Covid as Smokescreen

As life continues to get back to something like 'normal', one consequence of the pandemic will be a growing realisation of exactly what's been going on whilst we've all been otherwise pre-occupied. There's more than a suspicion that Covid has and will be used as a convenient smokescreen for all kinds of uncomfortable and unpalatable political decisions, which brings us neatly to recent activity from the Prison Reform Trust:-  

PRT calls for open and transparent consultation on future plans for prison conditions

Prison Reform Trust director, Peter Dawson has written to Jo Farrar, CEO of HM Prison and Probation Service and Second Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, to highlight the confusion surrounding plans to reform prison conditions.

The Daily Mail reported last month that a Ministry of Justice “source” expected a White Paper on prisons to be published later this year, and offered a simplistic and misleading summary of what might be learned from the experience of prisoners over the last 15 months.

In the letter, Peter Dawson writes:

“We are only too pleased to work closely with officials as policy is developed…and in particular to help the department hear from prisoners. But we are deeply suspicious of these constructive and candid conversations being presented as a sufficient process to inform a White Paper on prisons, especially when the press is being fed what appears to be advance notice of a policy decision to reduce the time prisoners will spend unlocked."

Planning for a future beyond the pandemic is an opportunity to reset policy on imprisonment and our prison system from first principles, but a project of this importance and scale demands wider scrutiny. The letter seeks assurance from Jo Farrar that “if there is to be a White Paper, it will be preceded by a full and transparent process of public consultation, based on clear proposals about which there is a genuine desire to listen and adjust if the arguments for doing so are persuasive”.

The evidence submitted to our CAPPTIVE project, and the findings of independent inspectors, have highlighted the significant toll on our prisons over the last 16 months. It is crucial that any plan for the future starts from the recognition that, despite the best efforts of prison managers and staff, our prison system has failed to an unprecedented degree to deliver humane or constructive custody during the pandemic. Any plan’s starting point must be that such a failure cannot be repeated.

The letter sets out key principles for future prison regimes, including:

• an end to overcrowding and the enforced sharing of cells within a set time frame;
• the permanent closure of prisons and parts of prisons that are no longer fit for purpose; and
• the “principle of normality” in regime design, meaning that the prison day should be modelled on life outside prison. Specifically, people should be unlocked unless there is a good reason not to.

The letter also proposes that Governors should have the right not to accept a prisoner where they consider that their life may be at risk, and proposes a range of minimum standards to guarantee the delivery of government policies and commitments. It concludes with a number of practical recommendations, including:

• the provision of in-cell telephony, controlled internet access and in-cell ICT across the prison estate;
• privacy locks on all cell doors, so people can keep themselves and their property safe;
• sufficient staffing resources to allow for prisoners to be unlocked for the equivalent of a normal day for an adult in the community—with sufficient paid work or education provision for a normal working week of 30 hours;
• better pay to reduce prisoner debt; and
• a significant increase in the provision of specialist mental health support.

The prison service has developed an expertise in making do with the inadequate physical and staffing resources which it receives, but the consequences of that approach have been exposed by the pandemic. The ambitions the government holds for a rehabilitative system cannot be delivered for as long as it fails to acknowledge the fundamental problems which only the politicians can solve.

Click here to download a copy of the letter.

--oo00oo--

Then there is this:-

Projected 25% in prison numbers will undermine post pandemic prison recovery

Prisoner numbers in England and Wales are projected to rise by one quarter (20,000) over the next five years. But there are no plans either to reduce overcrowding or close prisons that are clearly unfit for purpose. Efforts by the prison service to recover from the impact of the global pandemic will be fatally undermined as a result, according to a new report published today (5 July 2021) by the Prison Reform Trust.

The report, Prison: the facts, highlights Ministry of Justice prison population projections that predict a rise to 98,700 people from the current level of 77,912 (4 June 2021) by 2026. This is due to the impact of inflationary sentencing policies, including proposals in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Bill currently before Parliament, the recruitment of 20,000 police officers, which is expected to increase charge volumes, and the recovery of the courts as Covid-19 restrictions subside.

The government itself has admitted that its punitive policies are likely to have a negligible effect on levels of offending. The impact assessment of the PCSC Bill acknowledges that there is "limited evidence that the combined set of measures will deter offenders long term or reduce overall crime.”

This predicted increase in prison numbers over a short period comes after one of the most challenging periods in the history of the prison service. For the past 15 months and counting, as a result of public health restrictions imposed as a consequence of the Covid 19 pandemic, the great majority of prisoners have been locked up for at least 23 hours a day, with almost no training, work or education and very limited family contact.

No-one knows what the toll will be on mental and physical health caused by the prolonged periods many prisoners are spending in de facto solitary confinement. However, such conditions are likely to cause lasting damage to those currently held in prison, undermining their progress made towards a law-abiding future life, weakening family links and increasing the danger and volatility of prisons. In an overcrowded, under-resourced prison system, the risk of having to return to these inhumane measures will continue.

At a time when the prison service ought to be focussed on recovery, instead its attention will be diverted by the need to accommodate the projected rise in prison numbers driven largely by the government’s own criminal justice policies.

The government expects to build a total of 18,000 new prison places, understood to comprise HMPs Five Wells and Glen Parva and an additional 10,000 places, with the remaining places to be met by the construction of four new prisons; the expansion of a further four prisons; and refurbishment of the existing prison estate.

However, these plans need to be seen in the context of the struggles of previous governments to meet much more modest prison building targets. A programme to build 10,000 cells by 2020, announced by the government in 2015, delivered just 206 spaces by its original deadline.

Commenting, Peter Dawson, Director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:

“These facts and figures reveal the devastating impact the past 15 months have had on prisoners and their families. But instead of ensuring that such a calamity can never happen again, ministers are determined to put a rocket booster under prison numbers. The government accepts that its punitive approach is unlikely to reduce crime, yet is willing to find £4bn to fund its addiction to prison. With no target either for ending overcrowding or for closing prisons that are plainly unfit for purpose, the people at the sharp end will continue to live and work in a dangerous system, as vulnerable to the unexpected as it was in March of last year.”