Chris Grayling is accused of 'murdering the probation service'
Colleagues and friends of a probation services officer who took her own life last month believe that government reforms to the service were a "contributing factor" to her death.
Sarah Kane, who became a probation services officer in 1999, died last month aged 49. Her self-written eulogy, read out at her funeral, accused the Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, of having "murdered the probation service" through his much-criticised reforms.
In the eulogy, a copy of which has been seen by The Independent on Sunday, Ms Kane wrote: "A trouble-making Sarah would have delighted in calling Chris Grayling a murderer, he's certainly murdered the probation service. But hey, let's face it, Chrisso will continue safe and sound in his ivory tower breaking stuff that didn't need fixing beyond repair. Shame some of that stuff was the probation service now left reeling from his incompetent bumbling."
I feel so mean with clients. I was duty officer and somebody rang to ask if their boyfriend could report late so he could go & sign on or whatever, I agreed, she then went on to introduce herself as the victim and so began a 30min phone call - I was the duty officer so the shutters came down - I do not have the time to listen to this - I curtailed the conversation; another person phoned that day - his sister was in custody and the family was struggling to visit due to the cost - again it was not one of my cases and again I cut him short - I simply don't have time to listen to these problems. don't get me wrong, I'm sympathetic to these people but I just don't have the time to get involved.
This is the reality of the overworked CRC - no time to properly speak to people and having to pick and choose who gets your time and who doesn't. It's absolutely disgraceful.
*****
Most nights after work I now meet a man (and some women) in the pub. It's the only way we get through the day!!!
Teesside only have two bidders; Sodexo and ARRC. Frying pan and fire spring to mind. I must say that some of the problems that my colleagues appear to be having are much worse than in Teesside (although that is bad enough). Whilst my caseload (and PSR's) are unmanageable, it's not by a great margin and I get to see my clients every week, albeit for 5 minutes in reception.
I've stopped asking if they have any problems as I don't have the time to help them. Maybe this is the new way of working in the CRC, just signpost everyone to someone who can signpost them to another. Eventually they will just give up asking for help, offend, get locked up and Sodexo can get some more money from the Government who can deduct the £80 Victim Surcharge from their Discharge Grant. In cloud cuckoo land, they can then be met at the gates by old lags who will take them to their fully furnished home, the landlords willing to accept benefits and rent of £50 pw.
It's all sorted chaps, just relax. Does anyone know what happened to the concept of old lags meeting them at the gate? Please don't tell me that we were misled over this too :(
*****
Does anybody know if/when we will be offered the EVR? I'm at an age where I'm more than willing to take the money and run. Fast!
*****
I feel the same, at this stage I'm even prepared to take a reduction, really struggling to cope and its effecting my health. As far as I can see they are so short staffed that they probably won't offer it. It seems to me that its one of those things that Grayling probably used to divert the Unions attention which they put their all into instead of concentrating on TR and now they aren't even offering it. More game playing and lies which they seem to be winning.
*****
All this and this is without the additional 50,000 serving under 12 months! If they were striving to push the probation Service into extinction-they are succeeding!
*****
All this makes me wonder why they introduced TR, maybe they don't want such excellent staff, and will employ unqualified staff at a third of the cost. That's until they start looking at quality.
*****
Prison management have long resented the fact that it takes a lot long to train a Probation Officer than a Prison Officer. Personally, I think that is like complaining that it takes lo get to train a vet than it does a zoo keeper.
*****
It's very interesting to read how different this mess is depending where you are. I'm sat here in the North East, a long standing PO, now in a CRC, with 28 cases!! My colleagues, numerous of us, are in the same boat. Hey I'm enjoying a hard earned rest and doing lots of 1:1 work with my clients but I am fully aware that redundancy is the only future likely to be coming my way.
My NPS colleagues locally are however in a different world. 70 -80 cases and PSR's, the most miserable bunch who are hanging on by fingernails and quite frankly, some ready to walk. I wouldn't work for the NPS here for a million quid! Perhaps some of them shouldn't have verbally lorded it over those of us in the CRC when the split came out.
I really don't have any sympathy anymore. We've been split less than 3 months and people who had lunch together can barely speak civilly to each other so Mr Grayling's assertion that we would all be sat together, able to discuss and action risk escalations etc etc in seconds is, as we all knew, just ridiculous. Risk management is now second to process and staff self preservation. What a disgrace!
*****
Telephone high risk cases once a fortnight. Are you having a giraffe? In National Standards it is supposed to be face to face contact weekly.
*****
I heard today that there are 18 vacancies for NPS staff. I have met a lot of people today and things are beyond shambolic in Manchester, this must be the only place in the Country that has more agency staff than permanent. People and systems have been broken down, no one knows what they are doing. It's a disgrace to see what Grayling and the managers have done to our service.
Rightly people are thinking why should we help out when we have been treated appallingly and it feels that no one is rushing to take these posts, and I don't blame them. CRC Officers are still holding all their NPS cases, and management are not even encouraging to transfer them. Its THE BIGGEST COCK UP EVER. Furthermore, the agency staff who are on XXX amount of pounds per hour and extortionate dinner allowances are not even suitably qualified/experienced to manage high risk cases. At this rate Manchester will be using up most of their next 5 years budget just to get them through these next few months. They will have to take some radical action to sort this terrible mess.
*****
In my area, although not sure if it impacts on all NE area, newly qualified PO's are being put on 3 month contracts and will, in due course be offered some work, we think. It might however, involve a relocation to another area of the (NPS NE). You really couldn't make it up...what a complete mess.
*****
I work at Bolton. The situation is worse than meltdown. It is hell on earth. Colleagues are off sick cause of pressure to make TR work. It’s a nightmare. Never seen anything like it before. In a space of four months our office has changed so much. And yet we have managers walking round in absolute denial. Staff morale is non-existent. No one is listening.
*****
I've also witnessed the risk escalation farce. It beggars belief in terms of time and resources. Who, with any sense what so ever, would think it's good risk management and public protection, to transfer a case, now believed to be at imminent risk of carrying out serious harm, to someone who has never met them and knows nothing about their behaviours? Again this was a transfer to a newly qualified officer. No disrespect but she wasn't keen either. Demoralising as a professional with over 20 years experience but hey, it wont be my SFO now. Sorry state of affairs.
******
The reality is that all this chaos, destruction, and mayhem has never been about public protection, risk management, reducing reconviction rates, or even extending services to those forgotten people that have only £46 in their pockets. It's ideology pure and simple, shedding state services as commodities to private industry. Everyone has been misled and lied to, to achieve this objective. Slight of hand and dishonesty has become the trademark of this government and even when they're caught out they're not taken to task over it.
******
I have also experienced the farce of risk escalation. It now takes all day to recall someone whose risk has escalated. That is if you can get a decision from the numerous managers it passes through. Noms was jumping up and down for the part B before it had even been transferred. The NPS officer then had to complete the part B on someone she did not have a clue about.
******
Due to lack of time available to NPS Court staff, our CRC was wrongly allocated a high risk case. This was noted by CRC, and NPS were advised and subsequently agreed their mistake. It still took over 2 weeks for the case to be taken back by NPS and this is without the escalation in risk process to contend with - this was a straight forward misallocation because the risk of harm had not been correctly noted in the first place. Mistakes are going to be made and the result is that members of the public will be seriously harmed as a result.
******
IN 30 years of working I have never encountered anything like the risk escalation tool. Really whoever designed this travesty of a process should be sacked. Mark my words, this will be implicated in SFOs very, very soon. The PI can sort of be followed, but then it all has to be uploaded onto deluis and I have never yet been on that and did not require assistance from IT Dept (soon to disappear). If CRC don't complete and upload correctly, NPS side can't be done and then if NPS side don't get it right CRC can't access it. It takes HOURS and is frustrating beyond belief. It is STUPID and NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE.
******
And this process would have previously taken.. oh, about ten minutes?!! Nothing is better than a joined up probation service. This is why I cant believe senior management rolled over so easily. This is all so much nonsense I still can't believe it. However I think it's mainly about quashing the probation officer qualification. This govt are very good at that - destroying professions and livelihoods. They think we should all be scraping in the dirt looking for crumbs while they fiddle expenses and drink champagne with our money. Absolutely criminal.
******
If the computers are not allowing us to work or slowing us down, why don't we revert to paper until the IT is sorted? Quickly NAPO could design a fast paper risk tool we could send each afternoon via recorded delivery and phone the next day to ensure it arrived. The IT is killing people at the moment. If NAPO backs this type of action we can speed up this crazy process and expose the NOMS bureaucracy for what it is. Most afternoons I sit at my frozen computer pulling my hair out.
*****
NPS and CRC probation colleagues buckling under the strain of systemic failure. Awful to witness.
******
Just took a break from the madness. Had to do my second recall this month, an offender AWOL. In the past, prior to TR, I would have just jumped in my car and gone round to his known associates and dropped the hint that as long as Joe (or indeed Jane) Bloggs called into the office or telephoned, then we could smooth things out. Now with umpteen PSR's on the go, trying to get into prisons, trying to catch OS, responding to emails and the increase in both caseload and workload, this is no longer possible. And we wonder why the prisons are getting full!!!
*******
******
I'm interested in knowing how many of the under 12 month custodial cases will actually end up in the CRC. So far, since TR in our area, the RSR tool is sending all our most prolific (and therefore most likely to get a short prison sentence), to NPS. Unfortunately the Integrated Offender Management Teams with the best resources and skills to deal with these people are in the CRC. They've started twiddling their thumbs while their cases are hemorrhaging across to already hard pressed NPS officers.
This is the reality of the overworked CRC - no time to properly speak to people and having to pick and choose who gets your time and who doesn't. It's absolutely disgraceful.
*****
Most nights after work I now meet a man (and some women) in the pub. It's the only way we get through the day!!!
Teesside only have two bidders; Sodexo and ARRC. Frying pan and fire spring to mind. I must say that some of the problems that my colleagues appear to be having are much worse than in Teesside (although that is bad enough). Whilst my caseload (and PSR's) are unmanageable, it's not by a great margin and I get to see my clients every week, albeit for 5 minutes in reception.
I've stopped asking if they have any problems as I don't have the time to help them. Maybe this is the new way of working in the CRC, just signpost everyone to someone who can signpost them to another. Eventually they will just give up asking for help, offend, get locked up and Sodexo can get some more money from the Government who can deduct the £80 Victim Surcharge from their Discharge Grant. In cloud cuckoo land, they can then be met at the gates by old lags who will take them to their fully furnished home, the landlords willing to accept benefits and rent of £50 pw.
It's all sorted chaps, just relax. Does anyone know what happened to the concept of old lags meeting them at the gate? Please don't tell me that we were misled over this too :(
*****
Does anybody know if/when we will be offered the EVR? I'm at an age where I'm more than willing to take the money and run. Fast!
*****
I feel the same, at this stage I'm even prepared to take a reduction, really struggling to cope and its effecting my health. As far as I can see they are so short staffed that they probably won't offer it. It seems to me that its one of those things that Grayling probably used to divert the Unions attention which they put their all into instead of concentrating on TR and now they aren't even offering it. More game playing and lies which they seem to be winning.
*****
All this and this is without the additional 50,000 serving under 12 months! If they were striving to push the probation Service into extinction-they are succeeding!
*****
All this makes me wonder why they introduced TR, maybe they don't want such excellent staff, and will employ unqualified staff at a third of the cost. That's until they start looking at quality.
*****
Prison management have long resented the fact that it takes a lot long to train a Probation Officer than a Prison Officer. Personally, I think that is like complaining that it takes lo get to train a vet than it does a zoo keeper.
*****
It's very interesting to read how different this mess is depending where you are. I'm sat here in the North East, a long standing PO, now in a CRC, with 28 cases!! My colleagues, numerous of us, are in the same boat. Hey I'm enjoying a hard earned rest and doing lots of 1:1 work with my clients but I am fully aware that redundancy is the only future likely to be coming my way.
My NPS colleagues locally are however in a different world. 70 -80 cases and PSR's, the most miserable bunch who are hanging on by fingernails and quite frankly, some ready to walk. I wouldn't work for the NPS here for a million quid! Perhaps some of them shouldn't have verbally lorded it over those of us in the CRC when the split came out.
I really don't have any sympathy anymore. We've been split less than 3 months and people who had lunch together can barely speak civilly to each other so Mr Grayling's assertion that we would all be sat together, able to discuss and action risk escalations etc etc in seconds is, as we all knew, just ridiculous. Risk management is now second to process and staff self preservation. What a disgrace!
*****
Telephone high risk cases once a fortnight. Are you having a giraffe? In National Standards it is supposed to be face to face contact weekly.
*****
I heard today that there are 18 vacancies for NPS staff. I have met a lot of people today and things are beyond shambolic in Manchester, this must be the only place in the Country that has more agency staff than permanent. People and systems have been broken down, no one knows what they are doing. It's a disgrace to see what Grayling and the managers have done to our service.
Rightly people are thinking why should we help out when we have been treated appallingly and it feels that no one is rushing to take these posts, and I don't blame them. CRC Officers are still holding all their NPS cases, and management are not even encouraging to transfer them. Its THE BIGGEST COCK UP EVER. Furthermore, the agency staff who are on XXX amount of pounds per hour and extortionate dinner allowances are not even suitably qualified/experienced to manage high risk cases. At this rate Manchester will be using up most of their next 5 years budget just to get them through these next few months. They will have to take some radical action to sort this terrible mess.
*****
In my area, although not sure if it impacts on all NE area, newly qualified PO's are being put on 3 month contracts and will, in due course be offered some work, we think. It might however, involve a relocation to another area of the (NPS NE). You really couldn't make it up...what a complete mess.
*****
I work at Bolton. The situation is worse than meltdown. It is hell on earth. Colleagues are off sick cause of pressure to make TR work. It’s a nightmare. Never seen anything like it before. In a space of four months our office has changed so much. And yet we have managers walking round in absolute denial. Staff morale is non-existent. No one is listening.
*****
I've also witnessed the risk escalation farce. It beggars belief in terms of time and resources. Who, with any sense what so ever, would think it's good risk management and public protection, to transfer a case, now believed to be at imminent risk of carrying out serious harm, to someone who has never met them and knows nothing about their behaviours? Again this was a transfer to a newly qualified officer. No disrespect but she wasn't keen either. Demoralising as a professional with over 20 years experience but hey, it wont be my SFO now. Sorry state of affairs.
******
The reality is that all this chaos, destruction, and mayhem has never been about public protection, risk management, reducing reconviction rates, or even extending services to those forgotten people that have only £46 in their pockets. It's ideology pure and simple, shedding state services as commodities to private industry. Everyone has been misled and lied to, to achieve this objective. Slight of hand and dishonesty has become the trademark of this government and even when they're caught out they're not taken to task over it.
******
I have also experienced the farce of risk escalation. It now takes all day to recall someone whose risk has escalated. That is if you can get a decision from the numerous managers it passes through. Noms was jumping up and down for the part B before it had even been transferred. The NPS officer then had to complete the part B on someone she did not have a clue about.
******
Due to lack of time available to NPS Court staff, our CRC was wrongly allocated a high risk case. This was noted by CRC, and NPS were advised and subsequently agreed their mistake. It still took over 2 weeks for the case to be taken back by NPS and this is without the escalation in risk process to contend with - this was a straight forward misallocation because the risk of harm had not been correctly noted in the first place. Mistakes are going to be made and the result is that members of the public will be seriously harmed as a result.
******
IN 30 years of working I have never encountered anything like the risk escalation tool. Really whoever designed this travesty of a process should be sacked. Mark my words, this will be implicated in SFOs very, very soon. The PI can sort of be followed, but then it all has to be uploaded onto deluis and I have never yet been on that and did not require assistance from IT Dept (soon to disappear). If CRC don't complete and upload correctly, NPS side can't be done and then if NPS side don't get it right CRC can't access it. It takes HOURS and is frustrating beyond belief. It is STUPID and NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE.
******
And this process would have previously taken.. oh, about ten minutes?!! Nothing is better than a joined up probation service. This is why I cant believe senior management rolled over so easily. This is all so much nonsense I still can't believe it. However I think it's mainly about quashing the probation officer qualification. This govt are very good at that - destroying professions and livelihoods. They think we should all be scraping in the dirt looking for crumbs while they fiddle expenses and drink champagne with our money. Absolutely criminal.
******
If the computers are not allowing us to work or slowing us down, why don't we revert to paper until the IT is sorted? Quickly NAPO could design a fast paper risk tool we could send each afternoon via recorded delivery and phone the next day to ensure it arrived. The IT is killing people at the moment. If NAPO backs this type of action we can speed up this crazy process and expose the NOMS bureaucracy for what it is. Most afternoons I sit at my frozen computer pulling my hair out.
*****
NPS and CRC probation colleagues buckling under the strain of systemic failure. Awful to witness.
******
CRC colleague told me the CRC staff have been threatened with capability procedures if they fail to hit the "targets". Makes me sad :(******
Just took a break from the madness. Had to do my second recall this month, an offender AWOL. In the past, prior to TR, I would have just jumped in my car and gone round to his known associates and dropped the hint that as long as Joe (or indeed Jane) Bloggs called into the office or telephoned, then we could smooth things out. Now with umpteen PSR's on the go, trying to get into prisons, trying to catch OS, responding to emails and the increase in both caseload and workload, this is no longer possible. And we wonder why the prisons are getting full!!!
*******
I've done the same but with breaches - two for sure due to not being able to get out of the office and the offenders living at least an hours round trip away.
******
Can't believe how much TR is costing. Service held together by agency staff. One in my office is on £900 per week!
******
Can't believe how much TR is costing. Service held together by agency staff. One in my office is on £900 per week!
******
We have 7 agency staff in my office alone. Including managers. Costing a fortune but I'm grateful they are keeping us afloat, just!******
I'm interested in knowing how many of the under 12 month custodial cases will actually end up in the CRC. So far, since TR in our area, the RSR tool is sending all our most prolific (and therefore most likely to get a short prison sentence), to NPS. Unfortunately the Integrated Offender Management Teams with the best resources and skills to deal with these people are in the CRC. They've started twiddling their thumbs while their cases are hemorrhaging across to already hard pressed NPS officers.
RIP Sarah Kane
ReplyDeleteA death of a colleague who said that TR was partly do blame and we have no comment from the MOJ. This says it all, but with blood on their hands they will continue regardless of the consequences for their staff with whom they have a duty of care. They need challenging in court and this omishambles needs to be stopped.
ReplyDeleteMore from the Indie article:
ReplyDelete"An industry blog, On Probation, has frequently published anonymous comments from officers complaining of stress in recent weeks. The man who runs the blog using the pseudonym Jim Brown said this weekend: "People are extremely depressed. They're off sick in droves. Some of these people are suicidal – they've said that on the blog comment and in emails."
Labour recently called for an inquiry into a preventable murder last month, after a man was wrongly assigned to the CRC, receiving less supervision than he would have done in the NPS.
Su McConnel, a senior officer from the Cornwall and Devon region, speaking as a member of the Napo probation union, told The IoS that she has taken months off with stress as she was so devastated that her team specialising in domestic violence and sex offenders would be broken up.
"They're having their jobs and careers trashed and I was trying to look after completely traumatised staff and it took its toll," she said.
Last night the shadow Justice Secretary, Sadiq Khan, called on David Cameron to halt the "half-baked" privatisation. He added: "The question Sarah Kane's colleagues will be asking is: could her death have been avoided? I am receiving regular reports on the enormous stresses and strains the Government's probation privatisation is causing to conscientious and professional staff.
"I can't believe the Justice Secretary and Ministry of Justice aren't receiving similar reports on a daily basis, of the exasperation of dedicated and experience probation staff at the growing mess the Government's reckless privatisation is causing."
The private sector is currently bidding to manage the 21 CRCs in a move that has upset the unions. A Napo spokeswoman said last night: "This privatisation would put inexperienced profiteers in charge of public protection and their interests would be about their shareholders and not the interests of local communities and the offenders themselves."
The MoJ declined to comment."
RIP Sarah.
ReplyDeleteWhat to do about colleagues whose health we are worried about as a result of TR? Inform management of concerns, but what else? Can unions help at all? Advice welcome please.
Death is the extreme result of somebody being unable to cope - what about everyone else at risk of stress-related strokes, heart attacks, mental health breakdowns? We desperately need a workload management tool NOW because these excessive workloads are as unsustainable. Ideally we also need to look at the staff ratios due to the glaringly obvious under/ooverver staffing because why should i have a caseload of 90 purely because management have got their sums wrong and without a WLMT how could I prove in a tribunal it was excessive?? RIP Sarah
ReplyDeleteAwful news. I can quite easily see how this can happen given the stress and pressure.
ReplyDeleteAnon 09:24 an idea is to goto your GP now and log the effects on your health. I have known GP's to write to employers stating their patient would be signed off if working conditions do not change
ReplyDeleteSorry if this seems trivial given recent posts, but is it true the share sale has been put back into 2015?
ReplyDelete"It remains the Authority's intention to award contracts before the end of 2014. To minimise any negotiation required at Preferred Bidder Stage, we are requiring Bidders to update their responses to reflect the updated assumption that share sale (i.e. the Completion Date referred to in the ITN) will take place on 1st February 2015 rather than 1st November 2014."
DeleteCrikey! Anymore slippage & they're knackered.
DeleteOn the issue of staffing costs - taking into account all of the add ons - agency staff cost less than full-time salaried staff - in many ways it is better economics to do it this way
ReplyDeleteNot really. You are calculating cost in terms of economical expenditure. There is the cost to service delivery. For example we had several agency workers who gave their weeks’ notice and left our office when they realised the work was getting too much or they felt that management were treating them unfairly. They simply picked their bags up and off they went.
DeleteGood on them in my view.
Let's get on to the risk escalation model....the CRC officer thinks risk has risen. What do they do? Do they see the person more often, amend the order/licence...discuss ways to manage the situation...all of which that very same officer might have been expected to do in the past. NO . What do they do? They implement a process, nothing to do with the service user, nothing to do with the issues underlying the risks such as MARAC , talking to police, talking to social services talking to senior managers, hostel staff housing managers...doing the job, whatever might be useful to manage or even reduce the risks. NO thee is a process to be implemented, a process of passing the buck to the NPS. What do the NPS do, anything up to 2 days after the situation that caused the concern has arisen? Exactly what should have happened in the first place, ie thinking about what needs to happen in order to manage the risks. Dangerous or what. Now please don't get me wrong, I am not inferring that CRC officers and their managers are complicit in passing the buck...they didn't create this ridiculous process. But this PROCESS is so fraught with delays, like transfers have always been, that it is designed to be dangerous.
ReplyDeleteNow I've got that out, I can express my profound sympathy for the friends and family of Sarah, and thanks to colleagues for plugging away at the INdependent. I would also agree with the person above who talked about all the hidden ailments that are being triggered by the stressors of this mess. Hey ho
“I am not inferring that CRC officers and their managers are complicit in passing the buck...they didn't create this ridiculous process.”
DeleteQuiet right they didn’t created it but neither did they speak up about it. In fact like Greater Manchester Trust management they actively sought to collude with it. Even to an extent wer they wer having personalised video conferences with the fucking Grayling.
“…share sale will take place on 1st February 2015 rather than 1st November 2014."
ReplyDeleteWell, well, well, what can we say? Whatever happened to the likes of ‘here comes Geri’ from Lancashire. Disgraceful and utter shambles and the CRC lead managers like Geri were all for it. If you have a question call ‘Geri’. That was the motto, being used. I think I have a few questions to ask now.
not from your area, but this sounds just typical of the ladybird book of chiefdom behaviour adopted by senior managers. They traded (ie earnt their salaries) on your work and loyalty for ages. Shed the habit of giving a xxxx about their expectations, opinions, concerns. The cooperative system is now officially defunct.
Delete'share sale on 1st Feb. As a numpty I don't understand the implications of this can anyone spell it out for me (sorry i'm dim)
ReplyDeleteam I correct in thinking we'll still know who the winners are by November but contracts wont get signed until 1st Feb? If so when will we start working for the new employer? Thanks
I don't think anyone knows for definite when the successful bidders will be announced because dates keep slipping - this is an 'omnishambles' after all - but at least one CRC CEO has said contracts will be signed on 21st December 2014 with share sale - ie effective start date of new employers - 1st February 2015.
DeleteBear in mind it's also far from certain that the sale of all CRC's will go ahead if the bids turn out to be crap.
I am very sad to hear about a loss of a colleague. I can’t the words to express myself and how I feel at this time. RIP Sarah Kane
ReplyDeletehttp://news.sky.com/story/1320166/murder-suspect-released-from-prison-by-mistake
ReplyDeleteAn inquiry is under way after a man awaiting trial for murder was released from jail by mistake, despite protesting to prison officers that he was supposed to be on his way to court.
DeleteMartynas Kupstysj, 25, was waiting in line at Lincoln prison when prison staff handed over his belongings and informed him he was a free man. Despite telling them that he was due in court with other inmates he was escorted outside and told he could leave.
A confused Mr Kupstysj spent the next few hours wandering around Lincoln city centre while prison officers who realised their mistake launched a frantic search for him.
Prison staff eventually spotted the inmate waiting at a bus stop outside the prison and he was taken back into custody.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson confirmed the prisoner had been freed by mistake. "A prisoner from Lincoln was released in error on 8 August. The police were notified immediately and he was arrested within hours. An investigation by a senior governor has been launched," she said.
"We take public protection extremely seriously and this type of incident is a very rare but regrettable occurrence." HMP Lincoln governor Peter Wright told the Lincolnshire Echo the mix-up was "a very grave matter". "An independent investigation has been launched by the prison service," he said. "This should not happen. I've made dramatic changes already. It was a fundamental breach of what we are here to do."
Lithuanian Mr Kupstysj is charged, along with his brother-in-law Andrus Giedraitis, with the murder of 24-year-old Latvian Ivans Zdanovics, whose body was found following a fire at his Lincolnshire home in January. Mr Kupstysj's wife Sandra Giedraityte, 28, is charged with perverting the course of justice.
The men will now face a retrial early next year.
Off topic but an interesting interview with Grayling.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/11037305/.html
As a politician, and even more so as a member of the Government, you get used to being at the sharp end of various campaigns. A few years ago, as employment minister, I was making every effort to find ways of helping young people find permanent jobs. Though perhaps not very imaginatively named, the Work Experience Scheme was about letting unemployed youngsters do some unpaid work, thereby gaining new skills without losing their benefits.
DeleteFor some, this idea – which turned out to be a great success, helping thousands into work – was total anathema. The groups that were most vocal in their criticism, such as UK Uncut and the Socialist Workers Party, were hardly like to be supportive of any minister, let alone a Conservative one. But more troublesome are the campaigns that hide behind a veneer of neutral non-partisanship.
The masters of this are 38 Degrees – in name, a forum for people to start their own campaigns, but in reality, an anti-Government pressure group. As with much of the Left’s campaigns and propaganda, the aim is often to portray the Government in a very different light to the actual reality. Last month, for example, I was walking from the Tube to a Cabinet meeting when I was accosted by a swarm of campaigners demanding a change to our plans – due to be debated in that very meeting – to kill off the bee population, via the continued use of certain agricultural chemicals. Later, I found urgent messages in my inbox from estimable beekeepers in my own constituency, urging me not to take the wrong decision. They had been rallied by 38 Degrees to take immediate action. The only problem was that such a discussion, let alone a decision, wasn’t even on our agenda.
Britain’s professional campaigners are growing in number: sending emails around the country, flocking around Westminster, dominating BBC programmes, and usually articulating a Left-wing vision which is neither affordable nor deliverable – and wholly at odds with the long-term economic plan this Government has worked so hard to put in place.
An extraordinary number, moreover, are drawn from the ranks of the Labour Party. If you read through the CVs of its candidates in 2015, a substantial proportion have worked for pressure groups and as trade union campaigners. It’s now the career route of choice: they can use that platform to attack this Government and make their name, lining up alongside former special advisers, MPs and councillors to argue for more spending, or to spread scare stories that are often exaggerated or wholly untrue.
These are people who still do not accept either that the last Government was responsible for the dire economic situation we inherited, or that Labour’s spending plans would mean more borrowing, higher taxes and a level of debt that even our children could never hope to see paid off. And the issues they latch onto are usually about spending more of your money – or undermining the crucial work we are doing to turn the country round. Like their persistent campaigns to reverse our vital welfare reforms – reforms that have seen a massive drop in the number of households dependent on benefits, with all the positives that brings for them and for society.
DeleteTo give just one example, I am currently introducing a fixed bedtime for teenagers in Youth Offender Institutions, alongside a doubling of the amount of time they spend in education. Most people would think that is common sense. But one of the most prominent Labour-supporting pressure group leaders, Frances Crook of the Howard League for Penal Reform, has called this a “death sentence” for young offenders.
Britain is starting to recover after hard economic times. The Government is toughening up justice, but improving rehabilitation. Welfare reforms are transforming society; education reforms are pushing up standards; and 1.8 million more people have the security of a job. We have guaranteed an In-Out referendum on the EU if we form the next government.
We have a big challenge ahead if we are to win the next election. But we must remember what we are trying to beat. It’s not just about preventing a return to the days of tax, spend and borrowing. It’s about resisting a mentality that would do real damage to our country. It’s one held by the kind of people Ed Miliband has shown time and again he can’t stand up to, whose demands you’d end up footing the bill for. These are the people trying their best to get him into Downing Street. We must not let them succeed.
Chris Grayling is a liar and hypocrite who cheated the tax payer with his own expense claims. He has lied about the reasons for 'Transforming Rehabilitation'. He does not give a toss about the effect his policies are having on the hard working staff who have to implement his warped agenda. He has caused trouble wherever he has worked and the sooner he is kicked out of office the better for the rest of us. A thoroughly dishonest man who may actually believe his own nonsense rhetoric. I get energy from reading his article to oppose him all the harder!
ReplyDeleteIf he was kicked out, would he get the £46 discharge grant?
DeleteCommunity has been killed since the end of the War(1945) we have been atomised and subject to endless propaganda about the benefits of the market. Locked away in front of the TV we have to a large degree accepted the tosh pumped into our living rooms. 38 Degrees via its networking brings back community and the ability to organise, this is what scares Grayling and his Tory masters. We now have the ability to resist; this is what Jim is doing and we are helping him do it.
ReplyDeletepapa
There was a brief moment at the Labour conference last year, when Ed M said "Britain is better than this" ... when I suddenly sat up. Ed M went on to dissapoint, so compromised by whatever it is that compromises these decent people... but it sowed a seed in me, because we ARE as a nation, better than this. We are so ravenous for a political discussion where the parameters are philosophical, ethical, moral.
DeleteSomeone said to me the other day that we(society as a whole) have the Government we deserve. With every thing that is going on in our communities and the wider world, I think perhaps they were right. Be it Conservative, Labour, Lib Dems or a combination, they were voted in or out. They are all liars who move from one cabinet position to another on a whim without actually having any understanding or knowledge of the issues.
DeleteHe makes me physically sick. He has absolutely no idea the damage he is causing and already caused.
ReplyDeleteSpent the weekend over the wall in Scotland. Political? Briwwiant! The Borders populus I met are polarised yet neighbourly, their arguments are excellent on both sides - they aren't swayed by 'celebrity'; both sides think Westminster stinks; it was a real joy. Dumfries & Galloway folk are similarly educated, engaged and enthusiastic. It makes the partisan bullshit we're used to seem as lame as it actually is.
ReplyDeleteWe beliw the wall are in the thrall of spindoctors, of "trendmongers" (again, who remembers Zappa's "Gregory Peccary"?) and plain & simple LIARS.
The sad news of a colleague taking her life is devastating and my heart goes out to her friends, family and colleagues left behind to manage their loss. That she took the time to reference the current destruction of a service she obviously believed in and felt passionately about in her self written eulogy is testimony to the impact of the TR agenda. If that doesn't reverberate around parliament I don't know what will.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the earlier comment about a workload management tool, the best tool is the line manager, the employer, their relationship and the organisational culture. Sadly we have employers willing to neglect their duties and employee care arrangements. TR has irretrievably destroyed working relationships.
I think the comments of anon 19:26 & anon 20:14 (and all other anon's who have made similar arguments) clarify how many in probation are feeling:
ReplyDelete1. feeling grief stricken
2. feeling bereft
3. feeling cheated
4. feeling lied to
5. feeling abused
6. feeling abandoned
7. feeling screwed over
8. feeling shafted
9. feeling scared
10. feeling feelings you never had before and are worried why...
I'm sorry that no-one was able to interrupt her musings & take Sarah Kane fishing. I'm sorry that Sarah Kane felt she had no other options. I understand how those close to Sarah Kane could be feeling. I have lost a very close friend & mentor & and have been very close to completing a similar choice for myself. Grayling's policies, arrogance and dishonesty were contributory factors to how I felt.
Can anyone explain why a crc probation officer has to go through a laborious and stressful process to apply for a job in the nps. When our colleagues did not prior to June. Why was we led to believe there would be free movement up to share sale.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with you, WHY DO I HAVE TO APPLY FOR MY JOB BACK. Management in Manchester are arseholes, telling us there are vacancies then asking us to apply for them. When they fucked up the numbers in the first place, IT WAS THEIR MISTAKE. Also I didn't see those automatically allocated to NPS apply for jobs. IT FUCKING STINKS.
DeleteSo sad to hear the news of the loss of our colleague and that this bullshit TR contributed to her death. BASTARD GRAYLING YOU SHOULD BE HELD TO ACCOUNT. I am so pissed off, this should not have happened.
My understanding is that if CRC move to NPS continuous service will not be upheld, affecting pension, annual leave and pay etc, technically you could be put on a probationary period which could affect mortgage applications etc.
Deletethat is correct after share sale....we are not there yet...
DeleteLast week I covered late night duty at my office. One of the duty office visits was a man who was released on licence just over a year ago. His offence was one of the most serious and he has had to change his name to avoid any reprisals. He has been supervised at another office at a tier 3, he hasn't'tbeen seen regularly since last November or at all since March - despite making repeated phone calls asking for appointments. His officer is on long term sick and the rest of his team have been too busy to cover it. He hasn't completed any offending behaviour work to date. My colleague saw another man with an almost identical story and had to break the news that he can't keep having his son for overnight stays until approved by social services - we don't know why this wasn't't done previously as there are no contact sheets since January. Staff in our office are on their knees, people are going off sick. We just have to hope that there won't be anymore deaths due to TR, be it from offenders or one of our colleagues. RIP Sarah Kane
ReplyDeletewhistle blow this story it is dynamite at this time
DeleteAnonymous17 August 2014 20:56 – the example you highlight is replicated up & down the country. It is a very sad situation that colleagues are overwhelmed with work & working in absolute chaos whilst managers turn a blind eye.
ReplyDeleteShame on those that are willing to make money out of our misery. The sessional psr writer could/would not even ask me about a case I had managed for 6 months, Perhaps it's beneath her to consult with crc staff.
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