A Big Day For Probation

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I knew yesterday would be a big day for probation. It began with the joint inspectors report into the failings of TTG and ended with the File on Four BBC radio 4 programme on SFO's. Interestingly, Dame Glenys Stacey began and ended proceedings having been interviewed for the Today programme and featuring in the documentary. In between of course we had Liz Truss speaking at her party conference and not mentioning probation, or the rising death rate in our prisons, but announcing the intention to recruit army veterans for the prison service. 

Those with long memories might recall a previous Home Secretary who had a similar idea for putting 'a bit of discipline' into the probation service. It was just as ill-thought-out being essentially only useful as a soundbite for party and tabloid consumption. The new Justice Secretary seems to have forgotten that the new terms and conditions for prison officers might be part of the reason why recruitment may not be attractive for ex-squaddies.

I thought the File on Four programme was an extremely competent piece of work, covering as it did some very complex and sensitive issues around murders and SFO's. It's an utter disgrace though that the MoJ refused the BBC permission to interview the CRC's involved, a situation that cannot be allowed to continue in a democracy. Public services run by private companies must be held publicly to account and there must surely be some Parliamentary action on this front soon?

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This from the Guardian:-

Liz Truss to launch recruitment drive for ex-forces prison officers

An extra £14m is to be spent on 10 of the “most challenging” prisons and a campaign launched to recruit ex-armed forces staff as prison officers, the justice secretary is to announce. Liz Truss is to tell the Conservative party conference on Tuesday that the extra funds will be used to recruit more staff to combat drugs and violence behind bars. She is also to confirm that she will publish a new prison safety and reform plan “within weeks”, which will detail “the most far-reaching reforms of our prisons in a generation”.

The announcement comes as a critical report by the chief inspectors of prisons and probation says that the government’s “good intentions” in introducing the post-release supervision of 50,000 short-term prisoners by private probation companies “have not been realised”.

The justice secretary will say prisons must be places of safety for reform to happen: “We are going to make prisons work … Officers tell me their numbers are stretched too thin and without more frontline staff who are better deployed, they cannot deliver prisons that are places of safety and reform. They’ve told me this and I’ve listened.”

At the same time new working practices are to be rolled out across jails in England and Wales so that prison officers can spend more time supervising inmates and each officer will be supervising about six individual offenders. The 10 of the most challenging jails to receive the extra funding for more prison officers are Chelmsford, Eastwood Park, Exeter, Guys Marsh, Leeds, Liverpool, Moorland, Nottingham, Wayland and Winchester.

On the new drive to recruit ex-soldiers and other service personnel to work as frontline prison officers, Truss is to say: “Who better to instil the virtues of discipline? Who better to show what you can achieve in life with courage and integrity? They will help our prison officers lead the change. Safety on our street and safety in our jails – that is the policy of this government.”

The decision to press ahead with a prison reform and safety plan follows an appearance at the justice select committee when Truss seemed to cast doubt on the government’s commitment to the prison reform plans outlined by her predecessor, Michael Gove, in July. “Reform is the only way to break the cycle, to cut the cost to society and spare more people the misery of being a victim of crime,” she will say.

The Conservative party conference will also hear on Tuesday from the home secretary, Amber Rudd, who is to announce an extension to the unduly lenient sentence scheme to make sure that the public can challenge sentences in most terrorist cases if they believe an error has been made. Rudd will also unveil plans to take a “more aggressive approach” to the EU free movement rules on the deportation of convicted criminals to ensure that repeat minor offenders from other EU countries can be excluded from re-entering Britain for between five and 10 years rather than the current 12 months.

Meanwhile the chief inspector of probation, Dame Glenys Stacey, says in a report published on Tuesday that although the new service had been in place for almost a year at the time of the inspection, not a single prisoner – out of a sample of 86 cases – had been helped into a job on release. The report from her and the chief inspector of prisons also says that some of the promised new services proposed in the private probation companies’ contracts had not been implemented and there was little evidence of the anticipated innovation or creativity being delivered.

The report also says that support for prisoners leaving jail was poor. In some cases the risk they posed to others had not been recognised, which meant victims were not always protected, particularly in cases of domestic abuse. “The good intentions of the government’s Transforming Rehabilitation reforms, which meant to bring about a step change in rehabilitation by extending support from probation services to this large group of prisoners who previously received no supervision on release, have not yet been realised,” says the report.

Under the reforms introduced by Chris Grayling in February 2015 when he was justice secretary all prisoners sentenced to 12 months or less received 12 months’ supervision by the probation services on release. “This means that an extra 50,000 extra people are now supervised, an increase of around 25%. Reoffending rates are highest for those serving short prison sentences. Many have long records of convictions, complex needs and a history of not engaging with public services,” the report says.

Community rehabilitation companies are now responsible for their supervision, which is supposed to include helping prisoners to find accommodation, employment or training, treatment for substance misuse and help with managing their finances.

“Inspectors found that, overall, services were poor and there was little to commend. Too many prisoners reached their release date without their immediate resettlement needs having been met or even recognised. None of the prisoners in their sample (86 cases) had been helped into employment by Through the Gate services; too many prisoners were released without accommodation and not enough help was given to prisoners to resolve debts,” says the report.

Frances Crook, of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said the report showed the failure of the rehabilitation revolution was becoming increasingly clear: “Transforming Rehabilitation was supposed to turn lives around, reduce reoffending and make us all safer. It is doing precisely the opposite – failing to help people find homes and employment, failing to prevent people committing further offences and failing by exposing victims of crime to more danger,” she said.

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This from Rob Allen:- 

Where are we now on Prison Reform?

I couldn’t follow Liz Truss’s speech to the Tory Conference this morning as I was visiting a prison where I’m doing a piece of work. When I arrived there, I was told the Governors were all in a debrief after a death in custody- yet another wasted life to reinforce the urgency of what the new ministerial team at Justice have to do.

From time to time, Tory party conferences have signalled important changes in prison policy. In 1979 William Whitelaw assured the faithful that short sharp shock detention centres would “be no holiday camps”. In 1993 Michael Howard gave them his 27 point Prison Works package, (funds for which had only been secured hours earlier in a Blackpool hotel room showdown with Chief Secretary Michael Portillo). Last year, Michael Gove won his audience round to redemption by introducing a charismatic ex-offender who now works to rehabilitate others. What of Liz Truss today?

There will be a welcome dollop of cash to stem the wounds inflicted by an ill-judged benchmarking exercise, which has seen prison staff cut by a fifth since 2010 and the loss of many experienced officers on whom stability in prison often depends. Of course prisons can use 400 new boots on the landings but a sustainable future surely needs proper long term resourcing not midyear handouts squeezed from the Treasury.

Recruiting personnel with a military background looks like an effort to recreate the past rather than the modern service we’ve been promised. Indeed the policy offers more than a nod to UKIP’s 2015 manifesto guarantee of a job offer in the police, prisons or border force for anyone who has served in the Armed Forces for a minimum of 12 years. Unlike Howard, who illustrated his priorities by inviting a victim of a serious crime to address the 1993 conference or Gove with his ex-offender, Ms Truss at least resisted the temptation to surround herself with soldiers.

After mixed signals from the MoJ, prison reform is, it seems, back on. We will have to wait a few weeks for a plan with the promise of legislation in the New Year. These will announce a “vision for prison reform to 2020 and beyond” and “a blueprint for the biggest overhaul of our prisons in a generation”. But haven’t we had enough visions and blueprints? The White Paper will surely need to be a bit more – I think the civil service word is- granular. More plainly, what exactly will be done to solve the crisis in our prisons in the short, medium and long term?

Ms Truss used to favour contracting out all prisons to the private sector on a payment by results basis but today’s damning criticisms of Community Rehabilitation Companies by the Probation Inspectorate makes no case at all for further privatisation. But who knows? In a Through the Gate scheme that does work, one of the companies, Interserve, announced today they have recruited Ian Mulholland the former Director of Public Prisons. Mulholland is apparently looking forward to helping grow the business: “The CRCs are our foothold in justice, if we are seen as the best provider we will strengthen our chances of winning more business”. Setting aside the supposed limitations on that particular revolving door, perhaps he knows something we don’t?

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As Rob mentions, the march of the prison governor's continues and we have a strong indication from Interserve that they have ambitions of moving into the prison business, CRC's just being a bit of window dressing before the main event. Here's their press release:- 

Ian Mulholland joins Interserve

The former director of public sector prisons Ian Mulholland has joined Interserve as the company’s director of justice. Ian began his career as a prison officer 26 years ago before working his way up to the top prisons’ job at the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). Before he left to join the company, Ian had responsibility for 110 public prisons across England and Wales – representing 85 per cent of the prison population – and more than 37,000 staff; together with three immigration removal centres.

Ian said: 

“My role very clearly signifies that Interserve has a serious, long-term commitment to working in the justice sector. The company is dedicated to delivering public services in the justice arena and my job is to focus on our existing performance, especially around Interserve’s already excellent Community Rehabilitation Companies. I will be looking at what is working well, and also focusing on what is working less well in order to drive improvements. Through the Gate is one area of service delivery that plays a relatively small part of our overall business in terms of money, but has a significant reputational impact. I will be striving to ensure that our Through the Gate service is the best it can possibly be.”

Ian said he is looking forward to helping grow the business, and to supporting the Ministry of Justice’s aim of improving outcomes for offenders.

He added: “I worked for the public sector for 26 years and I feel in my heart a public servant. Moving from NOMS to Interserve is not a decision I have taken lightly, but I was convinced by the integrity and honesty of the company’s senior management, and about the firm’s very clear sense of values. During the course of my career I have had opportunities to join other organisations, but I always resisted because of my public service ethos. However, I am convinced that my outlook and behaviours do not have to change, because they are perfectly in sympathy with Interserve’s approach. The CRCs are our foothold in justice, if we are seen as the best provider we will strengthen our chances of winning more business. I am tremendously excited about the challenge and to build on the excellent start that Interserve has made in the justice sector.”