06/10/2016
The unexpected withdrawal two-months’ ago of the UK government’s prison and youth justice detention agenda has been followed up by an announcement this week from the new Justice secretary planning to detail a reform agenda "within weeks". This is at a time when prison violence is on the increase, suicides and deaths in custody are increasing, with attacks on prison staff at record levels. As the prison population grows, the money to support that growth is not there, with 10 prisons deemed to be in ‘crisis’.
The secretary of state for Justice claims her proposals will constitute the "most far-reaching reforms of our prisons in a generation". This is against a backdrop of the abandonment of two justice reform programmes in 4-years.
This same week a critical report by the chief inspectors of prisons and probation says that the government’s "good intentions" in introducing the post-release supervision of 50,000 short-term prisoners (serving less than 12-month sentences) by private probation companies "have not been realised".
The chief inspector of probation, Dame Glenys Stacey, says in a report (published 4th October, and attached to this message) that although the new service had been in place for almost a year at the time of the inspection, not a single prisoner – out of a sample of 86 cases – had been helped into a job on release.
The report from her and the chief inspector of prisons also says that some of the promised new services proposed in the private probation companies’ contracts had not been implemented and there was little evidence of the anticipated innovation or creativity being delivered.
The report also says that support for prisoners leaving jail was poor. In some cases the risk they posed to others had not been recognised, which meant victims were not always protected, particularly in cases of domestic abuse.
"The good intentions of the government’s Transforming Rehabilitation reforms, which meant to bring about a step change in rehabilitation by extending support from probation services to this large group of prisoners who previously received no supervision on release, have not yet been realised," says the report.
"This means that an extra 50,000 extra people are now supervised, an increase of around 25%. Reoffending rates are highest for those serving short prison sentences. Many have long records of convictions, complex needs and a history of not engaging with public services," the report says.
Community rehabilitation companies are now responsible for their supervision, which is supposed to include helping prisoners to find accommodation, employment or training, treatment for substance misuse and help with managing their finances.
Inspectors found that, overall, services were poor and there was little to commend. Too many prisoners reached their release date without their immediate resettlement needs having been met or even recognised. None of the prisoners in their sample (86 cases) had been helped into employment by Through the Gate services; too many prisoners were released without accommodation and not enough help was given to prisoners to resolve debts," says the report.
Frances Crook, of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said the report showed the failure of the rehabilitation revolution was becoming increasingly clear: "Transforming Rehabilitation was supposed to turn lives around, reduce reoffending and make us all safer. It is doing precisely the opposite
– failing to help people find homes and employment, failing to prevent people committing further offences and failing by exposing victims of crime to more danger," she said.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/oct/04/liz-truss-to-launch-recruitment-drive-for-ex-forces-prison-officers
http://howardleague.org
Justice secretary to tell Tory conference that £14m extra funding will be available for 10 of the most challenging prisons
