*****
How are things going? Inference from the silences & the few tales of woe emerging, it's as shit as ever, if not ever more shittier. Staff having the piss taken out of them & 'excellent leaders' failing to lead anything or anyone anywhere - except down the garden path. But they do have a million new recruits.
*****
Unison taking pay deduction matters forward and possibly to law. Doing the calculations for members lost pay and re-engaged conditions. Napo running a less than probable view of what is to come. A vanity skit for the blowhards that will do nothing for our pay. When are Napo to collapse so we can unify to alternate do something real opposition.
*****
I agree. I would welcome the collapse of NAPO, not out of vindictiveness but because it is a "Sweetheart Union". In my view this type of Union sucks up resources and energy that should be properly put towards opposing the relentless Management attacks on working conditions, pay and the physical and mental wellbeing of the frontline workers. Probation badly needs principled opposition to this nonsense and NAPO does very little. The outcome is that experienced people are leaving Probation, which admittedly will have over a thousand new Probation Officers very soon...what worries me is what will happen to this new cohort of a thousand inexperienced Officers? How will they be able to deal with picking up very serious risk of harm cases far too early on in their new careers. Silence or near silence as ever from NAPO.
*****
I think [above] is right to be concerned. The new raw first generation civil service PO cohort will have to do as required. The Napo contribution is now surely out of date out of touch and not in any way able to negotiate terms they have already traded away for 5 beans. [above] forecasts the prospects of a thousand recruits and that is right, who is going to support them? We need a real union with real clout. Intention and power to act, not a mealy mouthpiece in the form of the door mouse. Napo has long since had it best days.
*****
The millions of new staff will be just fine. They'll have had excellent training overseen by the excellent leaders. The shit work of the past will be eclipsed by the excellence of the new. Nothing will be the same again! The work of the new NPS will put the past to shame. Or... It will be a fucking shitshow. Whaddya reckon?
--oo00oo--
What has happened to this blog? I keep hoping a thread will yield a discussion but all I see is disjointed crap. Can we all make the effort - the effort to contribute to support the blogs independence and external voice. Can we get on topic; can we make this blog lovely again please. It was so informative and a help. What's the matter with us, re we all surrendered?
- Nearly all the independent-thinking CQSW-trained officers have been seen off
- Centralised civil service command and control has been established
- Napo have been mesmerised, cowed and plain shit-scared by civil service control
- Automated recruitment process only accepts conformist functionaries
- Staff no longer willing or able to contribute through fear, disinterest or dissonance
- Unhelpful, misguided and deliberately disruptive contributions
- Ending of unmoderated contributions
- Lack of free-flowing, on topic and erudite contributions
- Increasing lack of motivation by blog owner
I'll end by passing comment on the recent brilliant BBC prison-based drama 'Time' which not only drew record-breaking audiences, but the hope of prison reformers that its graphic and realistic portrayal of prison conditions might generate some public concern and discussion. Probation never got a fucking mention with the author deciding instead to give the star role to the chaplaincy.
Probation, as some of us once knew it as a vital and useful public service, is all but finished, but this platform will remain both as an audit trail and to prevent its record and ethos being completely air-brushed from history. If you are a dissident, a confused newbie, or just want to be part of recording an alternative truth, you've still got a chance on this blog.
"Probation never got a fucking mention with the author deciding instead to give the star role to the chaplaincy."
ReplyDeleteMaybe, just maybe, not mentioning probation might be something to be grateful for?
What would the realistic image portrayed to, and absorbed by the general public have been?
I feel probation has been steered (and steered itself) into such a bad place within the CJS, that any portrayal of the service on national TV deserves to be done by way of documentary rather then dramatisation.
Prisons are being opened up for documentaries, and courts cases and even parole hearings are to screened on TV. Why not probation too? It's charged with supervising nearly half a million offenders after all.
Why not let the public see what's really going on?
https://www-dailymail-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9704689/amp/How-BBC-prison-drama-Time-helped-make-Governments-case-planned-crackdown-jails.html?amp_js_v=a6&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQHKAFQArABIA%3D%3D#aoh=16241658348176&_ct=1624165836387&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-9704689%2FHow-BBC-prison-drama-Time-helped-make-Governments-case-planned-crackdown-jails.html
'Getafix
Well 'Getafix I'm going to disagree! Drama is the only way the true probation story can be told because there's absolutely no way the MoJ will allow a fly-on-the-wall documentary about probation. And as for the Daily Mail piece - it's bollocks and typical of the rag spinning it's own right-wing crap in the hope of influencing a shit Tory government:-
DeleteGritty prison drama Time has helped to make the Government's case for a planned crackdown in jails, justice officials believe.
The ground-breaking drama depicts the stark reality of a prisoner's struggle to cope in a jail riddled with gangs and violence.
Sean Bean stars as school teacher Mark Cobden, a drink-drive killer thrown into a world of prison corruption and relentless violence. The drama has been hailed for its portrayal of prison life. Its final episode airs on BBC1 tonight. Now Government officials believe the portrayal will bolster their plans for a tougher regime in jails.
The crackdown will see offenders spend more time in their cells, after male inmates said they felt safer under tougher Covid-19 curbs. Prisoners revealed they preferred to spend more time locked up, resulting in violent incidents falling by 34 per cent in the past year.
The Government also plans to end 'unstructured associations' – letting prisoners mingle in communal areas for much of the day – in men's prisons after the fall in violence. Offenders will still be allowed out of their cells to work, or for education and exercise.
On the Mails article I hold the same view Jim, it's a spin to please its own readership. It's a horrible paper.
DeleteHowever, the POA have been quite vocal about the 'positive' changes that they've witnessed in prisons as a consequence of changed regimes due to Covid.
I feel pretty sure that the prison regimes pre pandemic are gone for good.
https://insidetime.org/prison-service-launches-review-of-post-covid-regimes/
'Getafix
The Prison Service has launched a review which could lead to major changes in the way prisoners spend their days.
DeleteIt is looking at possible reforms to the “regime” (https://insidetime.org/whiteboard-rules/) the amount of time people in prison spend in work, education, behaviour programmes, mixing with other prisoners, or locked in their cells.
The review will seek to establish whether any of the changes to the way prisons are run which have been introduced as temporary responses to the threat of Covid-19 should be made permanent. It follows findings that the restrictions, including locking prisoners in their cells for up to 23 hours a day, have led to a drop in violence across the board, and a drop in self-harm in male jails.
Ministers, Prison Service chiefs, the Prison Governors’ Association and the prison officers’ trade union, the POA, have all linked the fall in the number of assaults to the ending of “association time”, when prisoners mix freely with one another. It has been claimed that an alternative policy of restricting mixing to small “family” groups makes prisoners feel safer and lowers tensions on wings.
However, others including HM Inspectorate of Prisons and prison reform charities have warned against any permanent policy of keeping prisoners locked up for a bigger portion of the day, claiming it will set back rehabilitation.
The Prison Service told Inside Time it had begun “early discussions on post-pandemic regimes” with staff, prisoners and other stakeholders. It said the review would include national surveys and “local engagement events” with senior officials at every prison.
News of the review emerged in a circular sent to prison staff by POA national chair Mark Fairhurst, in which he said: “The National Executive Committee are currently engaged in consultation with HM Prison and Probation Service surrounding the future delivery of regimes … We wish to abandon the days of association and full wing unlock to replace it with purposeful, meaningful, safe on wing activities for prisoners in smaller more manageable numbers.”
Justice Secretary Robert Buckland QC has said that the decline in self-harm in men’s jails since the start of the lockdown seems to be due to a “Covid factor”, perhaps because some men find life less stressful when they mix less with other prisoners.
Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust, urged the Government to take account of the views of prisoners when decide what changes to make to regimes. He said: “No-one wants to return to the violence and chaos that cuts to prison budgets caused from around 2012 onwards. But we’re absolutely clear that locking people up for longer isn’t the answer to that problem. The evidence from prisons that aren’t violent and that are able to deliver humane and constructive regimes is that they rely on good relationships, on mutual respect, and on kindness. None of that can be delivered from the other side of a cell door.”
And Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “Rather than constricting prisoners to spend most of their time in stone boxes, it is time to up-skill staff to be able to guide and manage people, and to cut the number of prisoners so the question of large numbers does not arise.”
" or just want to be part of recording an alternative truth "
ReplyDeleteCan I take issue with this one phrase?
The NPS/HMPPS/MoJ/Tory narrative is the *alternative* truth.
This blog, your blog Jim, is THE blog of Probation staff. It offers the True record, the lived experiences of those who have been bullied, lied to, cheated out of all manner of benefits or entitlements; of those who have had their profession diluted & destroyed before their very eyes; of those who have been scapegoated, blamed & belittled by career bullies, by greedy fuckwits & by lickspittles ambitious beyond their abilities.
Thanks to you, Jim Brown, some of the pain & distress has been heard via this blog. Hysterics, Disruptors & Revisionistas may continue to try & make it difficult, but the blog is already acknowledged as a source of credible & unvarnished truth. It has allowed others to unburden themselves.
Chapeau!
Anon 07:56 Thanks very much - nothing like some solid affirmation when you're feeling a bit down. Cheers, Jim
DeleteSolid affirmation less than a week it's the end of CRC yes a result.
DeleteUnfortunately the crc legacy will live on in the spin off companies, the staff that are now PO's SPO's that never trained. The crc staff that were deskilled because all they wanted was robots.
DeleteOmic has spelt out the end of any professional pp in a jail . That was so obvious when pos started reading prison officers . Delivering their own exit naively being helpful. Good to read some commentary on topic and credit to JB sadly as down as the rest of us but keeping the blog record is a bonus. The time drama is just deceptive telly for the bored gawpers . Arh is that real. If you think so your in Dreamland just where TV productions need a passive believing audience. In for a traffic accident . Try and neutralise crime when popularising jail time story line. Shove it.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the quality of debate has moved on but I do agree as a po I saw omic as a threat to remove to prison probation professionals . Up to now though has anyone been able to distinguish the new difference omic makes or not please.
DeleteOMIC is part of the process of linking prison and Probation under the umbrella of HMPPS.
DeleteJoined at the hip and further under control of the civil service. No escape.
"The UK justice secretary is considering intervening over the Parole Board’s decision to approve the release of the child killer and rapist Colin Pitchfork... In early June the Parole Board ruled that Pitchfork could be released on licence... Buckland said that regardless of the decision in the Pitchfork case, he intended to “go further with a root and branch review” of the Parole Board."
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jun/20/minister-may-intervene-in-parole-board-decision-to-free-child-killer-colin-pitchfork
Here's the Daily Hate's version:
"Lord Chancellor Robert Buckland steps in to 'challenge' release of child murderer Colin Pitchfork from prison amid fury from victim's families
Robert Buckland to try to prevent release of double child-killer Colin Pitchfork
Parole Board ruled that Pitchfork, 61, should be freed after 33 years in jail
The paedophile murdered and raped two 15-year-old girls in the 1980s
Move to set Pitchfork free has sparked fury from the families of the victims
Sir Keir Starmer came under fire after he backed the move to release killer"
And the Scum's version (not too dissimilar):
"FREEDOM BLOCK Release of Colin Pitchfork to be challenged by Lord Chancellor as double child killer makes freedom bid after 33 years... After applying for parole in 2017, the killer was pictured preparing for life on the outside — and was even spotted shopping in Bristol on day release."
But now we have a Tory Justice Sec who has completed the Tories' long-wished-for destruction of an independent professional Probation Service, who is currently preparing to remove any element of independence from the Parole Board, and who nearly drowned in the crocodile tears he shed over rape statistics:
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/robert-buckland-david-lammy-cps-conservatives-government-b941573.html
What has happened to US? Just watched (again) the thudding, excellent "Time". Probation has been erased. The fall off of energy is inevitable. We - the probation faithful- are all exhausted and traumatised. I use the word traumatised as one informed. So we should forgive ourselves our lacklustre engagement and battle readiness. Forgiving the bastards that robbed us of our profession, our job satisfaction, our due rewards, and cost our clients and their victims dearly and in some cases their lives is a bigger challenge.
ReplyDeleteYours in admiration
Pearly Gates
"But they do have a million new recruits."
ReplyDeleteMaybe we would if they actually stayed. The sheer volume of PQiPs leaving the service the moment they're qualified is horrifying. I wonder if it's anything to do with subpar training, applying for roles/locations and then being shipped off to any old place, an inability to implement reasonable adjustments (particularly on the part of the money-grabbing Uni of Ports) and ostrasising those that think differently.
If the above doesn't get them, they watch experienced staff succumb to burnout whilst management ignore their own policies on acting on this, punish with warning letters when signed off for aforementioned stress, and then openly scoff at this being linked to staffing issues and a WMT that is not fit for purpose. Let's not forget the very recent inability of London NPS to address the tragic passing of a CRC team member due to stress. From what I hear, pretending it didn't happen and permitting the rumour mill to run rife does wonders for wellbeing.
Honestly, I can't blame newbies for running straight for the hills. Meanwhile the ACO task groups still can't seem to figure out why staff turnover is so high...