New support plan to improve jails
A new intensive support programme will help challenging jails to improve safety and rehabilitation, Prisons Minister Lucy Frazer announced today (28 February 2020).
The Prison Performance Support Programme (PPSP) replaces Special Measures, and will offer a significant package of tailored support managed from a dedicated operations room. Building on lessons learned from the 10 Prisons Project, a small number of chosen jails will be boosted by measures including additional staff, enhanced standards training and tough airport-style security, in order to bring stability.
Prisons and Probation Minister Lucy Frazer QC MP, said:
"We know that some prisons face deep-rooted issues that cannot be fixed overnight, which is why this programme will be vital to support and improve them. This co-ordinated, intensive support represents a step up in our response to the long-term challenges affecting certain jails. Allied to the £2.75 billion this government is investing to transform the estate, improve security and promote rehabilitation, this is another way in which we will drive up standards."
Six prisons - HMPs Pentonville, Wormwood Scrubs, Bedford, Bristol, Hewell and Feltham A - will initially receive this bespoke support, and have been chosen following a detailed assessment. The jails will benefit from additional funding to improve living and working conditions, and a Standards Coaching Team will develop staff confidence and skills – something that proved successful during the 10 Prisons Project.
PJ Butler, Governor at HMP Bedford, said:
"As the Governor of one our most challenging prisons, I appreciate the support being given to me and my team by the Prison Performance Support Programme. The investment in modern technology and additional resources will greatly help us to restrict the supply of drugs and other illicit items, which cause misery and harm. Our aim at Bedford is to return responsible citizens, not offenders, to their communities and the PPSP will help us to do this."
PPSP will use data to focus on reducing violence and self-harm with the aim of raising standards as quickly as possible. It will be overseen by an operations room team at Prison Service HQ, that will work closely with staff on the ground.
As the programme progresses, there will be continued analysis of other prisons across the estate, and support will be adapted accordingly. Depending on what is determined using the data and operational judgement, prisons will move in and out of PPSP according to greatest need.
The initiative will sit alongside the government’s £2.75 billion commitment to transform the prison estate with:
- £100 million to bolster prison security, clamping down on the weapons, drugs and mobile phones that fuel violence, self-harm and crime behind bars
- £2.5 billion to provide 10,000 additional prison places and create modern, efficient jails that rehabilitate offenders, reduce reoffending and keep the public safe
- £156 million to tackle the most pressing maintenance issues to create safe and decent conditions for offender rehabilitation
--oo00oo--
Interestingly, four days earlier the Howard League had announced its own initiative:-
Prisons should be places of justice, the Howard League for Penal Reform argues today (Monday 24 February) as it launches a new programme encouraging people to think differently about what happens behind bars.
As the most absolute expression of the criminal justice system, prisons should meet the very highest standards of justice. This is the central message in Justice does not stop at the prison gate, the first briefing to be published as part of the Howard League’s programme on justice and fairness in prisons.
The briefing explores how a fundamental shift in prisons would facilitate a sense of agency and responsibility among prisoners, making prisons safer and improving outcomes for everyone. Being sent to prison is the punishment ordered by a court; what then follows should be about justice and fairness.
The briefing explains why new approaches are needed. Currently, an everyday and structural unfairness is built into prison regimes and compounded by overuse, overcrowding and rising levels of violence. Unfair or unjust treatment generates resentment and anger, feeding a cycle of conflict and harm.
Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said:
“Prisons are the most absolute expression of the criminal justice system. If we must have them, they should meet the very highest standards of justice. A just and fair prison system recognises people as citizens who are going to return to the community. It acts with consistency, impartiality and respect. It is a system where conflict is resolved, and people are given the opportunity to turn their lives around. It recognises that punishment is imposed by the courts, and not by the prisons. The Howard League is exploring and advocating fresh approaches that would benefit everyone. Problems in prisons spill out into communities, so getting this right would have a ripple effect, making us safer and taking the country forward.”
Prisons are draconian in their use of punishment. More than 1,000 years of additional imprisonment were imposed on prisoners in 2018 – more than double the punishment handed down only four years previously. Further analysis of these figures will appear in the programme’s second briefing, to be published later this year.
The Howard League will investigate how moving away from punishment can reduce conflict and violence, improve safety and well-being, and better prepare people for release.
It will look at examples of good practice around procedural justice and restorative approaches in prisons, and how these can contribute to a more just system overall.
Prisons are draconian in their use of punishment. More than 1,000 years of additional imprisonment were imposed on prisoners in 2018 – more than double the punishment handed down only four years previously. Further analysis of these figures will appear in the programme’s second briefing, to be published later this year.
The Howard League will investigate how moving away from punishment can reduce conflict and violence, improve safety and well-being, and better prepare people for release.
It will look at examples of good practice around procedural justice and restorative approaches in prisons, and how these can contribute to a more just system overall.
The full briefing can be found here.
And whatever happened to Young Rory's prisons-improvement initiative post-Rory?
ReplyDeleteMoJ & HMPPS seem to have one overarching policy:
ReplyDeleteNinety-nine, change hands
Buckland's been out on the speech trail:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/iap-keeping-safe-conference-robert-buckland-speech
"From my understanding this conference is unprecedented – bringing together colleagues, practitioners, families, and ministers – not just to speak but to hear from you. I wish I could say that deaths in custody are isolated events but I can’t do that and I’ve come to see what we can do about it..."
While Buckland says "In the 12 months up to December 2019 there were 84 self-inflicted deaths in custody" he doesn't reveal the whole truth about the figures of deaths in custody:
* In the 12 months to December 2019, there were 300 deaths in prison custody, a decrease of 8% from 325 deaths the previous 12 months. Of these, 84 deaths were self-inflicted, a 9% decrease from the 92 self-inflicted deaths in the previous 12 months.
* Self-harm incidents reached a record high of 61,461 incidents in the 12 months to September 2019, up 16% from the previous 12 months.
* There were 33,222 assault incidents in the 12 months to September 2019
* There were 10,059 assaults on staff in the 12 months to September 2019
From: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/861732/safety-in-custody-q3-2019.pdf
Alas, there was not a single mention of Probation - not as a service, not as contributing members of staff. Not at all.
"ninety-eight, ninety-nine, change hands"
omic@hmpps @omichmpps1
DeleteNews and updates from the national HMPPS Offender Management in Custody (OMIC) team
Some of the entries on the OMIC twitter feed suggest that 'keyworkers' might be the new nomenclature for POs in prisons? And Buckland made several clearly defined references to Keyworkers and Prison Officers in his speech.
And Napo think what?
Replaces special measures? Guess it's not all about improving prisons then?
ReplyDeleteI can't help but feel that everything is geared towards identifying problems and collecting data, but there's nothing happening to resolve the problems being identified. Both prisons and probation just seem to spend endless hours punching in information on a computer, and whilst information and understanding has to be a good thing, it seems a little pointless if it dosen't ever lead anywhere.
HMP Berwyn was to be the shining light of the penal system (so Grayling told us), but it's been dogged with problems, scandals and controversy since it opened. It seems that things are only getting worse instead of better.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/top-judges-set-showdown-berwyn-17821444.amp
As an aside to today's blog and call me cynical if you like, but I think it's worth noting the locations of the prisons that's been identified for the introduction of this PPSP.
Many prisons have already been closed and sold off. Some in my opinion for peanuts compared to their potential real estate value.
This week alone, Wandsworths old club house, closed by the prison and gifted to the community, raised eyebrows at a planning application to create a hundred and something high end apartments from a private developer.
It couldn't be determined how the site was now owned by private investors, or when the community resource became private property instead of publically owned.
The same is happening everywhere. Not just with prisons but with vacated probation offices and courthouses. Some are historic beautiful buildings (particularly some court houses) and all sit in areas that can be considered prime real estate.
It's an invisible rip off, another way of feeding public money to the private corporations.
Could Pentonville and Scrubs be next? Maybe Feltham and Bedford providing delevopers the opportunity to cash in on the relatively short commute into the capital? There's a strait link between Bristol and London along the A4?
Cynical or conspiry theory, whatever, but publicly owned assets are being syphoned off, unnoticed to privateers.
https://www.egi.co.uk/news/prison-sell-off-creates-3bn-opportunity/
'Getafix
Sorry. Misinformation alert! Got my numbers mixed up.
Deletehttps://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mylondon.news/news/south-london-news/heres-how-you-could-live-17807013.amp
'Getafix
Pray you don't get transferred back to the Home Office:
ReplyDelete"The Home Office's top civil servant, Sir Philip Rutnam, has resigned and said he intends to sue the government for constructive dismissal after what he called a "vicious and orchestrated" campaign against him.
Here is his statement in full:
"I have this morning resigned as permanent secretary of the Home Office.
I take this decision with great regret after a career of 33 years.
I am making this statement now because I will be issuing a claim against the Home Office for constructive dismissal.
In the last 10 days, I have been the target of a vicious and orchestrated briefing campaign.
It has been alleged that I have briefed the media against the home secretary.
This - along with many other claims - is completely false.
The home secretary categorically denied any involvement in this campaign to the Cabinet Office.
I regret I do not believe her.
She has not made the efforts I would expect to dissociate herself from the comments.
Even despite this campaign I was willing to effect a reconciliation with the home secretary, as requested by the cabinet secretary on behalf of the prime minister.
But despite my efforts to engage with her, Priti Patel has made no effort to engage with me to discuss this.
I believe that these events give me very strong grounds to claim constructive, unfair dismissal - and I will be pursuing that claim in the courts.
My experience has been extreme but I consider that there is evidence that it is part of a wider pattern of behaviour.
One of my duties as permanent secretary was to protect the health, safety and well-being of our 35,000 people.
This created tension with the home secretary, and I have encouraged her to change her behaviours.
I have received allegations that her conduct has included shouting and swearing, belittling people, making unreasonable and repeated demands - behaviour that created fear and that needed some bravery to call out.
I know that resigning in this way will have very serious implications for me personally. The Cabinet Office offered me a financial settlement that would have avoided this outcome.
I am aware that there will continue to be briefing against me now I have made this decision, but I am hopeful that at least it may not now be directed to my colleagues or the department.
This has been a very difficult decision but I hope that my stand may help in maintaining the quality of government in our country, which includes hundreds of thousands of civil servants loyally dedicated to delivering this government's agenda.
I will make no further comment at this stage."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-51688261
I find this comment as sinister as the behaviour he ascribes to Priti Aunty:
Delete"The Cabinet Office offered me a financial settlement that would have avoided this outcome."
The Govt were prepared to buy this man's silence in order to protect, promote & maintain a bully. Hats off to Rutnam for refusing to be gagged with cash.
Email from a reader:-
DeleteWhile the media is exercised with the resignation of Sir Phillip Rutnam, primarily for its implications for Priti Patel, his speech to for me was most resonant in the mid-section:
“It was part of a wider pattern of behaviour (…) One of my duties as Permanent Secretary was to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of our (…) people. This created tensions with the Home Secretary, and I have encouraged her to change her behaviours. I have received allegations that her conduct has included shouting and swearing, belittling people, and making unreasonable and repeated demands. Behaviour that created fear and needed some bravery to call out.
I know that resigning in this way will have very serious implications for me personally"
Things are so bad that I find myself admiring and mourning the departure of two Tory Justice Ministers, Gauke and Stewart. Their politics are not mine, but they have shown integrity and conscience. Now I find myself similarly onside with the civil service head of a department which has not exactly distinguished itself in the causes of human rights and social justice. This speech says something about the culture of his department, and -I am extrapolating- that of the appalling Ministry of Justice.
There is a whole lot wrong with the civil service, like there is with the BBC, but let’s not get seduced into the idea of wrecking balls to our social fabric where some thorough leadership and reform would however tediously, be the thing to be done.
Let’s also consider a leader who took on the appalling minister of his department and called it out, with reference to the wellbeing of his staff. That must be cause for bitter reflection for Probation workers, betrayed by their leadership through TR, and even now, facing yet more catastrophic turmoil and marketisation of their profession. Culture of profit in the CRCs, culture of fear and bullying in the civil service NPS.
Where are our leaders?
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/home-secretary-at-the-apcc-and-npcc-partnership-summit
DeleteJust can't keep it in his pants.
ReplyDeleteBut its still all about the money, money, money...
"Earlier this month, a court heard that the prime minister and Ms Wheeler were preparing to end their marriage after reaching an agreement over money... And she [Symonds] had just appointed her own PR adviser, paid for from Conservative funds... She is now a senior adviser for US environmental campaign group Oceana, after quitting her role with the Tories in 2018."
Apparently Oceana "is committed to combating overfishing and restoring the world's fisheries... focuses on curbing or entirely eliminating the use of plastics, especially single use plastics... has led the way on exposing and advocating against seafood fraud... They also focus on promoting offshore wind farms and combating the use of offshore drilling and seismic airgun blasting."
Wonder how those policies sit with Boris's uber-rich chums around the globe?
The Sun says: "BORIS Johnson is thought to be the father of five children. Four of his kids are from his marriage to high-flying barrister Marina Wheeler and his fifth child is with a former mistress."
Delete