat C..looks like things are improving
Still
going to be excessively risk averse no acceptance that is the problem . No surprises here, when u all get happy its lip
service like i say they been saying things without any changes.
Well some one needs over rule it because it was all over the news.
My oh was
beaten by poilce officers and was in hospital for two years he was very
sick then they put in jail and he had to go court and police officer had
to be present at the hearing he also
was found not guilty but he was recalled bk and the police get away with
it but our loved ones don't so not fair I really hope he gets better
soon and starts to heal hun I know how hard it is xxx much love
My partner is an IPP 10 ninth tariff now down nearly 10 years
When
I rang parole board they said they review everyone's case when it gets
to them and they decided on everyone's case weather they can be released
on paper or not they said some may need an oral hearing before release. I hope we hear more of ipps being released on paper as it's for all ipps not just recalls
I
sincerely hope this is the case for your partner. If it is it means
that the release of over tariff IPPs is being done. Fingers crossed for
you..
Parole
probation the same trust me my brother did 11 years IPP 1 year44
day tariff got released June this year and recalled on July passed drug
alcohol did not re offend now he's got wait till January for Orel
hearing whilst they sit at home with
their families MPs lick my Arse and only so much solicitors can do on
legal aid some body in power needs to help get them out now they've
destroyed many IPPs and their families.
got recalled and
didn't do nothing wrong for him to be put back and he still sitting in
jail after 2yrs and a half I really hope this parole board start letting
them go on paper and we see results happening it's so hard this
government need to really work there ass off to let dem go.
Difference
is though most IPP'S got lifed of on first jail sentences 2 strikers
been inside before (even tho a dnt agree with the way the treated) but
its total different sentence.
To: KatherineGleeson Sent: Tue, 6 Dec
2016 11:12 Subject: Re: IPP article on BuzzFeed Hi Katherine, Sorry for the
delay - thanks for getting back to me, I'm covering a trial at the moment so
I'm not responding as fast as I'd like. I'm going ahead with this article next
week - and I'd be interested in speaking to one more person about this, someone
who's the partner of someone serving an IPP sentence. I appreciate your point
about there being a range of important stories not involving partners - but I'm
always interested in hearing from people in future and perhaps I could revisit
this subject in future.In any case I'll be putting pressure on the government
to give answers in this.Thanks Patrick.
Wholesale negligence and incompetence of NHS Police and Solicitors . I would like to here from you if you've had problems ....?
