Another Press Release
In order to try and fill an obvious vacuum, Joanna Hughes and myself have cooked up another press release and I reproduce it below. It's worth noting that an hour's work got a response from Sky News within minutes and a telephone interview by Joanna. Sadly she is unable to make the journey to London today for a live studio interview and clearly there are no camera vans available. Maybe Napo can find someone?
"With news that two more life term prisoners have absconded from open prison at the weekend by not returning from day release, Justice Minister Chris Grayling finds himself desperately trying to reassure the public by imposing yet more draconian knee-jerk measures.
The minister has today announced not just a tightening-up of all releases on temporary licence, but an end to so-called 'Town Visits' within the next month and the blanket imposition of electronic tagging. This will just be more money for private firms as a tag on the foot is not going to stop a prisoner determined to escape. However, as all experienced probation officers know, 'Town Visits' and release on temporary licence are an essential part of the successful reintegration back into mainstream society by long term prisoners, and the rarity of such incidents, and general success of such schemes in aiding rehabilitation, are testament to the expert assessments made by trained and experienced probation officers. This is an incidental failure within a genuinely successful system.
Further It is likely that the situation for public and prisoners will be adversely affected by Grayling's plans, which constitute short term political expediency at the expense of long term public safety and are opposed by probation officers making difficult risk assessments. However, since appointment, Chris Grayling has demonstrated nothing but disdain for the Probation Service which will cease to exist in its present form from the end of this month,. Against all expert opinion he intends to privatise the bulk of the service and hand over most work to inexperienced private contractors and corporations whose motive is profit.
Joanna Hughes is an experienced probation officer who is taking a principled stand against Chris Grayling's dangerous and ill-thought-out proposals and is resigning in protest. She is extremely happy to explain her decision and exactly why the public should be concerned at the virtual collapse of a vital public service. She can be contacted here:"
CJS is hot news and your reply from SKY in only a few minutes not only underlines the unions failure to highlight probations plight, but to my mind suggests the union have (for what ever reason), a different vision of the outcome of this TR then the rest of the service it represents.
ReplyDeleteThe Supreme Court will hear a case on Monday from 4 IPP prisoners claiming that it must surely be illegal to hold someone past tarriff, if your failing to provide access to the rehabilative courses that the state have identified is required.
It must surely be argueed that much of the MoJs problems right now is the failure to provide identified courses before people are moved to open conditions?
And as for Grayling to ban town visits?
There are (as reported today) over 12,000 IPP and Life sentences prisoners in the system. Would the public prefer those to be released straight back to society without first being 'drip fed' back in my means of day release, giving opportunity for all agencies involved in their management to test, evaluate, assess what risks (if any) remain to the public if that person is released on licence. I think not!
I really do wonder why more opportunities are not being seized. Graylings policies and bullshit should be being knocked over like skittles in a bowling ally.
Whoever wrote the above - do you live in London?!! You would be really good on Sky News and still trying to find a PO to go on TV at 3.30!
DeleteHow did it go Joanna? Any takers? Ridiculous that you have to be doing all this (and Jim) when we have a Napo press officer but it appears that Napo hq continue to be off their game. A big thank you. Please keep it up whilst we try to get the union back on track x
Delete"back on track". They have never been on track... ever!
DeleteLooking at NAPO's new website I see the distance in time since the last press release. Weekly, possibly daily, should be the frequency. Press releases over the country should be posted there. Are our overtures to the media being rejected or are we just not in contact? Or are we not posting our press releases?I say "we" whilst recognising that we are not all in NAPO-but Joanna and Jim are doing the work of NAPO. Perhaps NAPO leadership can publicise the on-call arrangements they have for weekends and evenings.
DeleteAny comments on the government wanting to privatize child protection? Have lessons not been learnt from all the deaths, this government is so ignorant about the cjs and public protection and their only rationalization is "we need a bit of fresh air into the system" Come on game over get clown Grayling out before more damage is done. I have always said the there should have been a general strike by the whole public sector to voice their distaste in this government perhaps then he would have been asked to stand down. Child Protection up for sale just as is public protection. This is madness and I felt like having a good old rant!!!!!
ReplyDelete#Grayling is on BBC Question Time on Thurs 22/05/14 at Radlett, seize the moment! Well done to Jim and Joanna, it beggars belief that NAPO has not capitalised on the run down to the end of Probation with daily Press Releases. Accountability about lack of presence in media appears to be a way of avoiding scrutiny to dysfunctional antics at Chivalry Road, ie 'people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones!'
ReplyDeleteLocal NAPO = brilliant support; national campaign = waste of time. What do I pay my subs for? You've lost your way and let them fuck up the profession I love with a whimper. If it wasn't for the great local team I would leave NAPO. YOU IDIOTS, IT'S NOT THAT DIFFICULT, FIGHT!!!! A Geordie PO
ReplyDeleteI would agree with PAPA's previous comments. We need a new union.
ReplyDelete“We can organise on the net look at the rise of 38 Degrees and the fine work they do. I have little faith in unions they need to be democratised and power given to an active membership. When we join a union in the future we should be prepared to work for it in the workplace and not simply see it as a form of insurance to fall back on during hard times. We should manage our work too because we can now see that most manager are lackeys or in it for themselves. I like the cooperative model were leadership and power is rotated so that it cannot corrupt but this means we all get stuck in and pull our weight. The people at the top and can not stay there for more than three years then others have their turn and we all get paid within a close range. Yes we need to democratise the workplace as well as society. You might say its pie in the sky but what's the alternative?”
I go onto the Napo web page every day, as well as here. There hasn't been a press release, or at least not one copied onto the web page, since 30th March. Harry Fletcher has tweeted that there will be an important parliamentary report tomorrow, there is the outcome of the legal aid challenge case imminent and as someone here has posted; Chris Grayling is scheduled to be on QT. OK so there will be much about the elections but with everything that is going on in the CJS and with the RoTL issues there could not be a better opportunity to ask even just one of the questions that he would find it difficult to answer. Does anyone know who else will be on the QT panel?
ReplyDeleteAccording to TV - Tristam Hunt MP, Jeremy Browne, MP and Kirstie Allsop- the object of one of my clients hallucinations - the other being her sidekick from Location, Location, Location.
DeleteThe silence from NAPO is insulting to members! I cannot fathom, all their bluster and protesting over 'sticks and stones' - the comments about Tom Rendon's job application to CRC seems to have generated more energy and more time spent on it than the ' Save Probation Campaign' ... not a huff or puff in respect of the dissemination of our service! This is a lesson to all who pay their subs/their wages...unless you will lose sleep over the absence of the Probation Journal, then take your money elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteThe answer is quite straightforward - there is nobody at Napo HQ with the skill, ability or indeed interest to do anything - we have to do it ourselves. Past behaviour can be a powerful indicator of future behaviour.
DeleteTotally agree with all the previous comments about NAPO HQ and the lack of media coverage. That's why I find it even more puzzling that they didn't renew Harry Fletcher's temp contract to help out.
DeleteNo matter what your personal views are about Harry, he has the contacts in Parliament and within the media to ensure Probation's voice is heard to counter the Govt spin.
Tanya seems to be completely out of her depth (yes, I suppose Harry leaving at the time when he was most needed helped to create a problem where the 'newbie' would be likely to struggle), but I would have hoped they could have put their egos and differences to one side. But, as mentioned on numerous times previously, NAPO HQ seem to be just looking out for themselves.
I understand that Tanya works 3 days per week for NAPO. You would have thought NAPO HQ would have recognised it needed a stronger media presence, and as previously mentioned, looked at employing a PR company (in fact why don't the TUC have a firm each individual union can use?), in addition to providing her with support from Harry Fletcher.
Count me into your union. We need action now, we need to gather some momentum so that we can derail this oncoming TRain.
ReplyDeleteHow about another e-petition.
Question time 22/05/14 includes #Grayling, Tristan Hunt MP Labour Shadow Secretary, Jeremy Brown MP Lib Dems and Kirsty Allsopp. it's only taken 6 months having written to QT to get Grayling included!
ReplyDeleteToday I was sent an instruction by e-mail to attend a mandatory 3 day training event. The letterhead on the instruction was from Northumbria Community Rehabiltation Company. This company does not exist. I am in surreal land. Again.
ReplyDeleteIn the Liverpool Echo:
ReplyDelete"The pioneering work of a Merseyside charity is helping inmates of Walton prison to turn away from crime.
Earlier this year, the ECHO revealed how 58% of criminals released from the jail after short-term sentences re-offended within 12 months.
But Sefton Council for Voluntary Services (CVS) is enjoying huge success with a mentoring programme which aims to support criminals housed inside Walton by working with them ahead of their release into our communities, as well as supporting them on the outside.
Under their Merseyside Offender Mentoring project, inmates who have shown a desire to go straight also act as peer mentors behind bars to help new prisoners get to grips with the regime and boost their prospects when they are released.
Victoria Olsen, who manages the project, now in its third year, told how she had seen a “significant decrease” in the re-offending rates of those who had signed up to the scheme.
She said: “In the past they’ve been turfed out with a few quid in their pockets. If you come out with the standard £46 discharge allowance and nowhere to live and you’ve got drug issues, really the easiest thing is to start committing crime again.
“It’s taken three years to get this service fully established but we are seeing great results. The reoffending rate for people through our scheme is 20% - which compared to the average of 58% is terrific.”
Vicky and her team, who are trained in self defence as a precaution while they walk the wings of Walton, help inmates with a range of issues - housing, benefits, drugs and family problems.
They also counsel inmates struggling with life in jail and those anxious about coming out.
Vicky said: “We are trying to get people ready to get back to work. A lot of it is simply trying to build their confidence.
“A lot think they’ve got a criminal record, so they won’t get a job. But if they admit ‘yes, I’ve been a bad lad and this is what I’ve done in prison to turn my life around’, to me it shows strength of character and guts, more than anything else.
“A lot of people see the charge sheet or their criminal record and very easily judge someone.
“But until you delve into that person and ask questions, you can’t get any answers as to what they’re about and what their problems are.”
She added: “But we are not mugs. I think what we do is give them a very nice kick up the backside.”
There are reports from The House of Commons public accounts committee in the media overnight - the only major outlet to pick it up so far seems to be the BBC, but hopefully others will follow.
DeleteMethinks - time for another Press Release?
Presumably this is what Harry Fletcher's Tweets was alluding to.
The defensive quotes from Wright, make the MOJ look completely out of their depth - but they are sticking to the old tune - it had to be done to cut reoffending!
http://www.napo2.org.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=666
Fantastic quote - "Vicky and her team...are trained in self defence as a precaution while they walk the wings of Walton (prison)".
DeleteWhatever napo's flaws, there is a press release and a gs blog. I love this blog but sniping from afar is too easy. Unison have done nothing, the TUC have done nothing, the govrnment control the media, and to defend Tanya, how does the media world view young women still ? As for creating a new union get real, and as for Harry it's because in part of H that the campaign was too centred on MP's/Westminster. Yes the blogs good but fight in the real world to please.
ReplyDelete