Thursday 8 May 2014

Lifers and Open Prison

The case of lifer Michael Wheatley absconding from open prison at the weekend has caused some politicians to start talking the usual bollocks, seemingly changed policy overnight and set the scene for yet another 'tough on criminals' debate as part of the General Election campaign.

According to media reports, Wheatley received 13 life sentences at the Old Bailey in 2002 in respect of a string of armed robberies on building societies, having been previously released on parole having served 8 years of a 27 year sentence for similar offences. 

There's been a chorus of mostly odious MP's such as Keith Vaz, chair of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, who should know better, and Tory Philip Davies expressing surprise that 'someone so dangerous' was in open conditions and permitted day release in the first place. Some have been saying lifers shouldn't be in open conditions at all, thus completely ignoring the fact that it's an essential part of assessment and reintegration back into society for the many hundreds we have on indeterminate sentences in this country.

Apparently Wheatley was some 4 years over his 8 year tariff and clearly felt suitable for Cat D and open prison by the Parole Board. Of course with the wonderful benefit of hindsight, his absconding and subsequent arrest in connection with a further armed robbery raises a number of questions regarding risk assessments. But such assessment is not and can never be a science, whatever politicians may feel or been told about the shite OASys offender assessment process. And there's this to consider, as raised by a reader:-  

At the parole hearing which recommended his move to open conditions, what did the Minister of State's representative advise? Which minister approved the Parole Board's recommendation to progress to open conditions?

Now we know the Minister of State's representative hardly ever shows up at Parole Hearings and if they do they are usually a prison officer who either has nothing to say, or says there's not been enough time to come to a considered view. When it comes to Grayling trying to pin the blame somewhere, people must understand that with indeterminate sentences there is a chain of responsibility involved in making decisions over sentence progression and release. 

Being four years over tariff Wheatley may have felt that his chances of being released were not that good and therefore decided to do a runner. But the fact of the matter is that the vast majority of people serving life will eventually be released at some point and the Parole Board have already been accused of being far too 'risk-averse' mainly because Probation Officers have become increasingly so. 

As a nation we have far more people serving indeterminate sentences than virtually any other and all the signs are that this case will provide the perfect pre election excuse to indulge in the now very familiar game of which party is tougher on crime. The public and politicians must face up to the fact though that sometimes people will reoffend despite our best efforts and reoffend seriously because we're dealing with some of the most dangerous people in society.  

Already it's being suggested that ROTL or Release on Temporary Licence will be tightened up even further with prisoners being required to wear an electronic tag. This is utter nonsense of course because a guy like Wheatley, determined to do a runner as he clearly was, would simply have cut the device off before stepping on the train to London. As reported by the BBC:- 
Prisons minister Jeremy Wright said the system had been too lax and was being changed. "In future when prisoners are let out on temporary licence they will be tagged, more strictly risk assessed and tested in the community under strict conditions before being released," he said. "There will be a full review of this case, which will look at the ROTL (Release on Temporary Licence) process."
As has been said many times before, 'a hard case makes bad law'. 
   

61 comments:

  1. Take away hope and you create this type of desperate dangerous character. Plus quite clearly prison worked for this guy - not.

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  2. And do not forget that the new tags are those which Buddi pulled out of the contract for, saying the SoS had unrealistic expectations of what the tags would achieve. I seem to recall there was a quote along the lines of "grayling is expecting something that isn't possible with these tags."

    Emperor's New Clothes every time. When will anyone learn!??!

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    1. The quote is, in fact:

      Sara Murray, who is a member of business secretary Vince Cable's "entrepreneurs' panel", said in a leaked email to staff that the ministry wanted "the development of a product which does not yet exist".

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  3. Just to throw in some joy - last week, I took a released lifer (obviously very serious offences coupled with Psychopathy) to an open farm, as he gained some amazing skills in dry stone walling in HMP - now, regular readers may recall my last missive (Nov 2013) on this case, which required a quick oust from his own flat, so the neighbour wasn't killed and into an AP for a five day lie down - with lots of effort and communication with various folk, the situation was quelled and he went back to his flat and there has been an absence of any real concerns since. So, we go to the farm, as he would like to offer his services in rebuilding some of the dry stone walls which have fallen foul of thieves, weather and the lack of TCL over the years. Whilst there, we looked around the farm and I have a great photo of this man, engaging in an extended conversation with a Pink African parrot; seems the parrot doesn't talk to women, but it enjoyed it's exchange with my client. I smiled, and wondered just what Mr Grayling would make of it? You cannot quantify the value to client and community in such ventures and of course, this is something which Mr Grayling will never understand. Don't let them get you down and carry on, as the poster says.

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  4. The act that the Minister of State's representative rarely attends should be made more public as I other words the Minister of State is not doing their job and as such responsible

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  5. The IPP system is defunct as was the 2 strike and out system. Even sime of the Tory party are calling for the release of IPP prisoners who are still in custody having exceeded their tariff. IPP was just anoter ill thought concept, that the government thought might gain some votes from 'hard working families'.
    The current problems in our justice system are easy to explain. They're a consequence if too much interference by people in Whitehall offices, with no real knowledge or experience of what is really necessary for delivery at the front line, and attempts to qualify decision making by mechanical assessment.
    OASyS? It would be a far better tool for predicting horoscopes, or for a dating agency to use to find your perfect partner! For anything else its shite.
    But the reality is that you just can't beat making decisions based on knowledge of the individual you've gained through face to face interactions and personal observations over time. Triggers, when to intervene, what support is needed etc etc.
    But people like Grayling doesn't understand that, nor do they care if they do understand.
    The problems in the CJS today lay squarely at the feet of government policy makers who have little knowledge (if any) of the imact their ill thought out plans and knee jerk responses have on front line delivery and public safety.
    You don't need a bricklayer if your washing machine is on the blink, even if he's cheaper!

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    1. http://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2014/may/08/prisons-budget-cuts-worse-jails

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    2. Graylings stricter rule on who'll get ROTL any when and why you can have ROTL will no doubt reduce the number of people absconding from open prisons?
      I think not, it can only serve to increase the number of abscondings.
      The problems Graylings making no-one elses.

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    3. http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/burglar-Daniel-Shaw-released-prison-just-46/story-21070742-detail/story.html

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    4. I'm an ex con. But my time away was a long time ago. You served 2/3rds of your sentence and no licence afterwards. The only time you got a licence was if you were lucky enough to get parole at the 1/3rd mark. The only leave you got was a 'short homeleave' in your last 6months and a 'terminal' homeleave in your last 2months (6 days).
      The board of visitors could give you up to 6 months in the block and the governor could take upto 28 days remission on adjudication.
      Probation was refered to as 'the welfare'.
      We got one shower a week, one pair of clean pants and socks a week, and one clean shirt and towel too.
      There was no in cell TV nor was there any in cell sanatation, just a bucket. But the food was good, everything was made on site from raw ingreedients. People in the kitchens learn't how to cook/ make pastry, cakes, bread, pies, graveys, custards. All wonderful skills to have if leaving prison and having to live an a low budget.
      We had books too, and plenty of access to the library. We had evening classes where you could involve yourself with things like creative writing, book binding or woodwork classes. They all afforded us skills of some sort upon release, and they also allowed you to make things for friends and familiy to be passed out on visits. It helped your loved ones to deal with your imprisonment more effectively. They could see you were actively engaged with something and not just festering in your cell.
      We also had cell hobbies, and people made some amazing things from almost anything you can think of. Matchsticks, bread, scraps of wood, and I remember one person who carved beautiful ornate knife fork and spoon sets from the beef rib bones that the kitchen principal officer used to save for him every week. He was given enough discression and autonomy to do so.
      Having cell hobbies did obviously create a black market on the landings and people sold their creations for tobbacco. But prison staff weren't overly bothered. You'd showed innititive in making the object, put time and labour into its production, if someone is willing to pay for that object then your gain has been achieved by hard work, labour and honest means. Aren't those the things you need ingrained in your mind upon release? I can achieve through hard work and application?
      But those were the days when being a prison officer was a career and not just another job. Those were the days when people in the CJS could back their own judgements based on their training, skills or just because you had a knack for it.
      They were times of great austerity in penal regimes (which should please both the public and the Tory party of today), but they were also times of oppertunity where most left prison a little bit better off, if only because you'd learned to cook, or learned to enjoy the sunday evening play on radio 4.
      For me, I think the systems long lost its way, and expensive as it is it achieves very little for the public as a whole or those locked up. Locking people up on its own will never change oneone. Its the stimulis their exposed to that effects any change. If that can be nurtured with a little helping hand on the sunny side of the wall then everyones a winner surely.
      Keep politics out of the justice system. It'll make for a safer world, more productive rehabilitation, less reoffending and smaller prison populations.
      But please don't bring the bucket back.

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    5. I agree about OASys being unfit for purpose. I don't think I would even trust it in the dating game, though.

      The myth perpetuated was that it gave added value to risk assessments. The probation service traded on the pseudo- scientific respectability it was deemed to bestow in those heady days when all singing and dancing probation was at the heart of the new choreography. As you say, professionalism and good practice is the best manager of risk. OASys feeds off the same psuedo hype associated with lie detectors. This irrational search for technocratic solutions to the vagaries and varieties of human behavious. Mind you, I have never really regarded OASys as a risk assessment or risk management tool. I have always regarded it as a Whitehall data gathering device.

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    6. Well said. I was a PO from 78-97. I posted the entry below before your post here showed up-must have been typing at the same time. You describe what I remember from the "Welfare" officer's side (that was my title, Prison Welfare Officer.

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  6. To say "prison doesn't work" is not enough-it needs to be made clear what happens when it does work-i.e. what is the purpose of prison? Prison officers are, in my experience, almost universally hard working, diligent, skilled professionals who do what they are supposed to do really well-i.e. keeping dangerous people contained, usually against the prisoner's will. They are brilliant at that. We don't have troupes of inmates escaping from Cat A nicks, do we? No-one will tell me that the prisoners aren't wanting to get out, but they don't. But as a society we seem to think that locking someone up will reform them. How can it? My experience of prison probation work involved something that felt like trying to teach people to swim in a swimming pool with no water in it. You can address offending behaviour, alcohol misuse etc in a controlled, policed, dry (unless you are in Oakwood) environment. But it is not real. Prison should have two functions: detaining (permanently if needed) people too dangerous to be out, or secure remand pending a decision to do something else. Prison officers are brilliant at both of those. What we ask of the prison system is ill thought out, uninformed, unrealistic and unworkable. It needs a massive rethink from the ground up.
    Now that's really going to happen, right...?

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  7. Joanna Hughes8 May 2014 at 18:31

    I'm on a bit of a role when it comes to letters to newspapers! Thought readers might be interested in my letter to the Guardian today.

    Polly Toynbee is undoubtedly right that there is no basis in fact for the government's endless privatisations. In my area, the Probation Service, shameless misinformation has been the government's stock-in-trade as it bulldozes through reforms to enrich the corporations. But the key issue is surely that rational or evidence-based disagreement is futile unless one recognises how far it would be a dispute about values, and how far the government's obsession with privatisation is based not just on shady lobbying but also on a view of democratic freedom identified with narrow and exclusive self-interest. Where the interests of others are not my interest then it is my political right to refuse to pay for them. This value system underpins the political debate, and constrains Labour, so until governments can genuinely project values of sociality, equality of opportunity, social responsibility and empathy, this bleeding dry of public resources by the private corporations will continue unabated.

    Joanna Hughes
    Cheltenham

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    Replies
    1. Good stuff JH. Keep that roll rolling.

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  8. Off topic - EPIC vacancies has a CEO for the BeNCH CRC (beds,herts,cam etc) which I thought was filled by Tessa Webb - does anyone know why this has changed?

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    1. Tessa has resigned for personal family reasons. Was very sad to hear the news as I have much respect for her from when we worked together as POs and PDAs in Essex. I wish her and her family all the very best.

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    2. Thanks for the info.

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    3. So why not one of the other three Trust CEOs?

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  9. I have seen an email at work today listing numerous new tasks I will be doing from 1 June which mean I wont be able to logistically complete all the tasks in my current job description but which I will be expected to continue. Meanwhile I also read about logos, headed paper, corporate identities. Managers are upset. Bright, capable colleagues are stressed and angry and applying for Jobs and leaving. I am sitting quietly on the track facing the oncoming train.

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  10. yes there are ordering sign frontage in the midlands already

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  11. Greetings from the "JFDI Trust"
    Well, we are in the implementation phase with processes defined by flow charts in the absence of training. Situation arises not on the flow chart? Err "we are all adults let's sort it"......Flow chart ambiguous? Err "just do what you think is right".... Other staff disagree with your understanding?? Err " let's just do our best" Can we have a decision about which way to resolve this? Err " bring me solutions not problems" ...New situation not arisen before? Err "Just go back to the flow chart and the 76 emails we have sent out in the last two days it will be covered"... I am unable to do this please can you take something off me? Err, "we are all under pressure"
    and so it continues.....
    The TRain is approaching too fast but it feels as if I am watching the impending crash count down in slow motion.

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    1. Welcome to Pollyanna Probation Land. Just play the Glad Game folks.

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  12. Imagine this pre match dressing room talk: "Err.. I want five of you to stay in here during they game... err including the keeper... what do you mean it wont work?.. Just run around a bit... if you see the ball give it a go... it's a brilliant idea you'll see... yes I KNOW we won the Championship last season but something's got to CHANGE... this will make us EVEN BETTER... what did you say.. you calling me a what?..."

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    1. How about the whistle has blown and the game is over. Game set and match to Grayling thanks to the unions.

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  13. Grayling will use any story to have a dig at probation. There are many positive accounts of prisoners that combats this.

    http://fascinatingisaword.wordpress.com/2014/05/08/and-i-grew-up-to-be-a-probation-officer/

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    1. But does the public get to know about them, I have plenty of positive things to say about the probation service but the public will never bother to read them due to us not having a PR vehicle to present them from.

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    2. Forgot to add as a consequence only what the Government has to say influences the public, and from all account the public probably feel that TR is an excellent idea as they know know different.

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  14. https://twitter.com/francescrook/status/464761516299153408

    Frances Crook
    ‏@francescrook
    "Apparently NOMS is 'refreshing' the list of potential bidders for probation, not surprising really looking at the motley crew of scavengers"

    Any word on this list?

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    1. and suddenly out of the ether comes G4S and Serco by any chance?

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    2. Sept 2013 - national press:

      "A total of 399 voluntary organisations will compete to take part in the government’s Transforming Rehabilitation programme, the Ministry of Justice has announced."

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    3. If that happens then you can turn the lights off, England is done.

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    4. Dec 2013 - moj website:

      "The Ministry of Justice announced on 20th December the 30 potential bidding entities that passed the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire stage."

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    5. The following link to a pdf document popped up on a google search today. It doesn't want to be copied:

      http://mutuals.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Successful%2520Bidding%2520by%2520PA%2520Consulting%2520Group.pdf

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    6. http://mutuals.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Successful Bidding by PA Consulting Group.pdf

      works fine

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  15. need an up todate list. there are still 7 in the midlands, including seetec/geo/interserve

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  16. If I was a PR bod I would be asking " Did Chris Grayling as Secretary of State agree and signed "Skull Crackers" progressive move to a Cat D prison? And therefore did Chris Grayling put the public at RISK because "Skull Cracker" walked out of the prison and attempted to rob a bank. And does this suggest that he is not fit for purpose and neither is the OASys system of Risk prediction. Or is this just silly?

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    1. I've thought one further that the whole thing was orchestrated to create just the right kind of publicity. Or maybe I am just cynical and bitter.

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  17. Have just arrived home - should have been finished at 1pm but I could not abandon my colleagues to the utter chaos that is now the probation court system - who the hell took a system that worked and broke it so utterly? Any bidders out there reading this, you really are going to get something broken beyond repair. I know courts are NPS but they are going to allocate the cases that you need to make money for your shareholders. This case allocation tool is utter crap and believe me you are going to get all the volatile risky stuff because so far as our v busy and large court team is seeing virtually no cases going to NPS using the tool. You should be very very worried because you will have public safety responsibility and will not be able to escalate some of these cases fast enough to pass the buck.

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    1. Why are the unions silent in the face of something so clearly not for purpose and causing our colleagues so much stress and distress?

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    2. NAPO needs specific examples - any members should provide examples to
      campaigns@napo.org.uk
      I have

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    3. Anon 20:12 where the hell have you been the last 6 months? Which union are you in?

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    4. The Madness of King Chris10 May 2014 at 08:33

      Anon at 20:12 what were you doing during the last period of industrial action?

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  18. as a case carrying OM with 70+ cases I am struggling to read up on new people transferred to me from colleagues - I feel as though i'm constantly 'winging' it. I am scared and stressed - its like we've all be put in an impossible situation and all of us could be at risk of making a mistake and being put on capability all because a system is not fit for purpose.

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    1. This is just ridiculous now. Grayling is a dangerous, chaotic individual creating opportunities to cause serious harm.

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  19. Anonymous9 May 2014 19:49 - sorry to hear about this. It would seem to me that you are not being managed. It is your manager who should be capability and not you.

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  20. Any movement of a Lifer to open conditions has to be signed off by the Sec of State. Simple.

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    1. But its always passed down the line, like sfo's - never the perpetrator, always the PO. We are the whipping boys & girls for everyone. Mental health team? Nah, must have been his/her PO at probation. Housing? Nah, must gave been his/her PO at probation. Childrens Services? Nah, must have been his/her PO at probation. Sec of State? Subs Misuse Team? Murder? Nah, must have been... etc, etc, etc. We carry every can for everyone. And for clarity, "PO" in this case means supervising officer (po or pso).

      But this is a burden we have to acknowledge we have artificially created for ourselves. Not out of any perverse sense of need, but because the profession had always sought to problem solve and be solution focused. Our rating as a public service shows we are outstanding at being results orientated.

      We're too damn eager to please. And the penalty? Bend over and shut up while we shaft you.

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    2. Not true in this case. If the Parole Board make a recommendation to move a Lifer to open conditions, the prisoner can not move until he or she receives the decision letter from the Sec of State. Of course it isn't CG who decides but one of his civil servants, but it is explicitly a Sec of State letter.

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  21. Its another world in which we exist. I feel angry and shafted, but colleagues see opportunity to thrive. I think there's no justice, others see scope to create justice out of the chaos. I don't understand how grayling and the trust get away with it, but those 25 years younger than me take it in their stride - "it is what it is - get over it, grandad". I feel distraught; others (with fuck all experience) are setting up consultancies.

    Its a muddle.

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    1. Couldn't agree more, I am also one of those that has been in the service for 30 years and all I hear from those who have only been doing the same job for a few years saying, "there's loads of opportunities", which opportunities are these, they are so short sighted and don't realise that once private companies come in, do they think they will get the same wages and respect as they did in the service as it was. THEY ARE DEFINATLY SLEEPWALKING, good luck to them, if you are as old as me at least we can look forward to out retirement and getting the f""k out.

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    2. I think that's somewhat unfair. As a relatively young PO in the CRC, I see no opportunities for myself. In fact, I see the complete disintegration of my career and no clue about what I am to do for the next 30 years. I am too young for VER, but can't seem to find an alternative job that interests me. In my office, it is the younger staff that upset and angry about our current situation and the older staff that are sleepwalking into it, seemingly oblivious to what the future holds. But maybe that because they have the luxury of VER,something that's a long way off for some of us.

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    3. VER - exists only for the very senior managers and staff who can not be placed in either NPS or CRC eg IT staff don't build any hopes on this please folks.....

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    4. Folks who have been in 30 years have had their autonomy chipped away since 1984. They have survived one or several reorganisations since 2001. They may have struck and campaigned to defend the status of probation training several times since first doing it to protect trainees income in 1982. They will have had senior managers gain advancement and financial reward on the basis of their effort and professional integrity. They were resolute when Michael Howard's crowd took away professional training and Straw's liers advanced CJS privatisation. Youngsters have come in who seem not to think it vital that continuity of one on one relationships be started before sentence and maintained with a client's family over many years, and even they did not believe a government and whole parliament could be this dismissive of what they have learned by training and expeience. And then there was nothing in their job descriptions when they started about being computer operators or adminstrators, and other people were employed to be their secretaries

      Give 'em a break!

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  22. http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2014/05/08/bucking-the-trend-poll-show-huge-opposition-to-privately-run

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    1. The public are overwhelmingly opposed to private firms running public services, a new poll has revealed.

      The findings, in a Survation poll for campaign group We Own It, reveals the extent of public opposition to the role of Serco, G4S and others in providing public services.

      Sixty-three per cent of people think Serco should be banned from bidding for any new public contracts after the firm was investigated for overcharging on government contracts.

      Just seven per cent believed they should be able to bid for government contracts now.

      Fifty-nine per cent of people thought G4S should never be able to bid on another government contract after it overcharged for prison tags.

      The poll comes as campaigners target Serco's annual general meeting in London.

      "People are feeling more than a little sick of Serco - too big to fail, too sprawling to deliver but too profit-hungry to serve us properly," Cat Hobbs, director of We Own It, said.

      The poll suggests the public's hostility towards private provision of public services varies depending on the sector.

      Only 28% of people believe it is appropriate for the private sector to be running prisons. Just 21% believe it is appropriate for them to be running emergency services like ambulances.

      On the electronic tagging of prisoners, the percentage of people comfortable with private sector involvement rises to 39%, although it is still lower than the 43% of people uncomfortable with private involvement.

      Trust in the public sector is much higher. Sixty-five per cent of people would be comfortable with public ownership of GP services, 66% with emergency services and 69% with non-emergency police services.

      Just 16% of people thought the relationship between government and outsourcing companies is about right, while 37% thought it was too close.

      Only 16% believed there was adequate regulation of private coompanies, compared to 59% who thought there was not.

      Asked what five words they would associate with Serco, the most popular terms were 'self-interested', 'unreliable', 'expensive', 'greedy' and 'unaccountable'.

      The least commons words were 'patriotic', 'old-fashioned', 'caring', 'honest' and 'innovative'.

      The poll shows that the public still have huge levels of support for public institutions. Trust for the NHS was at 79%, for the police at 65% and the armed forces at 79%.

      Only 21% trusted private outsourcing companies.

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    2. Jim, how come we have had no updates for 2 days.

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    3. To be honest guys I'm on my travels again and was without internet connection for a period. Don't panic!

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  23. After my TR training - with a very small t..I had the pleasure of the district staff conference...a prayer of thanksgiving - full of self congratulatory shite. It was gringeworthy - all those senior managers and a very nice but totally ineffective Trust Chair telling us we are all so wonderful, to have maintained quality service in the face of adversity; like we did it/do it for them...not bloody likely. I did not know whether to laugh or cry as one senior CRC exec expressed that he was bursting with excitement and joy - if only someone had told his face that, I may have received this as bordering on honesty. Oh and the thread throughout, 'we share the same DNA' - one ACO offering a rather bizarre personal account of her relationship with her twin sister - although they don't always agree, they share the same DNA - I was reaching for my sick bag, but realised I was not on a plane watching some B Movie, but in the middle row of a line of equally bemused colleagues in an expensive hotel, and this was the drivel my trust and management thought uplifting and motivational - Oh and that old chestnut - because we (the management) don't know what we're doing, we have given you all a post it note to put down what you want and expect from the future - read - 'see if you can steer us in some credible direction' - all I could muster was, 'ask me again post share sale'.

    This TR stuff is So deluded, So smug, So dangerous to the public, clients and a workforce, probably the most non financially motivated work force this country has ever seen, alongside those in the NHS and Education; and for what? To be stabbed in the face by those who suggest they democratically run the country.

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    1. Yes.Never heard so much meaningless drivel and simultaneously received so little information or sensible instruction about how we are supposed to put this crazy split system into meaningful practice. It wont work and no amount of bumbling flattery is going to change that fact.

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  24. our CRC information afternoon was awful, one poor girl fainted and this resulted in a 20 min break whilst the paramedics were called. Upon returning the ACO said he would have to cut to the end and acknowledged most people would probably be relieved!! Next we were asked to conjure up what the CRC meant for us - there were flip charts on the main wall with all the usual nauseating fake words such as 'camaraderie etc etc. The ACO then asked us all that if we believed in the 'buzz' words then we should sign the flipchart which had on it the signatures of the morning group. This flipchart would then act as a 'contract' The most patronising twaddle I've heard for such a long time. Oh i'd love to be able to walk out.

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