Most TV programmes that feature prison are deeply depressing and the first episode of Ch4's Crime and Punishment is no exception. Two years in the making and billed as highlighting the work of all parts of the criminal justice journey, last night's offering that focused on the iniquities of Imprisonment for Public Protection sentences amply demonstrates the folly of politicians using crime as a way to win votes. Quite ironic really as we are already hearing Boris Johnson doing exactly the same thing as a key plank of his current election campaign.
Right from the beginning when brought in by Tony Blair and his dreadful Home Secretary David Blunkett, everyone involved knew that IPP was likely to be a disaster and so it turned out to be with politicians and judges blaming each other to this day for the ongoing disaster so painfully evidenced by the documentary makers. It's such a clear message that no wonder they chose this aspect of the criminal justice system for the first hard-hitting episode.
Although quite sensibly abolished by Ken Clarke in 2012 and despite sterling efforts by the Parole Board to progress release of those who are many years over tariff, the IPP agony still has many years to run with hundreds of men cruelly trapped in a system that is simply not resourced or designed to deal with. It's bad enough to hear the frequent refrain from a prisoner that they're 'on their fourth probation officer and only met their current one via video link', but it's a professional disgrace to hear that the officer has been refused permission to attend the Parole Board hearing because of cost. In such circumstances and particularly with so obviously psychologically damaged individuals, how on earth can it be expected to do any meaningful work, yet alone treat the prisoner with any degree of respect and earn their trust?
Of particular concern highlighted last night is the prevalence of serious self-harming by prisoners who feel trapped in a system with no obvious way out and hence this extreme exercising of control in order to gain attention and engagement with a frankly bureaucratic and managerial approach by many. In fact precisely the command and control aspect of HMPPS that is currently being highlighted as a reason why probation must break free of these civil service shackles if it is to survive as a worthwhile endeavour at all.
It was particularly interesting to note the very strong and independent words of the Duty Governor in over-ruling the views of the health professionals regarding a proposed transfer out of the medical wing and his criticism of the recommendations by a 'remote' management - "sending two people to a meeting with a script is not helpful". It struck me forcefully that it was only really the Governor who displayed genuine concern for the prisoner and what might be the best and most pragmatic way of dealing with a very difficult issue. What should be noteworthy is that a Governor is largely independent, autonomous, experienced and not hidebound by bureaucracy, indeed just like probation used to be.
From the Daily Telegraph:-
ReplyDeleteRehabilitation of criminals is a “fantasy” as the prison system cannot be expected to undo a lifetime of troubles in a few months, a leading official has said.
James Bourke, the governor of HMP Winchester, said Britain’s prisons may work in scaring white, middle class people, but for others they can simply become a “place of refuge”.
He suggested the main purpose of custodial sentences should be punishment - because no other form of sentence seemed to have an effect on offenders. Speaking at the launch of a new Channel 4 documentary series, Crime and Punishment, Mr Bourke recalled having to regular thwart bids for day release while working at lower security prisons. This included one inmate jailed for death by dangerous driving who requested to go home for Christmas - but lived several doors down from the grieving family of the man he ran over.
He told an audience in central London: "People quite understandably want to see people punished if they have caused harm in their lives. Unfortunately, everything else we have tried so far has not worked. Imprisonment works in the sense it does punish people. They arrive with me after years of (problems) with their family, their education, their social services system, their healthcare for a sentence of four or five weeks and I'm going to rehabilitate them? It's a fantasy."
Prisons across the country have been plunged into crisis in recent years as officer numbers drop and the wings are flooded with destructive substances such as Spice. HMP Winchester faced criticism last month after The Daily Telegraph published video of inmates causing chaos after digging their way through crumbling cells walls.
Mr Bourke continued: "I think the reality of prison is that it is designed by nice, white middle-class people and it works for nice, middle-class people. For any one of us in this room to go to prison would be a disaster, but what we have created is a group of people, a section of our community, who go to prisons and it is not a personal disaster - in fact it becomes a place of refuge for them."
He claimed the rising cost of housing and higher education risked leaving behind swathes of the population to whom the prospect of prison offered stability, rather than punishment.
His views on the state of the modern prison system were echoed by a senior Scotland Yard officer, who said jails were at risk of becoming modern-day “asylums”.
Rob Beckley, who is in charge of the Metropolitan Police’s investigation into the Hillsborough disaster, suggested a lack of frontline mental health care left the police and prison to pick up the pieces.
He said: "There is something about the asylums that existed when I was a PC don't exist any longer, but to a certain extent I feel they have been changed for prisons. That is where the health policy and what we are actually doing with people who are not well in the community I think is a big area where the police are ending up picking up the symptoms and passing it to the criminal justice system and not managing the process."
The chief inspector of prisons, Peter Clarke, agreed it was “absolutely right” to say that managing a jail had become like managing a “mental health institution”. He added: “In recent inspections I can think of prisons 40, 50 or more percent of prisoners arriving in the prison are presented with one form or other of mental illness.
“It is a huge problem. What it’s indicative of, very often, is simply that there are insufficient resources to provide a proper therapeutic response whether in prison or outside of prison. I’m quite clear there are a huge number of people inside prison who simply should not be there.”
Quite a revelation by Philip Lee reported in today's Guardian.
ReplyDeleteIt's just shameful he didn't have the balls to speak out whilst still a Tory MP.
https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/17/tories-knew-probation-service-was-a-mess-chris-grayling-says-ex-minister-phillip-lee?amp_js_v=a2&_gsa=1#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2019%2Fsep%2F17%2Ftories-knew-probation-service-was-a-mess-chris-grayling-says-ex-minister-phillip-lee
'Getafix
The former justice secretary Chris Grayling was warned repeatedly by members of the Tory party not to part-privatise the probation service, according to an ex-minister.
DeletePhillip Lee, who quit to join the Liberal Democrats earlier this month, has revealed that during his two years in the justice department there were “deep concerns about that policy” from within the party itself.
The probation service was part-privatised in 2014 under Grayling, the then secretary of state. It cost £500m and involved lower- and mid-risk offenders being supervised by 21 private companies.
After a series of failings from providers, including a sharp rise in offenders being recalled to prison for breaching their licence terms, the government decided to end the contracts early and received significant criticism from the National Audit Office.
Lee quit the government over Theresa May’s Brexit policy in 2018 after serving as a justice minister since 2016. He issued his criticism while speaking at his first Lib Dem party conference in Bournemouth at a fringe event on vulnerability in the justice system. He told party members that the Tory government “knew internally that [the system] was a mess”.
He said: “There were some market-sensitive issues because obviously they were private companies. What frustrated those of us on the liberal side of the Conservative party was the person who was responsible for introducing the original policy was told repeatedly not to do it.”
Grayling was at the helm of the department between 2012 and 2015. The quality of probation and the performance were regularly raised by people from within the Ministry of Justice and within the Tory party, Lee told the conference.
He said: “In fact, internally within the Conservative party, there were deep concerns about that policy.”
Lee’s frank appraisal of justice policies developed by the party under Grayling’s leadership also involved concerns about the relationships with lobbying groups for women and victims, which he described as “pretty awful” when he first joined the ministry.
“I spent most of my time in the first, six, nine to 12 months trying to get that relationship into a better position,” said Lee, adding that the department was a revolving door of ministers and not often viewed as a department for which politicians craved to work.
Support for certain policy ideas or reform wavered also among his Tory colleagues, he said, adding how “[I] often found myself at the despatch box, looking forward, getting more support than I did from behind me in my time at the justice department”.
One of those policies included trying to pass reforms on prisoners on temporary licence being able to vote, which he said had more support from opposition parties than among Conservatives.
He said he and the then justice secretary David Lidington had believed “we could have gone for it. We had parliament behind us,” but not the full support of the party.
Lee said it was striking that of the Tories who no longer have the whip, four are former justice ministers.
The Liberal Democrats could and should have stopped it but for reasons I cannot understand their ministers carried the policy through even introducing the Offender Rehabilitaion Bill to Parliament and their payroll members were whipped to vote it through and I think all did apart from the bloke from Cambridge whose name I forget.
DeleteEven the payrol knighted Bob Russell who I personally used holday from work time to work very hard on his inital election campaign lacked the integrity to vote against - I had known him personally since 1983 - the last time I saw him on a train - I did not risk speaking to him - his very name causes me to become uncontrollably angry.
They are utterly despicable and the so called Justice Committee members are no better as they play at questioning but rarely take real action.
Thanks for the write up of the programme Jim Brown - I think overall it was better for my health that I did not watch it.
It was Julian Huppert from Cambridge who voted agains the LibDem whip regarding probation on at least one occasion.
Delete"What frustrated those of us on the liberal side of the Conservative party was the person who was responsible for introducing the original policy was told repeatedly not to do it.”
ReplyDeleteWell hey, whaddya know? Mr Phillip Lee, what frustrated many more people - including experienced, highly qualified criminal justice professional practitioners - was the fact that very handsomely paid elected representatives and public servants said ABSOLUTELY FUCK ALL & as such allowed "the person responsible for introducing the original policy" to expedite the unmitigated disaster that is TR.
You can't whine like an over-priveleged baby throwing toys out of the Silver Cross *after the fact* when you did and said FUCK ALL to prevent it happening.
You and however many others - including the LibDems, as highlighted by Andrew - followed your own party-political career instincts & facilitated the shitstorm that was the part-privatisation of probation services; as opposed to acting for the benefit of the electorate.