Deaths to be investigated twenty three have dies within a fortnight of being released.
Deaths following release from prison to be jointly investigated by criminal justice """" and healthcare agencies .We need an investigation in the UK into "hundreds of deaths of IPP and the deaths after. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-50735550
IPP Campaign https://home.38degrees.org.uk/2016/08/25/ipp-prisoners-campaign-update/
ECtHR rules IPP sentences breach human rights Art 5(1)
Postdate 18 Sep 2012
The ECtHR gave judgment today in James, Wells and Lee
v UK ECHR 340 (2012). It held unanimously, that there had been a violation
of Article 5(1) (right to liberty and security) of the European Convention
on Human Rights (ECHR) concerning the Applicants’ detention following the
expiry of the minimum terms in their indeterminate sentences for the public
protection (IPPs).
Garden Court North
Chambers’ Pete
Weatherby QC acted for the lead case of Brett James, instructed
by Erica Restall of Switalskis
Solicitors, Bradford.
The Court held that the failure
to provide sufficient rehabilitative courses led to arbitrary detention after
the punishment phase of the sentence had been served.
The Court found that such
imprisonment was premised on the understanding that prisoners would be able to
rehabilitate, and the suggestion of the domestic courts that this was an
aspiration rather than a requirement was incorrect. The Court held that no
realistic consideration had been given to the impact of the sentences of IPP
when they were introduced in 2005, and this had led to the problems.
The domestic Courts held that the
Secretary of State had breached his public law duty to provide courses, but
this did not mean that the detention had become unlawful under English and
Welsh law, or under the Convention. The ECtHR disagreed.
Mr James was awarded 3,000 euros
in respect of non-pecuniary damage for 5 months arbitrary detention.
It is of note that the UK has
nearly 14,000 indeterminate sentence prisoners, more than the combined total of
all the other 46 countries of the Council of Europe. One in five sentenced
prisoners in the UK is serving an indeterminate sentence. The last publicly
available figures show that one in three IPP prisoners have not completed a
single rehabilitative course. There are currently more than 6,000 serving IPP
prisoners a 58% of them have served beyond their tariff dates.
Although the cases decided today
relate to the position several years ago, the position remains difficult. A
2012 MoJ report indicates that Parole Board members (who decide whether or not
to release IPP prisoners) feel access to courses and resources generally
continue to be a barrier to the release of IPP prisoners.
Pete was interviewed for
the BBC Radio 4 Today programme and BBC Radio 5 live to
explain the significance of today’s European Court ruling. On the Today
programme, he commented:
“Although various measures have
been brought in in the 7 years since [IPP sentences were introduced in 2005,
there are certainly still extremely serious problems and actually a very small
percentage of IPP prisoners have been released at all and so the absolute
number of IPP prisoners in the system is still going up.”
On the Radio 5 live programme
Pete added:
“…it will no longer be open to
the government to argue that rehabilitation of these prisoners was an
aspiration rather than a required.
Prison Reform
We stand with BIHR - The British Institute of Human Rights and over 100 other organisations on #HumanRightsDay in calling on all party leaders to commit to safeguarding universal human rights.
Read the full letter at https://www.bihr.org.uk/News/human-rights-day-2019
Read the full letter at https://www.bihr.org.uk/News/human-rights-day-2019
Bad Management of prisons and the long-ford lecture.
https://www.facebook.com/wearestraightline/videos/573945896755741/UzpfSTE4ODMzMDc0MTE5NzMwMjoyODYzODI0NTIwMzE0NTY0/?__tn__=%2Cd%2CP-R&eid=ARDl1KHkVlOrtMP2-9gcVw0KnTC5Cp6eAYnLsseGQOryxAOrUMjXJA4C5s4I0cYBRPrOESiSLhO4hLi4
Rehabilitation Failings
lack of resources meant that even
those convicted of terrorism offenses cannot get the best help there
due to lack of resources such as courses there put on a waiting list but did not
get the help to de radicalize
Silke, professor of terrorism,
risk and resilience at Cranfield University in Bedfordshire, has been into
prisons to study deradicalisation and is one of the UK’s leading experts in the
field.The the lack of resources meant those convicted of those offences
cannot get the best help.The main deradicalisation programme in prisons is
called Healthy
Identity Intervention. It is open to those convicted of Islamist terrorism
offences and those jailed for extreme rightwing violence.
Silke said there was a waiting
list for the scheme “I’m absolutely sure. I have seen the case files.
“Some prisoners who have said
they are willing, never get on it before their release. Some are waiting a long
time.
“It can have a real impact. It
could use more resources. It is hard to imagine austerity did not have some
impact.”Prisons have been hit by steep cuts and Silke pointed out the impact
this has had on the number of psychologists prisoners could access.The scheme
is essentially intensive counselling sessions led by a psychologist and Silke
said the results are good. “Many interventions involve two to three sessions a
week, which are one or two hours long, so it ties up quite a lot of time and
resources. It can last several months.
The guardian and the justice system
Austerity is the crucial problem.There has been seven justice
Tory secretaries but none understood and that their misguided polices have ripped apart the country or that austerity has bred the isolating conditions that the have produced violent jhadists9Editorial)
Austerity is the crucial problem.There has been seven justice
Tory secretaries but none understood and that their misguided polices have ripped apart the country or that austerity has bred the isolating conditions that the have produced violent jhadists9Editorial)
The impact of criminal records on people from BAME
backgrounds this being Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (used to refer to
members of non-white communities in the UK).
Yesterday (15 July 2019) Unlock,
the country’s leading charity for people with convictions, published new
research on the impact of criminal records as perceived by people from
Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.
This report is based on the
survey responses from 221 individuals. It provides new data on the impact of
criminal records as perceived by people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic
(BAME) backgrounds, and it draws on what is known about the
over-criminalisation of certain groups. Key findings from the survey include:
Over three-quarters of people
(78%) felt that their ethnic background had made the problems they face as a
result of their criminal record harder. Around 1 in 5 (22%) felt that it had
made no difference. Nobody from a BAME background felt that their ethnicity
made things easier.
The overwhelming majority (79%)
cited employment as one of the problems they faced. The other most common
problems were relationships (34%), volunteering (30%), insurance (26%),
travel/immigration (23%) and college/university/education (23%).
The problems persisted for long
periods of time. Although the majority were last cautioned/convicted between 1
and 10 years ago (32% between 1 and 5 years ago, with 30.8% between 5 and 10
years ago), 15% had problems between 10 and 20 years later and 7% had problems
over 20 years later.
It affects all age groups. The
problems people faced because of their ethnicity spanned the full age range,
the full range of sentences and a wide range of offences types.
African and Caribbean individuals
were most affected. Problems were faced by a range of ethnic groups, but the
largest proportions were African (17.8%) and Caribbean (13.4%).
We know from the Lammy Report
that people from some BAME backgrounds are disproportionately represented at
all stages of the criminal justice system, and this affects both their
experience and perception of how ethnicity compounds the difficulties created
by a criminal record.
Unlock found that respondents
faced multiple difficulties as a result of their criminal record. Most
respondents cited employment (79.4%) as one of the problems they faced.21
Employment was cited almost three times as often as any other problem area. The
other most common problems were relationships (34%), volunteering (30.4%,
insurance (26.3%), travel/immigration (22.7%) and college/university/education
(22.7%). A key graphic from the report is reproduced below:
Visible and invisible
discrimination
However, whereas ethnicity can be
a visible characteristic to employers, a criminal record is not. When looking
specifically at those with a criminal record, combining the attitudes of
employers towards criminal records with the differences in employment rates
between different ethnic groups, it is likely that BAME groups would be better
served by widespread improvements in employer practices towards criminal
records, such as Ban the Box. If employers did not find out about the criminal
record of an applicant until after they had offered a conditional job offer, it
would become much clearer whether an employer’s decision not to hire was based
on the applicant’s criminal record. It would also avoid many of the connections
and stereotypes that were referred to by survey respondents:
“I think that having a fraud
conviction and being of an African background feeds into the stereotype held
about Nigerians. I have dreadlocks and I’ve had to change my name to afford me
a foot in the door, so to speak.”
“The conviction(s) should not
have to be disclosed unless employers are going to offer you the new position,
and only if it is relevant to the post applied for.”
Conclusion
Most people surveyed for this
report believed their ethnicity has made it harder to overcome the problems
they face because of their criminal record. The discrimination faced by people
from BAME individuals who have a criminal record may not be ‘double’, but the
difficulties they face are certainly cumulative.
The perceptions of many of those
surveyed were that the way the criminal record disclosure rules operate means
that, had they been white, their past offences would have not caused them as
many problems. This may be because, for example, they may not have been
prosecuted, or the sentence they received would have been lower and therefore
spent earlier.
Unlock summarises its findings:
“Black and Asian defendants have
consistently been given the longest average custodial sentence length since
2012. Harsher sentences take longer to become spent under the Rehabilitation of
Offenders Act 1974, if they ever do, meaning a criminal record will cause more
difficulties for longer. This is an additional penalty for Black and Asian
defendants. What David Lammy refers to as the double penalty can in fact be a
triple penalty – the ethnic penalty, the criminal
penalty and then the disclosure
penalty.”"How Can government get it so wrong and while they do there are further deaths.
EDS, not the new IPP
I
tend to just mind my own business and not let things bug me and it is
only politicians that make me mad with their ignorance, but lately,
these mad arses with EDS (Extended Determinate Sentence) have been
scratching my last nerve.
For a start, EDS is NOT the new IPP
(Imprisonment for Public Protection). It’s nothing like IPP and you
need to get a grip on yourselves lads. Because you could not even
comprehend what IPP does to the human psyche, and that’s a fact.
I
hear you sulking about dossiers and Parole Boards, like you’ve been
hard done by. As far as I’m aware, and correct me if I’m wrong, but
with EDS you do two-thirds of your sentence and if you behave you get a
parole hearing every 12-months until your release date. You go home, no
matter what. IPPs don’t get to have that luxury and would give their
right arms to swap IPP for EDS. EDS is what IPP was supposed to be.
When you bitch and moan to people who haven’t even got a release date, you just look weak and foolish.
IPP prisoners
being deferred and getting worse that solicitor are questioning whats going on.
How often have we criticized government departments regarding IPP prisoners
being deferred over and over solicitor are questioning whats going on one commented on Tweeter my client
has been deferred 3 times.
And to often people with complex and
challenging needs end up in prison because it’s the only service with no
waiting list, a mental health expert has said. Minor criminal charges often
operate to contain people while the crisis in their care goes unresolved.
A former director general of the Prison Service has said
rehabilitation of offenders in jail does not work and should be
scrapped.
Sir Martin Narey will say in a speech on Tuesday that research to
establish a causal link between rehabilitation and reduced reoffending
is lacking and short courses cannot fix problems caused by difficult
childhoods.
“The things we did to prisoners, the courses we put them on, the
involvement of charities, made little or no difference,” he will tell
the International Corrections and Prisons Association conference in
Buenos Aires.
Instead, the best the prison estate can offer prisoners is an
environment where they are treated with “decency and dignity”, he will
say. “Decent prisons in which prisoners are respected seem to provide a
foundation for prisoner self-growth. Indecent, unsafe prisons allow no
such growth and further damage those who have to survive there.”
A Prison Reform Trust briefing based
on government statistics shows that reoffending rates overall are at about 50%.
A House of Lords briefing in
2017 said that despite various rehabilitation initiatives in prison,
reoffending rates remained too high.
Mark Leech, the editor of Prison Oracle, welcomed Narey’s comments. He
said: “Expecting our prisons to reform those we throw into them from high-crime
inner-city housing estates, with their school exclusions, unemployment, poor
opportunities, poor parenting and where gangs, guns, drugs, alcohol, violence
and crime are embedded, is an impossible ask when the living experience in so
many jails is one of disrespect and often abuse, violence and filth. It’s like
asking an A&E department to reduce accidents and then blaming the doctors
when car crashes increase.”
Nov 14, 2019
Supreme Court rules ‘slopping out’ a violation of prisoner’s rights
Man was exposed to ‘distressing, humiliating’ conditions in Mountjoy Prison, says judge
The Supreme Court has awarded a former prisoner
€7,500 damages over violation of his constitutional right to protection
of his person by having to ‘slop out’ in prison, and endure
“substandard” cell conditions, over almost eight months in 2013.
The five-judge court’s
unanimous judgment allowing Gary Simpson’s appeal has implications for
more than 1,000 cases taken over “slopping out” in prisons and sets out
principles of general application to such cases.
Mr Justice John MacMenamin
stressed the €7,500 award to Mr Simpson cannot be seen as a “benchmark”
when other cases may differ on the facts. It must be “open to question”
whether it would always be necessary to have a High Court hearing, he
added.
In a concurring judgment, Mr
Justice Donal O’Donnell agreed with his colleague it was not
permissible, at least in the way advanced in Mr Simpson’s case, to seek
to blend decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on
prison conditions with a claim for damages for breach of an Irish
constitutional right.
The case arose from slopping
out, a practice condemned in 1993 by the European Committee on the
Prevention of Torture and criticised in several other reports, including
by the Inspector of Prisons in Ireland.
“Slopping out” refers to the manual emptying of human waste from a
bucket or other container when prison cells without toilets are unlocked
in the morning.
In 2010, the State began a programme of prison refurbishment with a goal of single cell occupancy and in cell sanitation.
‘Degrading treatment’
In
his 2017 High Court judgment on Mr Simpson’s case, Mr Justice Michael
White found slopping out over seven and a half months in Mountjoy Prison
in 2013 breached his constitutional right to privacy and his dignity
but not his right not to be subject to inhuman and degrading treatment.
Those findings were made in
the context of the particular circumstances of Mr Simpson’s
imprisonment. He was a protected prisoner doubled up in a single cell
with no in-cell sanitation and on 23-hour lock-up.
Mr Justice White refused
damages because of his finding Mr Simpson told some untruths and grossly
exaggerated some of his evidence.
He also refused Mr Simpson
his legal costs, estimated at more than €1 million, against the State.
He did not order him to pay the State’s costs because of the court’s
criticism of matters, including limited access to showers for prisoners
on 23-hour lock-up.
Mr Simpson appealed to the
Supreme Court. The State did not appeal the finding concerning his right
to privacy/dignity but disputed his unenumerated constitutional right
not to be subject to inhuman and degrading treatment was also breached.
Giving the Supreme Court’s
main judgment, Mr Justice MacMenamin said the case was brought under the
Constitution and ECHR but, as the Constitution is the primary law of
the State, it takes precedence over the ECHR issues.
The conditions to which Mr
Simpson was exposed were “distressing, humiliating and fell below
acceptable standards in an Irish prison in the year 2013”.
Human dignity
A
deprivation of liberty must be in accordance with law and any limiting
of prisoners’ fundamental rights must be proportionate and not fall
below identified standards to protect human dignity. Conditions of
detention must comply with national and international standards which
Ireland has “pledged to uphold”.
The legal protections
applicable are reflected in national law, court decisions and the Prison
Rules and are based on values enshrined in the Constitution.
Issues concerning liability
for the substantial costs of the case, which ran for 30 days in the High
Court, will be decided later unless agreement on costs is reached
between the sides.
Mr Justice MacMenamin said,
while not describing this as a “test case”, the substantial legal issues
had to be explored and submissions on costs would be necessary in light
of the court’s judgment.
Why do so many people keep dying on probation though this is
also happening to IPP prisoners.
More sad reading
Last year, in my analysis of government
statistics about people who died whilst under probation supervision, I found
that the number of people dying increased at a faster rate than the caseload.
The latest statistics were published
last week (31 October) and I decided to take a look to see what has changed
in the last year. In this post I explore the extent to which the data published
by the Ministry of Justice can be used to compare the mortality rate of people
over time, and with the general population. I also look at what has happened in
terms of self-inflicted deaths.
Comparing mortality rates over time
In 2017/18 there was a slowdown in the increase in the number
of people dying whilst under probation supervision. I had hoped that this would
turn into a downward trend. Sadly, this appears not to be the case, with a jump
in mortality for people under probation supervision in the current year.
In 2018/19 1,093 people died whilst under probation
supervision – up from 964 in 2017/18. At least one third of those deaths were
self-inflicted (one third are, as yet, unclassified and so may include further
self-inflicted deaths). When we break that down by gender, the proportions
remain similar. One point which stands out is the number of men dying as a
result of homicide: this number increased from 27 in 2017/18 to 47 in 2018/19
giving a homicide rate amongst men on the probation caseload of 204 per
million; almost ten times that of the highest risk group in the general
population.
If we calculate the mortality rate – and so take into account
changes in the number of people on the caseload – we can see that the crude
mortality rate has increased for both men and women in recent years.
There has been a steady increase in the mortality rate since
2015/16 when the caseload increased as a result of the introduction of
post-sentence supervision (PSS) for people leaving prison following short
custodial sentences. Although the mortality rate – shown in the chart above –
takes account of the increased numbers of people on the caseload it does not
account for a more qualitative change in the caseload. One would expect people
serving short sentences – who are now under probation supervision – to face
different risks around mortality than those serving longer sentences. For
example, people serving short sentences may be more likely to use drugs and
alcohol – which is linked to
increased mortality – but they may also be younger, which changes the nature of
people’s risk of dying. More work needs to be done around investigating the
qualitative changes to the caseload which have occurred in recent years in
order to fully understand why the mortality rate has been increasing.
Comparing mortality rates with the general population
Because the age profile of the probation caseload is very
different to the general population (see below) it is not possible to compare
the mortality rate of people on probation with the general population. Thus,
whilst we would expect the mortality rate amongst people on probation to be
different to the general population (we might even expect it be higher, as
recent analysis
in the US has shown) we cannot calculate this accurately with publically
available data.
Self-inflicted deaths
These changes in the caseload make it difficult to compare
rates over time, especially if we go back to before the implementation of the
Offender Rehabilitation Act and the effect this had on the caseload. Taking
this into account, the following chart shows the rate of self-inflicted death
amongst people on probation between 2015/16 and 2018/19. The crude
self-inflicted mortality rate for both men and women under probation
supervision has increased. The rate for women increased from 146/100,000 to
200/100,000 and the equivalent rate for men went from 104/100,000 to
125/100,000. Again, we need to be careful about making direct comparisons with
the general population but it is worth pointing out that the suicide
rate in England and Wales is 5.4/100,000 for women and 17.2/100,000 for men
We need to know more
Imade the call last year for more in the way of investigation
and scrutiny when people die under probation supervision. I should stress that
this is not about pointing the finger at individual practitioners: high
workloads, constant structural reform, staff shortages and many other factors
going on in peoples’ lives means that probation officers are unlikely to be
directly responsible for someone’s death.
However, probation services hold a statutory obligation over
peoples’ lives (and are obliged to assess and manage ‘risk to self’). Moreover,
being on probation brings with it certain pains and adverse consequences. Thus
providers should, in my view, take some responsibility for finding out what
occurred in the run up to someone’s death, and whether anything could have been
done to prevent it. My guess would be that if more investigations took place
when people died we would uncover a pattern of inadequate mental health
provision, poor housing, low staffing levels and high workloads (similar issues
to those we find in the prison). These investigations will shed light on what
is contributing to people dying in increasing numbers and then we can start to
work out what to do about it.
………………………………………………………...
The latest MoJ ministerial line-up
Who’s who at the MoJ
This post was updated on 11 September 2019 following the appointment of Chris Philp as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State to replace the promoted Edward Argar.
Just 11 weeks after the last ministerial
changes at the MoJ, we have yet another new team at Petty France. The
two senior figures who were positively regarded by the sector at the
start of the year, David Gauke & Rory Stewart, have now returned to
the back benches.
There was some relief among commentators when
Robert Buckland was promoted from Prisons & Probation Minister to
Justice Secretary; he is a barrister and Recorder by trade and at least
was starting to get his head round the Justice brief since his move to
the department in May.
Lucy Frazer also did a quick double
shuffle. She was in charge of Court Services until May, was briefly
Solicitor General for less than three months and now returns as Minister
for State, with responsibility for prisons and probation.
Paul
Maynard only stopped at the MoJ for less than three months before moving
to the Department of Transport; he is replaced by Wendy Morton.
Given
the persistent crises in our prisons and probation systems, it’s hard
to see that the frequent ministerial merry-go-round does Justice any
favours.
The role of Justice Secretary was only created in 2007 and there have been 9 incumbents in that 12 year period:
Wendy Morton – Under Secretary of State
Wendy Morton is responsible for:
- Family law and justice
- Domestic abuse and violence (MoJ lead)
- Youth justice
- Legal aid
- Legal support
- Court and tribunal fees
- Mental capacity and the Office of the Public Guardian
- Race disparity in the justice system
- Coroners, burials, inquests and inquiries
- Miscarriages of justice
- Lawfare
- Parliamentary Minister (scrutinising SIs)
Born in 1967, Ms Morton has been the MP for Aldridge-Brownhills since 2015. She was born in North Yorkshire where she attended local primary and secondary schools. She later gained an MBA with the Open University.
Her
career began as an executive officer in HM Diplomatic Service at
the Foreign and Commonwealth Office before working in the business
sector, in sales and marketing. She then set up an electronics company,
with her husband, designing and manufacturing electronic goods for the
agricultural industry.
In the summer of 2016, she was appointed a
Parliamentary Private Secretary at the newly created Department for
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
At the 2017 General Election, Morton increased her majority to 14,307 and gained 65.4% of the vote. In
the government reshuffle following the election Morton was promoted to
Parliament Private Secretary to Priti Patel at the Department for
International Development.
She was made an assistant government whip during the reshuffle on 9 January 2018
You can visit her website here and follow her on Twitter @Morton_wendy
Chris Philp – Under Secretary of State
Mr Philp was promoted to the MoJ on 11 September 2019; he is responsible for:
- Cross-cutting Criminal Justice System issues
- Victims
- Criminal law
- Sentencing
- Court and tribunal services and reform
- Administrative justice
- Devolved Administrations and devolution
- Human rights
- Supporting the Secretary of State on EU exit and international business
- Supporting the Secretary of State on departmental finance
Chris
Philp has been the MP for South Croydon since 2015. After taking a
degree in physics at Oxford, he worked for McKinself before setting up a
number of businesses, including a HGV trainign provider with former MoJ
Minister Sam Gyimah, and the Next Big Thing charity. He was a member
of the Treasury Select Committee between July 2015 and May 2017.
Lord Keen – Advocate General for Scotland and MoJ spokeperson for the Lords
Richard
Sanderson Keen has a long-standing involvement in the law having been
an advocate (the equivalent of a barrister in England and Wales) in
Scotland since 1980. He was chairman of the Scottish Conservative Party
in 2014 and was ennobled in June 2015 when he became Advocate General
for Scotland. He was the Lords spokesperson for the Home Office from
April 2016 until moving to the MoJ later that year.
As an advocate he was involved in many high level cases representing Rangers Football Club and Andy Coulson among others.
Lord Keen is not on Twitter.
David Lidington after just 7 months as Justice Secretary was replaced by David Gauke.It’s 2018, that makes him the fourth Justice Secretary in less than two years, or the fifth Justice Secretary in less than three years. Nevertheless, it’s a pretty sorry indictment of the quality of previous Justice Secretaries or the value and importance they place on the role.
Conclusion
Clearly, Cabinet reshuffles are drive by politics but it seems a great shame that the cause of prison and probation reform is necessarily set back by the appointment of a new Justice Secretary who will need time to get to grips with a very demanding brief.
Last month (October 2019), the probation inspectorate published another in its new series of specially commissioned research papers aimed at exploring the evidence base underpinning probation practice.
Authored by Professor Ioan Durnescu from the University of Bucharest, who specialises in comparative probation, this paper focuses on the Eurobarometer – a way of measuring people’s experience of being on probation.
The context
Professor Durnescu starts by summarising the development of probation across Europe:
In
the 1960s the penal legislation in many European countries introduced
obligations and conditions that probationers needed to fulfil during the
probation period. This is how different behavioural conditions (e.g. to
attend school, to attend programmes, undertake treatment etc.) or
restrictions (e.g. not to meet certain people) have appeared in the
penal arena.
Once these transformations took place, the nature and the character of supervision took a more punitive turn and increasingly practitioners and scholars recognised that community supervision is not just an alternative to custody but a real punishment that is served in the community. Some even went so far as to call probation a ‘virtual prison’.
Once these transformations took place, the nature and the character of supervision took a more punitive turn and increasingly practitioners and scholars recognised that community supervision is not just an alternative to custody but a real punishment that is served in the community. Some even went so far as to call probation a ‘virtual prison’.
Alongside
these changes in the configuration of offender supervision, scholars
started to explore the differing dimensions of this supervision, e.g.
the impact on reoffending, perceptions of staff, risk assessment etc.
One of the most important conclusions of these studies was that the way
offenders experience supervision influences the outcome of probation. In
other words, those who perceive their probation officer as reasonable,
knowledgeable and empathic are more inclined to attribute positive
change in behaviour to probation supervision. Moreover, supervision was
considered to be positive when the probation officer had a good
relationship with the offender or when supervision was described as
helpful in solving problems or when client’s welfare was taken into
account.
The
professor goes on to describe the develop a new tool – the
Eurobarometer on Experiencing Supervision (EES) – to capture the
subjective experience of supervision and help measure the success of
probation.
The barometer
The
Eurobarometer on Experiencing Supervision was designed as a
comprehensive tool BOTH to capture the subjective experience of
supervision AND measure the success of probation. This EES tool now
includes the following questions:
- six questions are used to assess supervision as a general experience (e.g. the meaning of supervision, primary and secondary stigmatisation)
- six questions deal with the service user’s perception of the supervisor (e.g. the understanding of the supervisor’s role, the number of supervisors in the last 12 months)
- the quality of the relationship is evaluated in one question with 14 items (e.g. positive, tense, distant)
- practical help is assessed in one question with 13 items (e.g. my supervisor helped me find a place to live)
- compliance is evaluated through three questions (e.g. motivation, likeliness)
- breach is measured through four questions (e.g. number of times the probationer failed to turn up, the possible reaction of the supervisor to one vignette)
- rehabilitation is covered in three questions with multiple response options (e.g. the severity of supervision, the meaning of supervision in relation to moving away from crime)
- co-production and involvement of the service user is dealt with in four questions (e.g. my supervisor works with me when drafting the sentence plan).
Each question or item is assessed from 1 to 5 where 1 is ‘totally disagree’ and 5 is ‘totally agree’.
The
questionnaire was translated, adapted and piloted in eight different
European jurisdictions including England. Although not representative,
the results were indicative of how offender supervision is experienced
by the recipients.
The
barometer can be used for a range of different purposes including the
perception of individuals under supervision at one point in time. By
re-applying the barometer, probation services can track progress (or
lack of it) or the impact of any new approaches or interventions.
Another
important use of the tool is in comparing two or more separate
probation offices or even probation services. Examples are set out below
from Professor Durnescu’s own work comparing different probation
systems from eight jurisdictions:
All you need to know about offender equality. http://www.russellwebster.com/diversitycompendium
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/supreme-court/supreme-court-rules-slopping-out-a-violation-of-prisoner-s-rights-1.4082852?localLinksEnabled=false+men+and+a+woman+arrested+over+Kevin+Lunney+kidnap+and+torture&mode=amp
http://www.russellwebster.com/moj719/?utm_source=ReviveOldPost&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ReviveOldPost
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/dec/03/prisons-put-terrorists-on-waiting-list-to-receive-help-to-deradicalise
https://insidetime.org/eds-not-the-new-ipp/
http://www.russellwebster.com/unlockbame/?utm_source=ReviveOldPost&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ReviveOldPost
http://www.russellwebster.com/unlockbame/?