Sunday 5 January 2014

Why No Pilots?

If Chris Grayling thought that a cosy video fire side chat to start 2014 would help calm nerves and win the hearts and minds of staff, judging by the response on here, it hasn't worked. In fact I detect a significant change in attitude, thanks partly to the news leaking out of what NOMS has in mind for probation staff in prison.

It really does seem that the dead hand of prison management is just a whisker away from gaining complete control of seconded probation staff, thus confirming the long-held view that they didn't know what we did, thought we were too expensive and that we couldn't be trusted.  

The penny is beginning to drop with many more colleagues that far from being any kind of 'safe haven', under plans for the TR omnishambles, NPS is going to be anything but. The comments have been robust to say the least and I think this example pretty much summarises the feeling:- 

I have worked in a high risk team for six years under the OM Phase 2 and 3 models. The proposals identify one key point, the lack of standing (respect?) for probation staff among prison management especially governor grade. This is the main reason for the failure of the current model and the thought that a performance manager post will be created really chills me. Staff will be driven to deliver when they have no influence over resources. 

I have had some positive experiences with prison officer offender supervisors but also some really negative ones - especially in parole cases where prison staff can not distinguish between compliant prison behaviour and risk in the community. On numerous occasions I have struggled to get information about a prisoner relevant to risk assessment from the prison, even at MAPPA Level 3. The only sanction is a letter sent to a governor by a MAPPA chair after the meeting!

Probation officers transferring to the NPS (and yes I am one) should be really fearful of this new proposal. It looks to me that this is where the buck will stop or put another way, where the blame will be placed on each and every occasion. Prisoners will be encouraged to put in apps to see the seconded PO rather than Prison Officers, thus transferring one of the main sources of complaints made by prisoners. Also, where will the redundancies come from once this has been implemented and prison staff prove cheaper than probation staff in this role? Yup, that'll be us.....

But it's not just that probation has lost any effective voice at NOMS HQ, it's the realisation that we're being squeezed out in all directions as evidenced by this astonishing advert for volunteers for the Pre-Sentence Restorative Justice Pilot in Bristol:-

About the opportunity

Victim Support are the national charity giving free and confidential help to victims of crime, witnesses, their family, friends and anyone else affected across England and Wales. We also speak out as a national voice for victims and witnesses and campaign for change. We are now recruiting for a groundbreaking Restorative Justice pilot programme in partnership with Restorative Solutions and working closely with the Ministry of Justice and the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). This is a unique and exciting opportunity to take part in a path-finding project based in Bristol Crown Court, working with both victims and perpetrators of serious acquisitive and violent crime. Successful applicants will be facilitating pre-sentencing conferences as part of the Criminal Justice System and taking responsibility for case management, risk assessment of case handling and decision making as to whether cases go to Restorative Justice conferencing or case closure. It is expected that successful candidates will take on a new case every month over an initial 12 month period.

About Victim Support

Victim Support is dedicated to meeting the needs of victims and witnesses of crime in the world. Victim Support helps with all kinds of crime, including the most serious. This includes supporting people affected by homicide, rape and sexual assualt.Volunteers visit victims of crime in their own homes and provide victims with support, advice and information to assist them to come to terms with the practical, social and emotional impact of crime.

What are they looking for?

This role will include: Negotiation and facilitation within the Criminal Justice System Completing aftercare and follow up support to both perpetrators and injured parties Producing reports for the courts to consider in pre-sentencing stages of Criminal Justice Evaluation and debriefing with partner agencies Working within national standards set for restorative justice work No previous restorative justice experience is necessary, but the following skills and personal qualities would be an advantage: Knowledge or experience of supporting vulnerable people Empathy, negotiation and conflict resolution skills Commitment to working with prisoners, ex-prisoners and victims of crime Willing to work within our values, procedures and policies. Flexibility in when you work events could be days, evenings or weekends.
So, no previous experience necessary, carrying out risk assessments and writing reports for court! I think we can all see where this initiative is going. Restorative Justice is an excellent idea and probation has been involved in this sort of thing for years, but it's extremely sensitive and potentially risky stuff requiring training, expertise and supervision of the highest order. To be blunt it also makes me mad that these volunteers won't be saddled with the bureaucratic OASys crap that now makes writing any probation report an utter mind-numbing chore and highly expensive in terms of hours wasted.

But the real key point about this is the clue in the title - pilot. As we all know, the coalition government decided to abandon the TR pilots and just head for national roll-out of a completely untested idea in the face of almost universal opposition. Pilots are the intelligent and common sense way of testing out any major policy innovation before widespread roll-out and the embarrassing discovery that what you thought was a brilliant idea is in fact a disastrous flop.

As if to rub salt in the wound, we have the government only yesterday proudly announcing money for several mental health diversion pilots, despite there being nothing new in the idea at all:-

Mental health nurses are to be based in police stations and courts in 10 areas of England as part of a pilot scheme aimed at cutting reoffending. The nurses' duties will include helping officers to respond to calls and identify those with problems.

Ministers said "too often" criminals with mental health problems were being diagnosed only once they reached jail. The £25m scheme - being trialled in areas including London and Merseyside - could be extended England-wide by 2017.

The Department of Health says most people in prison have a mental health problem, a substance misuse problem or a learning disability, and one in four has a severe mental health illness such as depression or psychosis. It has been estimated that police officers spend 15% to 25% of their time dealing with suspects with mental health problems.

Being diagnosed with a mental health, learning difficulty or substance abuse problem will mean people can be offered treatment or support, and could affect how they are dealt with by the criminal justice system, ministers say.

The pilot mental health "liaison and diversion" teams will run in:


Merseyside
London
Avon and Wiltshire
Leicester
Sussex
Dorset
Sunderland and Middlesbrough
Coventry
South Essex
Wakefield

Similar arrangements have already been successfully tried in Leicestershire and Cleveland.


Basically there seems to be a significant 'disconnect' in denying any need for a pilot before introducing TR and destruction of a well-performing public service, and any other changes being dreamt-up in the criminal justice system. Why, we've not only had pilots with mobile phone jamming technology in prisons, but now NOMS is commissioning research before deciding what to do, as reported in the Independent:-

Prisoners can continue to use smuggled phones because the Ministry of Justice says jamming equipment is “prohibitively expensive”. Illegal mobiles are used by prisoners to order violent attacks, harass victims and maintain links with criminal gangs and extremists, the ministry has said. n 2012 alone, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) was told 6,959 illegal phones and sim cards were found in English and Welsh prisons.

In a speech last year, Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said the Government wanted to introduce tougher penalties for those caught with mobiles. The Government subsequently passed legislation authorising prison governors to use technology to disrupt the use of phones in prisons. But documents from the MoJ states the technology is "prohibitively expensive", although a spokesman for the department insists they have used signal jammers in trials across the country.

Officials have now commissioned a research project costing up to £70,000, during which prisoners will be interviewed to find out why they use smuggled phones. Where prisoners are found to use their phones for low risk calls, such as contacting relatives and friends, they could avoid being targeted by the authorities. This is because the focus is set to fall on offenders using their mobiles for "dangerous" criminal activity. There is no suggestion that if they are caught using a mobile to contact their family they will avoid punishment. Once they have carried out the research, officials will consider cheaper alternatives to the "jamming" technology.

The details are contained in a document sent out by the MoJ advertising the research project to companies. The publicly available advertisement says the effort and resources dedicated to finding phones in prisons varies in each jail. It states: "Since a net increase in resources is not feasible, it seems logical to target existing resources at the mobile phone usage that poses the greatest risks (eg organised crime).

"This research project will help us to understand what mobile phones are used for, and therefore what proportion falls into this higher risk category.  This will help NOMS to build a policy around reducing / eradicating the potentially most dangerous mobile phone usage at a time of scarce resources." According to the MoJ paperwork, inmates from at least 15 prisons are expected to be interviewed as part of the research, which starts this month.

We really must try and keep the pressure up in demanding a Plan B or at least a proper TR pilot before the whole Service is destroyed irrevocably. Something has got to be done, and fast to stop this dangerous TR nonsense before it's too late. I see that Harry Fletcher indicates via twitter that he's having some success in convincing the Lib Dems that some action is needed:-

LibDem MPs expressing concern in double figures.Seeing 3 more next week. Keep lobbying. It makes a difference.

Lets hope commonsense can prevail, even at this late hour.

Finally, don't forget that our legal colleagues at the Criminal Bar will be taking unprecedented action at Courts the length and breadth of the land tomorrow morning Monday 6th January in their fight over cuts to Legal Aid. We wish them well in their fight with Chris Grayling.

31 comments:

  1. Re: the Victim Support roles - they want someone to be available up to six days per week, to complete all those tasks, for an annual salary of £0?? Volunteers have a role to play, but we really need to look at why people want to volunteer: it's normally a case of either they're trying to bump up a CV, and prone to leaving as soon as they get the paid employment they were looking for, or they've retired from full-time work, and in my experience often decide at a moments notice to go and do something else. In either case, who can blame them? This is a shabby attempt to do RJ on the cheap, and will inevitably undermine it, and anyone who is connected with it.

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    1. Apart from concerns about any bias in report writing, there's also a concern that any shortfall in volunteers could be made up from enforced placements from the work programme.
      The sector is currently swampped with these "volunteers".

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    2. Has Grayling forgotten that probation currently has VLOs, staff who have experience of working with victims. He really is taking the piss out of probation staff now.

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  2. If anyones got not much to do on this cold Sunday afternoon, you might just enjoy a little research on this shower.
    Grayling will no doubt see them as the whole package.


    http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/12/prweb11446443.htm

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    1. Offender Kiosks!!!!!!

      He's really taking the piss now. We're being replaced by glorified 'Speak & Spells'!!

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    2. Sentinel Offender Services, a national provider of offender management services, including probation, electronic monitoring and financial recovery, is proud to have made the short list of potential providers from over 800 organizations (domestic and international) that participated in the Transforming Rehabilitation competition being held by the Ministry of Justice, United Kingdom.

      It was announced on December 19 that Sentinel, along with 29 other organizations, has met demanding requirements to progress to the next phase of the competition. The successful organizations will supervise, in the community, 275,000 low-and medium-risk offenders throughout England and Wales.

      Bob Contestabile, Chief Executive Officer of Sentinel Offender Services said, “We feel privileged to have the opportunity to participate in such a revolutionary rehabilitation effort. We look forward to working closely with the Ministry of Justice in tackling the issue of reducing recidivism in communities and throughout the UK.”
      This ground breaking reform will enable a wide range of organizations to work together to supervise, in the community, released prisoners and court-ordered offenders to protect the public and to reduce reoffending.

      CEO Bob Contestabile agreed, "These are goals that Sentinel has been honored to achieve for the past 20 years in the US, and we are excited by the potential to join with our UK colleagues to enable more offenders to become upstanding citizens of their communities in the UK."
      Chris Grayling, Secretary of State for Justice, stated, “Not only does this competition usher in a fresh and innovative way of rehabilitating offenders—it also shows the Government doing business differently.”

      Law enforcement and local government agencies have been successful in significantly reducing the incidence of crime in the UK over the past 20 years. However, persistent offenders continue to offend and are trapped in a revolving door of short prison sentences and petty crime. Of the crimes committed each year in England and Wales, 600,000 are committed by previously convicted offenders.

      This high rate of recidivism blights local communities, businesses, and hardworking taxpayers who suffer the consequences of the high crime rate and the costs of law enforcement and imprisonment.

      David Griffiths, Managing Director of Sentinel Offender Services Ltd. said, “There is no doubt that many probation colleagues have worked tirelessly to deliver better services. These reforms will enable Sentinel to work with them bringing investment, innovation, and freedom to deliver in ways previously denied. I am confident that together our common professionalism, experience, and commitment to community rehabilitation will enable more offenders to turn around their lives."
      Griffiths continued, "No one individual or organization is capable of achieving this vision on their own, and we are keen to hear from all individuals and organizations in England and Wales who may want to join with us in this cause.”

      The Transforming Rehabilitation competition will continue through next year with contracts being awarded and deployment expected in early 2015.

      Sentinel Offender Services, a privately held company, celebrates 20 years in community offender services this December. In the two decades since its inception, over 500,000 offenders have participated in programs designed to reduce reoffending, protect the public, and deliver the sentence of the court.

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    3. OMG The CEO is Bob Contestabile - you couldn't make this stuff up!

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    4. I expect Sentinel got extra points for their CEO's name being "Bob Contestabile"

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    5. I'm a left winger but I'll vote UKIP to keep the Tory scum out of power.

      You cant argue with ideological fools in a hollowed out political system that severs only the rich. No you have to become politically active, this in the end is the only way to fight them.

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    6. Woops - great minds and all that!

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    7. Sentinel, unknown to many so can easily slip un-noticed into the TR agenda are a far more toxic company then either Serco or G4S.

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    8. I agree with Anon 16:00 and will follow their lead, hadn't thought of it myself but I will now be voting UKIP. A well timed protest vote could just give this government of rich boys the shock they need. Am off now to seek support for this from all of my email contacts.

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    9. That's a point with Tory's cutting public services, as well as picking on poorer and more vulnerable members of society. The question I have is who the fuck do they think will vote them back in next year. Answers on the back of a stamp please!!

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  3. More egg on Graylings chin?

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/exclusive-plans-to-allow-private-sector-firms-to-give-sex-offenders-lie-detector-tests-abandoned-amid-turmoil-over-outsourcing-contracts-9039898.html

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    1. The Government has abandoned plans to allow the private sector to run lie detector tests for hundreds of serious sex offenders, amid continuing turmoil over outsourcing following scandals involving the country’s two biggest contractors.

      The programme to test hundreds of sex offenders was due to start this month but has now been delayed for staff to be trained internally, in the latest blow to privatisation plans for monitoring former offenders in the community.

      The compulsory tests for about 750 released serious sex offenders in England and Wales are part of a major planned expansion of the use of the polygraph this year despite concerns over its effectiveness.

      Two police forces are set to introduce voluntary testing for people arrested for allegedly downloading child abuse images to examine the potential danger they pose and to identify other victims.

      The private sector conducted pilot studies of more than 300 ex-inmates in the Midlands - resulting in 22 being returned to prison because of disclosures they made after using the polygraph. However, the use of private companies to carry out the full programme has been now been ruled out.

      It follows last month’s decision to strip G4S and Serco of contracts to monitor tagged offenders, amid allegations that they overcharged the government millions of pounds. The case is being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office.

      The two companies, which the Government has relied upon for the vast bulk of its private contracts, are not expected to bid for the specialist polygraph contract. Yet other firms have also been told they can only bid to train and monitor probation staff, and not to run the polygraph programme.

      Sadiq Khan, the shadow justice secretary, said: “This decision is a humiliating admission that the Ministry of Justice is not able to get value for money and good service from the private sector.

      “The fact that the Ministry of Justice has decided not to give the contract for lie detectors to the likes of G4S and Serco is very embarrassing for Chris Grayling. We now need him and the Ministry of Justice to eat a bit more humble pie and stop the dangerous privatisation of probation which is taking huge risks with public safety with no evidence that it will work.”

      Insiders believe the programme could be delayed for about nine months before the first testing takes place, though the Ministry of Justice said it expected only a short delay for training.

      “We considered options in light of investigations into G4S and Serco,” said a spokesman. “People will speculate as to their involvement but a competition was never under away.”

      Labour is considering banning contractors such as Serco and G4S from winning further tenders if the party wins the next general election, the Independent reported last month. The two companies are barred from entering a planned £500m-a-year contract for probation services as lead bidders.

      The Government claims the contracts could save taxpayers up to £200m a year with all but the most serious offenders under the supervision of the private sector.

      A G4S spokeswoman said: “It's not our practice to comment on tenders for reasons of commercial confidentiality. We cannot comment on why the Ministry of Justice may have delayed this exercise, as that is clearly a matter for them.”

      Serco said: “We have no plans to bid for this contract.”

      The use of the polygraph is set to expand rapidly within the criminal justice system. Some experts believe it can be used to expose many more offences committed by individual sex offenders, who may have a greater incentive than some other criminals to cover up crimes that spark public revulsion.

      The polygraph – widely used in the US - measures breathing, heart rates and sweating in response to questioning which would suggest if the subject has been lying.



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  4. Another spoof or mind-boggling eureka moment for Mr CG?

    I can just see those interviews and how they'll pan out:

    Interviewer: Tell me Bob, for what purpose do you have a mobile phone in your possession?

    Bob: Because I miss my Granny and need to speak to her daily.

    Interviewer, that's okay then Bob, give your Granny my best wishes.......next!

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    1. No OASys Jim, but watch out for RSR.

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    2. RSR - you got me there. Red Snapper Recruitment?

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    3. Risk of Serious Recidivism - the new does-it-go-to-NPS-or-CRC screening tool.

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  5. Tories and CG want to get rid of any professionals who may have gone through training which provided them with an overview of society, from different political and social perspectives, especially from the left (Marxism, socialism, etc). Today's why probation officers are being replaced by untrained staff who have limited social and political perspectives regards social problems. The same applies to the social worker and teaching professions. Any professionals who question, who can articulate their opinions, who research, who look for solutions to very difficult individual and social problems and issues, who basically try to promote a society which is better, fairer, more understanding, more tolerant, celebrates difference and diversity, who regularly go above and beyond because theirs is a vocation, these professions, these people are despised by tories and people like CG, MG etc. because these compassionate and well educated professions highlight social injustices , discrimination, deceit, corruption, advanced by governments and corporations. That's why the full on attack continues from the tories. Their attacks on probation, education, NHS, legal services, social work, is totally ideologically driven hatched in the smelly little dorms in Eton by spoilt little rich boys, who had their futures mapped out by their wealthy parents in their private clubs and boardrooms of faceless corporations. Tories and CG want to get rid of any professionals who may have gone through training which provided them with an overview of society, from different political and social perspectives, especially from the left (Marxism, socialism, etc). Today's why probation officers are being replaced by untrained staff who have limited social and political perspectives regards social problems. The same applies to the social worker and teaching professions. Any professionals who question, who can articulate their opinions, who research, who look for solutions to very difficult individual and social problems and issues, who basically try to promote a society which is better, fairer, more understanding, more tolerant, celebrates difference and diversity, who regularly go above and beyond because theirs is a vocation, these professions, these people are despised by tories and people like CG, MG etc. because these compassionate and well educated professions highlight social injustices , discrimination, deceit, corruption, advanced by governments and corporations. That's why the full on attack continues from the tories. Their attacks on probation, education, NHS, legal services, social work, is totally ideologically driven hatched in the smelly little dorms in Eton by spoilt little rich boys, who had their futures mapped out by their wealthy parents in their private clubs and boardrooms of faceless corporations. We have no democracy in UK, the current tory lead coalition government has shown by their actions / policies that they are the government of the rich, for the rich.

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    1. Isn't this what Pol Pot tried in Cambodia? That went well....

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  6. Ernst and Young have been hired to find further savings......

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    1. Do we have a link or a bit more info please?

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  7. Keista, I agree. Garyling and his beloved companies know that the more people you have is prison the more money you make. It is now common knowledge that the US government is thinking about ending the "War on Drugs" and every time this comes out in the media the stock price falls. Indeed this business model is the one that underpins the likes of SERCO and G4S and this is why there is great fear in the Prison Industrial Complex in America and now in the UK; they know that they are in danger. The market they love will kill them off as soon as profits start to slow down.

    We know that social and cultural inequality underpins crime and the way to reduce crime is to reduce inequality. Simple really but there is no money in reducing inequality so lock the poor up and make them do a few CBT programmes and return them to the same unequal conditions and then you can make more money off them all over again; this is known as "The Cycle of Elite Profit" And our governments support and foster this. They are nasty and brutish and they really need to go.

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  8. http://www.itv.com/news/central/update/2014-01-05/g4s-incident-contained-at-oakwood-prison/

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    1. Security firm, G4S, has confirmed that there is an 'ongoing incident' on a wing at Oakwood Prison.

      “The situation is contained and we are applying standard procedures to manage the incident.

      “It would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage."

      – G4S SPOKESPERSON

      It follows a number of rooftop protests last year.

      In July 2013, HMP Oakwood, in Featherstone near Wolverhampton, was one of three prisons in England and Wales to be rated 'of serious concern' by the Ministry of Justice.

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    2. Grayling will be pleased, after all hes on record saying Oakwood is the way he wants prisons run in the future- got the same vision for probation Chris?

      From the little bits of news I can find it would appear to be quite a serious disturbance indeed.

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  9. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2534282/Wardens-tackle-disturbance-involving-inmates-Oakwood-prison.html

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    1. Riot squad officers were tonight dealing with a disturbance at a scandal-hit prison - which was the scene of several rooftop protests last year.
      Security firm G4S said it tackled which some reports described as 'serious disorder', at Oakwood Prison, near Wolverhampton, the biggest privately-run jail in Britain, which houses 1,600 inmates.
      The company said that the incident had been 'contained' by 9pm.

      The disturbance comes weeks after Justice Secretary Chris Grayling defended Oakwood - nicknamed ‘Jokewood’ - as a ‘first class facility’ despite a string of problems including a damning report from HM Inspectorate of Prisons.
      A spokesman for G4S, which runs the prison, said: ‘The situation is contained and we are applying standard procedures to manage the incident.’
      No further information was available about what had triggered the problem.

      A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice added: ‘The incident is being dealt with solely by prison staff at this time.
      ‘We are in constant touch with G4S and are being kept informed of what is going on.’
      Reports aired on Sky News suggested that there 'was serious disorder for a time'.
      A correspondent told the channel: 'It may still be going on in the wing. But as far as the wider prison is concerned, the disorder has been contained to that wing.'

      Officers for Staffordshire Police tonight confirmed that they were also involved in controlling the incident.
      A spokesman said that the force was aware of the incident at the privately-run jail and was offering support and assistance to G4S.
      The incident is the latest in a series of problems for the jail, which only opened two years ago.
      In October, HMP Oakwood was slammed by inspectors.


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  10. who knows what we can believe anymore? have terrorists regained major towns/cities in iraq & afghanistan? is sudan a greater concern? will triple lockng your pension prevent herpes? is chris grayling an assassin? do i care if i'm nps, crc, itv, bbc or ira?

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