So it turns out that 80% of all offending is re-offending according to a just published HoC Justice Committee report. In other shock news it seems our prisons are making the situation worse. If we reaffirm that the Probation Service is making matters even worse by simply re-calling to prison thousands of offenders each year, it's pretty clear we are in a 'doom loop' situation "a negative feedback loop where two or more factors worsen each other, leading to a spiraling crisis."
At what point does a government grasp the nettle and admit the whole UK system is failing, in stark contrast to our European neighbours, and face the obvious reality that building more prisons and tagging everyone is just going to make the problem even bigger?
Prison overcrowding, staffing shortages and deteriorating infrastructure is having a ‘profound impact on the ability of prisons to deliver rehabilitation’, a new report published today (November 14) by the Justice Committee has said.
Read the report
Read the report (PDF)
Rehabilitation and Reoffending
Justice Committee
MPs on the cross-party committee called on the Government to set out how it will ensure that rehabilitation is not compromised or deprioritised, alongside how it intends to manage demand and supply. These ‘failures risk undermining the very purpose of imprisonment, to reduce reoffending’, the Committee warned.
80% of all offending in England and Wales is reoffending with ‘growing concerns about persistently high’ rates, the report cautioned, adding it is unacceptable that 50 per cent of prisoners are not involved in prison education or work, despite the high level of need across the adult estate.
Conditions
Prisons are in a ‘state of disrepair’, the report concluded, with the Committee stating it was shocked by the dire living conditions that many prisoners are living in and deeply concerning to hear that prisons may be in violation of human rights legislation. Dilapidated buildings and broken infrastructure limit access to rehabilitative spaces and contribute to poor mental health.
Despite recent capital investment, it remains unclear how the Government intends to address the scale of the £1.8 billion maintenance backlog, the report said. It called on the Government to provide a clear breakdown of how funding will be used to address this backlog, and to ensure that future investment is targeted at improving prison conditions with access to rehabilitative activities in mind.
Time out of cell
The report found a ‘widespread failure’ to meet the statutory minimum for time out of cell. Many prisoners are locked up for 22 hours or more each day, with limited access to fresh air, showers, or rehabilitative activities.
This lack of time out of cell undermines efforts to reduce reoffending and contributes to poor mental health and disengagement, it added. Purposeful activity, including education, work, and offending behaviour programmes, is central to rehabilitation, yet it is inconsistently delivered and often deprioritised – notably for IPP prisoners.
MPs called for a renewed focus on ensuring all prisoners have access to meaningful activity, and for time out of cell to be formalised, standardised, and its data to be published going forward.
HMPPS must closely monitor prisons that are failing to meet the statutory minimum and provide urgent support to enable compliance, the Committee added.
Staffing
Staffing levels, high turnover, poor recruitment processes, and limited professional development have contributed to a culture that hinders rehabilitation, the report said.
The Committee recommended prison staff should receive training at least annually, with more frequent support as they progress through their careers. Governors lack the autonomy to lead effectively, and the current staffing model is unsustainable, MPs warned.
Education
The Committee said it was ‘alarmed’ by reports of real-term cuts to prison education budgets of up to 50 per cent and urged the Government to clarify the rationale of any planned budget reductions.
It must set out how it plans to ensure that all prisons retain the funding necessary to deliver core education provision. The report concluded prison education is underfunded as is and poorly delivered, adding participation rates are low and neurodivergent prisoners are not adequately supported.
75 per cent of prisons inspected by Ofsted in 2024/25 were rated 'inadequate' or 'showing no improvement'. The Government, MPs said, must publish a clear plan to improve both participation and quality in prison education.
This should include steps to address poor Ofsted outcomes, ensure that all prisoners, including those on remand, have access to meaningful education, and improve data collection on attendance and provision across the estate.
Education on the youth estate is also in a state of decline, the report concluded. Children in Youth Offending Institutions are entitled to 15 hours of education per week, yet the Committee heard that this minimum is routinely not met.
The report called on the MoJ to set out how it will address the operational barriers to education delivery, including staffing, behaviour management, and keep apart arrangements and ensure that education is prioritised as a core component of the youth custody regime.
Remand prisoners
Despite comprising 20 per cent of the prison population, the highest level in at least 50 years, remand prisoners often spend extended periods in custody, only to be released directly from court following a conviction without any support or intervention.
This raises serious concerns about how the Government expects these individuals to avoid reoffending. Remand prisoners should have access to all parts of the regime, should they choose to participate, MPs recommended.
Contracting
Current contracting and the procurement system within HMPPS is inefficient, the report warned. Poorly designed and inflexible contracts are limiting the ability of voluntary and specialist providers to deliver effective rehabilitation services.
The system is not fit for purpose and risks undermining both prison management and rehabilitative outcomes. MPs called on the Government to provide the Committee with a clear and comprehensive overview of how HMPPS is managing its current contracts, including steps being taken to simplify procurement processes and improve contract flexibility.
Governors should receive training on procurement and contracting, the Committee added.
Well-being
Health and wellbeing services are failing to meet the needs of prisoners, the report said, adding mental health support is inconsistent, and operational pressures prevent timely access to care.
Women in prison face acute and complex health needs, yet the system is not providing even basic support. The Committee called on the Government to outline a clear plan for how it will meet the health and wellbeing needs of the women currently in its care.
Chair comment
Chair of the Justice Committee and Labour MP Andy Slaughter MP said:
“Prison rehabilitation and efforts to break the cycle of reoffending aren’t working and cannot succeed in a system which is facing critical pressures on so many fronts.
“The Committee’s report reveals an overcrowded, short staffed, crumbling prison estate where the long-term focus on rehabilitation is often lost in an over-stretched environment which is grappling day to day to function.
“Capacity issues are leading to prisoners languishing for 22 hours a day in cells as the remand population grows and reoffending rates remain stubbornly high. It cannot be right that those that do choose to engage in rehabilitative activities are worse off due to the prisons’ failure, and their limited access to time out of cell is reduced to choosing between a shower, a hot meal or fresh air.
The current conditions in youth custody settings are deplorable, and it is shameful that access to education for children has deteriorated as part of this wider decline.
“Ministers must act fast to fix the basics and give greater attention to purposeful rehabilitation programmes across jails. Continuing with a cyclical system in crisis mode which offers little real opportunity to turn around prisoners’ lives is a false economy.”
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/daughter-treated-no-better-feral-32876917
ReplyDeleteThe doom loop starts and ends with politicians who are in thrall to mass media and baying mobs on the internet. Unless and until they grow a backbone nothing will change. The likes of Timpson a just a smokescreen until more prisons are built and then they'll build more. I have no idea when this will end.
ReplyDeletesox
"we're doomed, ah tell ye, doomed"
DeleteThe following is a link to some vile right-wing whiney shyte by dan hannan in the torygraph. It illustrates what utter bollocks the uk population is subjected to when the wealthy paymasters want to push an agenda (remember brexit?) in the media they own. It uses the same tired but proven formula of scandalous click-bait, step ever-so-slightly back, use the inclusive term "we", just so you feel at home, then let fly. Sewer politics, turd-by-turd-by-turgid-turd.
https://www.aol.co.uk/articles/why-sinister-woke-blob-always-131500474.html
"A Christian activist in Bournemouth is arrested for holding placards that proclaim “Stop Homosexuality” and “Jesus is Lord”. A pianist on the Isle of Wight is investigated for playing a few bars from the 1970s pop song Kung Fu Fighting in the presence of an East Asian couple... Two things need to be said. First, although not all these cases led to prosecutions, all have a chilling effect on free speech... Second, all these cases date from before 2012... Democracy was supposed to constrain the wokery of our chief constables. We didn’t call it wokery back then, of course. We would speak instead of “political correctness”... (here it comes)...
If decisions on whether to drill in the North Sea, or which foreigners to deport, or where to build runways, or who is entitled to benefits, were taken in line with public opinion rather than jealously guarded by our standing coalition of human rights lawyers & eco activists..."
And half-a-million read the torygraph - online or on paper - every day.
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/lords/?id=2010-01-21a.1143.1
ReplyDeleteLord Ramsbotham Crossbench 2:23, 21 January 2010
"My Lords, on 16 May 2000 the then Home Secretary, Jack Straw, addressing the then Central Probation Council, said:
'"The new (National) Probation Service will work more closely with the Police and other agencies, and with local Crime and Disorder Partnerships. Local Probation Boards will work to deliver their services in a way that serves their locality better ... One of the key challenges will be to find ways of being accountable to local communities for the work of the Service'".
The only thing new about this was the mention of a single national service rather than a number of local probation services. He was expounding how probation had operated since its introduction 93 years before. However, less than eight years later, on 28 January 2008, the same Jack Straw, now the Justice Secretary, announced a complete reversal of this. He said that the National Probation Service, which had been in existence only since 2001, would now be merged with the Prison Service in a new version of the National Offender Management Service, which was to be launched in April that year, to deliver jointly his recently announced punishment and reform mantra. The new NOMS was to be under a new chief executive, the then director-general of the Prison Service. These starkly contrasting directions by the same person with the same responsibility for probation explain why the story of probation under this Government has been so turbulent."
_______________________________________________________
https://data.justice.gov.uk/prisons/additional
hmp releases in error
06/07 - 52
07/08 - 31
08/09 - 63
09/10 - 68
10/11 - 63
11/12 - 42
12/13 - 44
13/14 - 50
14/15 - 49
15/16 - 64
16/17 - 72
17/18 - 66
18/19 - 64
19/20 - 50
20/21 - 46
21/22 - 54
22/23 - 81
23/24 - 115
24/25 - 262
25/26 to date: 91 (& counting)
https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1990/jan/24/probation-service
DeleteThe Earl of Longford rose to ask Her Majesty's Government what are their plans for the future of the probation service.
The noble Earl said: My Lords, in reflecting on the future of the probation service I pay a strong tribute to its remarkable achievements. I shall quote, with approval, a passage from the document entitled Probation: The Next Five Years. That document was published on behalf of the probation service in July 1987. It states: "Over the last two decades the probation service has taken on major new tasks: statutory aftercare, including parole, probation work in prison and community service, as well as significant developments in its working approaches and methods"... I have a weighty document published by the Audit Commission. It is entitled The Probation Service: Promoting Value for Money. It is concerned with the economics of probation... There is widespread apprehension, justified or unjustified, throughout the probation service... the probation service as a whole is showing itself to be immensely suspicious of what that transformation might involve..."
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords%E2%80%8F/1997-07-16/debates/369184c4-bbd3-43fc-b15a-0ffa0902aa4b/TheProbationService
DeleteEarl of Longford, Wednesday 16 July 1997
"let us examine the policy. It was based on the theory that "prison works", and that it works better if it is made nastier for prisoners. That policy was duly carried out, in total contradiction to the policies of the noble Lords, Lord Hurd and Lord Patten, and other Conservative leaders. The result has been a steady increase in the prison population. It has increased more than 50 per cent. in the past four years; and, if matters continue as now, an increase of some 20,000 in the next seven or eight years seems likely. That is the result, not of accident, but of policy... On the other hand, the Probation Service is to be cut. I shall not argue about figures... People like Mr. Harry Fletcher of the National Association of Probation Officers and leading representatives of the Association of Chief Officers of Probation would say that if this policy of steadily and remorselessly cutting the Probation Service were to be continued, the lasting effect would be overwhelming... I shall give only one small example of the kind of thing that is happening. At present I happen to be visiting Wandsworth Prison twice a week. There were 14 probation officers at the prison; the number is being reduced to five. Those responsible for welfare are to be reduced to two. That sort of thing cannot be done without causing very serious damage to any idea of rehabilitation."
________________________________________________
There are any number of examples of the chronic doom loop that the Probation Service has been thrust into, ne'er to escape. A Sisyphean task set by the morally bankrupt, power hungry buffoons desperate to feel pleased with themselves in fancy outfits, shiny shoes & badges of imperial approval.
Probation staff can only stare wistfully at the event horizon as they're dragged further into the singularity, that infinitely dense mass known as moj/hmpps.
Its gonna take more than a cobbler, a bloke in a new suit & yet another earnest accountant to solve this mess.
80% of offending is reoffending? Excuse me if I fall to the floor in shock. They’ll never learn. Throwing everyone in prison to sling them out by the scruff of their necks to community teams that are held up by overworked staff doing the job of at least three statutory agencies at any given moment. What ever could go wrong?
ReplyDeleteNot to fear though, Building Choices is here to save us all, just don’t ask when or how…
"Building Choices" is a UK probation program designed to help individuals address and change patterns of reoffending through cognitive-behavioural techniques. It consists of group and individual sessions that focus on topics like emotion management, healthy thinking, and relationships, and is available for both men and women in the community and in prisons. It is a need-led approach that helps participants develop skills to build a crime-free future.
DeleteAbout the "Building Choices" program
Structure: The program includes 21 group sessions and five one-to-one sessions.
Content: It covers skills related to emotion management, healthy thinking, building healthy relationships, and establishing a sense of purpose.
Flexibility: It uses a need-led approach, meaning it focuses on how the underlying issues apply to the individual participant, rather than being limited by their specific offense.
Intensity: There are moderate and high intensity versions of the program for individuals assessed as needing them, and it is available for people with learning disabilities and challenges.
Availability: It is run by HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) and is available in prisons for men and women, as well as in the community for those on probation.
Purpose: The ultimate goal is to help participants develop skills for change and future-focused goals to support a crime-free life.
How individuals are selected
Participants are assessed as being at an above-average risk of reoffending to ensure the program is targeting those who need it most.
The program is designed to support a wide range of offenders, and some versions are available for those with sexual offense convictions.
"A UK probation program designed to help individuals address and change patterns of behaviour through cognitive-behavioural techniques. It consists of group and individual sessions that focus on topics like emotion management, healthy thinking, and relationships, and is available for both men and women"
DeleteOK, so start with the leaders. Prove it works. Demonstrate it works by helping them change their patterns of behaviour such that they develop skills related to emotion management, healthy thinking, building healthy relationships, and establishing a sense of purpose.
Then incorporate it into the service's training schedule for all staff.
And then roll it out.
While we're thinking out of the box, maybe hmpps could buy & distribute a few copies of Virginia Giuffre's book, "Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice", to staff.
Its a harrowing read & might open a few eyes to the impact of grooming & sexual abuse upon young people... and may also dispel a few myths & tropes around "who is a sex offender", what constitutes grooming & why some victims feel they're in a doom loop; not least the victims we see when they're sent to us by the courts for their own problematic behaviours.
I'm no longer quite sure if its a lack of understanding, or just a blatant lack of care.
DeleteWith nearly 3000 people being recalled a month by probation, and a 1000 people a month being released every month homeless from prisons, I'm distraught by an article in Insde Time yesterday that explains how HMP Pentonville is going to turn itself around by giving all new receptions an alarm clock so they can get to their induction programmes on time, and how they are going to kill more cockroaches in the future.
What exactly does the concept of rehabilitation and how to achieve it even mean to people anymore?
https://insidetime.org/newsround/wakey-wakey-welcome-to-the-ville-heres-your-alarm-clock/
The writings been on the wall for years regarding the state of our justice system. Warning after warning, advice and solutions from every area just falling on deaf ears.
I found the following article from 2023 pretty informative.
https://www.smf.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Roads-to-recovery-Nov-2023.pdf
'Getafix
Totally agree. It’s been said before even here. This government is not taking that leap of faith.
Delete“Should probation sentences be applied universally where short custodial sentences would otherwise be imposed? Should community supervision be available postsentence and post-remand, albeit on a voluntary basis? Furthermore, should recall and enforcement functions be altogether removed from standard determinate and community sentences?”
https://probationmatters.blogspot.com/2025/07/outlier-england.html?m=1
Wakey, wakey! Welcome to the ‘Ville – here’s your alarm clock
DeleteEvery newly-arrived prisoner at HMP Pentonville will be issued with an alarm clock as the prison tries to turn itself around after being branded by inspectors as a failing jail.
The aim is to help prisoners arrive on time at induction events. In further changes, two wings have been designated for new inmates and a timetable of the events will be displayed in every cell.
The changes form part of an ‘action plan’ published last week to list the reforms being undertaken after HM Inspectorate of Prisons issued an Urgent Notification on 30 September. Among the inspectors’ criticisms was that new prisoners were scattered around the jail, and that staff lost track of them so they were not given a proper induction process.
According to the action plan, “Every cell will display a clear timetable of induction events, and new prisoners will be issued a small alarm clock to help them understand the timings and manage expectations during their first few days in custody.”
Among other changes being introduce to address inspectors’ concerns, new senior staff are being appointed to oversee improvements in cleanliness and offender management. Extra spending has been approved by the Prison Service for upgrades to showers and drainage, repairs to the mosque roof, window replacements, and the introduction of biometric security.
A “deep clean” will begin in staff areas before expanding to residential units. There will be “new targeted pest control treatment” including “specialist cockroach-killing products”.
One of the strongest criticisms from inspectors was that many prisoners were being held beyond their release dates or released early in error, due to failures by the offender management unit to calculate release dates accurately. To counter this, support will be provided from other London prisons and from the National Release Accuracy Support Unit.
A Regime Management Plan will be introduced to ensure prisoners get consistent access to showers, exercise, phone calls and domestic tasks, with a dedicated domestic period incorporated into the daily schedule.
Wing-based forums will be introduced across the prison to allow prisoners to raise concerns with staff. To support newly-arrived prisoners, peer supporters are being recruited including a dedicated Listener, a neurodiverse peer supporter and a young adult Insider.
In response to the inspectors’ criticism that too many prisoners are unemployed, a review of the allocations process will seek to reduce delays in matching men to suitable activities. Job opportunities and education vacancies will be better advertised.
KEY POINTS - from Social Market Foundation paper:-
Delete• UK prisons face several challenges, including a rising prisoner population
and reports of understaffing, overcrowded facilities, and inadequate
services.
• In light of these problems, experts are calling for penal reform and placing
stronger emphasis on rehabilitation and resocialisation principles.
• Rehabilitation is already a core purpose of the UK prison system, but it
appears to be falling short of its own standards.
• According to inspectors, the majority of prisoners lack work and training
opportunities.
• 53% of prisoners are in their cell for more than 22 hours a day – rising
to 69% during weekends.
• Only 35% of those with metal health issues receive help, while 32%
finish addiction treatment programmes in prisons and secure settings.
• Reoffending – 39% within the first year of release and 75% within nine
years – amounts to £18.1 billion in economic and social costs every year.
• Other countries can help provide valuable insights into improving
incarceration and rehabilitation in prisons.
• The Norwegian approach actively encourages inmates to lead a fulfilling
life after their time in prison, and reforms have led to a dramatic
decrease in reoffending rates.
• The Netherlands offers specialist mental health treatment and has
allocated greater prison resources to rehabilitation. Changes in the
justice system have led to less reoffending, a significantly smaller
prison population, and fewer prisons.
• Other potential measures deployed internationally include greater use
of non-custodial sanctions, rehabilitation training for prison staff, and
restorative justice practices.
A lot of waffle.
ReplyDeletehttps://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cmselect/cmjust/469/report.html
Ending the cycle of reoffending – part one: rehabilitation in prisons
DeleteAn unattainable concept
DeleteClearly Michael Howard was wrong. Prison doesn’t work ! https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199394/cmhansrd/1993-11-23/Debate-2.html
ReplyDeleteS'pose it depends on what you define as 'works'.
DeleteDoes it act as a deterrent, reduce offending in the population & rehabilitate those convicted of offences?
or
Does it enrich a handful of chums, allow politicians to feel pleased with themselves & meet the career needs of senior civil servants?
Well when you put it like that - roaring success!
DeleteExhibit one, m'lud:
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonia_Romeo
(NB: even wiki say her entry reads like a resume, rather than a balanced account).
Romeo's undergraduate education at Brasenose College, Oxford, culminated in her earning a BA (subsequently upgraded to an MA(Oxon)) in philosophy, politics and economics.
In 1999 Romeo earned an MSc in economics from the London School of Economics.
In 2006, Romeo became principal private secretary to the Lord Chancellor — initially Charles Falconer, then from 2007 Jack Straw (i.e. the spiritual home of privatising probation via imposition of trusts & OMA2007)
2010 Romeo transferred to the Cabinet Office as the Executive Director in the new Efficiency and Reform Group under Francis Maude (remember, that's where the £80million Modernisation Fund monies came from to grease the palms of the CRCs, pretending to be EVR).
In 2011, after 18 months at the Cabinet Office, Romeo moved back to the Ministry of Justice, taking on the role of Director General, Transformation... Two years later, Romeo changed role to Director General, Criminal Justice, responsible for all criminal justice policy and major programmes, Romeo also delivered a 2.5 year, £1bn programme to reduce reoffending among ex-offenders (more commonly known as the uber expensive total fuck-up, Transforming Rehabilitation).
During the 2015 election Romeo took on the role of director general at the Economic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat and was responsible for delivering the prime minister's top policy priorities... From October 2015 to 2016 Romeo served as the government's special envoy to U.S. technology companies & in July 2016, Romeo became Her Majesty's Consul General in New York. (During her tenure multiple Foreign Office staff raised concerns and she was investigated for bullying and misusing expenses; it was decided that there was "no case to answer").
January 2017 Romeo was appointed as permanent secretary of the Department for International Trade.
January 2021 Romeo moved back to the Ministry of Justice as permanent secretary.
March 2025, Romeo was appointed as permanent secretary of the Home Office.
I think we can summarise her past twenty years in the civil service as follows:
Romeo's tutor at Oxford, Vernon Bogdanor, said "Her particular interests were in game theory and in money and banking." (Presumably banking as much taxpayer cash & associated goodies as she can get her grubby mitts on).
Good game, good game.
First engineer a series of continually deteriorating situations which probation cannot solve alone, next work on a rebrand ( already done) then just as all seems lost, enter UK Correctional Services………the concept of probation is left to wither on the vine while the new service, there only to enforce the will of the court and not to advise,assist and befriend (the concept of a another time) takes centre stage.
ReplyDeleteWhit shirts and new black woolly pullovers are issued with the new logo and bobs your uncle, the largely compliant workforce, echoing Zimbardo, will fall into line as their job is now a lot easier…….grey is replaced with black and white, rehabilitation is left to the third sector while UKCS abandons the degree requirement and recruits the failed police and prison officers,vital to ensure that the ‘ we are not like them’ ethos gains dominance……..anyone want to bet against this dystopian future?
Or, instead of sleepwalking into that dystopian future, we could actually learn from what has worked before, and what still works in other countries. Probation is a brand, and a good one, but it needs realignment, investment, and political will. Prison doesn’t work as a default response. It never has and it never will, unless it’s reserved for the most serious offences with genuinely long sentences. Reduce the prison population and you immediately increase access to proper rehabilitation.
DeleteProbation could be resourced and legislatively supported to do what it’s supposed to do: rehabilitation, resettlement, and access to services. Housing, benefits, employment, mental health, substance misuse, these should be part of the package, not an afterthought or referral into the ether. Strengthen support and aftercare, allow unpaid work to lead to vocational qualifications, let probation hostels teach real life skills. There’s even a role for electronic monitoring, just not at £700 million a time.
Imagine five well-run probation hostels in the area of ever probation office instead of all those intended new prisons, it would be cheaper and far more effective. As said above, abolish recalls for all but the genuinely dangerous, and instead increase support for others through voluntary supervision, including for people on remand.
And yes, pay probation officers more, give them proper social-work-grounded training again, and bring back family-focused practice instead of endless “leadership” courses or academic qualifications like theose Cambridge Criminology MAs that add little to the frontline.
The solutions aren’t difficult. They’ve been sitting there for decades. But as long as the ideas continue to come from the same managers who already failed us, a revolving door of ministers, and a handful of carefully selected academics, nothing will change. The frontline knows what works. It’s time someone listened.
/ Probation Officer
It sounds good & is good in principle but how do we make it heard? How do we get someone to listen?
DeleteForty years ago I qualified and for forty years I've been shouting & arguing & fighting against the tide of shit & the hierarchy of policymaking. I've had my head above the parapet forever. I've submitted evidence to parliament, to my MP, to the press. I've stood on picket lines, I've travelled hundreds of miles to Westminster to meet my MP (who failed to show for our appointment & has never yet apologised). I've submitted comments - positive & negative - to this blog. I've leaked documents elsewhere. I've been threatened directly & indirectly by names you would not believe.
As far as I've been able to work it out, here's my take on it:
1. Policymakers are a unique teflon-coated species who wield most of the power as they slither between the various layers of parliamentary lowlife.
2. Advisors feed on lobbyists & are very responsive to the sound of big money.
3. Politicians only listen to what their advisors tell them as they're too busy earning a meagre crust elsewhere in the City.
4. Those in 'the centre' (for probation & prisons = hmpps) don't want to hear anything other than the words of the politicians they protect & serve & manipulate).
5. The peripatetic/regional leadership isn't interested in hearing anything but the edicts coming from 'the centre'.
6. The frontline are exhausted, tired of being crushed, abused, lied to, shouted at & bullied. The frontline usually get it from all corners of the compass: (a) from management, (b) from those they supervise, (c) from colleagues & (d) from the media. There used to be a small canopy under which they could shelter but napo has folded & now cosplays 'good cop' to the hmpps 'bad cop'.
It might yet need a farage government & the nuclear fallout of such a terrifying event to raze the status quo to ground zero so we can start again.