1.The impact of lockdown. 2. Did the reform pilot schemes work? State of prisons goes deeper.

The State Of Our Prisons

 

The damaging cumulative impact of lockdown

Independent Monitoring Boards are an important part of the independent oversight of prisons. IMB members are a regular presence in those closed environments, monitoring the treatment and conditions of prisoners, regularly reporting what they find to those running the prison, and dealing with queries and concerns from individual prisoners. They are unpaid, but have statutory powers to go everywhere, talk to prisoners and see all documents. Their findings and activities are captured in their published annual reports.

Yesterday the IMB published its national report for 2019/20, summarising the individual establishment IMG reports published between July 2019 and March 2020. The main body of the report describes boards’ findings up to the end of 2019, before the lockdown that followed the Covid-19 pandemic. The report does also however address local boards’ findings in the first threee months of lockdown. 

Though the situation in prisons has changed dramatically since March, the issues that are raised in the main report are just as important and relevant during the recovery period as they were before the pandemic. The lessons from the ‘old normal’, as well as those learnt during the emergency, should help shape the future.

Last year’s national annual report described a prison system in ‘slow and sometimes fragile recovery’, dealing with the aftermath of a crisis resulting from the ‘combined impact of serious staffing shortages and an influx of new psychoactive substances, compounded by inadequate maintenance arrangements’. It also recorded some promising initiatives under the reform programme.
This report tracks that recovery and the progress of those initiatives.

Successes

There were some positive developments:

• A number of prisons had established better arrangements with maintenance contractors, with the backlog of outstanding jobs being reduced, though this was not universal
• Prisons not specifically designated as resettlement prisons were able to get more support from the local community rehabilitation company (CRC)
• Staff numbers, and therefore regimes, had improved, though there were still concerns about the inexperience and retention of staff
• The Ten Prisons Project had led to an increased focus on ways of preventing drugs getting into prisons
• A number of prisons saw an improvement in healthcare provision, though mental health services continued to be under considerable pressure

 

Overall

Overall, the main report shows evidence of stabilisation and indeed some progress. This was most marked in prisons that came under the spotlight of critical public or ministerial attention, where a combination of increased resources, decreased population and new management led to measurable improvements. Yet it also shows that the prison system as a whole remained very tightly stretched, with many establishments struggling to maintain or embed improvements, even before the regime shutdown during the Covid emergency.
There are also two major underlying issues that we raised last year, where little if any improvement can be detected. They cannot be tackled by the Prison Service alone: they require cross-departmental and cross-agency cooperation.

1. There are far too many prisoners with mental health disorders, and the more severe the mental illness, the more extreme the conditions under which they are held; often for lengthy periods in segregation. While there has been an improvement in mental health services in many prisons, it does not match the scale and complexity of need.
2. Too many prisoners are released without stable accommodation to go to, and they are often the classic ‘revolving door’ prisoners; the new homelessness legislation has not significantly improved the situation.

Inter-departmental cooperation on health, housing and benefits has improved considerably during the Covid emergency; it should be a model for future working, not just a temporary crisis response.

COVID response

The prison service was praised for having avoided the predicted high mortality and infection rates. Boards also noted the actions taken by the service and its staff to mitigate the impact of severe lockdown, in maintaining indirect contact with families, trying to protect the most vulnerable and providing some in-cell activities. In spite of the very limited impact of the early release scheme, prisons remained relatively calm and safe places.

Nevertheless, boards also noted the damaging cumulative impact of lockdown on prisoners’ mental and physical health and wellbeing and their chances of progression and rehabilitation. There were concerns about the use of sanctions, such as the roll-out of the use of PAVA spray without previously agreed safeguards, and about hidden levels of distress and mental ill-health. There were particular concerns about the impact on children and young people, the withdrawal of rehabilitative work, and evidence of growing frustration and increases in self-harm, particularly in some women’s prisons.

 

Concerns

There were also, however, some disappointing findings in relation to the improvements expected last year:

• Many boards reported that the key worker system, rolled out with high hopes, had deteriorated after its initial introduction; and it has still not been introduced in the women’s estate in spite of the obvious need
• Though some boards reported a renewed focus on equality and diversity, there was little evidence that this was driving change or was central to delivery
• There continued to be significant concerns about safety, with rises in both self-harm and violence in many prisons, often driven by drugs and debt
• While prisoners were unlocked for longer, there remained serious concerns about the quality and quantity of purposeful activity in many prisons
• Some boards were able to report active moves to reduce the use, and length, of segregation, but overall there remained significant concerns about the number and kind of prisoners who spent prolonged periods in segregation
• There was no demonstrable improvement in the arrangements for transferring or securing prisoners’ property, in spite of promises of change: almost every annual report deplored the consequences for prisoners
• There remained concerns about the safety and stability of prisons holding young people under 18, and as yet little progress towards the proposed secure schools alternative.

 

 

(19 August 2020), the prisons inspectorate published a new report aggregating their findings from the short scrutiny visits (SSVs) to 35 prisons that inspectors have been conducting during lockdown.

https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/08/SSV-aggregate-report-web-2020.pdf

Peter Clarke, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, said that prisons and immigration removal centres responded decisively to keep prisoners, children and detainees safe from COVID-19.

However, Mr Clarke warned that continued severe regime restrictions in prisons – at times amounting effectively to solitary confinement – have created “a real risk of psychological decline among prisoners, which needs to be addressed urgently.”

Mr Clarke said:

“The restrictions imposed in March 2020 undoubtedly helped to prevent the spread of the virus. While many of these limitations were extreme, there was a high level of acceptance and cooperation among prisoners, supported by generally good communication about the reasons for such actions by most prison managers. For some weeks, there was a sense of prisoners, children and staff ‘being in this together.”

However, as the Inspectorate’s SSV programme progressed, inspectors identified “increasing levels of stress and frustration among many prisoners and evidence that prisoner well-being was being increasingly affected by the continuation of restrictions.

Governors of individual establishments in the public sector were unable to make local adjustments to their regimes without permission from HM Prison and Probation (HMPPS) Gold Command, which delayed relaxation of restrictions which had already served their purpose in individual locations. This meant that 16 weeks after the restrictions were imposed, most of them were still in place.

Children in public sector custody lost face-to-face education and for some exceptionally vulnerable individuals in women’s prisons, who usually benefitted from a range of specialist support services provided by external providers, the absence of these services was extremely damaging.

“For these prisoners, the long hours of lock up were compounded by the sudden withdrawal of services on which they depended, and self-harm among prisoners in prisons holding women has remained consistently high throughout the lockdown period.”

Mr Clarke noted the hard work over five months by prison staff to provide decent conditions for those in their care, 

“and for the most part they have been successful. Our SSV reports highlighted much notable positive practice.”

However, he added, 

“in some prisons, at certain times, conditions fell below an acceptable minimum, particularly in relation to time out of cell, time in the open air and showers. For example, some quarantined, isolated or shielded prisoners did not have access to time in the open air for a week or more and did not have a daily shower.”

If there were to be a resurgence of the virus, Mr Clarke said, 

“other means of controlling its spread that would not carry such a high risk of causing long-term harm to those in custody, and which would not risk them being held in conditions that meet widely agreed definitions of solitary confinement, should be explored.”

Overall, Mr Clarke concludes that the centralised bureaucratic culture of HMPPS has hampered more creative and effective local approaches:

“In prisons, there is now a real risk of psychological decline among prisoners, which needs to be addressed urgently, so that prisoners, children and detainees do not suffer long-term damage to their mental health and well-being, and prisons can fulfil their rehabilitative goals. At the time of writing, HMPPS are in the process of implementing their recovery plan for prisons, which involves individual establishments applying for permission to move to a new regime stage and then implementing (when authorised to do so) Exceptional Delivery Models (EDMs). This is all set out in the National Framework for Prison Regimes and Services. This document also makes clear that ‘progress will be slow and incremental, and restrictions may need to be re-imposed in the event of local outbreaks’. In light of the findings in this report, simply re-imposing the restrictions that were necessarily applied in the early stages of the outbreak would be too narrow an approach. We have seen many prison leaders who are convinced that they could have delivered more purposeful and more humane regimes without compromising safety, and who are frustrated by the restrictive approach they have been forced to take. Every establishment is different. Local initiative, innovation and flexibility which recognises those differences should surely be encouraged, and not stifled.”

Thanks to Andy Aitchison for kind permission to use the header image in this post. You can see Andy’s work here.

All prison posts are kindly sponsored by Prison Consultants Limited who offer a complete service from arrest to release for anyone facing prison and their family. Prison Consultants have no editorial influence on the contents of this site.

 

Official evaluation of reform prisons pilot found positive potential of devolving powers to prison governors.

Between July 2016 and December 2017, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) trialled greater autonomy for prison governors across six prisons. This was known as the reform prison pilot and allowed the prisons governors more control over key aspects of prison management and service delivery.

This included local prison budgets and contracts, staff recruitment and management and local partnerships. Further, each ‘reform’ prison received a one-off mobilisation budget of £1m and additional staff to fund and resource the delivery of the pilot. New governance structures were also created in the prisons. Executive governors and executive teams formed of senior staff were introduced to lead and deliver reform in the prisons and wider groups of local establishments, which grew in number during the pilot.

Earlier this month, the MoJ published a qualitative evaluation of the pilot (undertaken by Ellie Roberts, Sarah Sharrock, Merili Pullerits, Matt Barnard and Caroline Turley of NatCen Social Research) which:

• described the range of perceived impacts of the reform pilot in the six prisons;
• identified the factors that influenced the degree to which the new governance and performance management arrangements were achieving intended benefits; and
• mapped the effect of the reform pilot on the prisons’ partners.

Key findings

Each prison used their new powers differently, depending on contextual factors such as their prison population, category, and the stability of their regime. Changes were made across four main areas: budgets and contracts; human resources; the prison regime; and, buildings and facilities. Key changes included:

• Budgetary flexibilities enabled the prisons to maximise financial savings by improving access to funds and reducing the level of bureaucracy involved in procurement. For example, pilot prisons purchased goods and services more quickly in line with their needs and priorities when spending limits on government procurement cards (GPCs) were increased.
• Contractual flexibilities were used to review services. Reform prisons sought to renegotiate contracts using existing contractual terms and discuss underperformance, which led to improvements in specific areas of service delivery, for example, gardening and maintenance contracts.1 There was also evidence of prisons commissioning new services, which were often with smaller, local partners.
• Reform was used to stabilise prison regimes through the development of targeted, local human resource (HR) solutions to speed up the process of recruitment and improve conditions for existing staff. A wider Government drive to increase staffing across the prison estate was also felt to have improved feelings of stability within the reform prisons.
• Some prisons had used the reform pilot to expand or improve regimes to benefit prisoners. In relation to work and education, this included more varied education programmes, new workshops and one-off events such as recruitment fairs.
• The prisons spent a proportion of their reform budgets on estates projects such as refurbishing wings and purchasing new furniture to improve the look and feel of their environments in a timely way. Changes were reported to enhance morale and improve the atmosphere and mood of the prisons.

 

Barriers to delivery

A range of barriers were perceived to have challenged the delivery of reform work across the prisons.

• Contextual challenges relating to a reduction in staff numbers, and increases in substance misuse, for example, were perceived to have limited the capacity of some prisons to effectively use reform powers in a timely way. It was thought to be important to stabilise operating environments as a priority before implementing new reform work.
• A range of communication challenges were perceived to have inhibited delivery and partnership working across reform projects and between staff and stakeholders at different levels. For example, some staff participants were unclear how reform differed from other things happening in the prisons and some prisoners had not heard about the pilot at all. Effective and consistent communication from senior teams within prison groups and HQ was thought to be important in sustaining engagement in the future.
• Some areas were perceived to be too big or risky to change using the new powers. For example, some prisons found that they were unable to exit larger national contracts as this would have been expensive and resource-intensive. To manage risk, some larger projects were delivered over a longer period than originally intended or in some cases halted to ensure the safe implementation of new policies and process across the reform prisons.

Conclusion

Contextual challenges such as understaffing and increases in substance misuse were perceived to make it harder for prisons to deliver reform. However, there were examples of new services, projects and models of delivery and a sense across different areas of work that the reform prisons were making efforts to deliver personalised, local services embedded within their communities. While many changes were introduced across the reform prisons, the extent to which improvements were thought to be innovative and experimental was questioned.
Going forward, there was an acceptance that larger and more transformational projects would take more time to safely develop and deliver. It will be important that prison governors and directors are able to access key learning to continue to safely innovate at a local level using devolved powers.

 

Transforming Rehabilitation is painfully slow.

Though some change  however  in practice which team is going to act on them?  I have not heard about the IPP pilot schemes since that was mentioned and set up. The traffic light schemes was set up for to investigate why IPP prisoners was not  moving forward and getting stuck in the system again  limited to a few prisons leaving it  pot luck if you got help and discriminating those with complex needs that might effect  your risk!

1. A new public sector National Probation Service will be created, building upon the expertise and professionalism which are already in place.

2.For the first time in recent history, every offender released from custody will receive statutory supervision and rehabilitation in the community.  We are legislating to extend this statutory supervision and rehabilitation to all 50,000 of the most prolific group of offenders – those sentenced to less than 12 months in custody.

3.A nationwide ‘through the prison gate’ resettlement service will be put in place, meaning most offenders are given continuous support by one provider from custody into the community.  We will support this by ensuring that most offenders are held in a prison designated to their area for at least three months before release.

4.The market will be opened up to a diverse range of new rehabilitation providers, so that we get the best out of the public, voluntary and private sectors, at the local as well as national level.

5.New payment incentives for market providers to focus relentlessly on reforming offenders will be introduced, giving providers flexibility to do what works and freedom from bureaucracy, but only paying them in full for real reductions in re-offending.

Dealing with a criminal record

Business in the Community has led the “Ban the Box” campaign which encourages employers to state publicly that they will consider job candidates with criminal convictions and advises them on only asking about criminal convictions which are relevant to the job to which they are recruiting.

Nacro‘s Resettlement Advice Service provides information, advice, guidance and legal advocacy support to people with criminal records through a free confidential helpline; as well as advice, support and training to practitioners and employers. The helpline is open Monday to Friday 9 -5 on 0300 123 1999 (calls charged at local rate). You can also email them on helpline@nacro.org.uk

Unlock is a charity for people with convictions which does two main things: assist people to move on positively with their lives by empowering them with information, advice and support to overcome the stigma of their previous convictions and promote a fairer and more inclusive society by challenging discriminatory practices and promoting socially just alternatives. It has developed an online tool that works out when your convictions are spent and so don’t need to be disclosed to most employers; it also runs criminal record disclosure training for people working with offenders.

 

Help finding work

Blue Sky is  a social enterprise which recruits only offenders to deliver a range of business contracts with local authority and private sector clients.

Bounce Back is a Charity which offer training, work experience and employment to offenders at the end of their sentences using the skills developed both in custody and on release; it works with several prisons and probation in the London areas.

Chance 2013 Ltd is an employment agency based in the West Midlands working exclusively with offenders who want to  re-enter the job market.

Clean Sheet is a national, Christian charity, focusing exclusively on work for prisoners and ex offenders. Their 3-step pathway offers the support and guidance – in and after prison – to find work. Clean Sheet members can access an Employers Directory (currently containing 90+ companies) and apply direct for any of advertised position. Clean Sheet provides online support and advice via their helpline.

Kaonix has developed an holistic web-based programme which helps prisons, probation and other organisations involved in the rehabilitation of offenders to prepare them for the world of work; helping them to build a winning CV, Identifying career opportunities based on aspirations and likes/dislikes and, critically, matching them to local vacancies, as well as mentoring them through the application process.

Offploy (launched by ex-offender Jacob Hill) specialises in ex-offender employment and provides a bespoke service to  companies helping them review their HR policies to develop an inclusive approach to hiring people with convictions. The organisation recruits and mentors ex-offenders looking for work with the mentoring support lasting for 6 months into work. Offploy also specialising in helping criminal justice organisations recruit.

Prisoner Education Solutions is a national Education & Training company that specialises in helping offenders gain qualifications, training & employment.

Switchback is an award-winning prisoner rehabilitation charity based in London. Our team of full-time, paid Mentors provide intensive one-to-one support for 18-30 year old men as they go through the prison gate and into training and employment. Our mission is to change the way offenders think about and participate in society, enabling them to lead stable, rewarding lives. Only 9% of Switchback Trainees reoffend within a year compared to a national rate of 46%.

Tempus Novo are based in HMP Leeds and HMP Wealstun and work with offenders in custody and on release to help them find work; and have a particular expertise at working with prolific (PPO) offenders.

The Hard Yard is a fitness brand that employs ex-offenders to run its ‘tough prison workouts’ in London.

Working Chance is the UK’s only specialist recruitment consultancy for women with criminal convictions. They have made over 1,300 successful work placements since 2009. In 2015, Working Chance also began supporting young women leaving care into work – to tackle the “care-to-prison pipeline”.  They work across London, Manchester and the surrounding areas, and have an office within HMP Downview. Working Chance places women into paid employment and voluntary/work experience placements with a range of mainstream employers and delivers vital employability training. In addition, they provide support services covering housing, debt and money management, domestic abuse and counselling.

Employers

Of course all employers should be prepared to consider people with convictions for work. The ones listed in this section have a reputation for being proactive in recruiting people with a criminal record. Boots and Marks and Spencers (sometimes) are other large companies known to be happy to employ people with convictions if they have the appropriate skills and experience.

A number of initiatives have focused on getting employers to sign up publicly to commit to recruit offenders:

• There is a list of all the “offender-friendly” employers who have signed the “Ban the Box” campaign here.
• The government (mainly DWP/MoJ) campaign See Potential is supported by more than 100 employers

The Exceptionals campaign focuses on changing employers’ perceptions about hiring people with convictions. Its objective is to inspire and inform employers about the opportunity of working with ex-offenders – an overlooked community full of potential. The campaign aims to educate business about the skills and positive attitude that this workforce has to offer and provide insight into the process of hiring an ex-offender.

Timpsons

James Timpson, the Chief Executive of the family shoe repair & key cutting firm, has been a leading figure in the business  community advocating for the employment of people with conviction. 10% employees (colleagues, as they are known at Timpson’s) are ex-offenders. James chairs the Employers Forum for Reducing Reoffending.

Virgin Trains has recently recruited 30 ex-offenders to work on its West Coast line in various capacities and has launched  a media toolkit to help businesses recruit people with convictions.

Greggs’ Ready to Work programme has been developed with a number of prisons and probation areas to provide both  offenders and ex-offenders with personal and work development experiences. This builds their confidence and self-esteem, leading to work experience and paid employment – aiming to break the cycle of re-offending and reduce its cost to society. The company aims to run three Ready to Work programmes each year.

This site also holds a number of more in-depth resources, all of which are free-to-access and/or download. These include:

• A resource pack for working with offenders’ families
• A resource page for working with women offenders
• A resource pack for working with veteran offenders
• The Transforming Rehabilitation Resource Pack
• The Innovation Showcase – an overview of the latest innovations in the drugs and crime sector
• A review of the Payment by Results Literature
• An interactive Payment by Results tool to assess the appropriateness of PbR for a specific servic

You will also find a copy of the Criminal Justice Alliance’s Criminal Justice Dictionary if you need help with all the latest acronyms.

 

 

 

Helping organisations

Action for Prisoners’ and Offenders’ Families  is a national organisation which works for the benefit of prisoners’ and offenders’ families by supporting families who are affected by imprisonment. You can find information about the National Offenders’ Families Helpline, resources for families and professionals, and also their Hidden Sentence training for professionals working with families. You can call 0808 808 2003 for info and advice if you’re worried about your family member in prison.

Adfam is the national charity working to improve life for families affected by drugs and alcohol. Adfam works to empower family members and carers, support frontline workers and influence decision-makers to ensure the voice of families is heard and met. As well as providing a range of information and resources for family members and professions, Adfam has a map of a local family support groups across the country so family members know where to access support they need.

Assisted Prison Visits is the part of the Ministry of Justice which can help with travel costs for visiting a close relative or partner in prison. Contact details: Email: assisted.prison.visits@noms.gsi.gov.uk    Telephone: 0300 063 2100 Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

Email a prisoner lets family members send messages to a prisoner via their website. The message is printed inside the prison and will be included in the daily mail delivery. Messages cost 40p.

Families outside is an independent charity which has been helping prisoners’ families in Scotland for over 20 years; offering support and information to families affected by imprisonment. Helpline number: 0800 254 0088.

Barnardo’s i-HOP service is a free, one-stop, knowledge hub which supports all professionals to work with the children and families of offenders. The ever growing online directory holds relevant information for front line and strategic level workers; it includes local and national services, policy and guidance, training opportunities, handy tools for using with children and families, quality assessed research, events, practice examples and funding opportunities from multiple organisations in England and beyond.

North East Prisoner Family Support (nepacs) is a north east charity which has been supporting people affected by imprisonment for over 130 years. It supports a positive future for prisoners and their families by providing practical and emotional support from the courts in Teesside and Durham to helping families to maintain contact during the prison sentence through our prison visitors’ centres, family support workers, and child and youth projects, and then, at the end of the journey, offering prisoners and their families support and guidance about release from prison and resettlement in the community.

Ormiston Families’ Unite Programme supports children and their families affected by offending behaviour to stay together. This support is provided by services for those visiting relatives in prison, through the Transforming Rehabilitation Service for short-sentence prisoners and their families, and through the Breaking Barriers community outreach service to assist children affected by imprisonment. The Unite Programme also helps youngsters cope with the trauma of offending or family imprisonment, and maintaining positive family ties which reduces the risk of reoffending and cycles of intergenerational offending.

Out There works across Greater Manchester delivering  community based support to families of prisoners  (telephone support, casework including home visits, mutual support groups at premises in Old Trafford.  They also work with the whole family and the offender for 6-12 months after release connecting the offender to services to help with benefits, housing, drugs and alcohol and relationship support

The Prison Advice and Care Trust (Pact) is a national charity that provides support to prisoners, people with convictions, and their families. We support people to make a fresh start, and minimise the harm that can be caused by imprisonment on people who have committed offences, on families and on communities.

Prison Widow UK is an online platform for prisoners families who can safely and anonymously share their experiences and stories to raise awareness. It was founded by Alison Henderson who relates to the emotional hurdles often faced by families and friends of prisoners living with the struggle on the other side of the wall. The blog site features latest prison news, supportive articles on substance misuse, personal stories and posts written by ex prisoners who share their experiences on what life is like for them once they have been released from prison. Prison Widow UK also passionately promotes family ties and positive interaction by advising families on great ways to write interesting and meaningful letters to their loved ones.

POPS (Partners of Prisoners & Families Support Group) is a needs-led organisation, established in 1988 by family members experiencing the stigma of supporting a relative through a custodial sentence. POPS supports in excess of 240,000 offenders’ families in a prison and community setting through a range of person-centred services which provide one-to-one support, targeted interventions, advice, guidance and referrals for issues such as housing, debt, employment and mental health. POPS also actively builds capacity amongst professionals through our training offer.

Safe Ground design and deliver high quality group work with men, women and young people in custodial and community settings. We work with staff and service users to change culture, attitudes and improve relationships. We have 21 years of impact and evidence. Our flagship programmes, Family Man and Fathers Inside are internationally recognised family relationship programmes and our therapeutic group work and arts methodologies are proven to support intellectual and emotional learning, growth and development.

Spurgeons runs visitor centres in London prisons allow children to visit their loved ones in a friendly environment and their mentoring and support programmes give young people the chance to reduce negative behaviours and build a better future.

Storybook dads helps prisoners record and send a bedtime story disc to their children, providing comfort and reducing the trauma caused by the forced separation. Doing something positive and tangible for their child increases their self-esteem and belief in themselves as a valued parent.

But the site also holds a number of more in-depth resources, all of which are free-to-access and/or download. These include:

• An Offender employment resource pack
• A resource page for working with women offenders
• A resource pack for working with veteran offenders
• The Transforming Rehabilitation Resource Pack
• The Innovation Showcase – an overview of the latest innovations in the drugs and crime sector
• A review of the Payment by Results Literature
• An interactive Payment by Results tool to assess the appropriateness of PbR for a specific service

You will also find a copy of the Criminal Justice Alliance’s Criminal Justice Dictionary if you need help with all the latest acronyms.

http://www.russellwebster.com/reform-prisons-eval/?utm_source=ReviveOldPost&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ReviveOldPost

http://www.russellwebster.com/resource-packs/helping-offenders-families/solutions@russellwebster.com

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