Our prisons keep getting more violent. Highest number of assaults on record
Thursday’s (26 October 2017) Safety in Custody Statistics make for predictably grim reading with self harm and assaults reaching record highs.
The only glimmer of hope is that HMPPS focus on suicides has seen a drop in the number of prisoners killing themselves. Tragically, there were still 77 suicides last year (compared to 110 the previous year).
The latest figures cover deaths for the year to September 2017 and assaults and self harm for the year to June 2017.
Here are the main points:
Deaths in prison
In the 12 months to September 2017 there were 300 deaths in prison custody, a decrease of 7% from 324 in the previous year, at a rate of 3.5 deaths per 1,000 prisoners. The most recent quarter saw the lowest number of total deaths since the three months to December 2015. Quarterly death figures should be considered with caution due to greater volatility and the potential for seasonal effects.
There were 77 apparent self-inflicted deaths, down 30% from 110 in the previous year.
Self-harm
In the 12 months to June 2017, there were 41,103 reported incidents of self-harm (a rate of 482 per 1,000 prisoners), up 12% on the previous year. The number of self-harm incidents requiring hospital attendance increased by 9% on the previous year to 2,833 while the proportion of incidents that required hospital attendance remained broadly similar at 6.9%. The number of self-harm incidents and those requiring hospital attendance are both the highest ever recorded.
Violence
In the 12 months to June 2017, there were 27,193 assault incidents (a staggering rate of 319 incidents per 1,000 prisoners), an increase of 14% on the previous year, and the highest level in the time series. In the latest quarter, there were 7,115 assaults, up 6% from the three months to March 2017.
There were 19,678 prisoner-on-prisoner assaults in the 12 months to June 2017 (a rate of 231 per 1,000 prisoners), up 10% on the previous year, and a record high. The latest quarter also saw a 7% increase in the number of incidents, reaching a record high of 5,155.
Assaults on staff reached a record high of 7,437 in the 12 months to June 2017 (a rate of 87 per 1,000 prisoners), and are up 25% on the previous year. In the most recent quarter, assaults on staff rose by 9%, reaching a record high of 2,011 incidents.
Conclusion
Not only are these figures shocking in themselves, they remain (in my opinion) the best barometer of the overall state of our prison system. Only when we see a prolonged trend in the fall of self-harm and assaults will we be able to feel confident that our prisons are beginning to become a more acceptable place for prisoners to live and staff to work.
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I attended this conference Reducing violence and deaths in prison’ Thursday 19 October. a joint conference with Runnymede Trust and the University of Greenwich, the discussions was informative.
The following panel discussions:
The following panel discussions:
- How can we reduce deaths of people with mental health issues in custody?
- How can we reduce use of force in relation to BME prisoners?
- How can culturally-aware interventions reduce re-offending rates of BME prisoners?
- What role can prison officers play in reducing violence and deaths in prisons?
Some background context to the conference:
The levels of self-harm, violence, use of force and self-inflicted deaths have increased substantially since 2012, with disproportionate impacts on Black and ethnic minority prisoners. Why do BME prisoners experience more negative outcomes in custody compared to other groups, and what can we do about it? In the last 4 years.
The Runnymede Trust and the University of Greenwich have been commissioned by government to investigate issues around mental health and deaths in custody, use of force and restraint and disproportionate negative outcomes for BME prisoners.
Professor Darrick Jolliffe (University of Greenwich) and Dr Zubaida Haque (The Runnymede Trust) have been leading on this work and working closely with Keiran Manners (Ipswich and Suffolk Council for Racial Equality) within prisons.
Nick Hardwick & Frances Cook
Steve Read
CAMPAIGN ENDING THIS WEEK.
Steve Read is introducing a new
law excessive use of prisoners with mental health. Please sign the campaignforSeni,s Law https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/we-back-seni-s-law Ending this week . Seni Lewis died in hospital after he was pinned face-down
by 11 police officers until he stopped breathing. We must stop the use of
excessive force that killed Seni and too many other mental health. patients like him. Steve Reed MP is bringing a new law to Parliament. It will create accountability and transparency in the mental health services and tackle the unconscious bias that means too many members of our black community are treated differently....
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Executive Summary
Have prisons become a dangerous place.
Disproportionality, safety and mental health in British prisons
I recorded Audio of the day
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Poor treatment of prisoners is directly linked to self-harm and suicide, according to research from the University of Greenwich.
Darrick Jolliffe, Professor of criminology, found that preventative policies were based on staffing levels that no longer exist.
He says: "Those most at risk in prison are falling through the gaps. Trained and confident staff who are provided with the time to be true agents of support and rehabilitation are desperately needed.
"Prison officers rarely have the time to develop the relationships with those in prison needed to truly provide support to help prevent self-harm and self-inflicted deaths. Prison officer training on the complex area of mental health is essentially absent.
Greenwich researchers working with the Runnymede Trust, a race equality thinktank, also found black and Muslim offenders are more likely to be badly treated in prison.
They looked at the treatment of male black and minority ethnic (BAME) prisoners, surveying over 340 inmates across four prisons.
The study found that black or Muslim prisoners were twice as likely (40%) of being mistreated, such as having restraints used against them and being put into segregation in past six months – compared with white prisoners (21%).
The university recently hosted a conference with Runnymede which looked at ways of reducing deaths in prison, and a reduction in force on ethnic minority prisoners.
The recent government report which said ethnic minorities are more likely than their white counterparts to be both suspected of and victims of crime was the backdrop for the event.
As well as Professor Jolliffe, speakers included: Steve Reed, the MP Croydon North, who is introducing a law to end excessive use of force on mental health patients; Frances Crook, from the Howard League for Penal Reform; Professor Nicholas Hardwick, former Chief Inspector of HMP; Patrick Vernon, from Black Thrive, a partnership for black wellbeing; Steve Gillan, General Secretary of the Prison Officers Association; Helen Arnold, of the University of Suffolk; Dr Zubaida Haque, a research associate at the Runnymede Trust; Deborah Coles, from INQUEST, Keiran Manners, from HM Prisons; and Professor David Maguire, Vice-Chancellor of Greenwich.
http://www.russellwebster.com/prison-safety-oct17/
The Governor of Walton Prison has been removed from his post after a snap inspection, the ECHO can reveal.
A National Audit Office (NAO) document leaked to the ECHO states that Peter Francis, who took on the role about three years ago, has left for “operational reasons” following a recent unannounced inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP).
Details of the inspection revealed a bleak picture of prisoners forced to live in squalor – with cockroaches, filthy toilets and damp-ridden walls within the ageing complex.
In a section on “the departure of Peter Francis from his post as governor”, the NAO letter sent anonymously to the ECHO states: “I have confirmed through discussions with HMPPS (Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service) officials that his removal was for operational reasons following a recent unannounced inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons for England and Wales (HMIP).”
The document is signed by Steven Corbishley, director for home affairs and justice at the National Audit Office. Walton MP Dan Carden said he would be contacting the Ministry of Justice for clarity on the situation at the prison. It is not clear what management arrangements are now in place. On Saturday, we reported on how HMIP had brought up concerns that too many prisoners were being forced to spend their days inside squalid, overcrowded cells.
Prison Closure Confusion
Last week, the Ministry of Justice’s programme for modernising the prison estate was thrown into confusion, with justice minister Sam Gyimah MP, appearing to contradict the head of HM Prisons and Probation Service, Michael Spurr, about planned prison closures. Speaking at the Prison Governor’s Association Annual Conference on Wednesday, Michael Spurr said that he anticipated that “we won’t close any prisons this parliament”. However, just the following day, when responding to a question in Parliament, Sam Gyimah said that the commitment to close prisons over the next few years “very much remains”.
The Prison Reform Trust highlighted concerns about the viability of the Ministry of Justice’s prison building programme to HM Treasury, ahead of this year’s budget, in light of the publication of concerning prison population projections and a rapid rise in prisoner numbers this summer. Since May this year growth in the prison population has been extremely strong—rising by over 1,200 places in only 13 weeks, and it remains higher than at any other point in the last four years. In a sign of rising pressures on the prison estate, it was also reported that The Verne Immigration Removal Centre, would revert back to holding prisoners in 2018 just three years after a multi-million-pound re-role.
Commenting, Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:
"Michael Spurr, Chief Executive Officer of HM Prisons and Probation Service, has now publicly admitted what the Prison Reform Trust stated in evidence to HM Treasury’s consultation on the budget a fortnight ago. A major plank of the government's prison reform programme has already bitten the dust. Dilapidated old prisons, rightly damned by the chief inspector's report on prison conditions earlier this week, will now not be closing. Some will even be re-opened. ‘New for old’ has turned into ‘new at any cost’.
“But the uncomfortable truth is that the government was relying on the savings from closures to finance both the construction and the running costs of new prisons. No-one knows where the money to fill that black hole is now going to come from."
As you say the strength of probation is the variety of backgrounds of Probation Officers enabling empathy and understanding with true rehabilitation measures.
Perhaps this concept of polication and prisonation (thereby losing the third pillar of the triangle of offender management and rehabilitation) should be raised with the Judicial Review.
Presumably if you pick up the wrong sheet of paper a sniper on the neighbouring rooftop will take you out.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/10/16/troubled-interserve-holding-talks-lenders-following-profit-warning/
The firm said on Monday that it is working to provide greater clarity on both its current trading and any extra costs that might arise from its struggling 'Energy from Waste' contracts, which are expected to cost the firm at least £160m to sort out.
Shares in the company dropped as much as 8.58pc to 101.25p on Monday, amid concern among investors that the company could be set to make another profit warning.
Last month, Interserve warned that business had slowed across the country in July and August, hitting its expectations for the rest of the year.
It had originally flagged up problems with a contract to design, procure and install a gasification plant at a recycling and renewable energy centre in Glasgow more than a year ago when it warned that it had experienced problems with its supply chain, leading to delays.
It originally allocated £70m to pay for the project, before upping the amount to £160m. Last month, it suggested that the costs will exceed even that.
Reports over the weekend suggested that a number of Interserve’s banks, including HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland, had called in consultants at EY to advise them over the company’s next steps. EY is also helping fellow support services firm Carillion to restructure after its own heavy losses.
The market is still anticipating a statement from new chief executive Debbie White setting out how the business will proceed.
Ms White joined the firm at the beginning of September, following the departure of previous boss Adrian Ringrose.
Are you a family member supporting someone serving an IPP sentence (Imprisonment for Public Protection)?
The University of Southampton are interested in speaking to more families affected by IPP about their experiences.
Researchers Dr Harry Annison and Dr Rachel Condry are looking to enhance understanding around the impact of the IPP policy process on family members and to explore if, and how, family members have tried to influence the policy debate.
For more information speak to:-
email address: H.Annison@soton.ac.uk
email address: rachel.condry@crim.ox.ac.uk
Are you Looking for solicitors with knowledge of the law and policy surrounding Generic Parole Reviews for ISP and Determinate cases, recall reviews and has a very keen interest in prisoner adjudications.
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