Never mind all this 'Probation Day' nonsense, here's the big HMPPS news, a lovely new, high tech, carbon neutral, job-creating, local economy-boosting prison!
Prison-build revolution continues with construction of new Yorkshire jail
Building work on Britain’s newest ‘smart’ prison will start this autumn – delivering over 1,400 modern places to get more offenders into jobs and away from crime.
The date has been set in stone as a result of a new £400m contract signed today with construction firm Kier, who will build the cutting-edge jail in East Yorkshire in time for it to open in 2025.
Following close on the heels of HMP Five Wells in Wellingborough which opened in February this year, the new Category C prison will be designed from top-to-bottom with the latest smart technology to cut crime and protect the public.
The jail will include an unprecedented array of workshops and classrooms, so prisoners spend their time behind bars learning new skills to find work on release – factors known to significantly reduce reoffending.
It will also be the first new prison to operate as zero-carbon in the future, with an all-electric design, solar panels, heat pumps and more efficient lighting systems to reduce energy demand significantly.
In a boost for the local economy, the new prison will create hundreds of jobs in construction, and a further 600 once the establishment opens.
And at least 50 construction roles will be earmarked for ex-offenders - giving them the opportunity to rebuild their lives, gain new skills and get back on the straight and narrow.
The new jail is the latest major step in our commitment to building 20,000 new prison places and in turn protecting the public.
Prisons Minister, Stuart Andrew, said:
"I am delighted work can begin on yet another modern, innovative prison that will skill-up untold numbers of offenders to live a crime-free life while making our streets safer. The new prison at Full Sutton will also support hundreds of jobs, in construction and afterwards, representing a major boost to Yorkshire’s economy."Group Managing Director of Kier Construction, Liam Cummins, said:
"Delivery of the new prison at Full Sutton represents over a decade of Kier operating as a successful partner to the Ministry of Justice and highlights our ongoing commitment to the New Prisons’ Programme. This project will create hundreds of jobs as well as providing opportunities for prisoners on release, and we’re proud to give people the opportunity to work with us to deliver a best-in-class facility built on modern methods of construction and engineering excellence."The new buildings will sit opposite the existing HMP Full Sutton and will be the third of six prisons to be completed as part of the New Prisons Programme, following HMP Five Wells and HMP Fosse Way in Glen Parva, which is due to open next year.
Locations for the remaining three are being finalised, and of the four final builds, one will be run by Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service and three by private operators.
The process of naming the new prison will be confirmed in due course and as with Five Wells and Fosse Way, will involve close consultation with the local community.
Around £4 billion of investment will create thousands of jobs for local communities and see millions invested in local roads and infrastructure while rehabilitating thousands of offenders and keeping the public safe.
Notes to editors:
Work to build the new prison at Full Sutton will commence in the coming months, with a firm date to be confirmed. Like Five Wells and Fosse Way, the new prison will include a range of cutting-edge technology. At its peak, the construction phase will employ as many as 1,000 workers, with many employed from the local community. Making Ground is Kier’s prison engagement and employment programme, designed to support serving prisoners and prison leavers into sustainable employment in the construction industry.
I think prisons should be a 'going concern' free of the shackles of business needs and/or needs of the business. It just means a craven response in many cases to get bums on seats or in cells and this often means ramping up Stop and Search and perpetuating the kind of bias that is acknowledged but not really followed through on. More and more the Lammy Report is a paper tiger- little has improved. But one way to improve things is to take Criminal Justice work out of the target-driven culture. Tax payers' money is wasted continuously: £37bn on track and trace: You can get 7 years in prison for a lot less. So, let's look at the way we police and convict, rather than softly engineer those seats to be filled so it justifies building another prison.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation/media/press-releases/2022/08/staffordshire-and-stoke-pdu/
ReplyDeleteStaffordshire and Stoke probation service rated as ‘Inadequate’ with staff ‘overworked and overwhelmed’
But once they've played pass the spinach parcel & made each other friendship cakes on Probation Day, they'll be fine.
Full report here:
https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2022/08/Staffordshire-and-Stoke-PDU-Report-v1.0-1.pdf
Staffordshire and Stoke Probation Delivery Unit (PDU)* has received an overall rating of ‘Inadequate’ following an inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation – scoring only two points out of a possible 27.
DeleteChief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell said: “This was a disappointing inspection. Staff at Staffordshire and Stoke probation service told us they felt overworked and overwhelmed and less than half the probation cases we inspected were satisfactory against all our quality standards. We did see efforts being made to improve this situation, and some examples of well managed cases, but our report suggests this probation service needs to reset and refocus, and quickly, for the benefit of their staff, the people under their supervision and the local community.”
While inspectors found encouraging foundations for the future in terms of strategic plans and good partnerships with other agencies, their impact was yet to be seen on the effective delivery of probation services. Across all five dimensions of case work inspected, provision was rated as ‘inadequate’, with particular concern around work relating to the assessment and effective management of potential risks posed by people on probation to the public.
Inspectors found clear and ongoing impacts from the Covid-19 pandemic and from the recent restructuring of the probation service. Staff vacancy levels were also clearly having an impact, as were high levels of sickness. The introduction of a blend of home and office-based working was found to be having mixed results. Insufficient overall contact with those under probation supervision highlighted the need to consider the effectiveness of off-site working and what could be achieved by increased face-to-face contact.
The Inspectorate made seven recommendations as a result of this inspection. Five of the recommendations were aimed at changes at a local level, calling on Staffordshire and Stoke PDU to improve their all-round oversight of people on probation, and ensure that all possible interventions are put in place to prevent reoffending. The remaining two recommendations were for the Probation Service – West Midlands region.
Why are staff not handing back cases in excess of workload weighting under health and safety. Saying no for purpose of managing mental health. If they did that SPOs would have to push senior management to take responsibility. Why has working through lunch working unpaid overtime with an inability to get TOIL become the norm and expected. Contractual rights on flexible working are also being forced out by practices and managers deliberately trying to curtail them. Oh and everyone else it seems getting a pay rise but probation. Yes get a degree with probation to be treated like a lackey and a robot and certainly not like a professional.
DeleteFor Staffordshire and Stoke PDU that decision rule is in
ReplyDeleteoperation which has resulted in a rating for leadership of ‘Inadequate’.
Fewer than half the cases we inspected were satisfactory in relation to whether case reviews focused sufficiently on keeping other people safe.
Staffordshire and Stoke PDU is rated as ‘Inadequate’ for implementation and delivery
Disappointingly, in far too many cases, either safeguarding checks were not undertaken where there was evidence of a potential risk to children, or the information received was not sufficiently taken account of as part of the overall evaluation.
The PDU is rated as ‘Inadequate’ for court work, with only 38 per cent of cases inspected being rated as satisfactory against our quality standard.
only 25 per cent of cases were assessed as having sufficient management oversight.
Vacancy rate of SPO grade only (total number of unfilled posts as a percentage of total number of required SPO posts) = 0%
Vacancy rate of PO grade only = 16.6%
Vacancy rate of PSO grade only = 26%
Proportion of probation practitioners in this PDU describing workload as unmanageable = 43%
_____________________________________
And so it continues throughout... shockingly pisspoor.
Yet management won't be changed (there's no lack of SPOs, i.e. 0% vacancies) & frontline staff will continue to be abused, bullied & hung out to dry.
Justin is keeping very very quiet about the more senior leaders' roles in this disgraceful debacle... no doubt the Chief Probation Officer will have something to say about how shit the frontline staff are & how Raab's policies will knock them into shape.
"the new Category C prison will be designed from top-to-bottom with the latest smart technology to cut crime and protect the public."
ReplyDeleteNo need for a troublesome probation service as HMPPS's newest policy involves sending everyone to a smart prison where they'll be healed.
Huzzah! That's £8billion saved immediately. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Efficiency Minister, will be pleased, as will our PM-in-waiting Truss & the sociopath Raab. He'll probably still want a Chief Probation Officer though, so Sonia will be safe.
Warehousing people for cash, is all. With no housing on release, and a dearth of Approved Premises, what hope rehabilitation? If this government are determined to build more and more prisons, they might at least match, penny for penny, that investment with building social housing and APs.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean "no housing on release" ? There are drug infested hostels, which are accessible by means-testing, and slumlords. If offenders choose homelessness or prison, thats theyre choice, and probation reminding them of that is empowering.
DeleteI wonder why so much money is spent on trying to reduce offending if prisons are so great for the economy?
ReplyDelete'Getafix
Is this this the HMPPS solution? Get rid of the Probation Service, build more prisons instead.
ReplyDelete"The process of naming the new prison will be confirmed in due course and as with Five Wells and Fosse Way, will involve close consultation with the local community."
ReplyDeleteRaab's already chosen them:
HMP Smart Rehabilitation
HMP Kier
HMP Dominic
HMP Lebedev