Captures probation work so well. The probation officer job we read about in the history books and all came to do. Sadly it is not necessarily the job we’re allowed to do for various reasons.
fucking fascists - staff should be allowed to wear anything workplace-appropriate of their choice; *including* sharp suits if that's their bag. The focus should only ever be on the quality of work done with those sent to be assessed/supervised. But sadly armitage has no sense of the zeitgeist 2025, just rosy memories of what he left behind (including his dad). Meanwhile hmpps are taking the piss (as ever) & armitage has happily pocketed their coin.
Wonder who at hmpps is for the chop with the kia starmer*/roadkill reeves imminent car crash scenario? No doubt there'll be golden handshakes all-round for the useless eejits who created the clusterfuck, all funded by you & me & the uk taxpayer. Austerity? Not for them.
* The Kia Starmer is a hybrid low performance vehicle which runs on hot air & donations from unexpected benefactors.
I wrote this several years ago about being a Probation Officer and as I'm still a Probation Officer and like poetry it seemed too good an opportunity to miss being a published poet:
Locked into stress. Trying to perform. Hassled by idiots. Aargh! Forced to be helped by people who have no insight. More, more, more. More for less. Do more with less resource. Groan and take no rest.
You cannot win. Judge, criticise, patronise. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Talk, talk, talk. Repeat the same pattern and talk about the same failed solutions. Don't complain. Take a holiday. You'll be able to tolerate it more when you've had a break. Then you'll be able to do it again. Baaahh!
It's all on you. Change perception. Be positive, don't get stressed, don't worry. Perform to higher standards. Turn to those in authority who crack the whip, for a little less whipping. Really?!! Madness.
Turn to something else....Learn anger, hardness, resentment. Learn to withdraw, disengage, bite back. Swear and vent. Suffer. Calm down. Try this, try that. Run, paint. Listen. Don't talk. Don't interact. Lock yourself away. Tie yourself to the mast. Close your eyes and cry. Turn to darkness and silence.
It’s a great poem by Simon Armitage, but is this rose-tinted picture of yesteryear really a life in the day of what probation work is today? I don’t think so. Ode to probation is nothing short of propaganda if used in recruitment campaigns.
Blimey. The check-suit in the clip really is a London Head of Service... actually pretending to be a Probation Officer. Reality is there are probably no POs in post in his PDU at the moment. That, or a blatant grab for acclaim and limelight.
Email today to say that EMS are making an appearance on Dispatches next week. Undercover reporters got a job fitting tags and apparently have an expose on how the tagging situation is not protecting the public.
‘Dispatches’ - the delivery of Electronic Monitoring
Late last week Napo were alerted by HMPPS senior management to the planned broadcast on Channel 4 of an episode of the ‘Dispatches’ television programme on the 1st of April. At this stage we understand this will based on information obtained by undercover reporters employed by the private company involved in delivering electronically monitored ‘tagging’ and that allegations will be made about serious failures by them.
Napo have not been involved in the preparation of this programme, have not seen any footage or been provided with any information of the allegations to be made by the production company involved. If approached for comment prior to broadcast we will again robustly repeat the points made at various stages last year, both in representations to HMPPS as well as in comment to the media, about the failures of private companies and HMPPS in effectively delivering electronically monitored ‘tagging’, especially the additional work that our members have been asked to do because of others incompetence.
We will continue to meet with members of HMPPS senior management on specific issues arising from this programme as more information becomes available. Napo will issue a further statement on this programme as soon as possible after it is broadcast. Prior to and following that National Officers and Officials will support Branches – individual members or the wider membership depending on what Branch Officers believe they require – in the Regions involved in whatever way we can, and this offer has already been extended to them.
Napo this Comms is embarrassing you cannot offer to do anything because you have nothing to do. I am saddened the film makers don't think you are worthy of a commentary in what we all know about shoddy firms. Crikey the privatisation saga said it all. Napo distancing itself like this statement above looks cowardly and assimilates a position to the employers not us guvnor. Honest. Napo should have saying it would have been helpful to our cause to comment on the sham of the contracts and how pleased we are to have independent undercover proof of what we have said through member concerns for years. How brazen the companies are in goring their obligations to protect the public. Unlike our Napo members over pushed over pressured over working on meaningless tasks. Again Napo you appear ignorant of your role or too thick to appreciate who's side you are supposed to be on. Grow up get a backbone and criticise the employers and celebrate any evidence to expose the sham. Napo pathetic.
Well done looks like you have said it. Also sir Stephen fry today. From drug addiction burglar to knighthood. He has done some great work good luck to him.
"Too little attention was given to some very basic elements of decency. Women were given prison-issue clothing designed for men, and they did not receive enough underwear. They were not allowed to wash their own underwear in a washing machine."
"The Prison Group Director has instructed Governors that all women must be issued with seven pairs of underwear on arrival, and these can be washed in machines"
Holy Smoke!! Give Amy an OBE or a damehood or something!! Incredible. Amazing. What a result!!
"A professor from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) says the Government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme, designed to kick start the hospitality industry during lockdown, was responsible for a huge rise in deaths among the Bangladeshi and Pakistani community."
" final estimates from the OBR suggested the changes announced by Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, which included tightening the criteria for the personal independence payment (Pip), would not save the £5bn needed to meet Reeves’s self-imposed fiscal rules.
The chancellor is expected to announce an additional £500m in benefits cuts to make up part of the £1.6bn shortfall"
"MPs are to receive an inflation-busting 2.8 per cent pay rise this year - taking their wages to almost £94,000" PLUS their eyewatering expenses scheme, subsidised food & drink, freebies, etc.
So there's plenty of public money to shore up business, to assist non-doms avoid paying their way, to bail out failed energy companies & fund MPs' lifestyle choices, but nowt for the poverty-stricken, those with life-limiting conditions or those made unwell by the incompetence of a succession of governments.
"In 2023/24 approximately 3.12 million people used a food bank in the United Kingdom, an increase when compared with the previous year. Since 2008/09, the number of food bank users increased significantly, with just under 26,000 using food banks that year."
Permanent staff – wages and salaries £2.4billion Agency staff costs £54million Departures and severance payments £45million Total net costs = £3.3billion + Expenditure on consultancy was £4.1million
2024: "Probation chief warns 97% of service already failing"
A prison governor began a relationship with a drug dealer who gave her a £12,000 Mercedes car after she illegally approved his early release on licence from jail, a court heard.
Kerri Pegg, 42, was seen as a "rising star" in the Prison Service, quickly climbing the career ladder from graduate entrant to HMP Kirkham governor in six years, Preston Crown Court heard.
But it is alleged she "didn't play by the rules" and while governor at the Lancashire prison she began a relationship with inmate Anthony Saunderson, who gave her the car.
When police raided her home in Orrell, Wigan, they found a toothbrush with his DNA on it
In April 2020, Saunderson was sent a message on Encrochat saying "car... for ya bird 12 quid or work" and a photo of the black Mercedes.
The "12 quid" meant £12,000 and "work" meant drugs, jurors heard.
Saunderson asked "what work they want" and he was told "top or weed" meaning cocaine or cannabis.
Two days later Saunderson arranged for "17 packs" to be dropped off in Manchester to pay for the car, it is alleged.
The Mercedes was registered to Ms Pegg at her home five days later.
Ms Pegg was arrested at her home in November 2020.
*** Ms Pegg denies two counts of misconduct in a public office ***
I hear that the HMPPS will be upgrading the current computer systems to include the role out of artificial intelligence. I had assumed that some form of artificial intelligence was already in great use at the more senior levels, but clearly I was mistaken. Now let’s just stop and think….what could possibly go wrong when you put the government and anything digital together? No doubt any cost inflation can be reclaimed by kicking over a few disabled citizens and all that kind of behaviour.
Nothing wrong with kicking over the disabled if your in labour. They are lost. I know of people on pip with nothing obviously wrong and that's who labour are going for. They will damage everyone else as collateral.
The justice secretary has not ruled out shortening the sentences of violent offenders in a drive to create more space in an over-stretched prison system.
Speaking to Sky News, Shabana Mahmood MP said the government wanted to follow the example of Texas in the US, where she said a "good behaviour credit scheme" allows offenders to earn an earlier parole hearing.
When asked how victims of violent offenders would react to such a move, the justice secretary said her message to them was: "We've all got an interest in making sure the country does not run out of prison places.
"If you run out of prison places, none of your options are good options, or anything anyone would be happy about.
"So we've got to do things differently."
Ms Mahmood was speaking at the opening of HMP Millsike in East Yorkshire - a brand new nearly 1,500 capacity prison, built as part of a government plan to create 14,000 new prison spaces by 2031.
The new Category C jail is focused on rehabilitation, with skills and training for inmates to try and help them get jobs when they leave prison.
It also has technology like barless windows and X-ray body scanners to stop drugs and drones getting into the prison.
But, by the Ministry of Justice's own estimate, their target for new prison spaces will not go far enough to tackle the overcrowding crisis.
Prisons are currently at over 99% capacity - with less than 800 spaces left in jails across England and Wales.
The government recently triggered Operation Safeguard, an emergency measure to hold prisoners in police cells because of a lack of space.
The Lord Chancellor said the government has launched a sentencing review because it "cannot build their way" out of the crisis.
Ms Mahmood added that just focusing on short sentence reviews "would not go far enough".
MPs from the Public Accounts Committee warned earlier this month that the plan to deliver the 14,000 new places on time are "still fraught with risk and uncertainty".
They also said the government is facing a nearly £2.8bn bill to fix disrepair issues across the existing prison estate.
Tom Wheatley, president of the Prison Governors Association, told Sky News the "maintenance crisis" is worsening problems with overcrowding.
He said many jails built in Victorian times "require an awful lot of money to maintain".
"And if you don't maintain them - if you lose a heating system or security systems that are absolutely necessary for the prison to run effectively - you also lose the accommodation. So these things become compound issues."
The government has threatened to override the body advising judges in England and Wales in a row over how ethnic minority offenders should be sentenced, days before new rules are set to take effect.
It comes after the Sentencing Council refused a request from Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood for it to rethink new instructions for judges due to begin on Tuesday.
Mahmood said the guidelines would lead to "differential treatment" of offenders by courts.
Under the rules, which have prompted a "two-tier" justice row, judges will be expected to consider the lives of offenders from ethnic minority and other backgrounds before deciding on punishment.
Downing Street said Sir Keir Starmer was "disappointed" the council had refused to change the guidance and "all options" were being considered in response, including passing legislation to block the changes.
But shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick, a vocal opponent of the new guidance, said the threat to legislate was "too little too late".
"From Tuesday, [Mahmood] will preside over a sentencing system she conceded is two-tier," he added.
The row began earlier this month when the council, which advises judges and magistrates on prison terms and community punishments, issued new guidance, external on when a court should order a pre-sentence report into an offender's life.
These reports contain information about an offender's background and are intended to help judges decide what sort of punishment is appropriate.
The updated guidance says judges should normally request a pre-sentence report on offenders from an ethnic, cultural or faith minority, and other groups such as young adults under 25, women and pregnant women.
The council argues its new guidance is intended to remedy a "disparity in sentence outcomes" between white and non-white offenders.
But after the Conservatives argued it would lead to a "two-tier" approach to sentencing, Mahmood said she would request it was changed.
She also echoed that "there will never be a two-tier sentencing approach under my watch".
Two years ago, few had heard of the term ‘two-tier justice’. Indeed, Ministers and leaders across the criminal justice system have spent much of that time vigorously denying its existence. Yet the examples of a justice system which is failing to deliver ‘equality before the law’ are numerous: the failures of the police and prosecutors to act when individuals chanted for ‘jihad’ at a political rally; the sexual abuse of many hundreds of children in Rotherham because professionals feared being accused of racism; the postcode lottery of how non-crime hate incidents are recorded depending on which police force area you live in.
The publication of the sentencing council’s instructions on how judges and magistrates should approach the process of sentencing convicted criminals is the latest evidence of a two-tier justice system at work.
The new guidelines for the ‘imposition of community and custodial sentences’ instruct judges and magistrates that they must request and consider a pre-sentence report before forming an opinion about sentencing, unless the court considers it unnecessary because they already have sufficient information about the offender.
More than 1,000 Metropolitan Police officers are currently suspended or on restricted duties, the force has said, as it tries to root out rogue officers.
The crackdown follows convictions of former officers David Carrick, a serial rapist, and murderer Wayne Couzens.
The Met's Stuart Cundy said the number of affected officers was almost the size of a small police force, with one in 34 suspended or restricted.
He warned that removing all corrupt officers could take years.
In figures described as "eye-watering", the Met - Britain's largest force which employs 34,000 officers - also revealed:
In the past year 100 officers have been sacked for gross misconduct - up by 66% on the normal rate
The 201 officers currently suspended represents a rise from 69 in September 2022
275 are awaiting a gross misconduct hearing, a significant proportion of which involved alleged violence against women and girls, compared to 136 last year
The number of reports from the public and officers of alleged misconduct has doubled
Some 450 are also being investigated for historic allegations of sexual or domestic violence, the force said.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgdgv5rnk2o
"A former police officer who sent "unwanted sexualised messages" to women on social media has been found guilty of gross misconduct.
Matthew Stewart, who was a constable for Cumbria Police, was found to have sent numerous women unsolicited, sexually explicit messages while on duty through apps including Tinder and WhatsApp, an accelerated misconduct hearing ruled.
Mr Stewart began working for the force in September 2018 and was an officer in North Cumbria and Carlisle. His last day was in June 2024."
"The independent Sentencing Council has today published a significantly revised version of the Imposition of community and custodial sentences guideline.
The guideline sets out the principles that magistrates and judges must follow when imposing community orders and custodial sentences, including deciding whether a custodial sentence can be suspended. It has been developed through public consultation and comes into effect on 1 April 2025.
The aim of the revised guideline is to make sure the courts have the most comprehensive information available about the circumstances of the offender and the offence, and the range of possible sentencing options, so that they can impose a tailored sentence that is the most suitable and appropriate for the offender and offence before them.
The revised guideline places greater emphasis than before on the critical role of pre-sentence reports (PSRs) in sentencing decisions and provides more detailed guidance on the circumstances in which courts should request PSRs. These reports are compiled by the Probation Service to provide essential information about the circumstances of the offence and the offender that enables the courts to more precisely tailor sentencing decisions.
Community orders and suspended sentence orders frequently have requirements attached that oblige the offender to meet specific conditions. Requirements can fulfil all the purposes of sentencing, including punishment and rehabilitation. The revised Imposition guideline provides more information than before on the function and scope of each requirement, enabling sentencers to attach those that are the most suitable and appropriate for the individual offender."
Its NOT "two-tier justice"... its the essence of levelling the playing field, of intelligent sentencing practice.
But its clearly a trigger for those who prefer to demonise, isolate & penalise the least advantaged & the least privileged.
They're the same crew who think that driving quarter of a million citizens into poverty in order to balance the nation's bank balance is just fine. They don't seem to care that the public purse was stripped bare by well-known wealthy thieves & liars with form... the same thieves & liars they won't tax or punish in any way shape or form... the same thieves & liars they are protecting & nurturing & cosying up to... because despite their claims to hold differing political views, they're all chums together.
Them - the chumocracy: greedy, selfish, covetous, resentful, malicious, mendacious... etc ad nauseaum.
Us - the poor saps they're bleeding dry for their enrichment & entertainment.
Us & Them (1973)
"Forward", he cried from the rear And the front rank died The general sat and the lines on the map Moved from side to side
Out of the way it's a busy day I've got things on my mind For want of the price of tea and a slice The old man died
Captures probation work so well. The probation officer job we read about in the history books and all came to do. Sadly it is not necessarily the job we’re allowed to do for various reasons.
ReplyDeleteWhy is a probation officer wearing a checked suit in the office? Somebody over-read the dress code policy!
ReplyDeleteThat’s a head of operations pretending to be a frontline PO.
Deletefucking fascists - staff should be allowed to wear anything workplace-appropriate of their choice; *including* sharp suits if that's their bag. The focus should only ever be on the quality of work done with those sent to be assessed/supervised. But sadly armitage has no sense of the zeitgeist 2025, just rosy memories of what he left behind (including his dad). Meanwhile hmpps are taking the piss (as ever) & armitage has happily pocketed their coin.
DeleteWonder who at hmpps is for the chop with the kia starmer*/roadkill reeves imminent car crash scenario? No doubt there'll be golden handshakes all-round for the useless eejits who created the clusterfuck, all funded by you & me & the uk taxpayer. Austerity? Not for them.
* The Kia Starmer is a hybrid low performance vehicle which runs on hot air & donations from unexpected benefactors.
I wrote this several years ago about being a Probation Officer and as I'm still a Probation Officer and like poetry it seemed too good an opportunity to miss being a published poet:
ReplyDeleteLocked into stress. Trying to perform. Hassled by idiots. Aargh! Forced to be helped by people who have no insight. More, more, more. More for less. Do more with less resource. Groan and take no rest.
You cannot win. Judge, criticise, patronise. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Talk, talk, talk. Repeat the same pattern and talk about the same failed solutions. Don't complain. Take a holiday. You'll be able to tolerate it more when you've had a break. Then you'll be able to do it again. Baaahh!
It's all on you. Change perception. Be positive, don't get stressed, don't worry. Perform to higher standards. Turn to those in authority who crack the whip, for a little less whipping. Really?!! Madness.
Turn to something else....Learn anger, hardness, resentment. Learn to withdraw, disengage, bite back. Swear and vent. Suffer. Calm down. Try this, try that. Run, paint. Listen. Don't talk. Don't interact. Lock yourself away. Tie yourself to the mast. Close your eyes and cry. Turn to darkness and silence.
This is certainly closer to my experience at work than the hmpps poem. Thank you.
DeleteJob Done Indeed !!! Nice One Simon wishing you and ALL our Probation Staff a kind/happy and good Sunday. Very Happy to repost too
ReplyDeleteIt’s a great poem by Simon Armitage, but is this rose-tinted picture of yesteryear really a life in the day of what probation work is today? I don’t think so. Ode to probation is nothing short of propaganda if used in recruitment campaigns.
ReplyDeleteTotally different ethos and culture then compared to the nonsense now
ReplyDeleteBlimey. The check-suit in the clip really is a London Head of Service... actually pretending to be a Probation Officer. Reality is there are probably no POs in post in his PDU at the moment. That, or a blatant grab for acclaim and limelight.
ReplyDeleteThe best way to reduce civil servants by 10,000 is to remove probation from the civil service and placing under local control, SLOP anyone.?
ReplyDeleteNo it's to remove probation full stop.
Delete2.2billion to save jobs to go a labour government. Is this a new reality. What have we elected. The Tories seem attractive now.
ReplyDeleteEmail today to say that EMS are making an appearance on Dispatches next week. Undercover reporters got a job fitting tags and apparently have an expose on how the tagging situation is not protecting the public.
ReplyDelete‘Dispatches’ - the delivery of Electronic Monitoring
DeleteLate last week Napo were alerted by HMPPS senior management to the planned broadcast on Channel 4 of an episode of the ‘Dispatches’ television programme on the 1st of April. At this stage we understand this will based on information obtained by undercover reporters employed by the private company involved in delivering electronically monitored ‘tagging’ and that allegations will be made about serious failures by them.
Napo have not been involved in the preparation of this programme, have not seen any footage or been provided with any information of the allegations to be made by the production company involved. If approached for comment prior to broadcast we will again robustly repeat the points made at various stages last year, both in representations to HMPPS as well as in comment to the media, about the failures of private companies and HMPPS in effectively delivering electronically monitored ‘tagging’, especially the additional work that our members have been asked to do because of others incompetence.
We will continue to meet with members of HMPPS senior management on specific issues arising from this programme as more information becomes available. Napo will issue a further statement on this programme as soon as possible after it is broadcast. Prior to and following that National Officers and Officials will support Branches – individual members or the wider membership depending on what Branch Officers believe they require – in the Regions involved in whatever way we can, and this offer has already been extended to them.
Best wishes,
Napo this Comms is embarrassing you cannot offer to do anything because you have nothing to do. I am saddened the film makers don't think you are worthy of a commentary in what we all know about shoddy firms. Crikey the privatisation saga said it all. Napo distancing itself like this statement above looks cowardly and assimilates a position to the employers not us guvnor. Honest. Napo should have saying it would have been helpful to our cause to comment on the sham of the contracts and how pleased we are to have independent undercover proof of what we have said through member concerns for years. How brazen the companies are in goring their obligations to protect the public. Unlike our Napo members over pushed over pressured over working on meaningless tasks. Again Napo you appear ignorant of your role or too thick to appreciate who's side you are supposed to be on. Grow up get a backbone and criticise the employers and celebrate any evidence to expose the sham. Napo pathetic.
DeleteWell done looks like you have said it. Also sir Stephen fry today. From drug addiction burglar to knighthood. He has done some great work good luck to him.
Deletehttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-thematic-inspection-what-helps-women-cope-in-prison
ReplyDeletehttps://hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmipris_reports/time-to-care-what-helps-women-cope-in-prison/
"Too little attention was given to some very
basic elements of decency. Women were
given prison-issue clothing designed for men,
and they did not receive enough underwear.
They were not allowed to wash their own
underwear in a washing machine."
"The Prison Group Director has instructed Governors that all women must be issued with seven pairs of underwear on arrival, and these can be washed in machines"
Holy Smoke!! Give Amy an OBE or a damehood or something!! Incredible. Amazing. What a result!!
2020:
ReplyDeletehttps://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8978/
"Overall, £849 million was claimed under the Scheme"
https://www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/news/2021/july/eat-out-to-help-out-caused-dramatic-rise-in-deaths.aspx
"A professor from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) says the Government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme, designed to kick start the hospitality industry during lockdown, was responsible for a huge rise in deaths among the Bangladeshi and Pakistani community."
2025:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/mar/25/chancellor-to-increase-defence-spending-by-22bn-to-secure-britains-future
" final estimates from the OBR suggested the changes announced by Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, which included tightening the criteria for the personal independence payment (Pip), would not save the £5bn needed to meet Reeves’s self-imposed fiscal rules.
The chancellor is expected to announce an additional £500m in benefits cuts to make up part of the £1.6bn shortfall"
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/mp-pay-rise-salary-per-cent-inflation-financial-year-b2720512.html
"MPs are to receive an inflation-busting 2.8 per cent pay rise this year - taking their wages to almost £94,000" PLUS their eyewatering expenses scheme, subsidised food & drink, freebies, etc.
So there's plenty of public money to shore up business, to assist non-doms avoid paying their way, to bail out failed energy companies & fund MPs' lifestyle choices, but nowt for the poverty-stricken, those with life-limiting conditions or those made unwell by the incompetence of a succession of governments.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/382695/uk-foodbank-users/
"In 2023/24 approximately 3.12 million people used a food bank in the United Kingdom, an increase when compared with the previous year. Since 2008/09, the number of food bank users increased significantly, with just under 26,000 using food banks that year."
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2024/jun/11/how-britain-became-a-food-bank-nation
2010: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7c0bc540f0b645ba3c65d5/noms-organogram-salaries.pdf
2023/4:
Permanent staff – wages and salaries £2.4billion
Agency staff costs £54million
Departures and severance payments £45million
Total net costs = £3.3billion
+ Expenditure on consultancy was £4.1million
2024: "Probation chief warns 97% of service already failing"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjd37e55dgmo
ReplyDeleteA prison governor began a relationship with a drug dealer who gave her a £12,000 Mercedes car after she illegally approved his early release on licence from jail, a court heard.
Kerri Pegg, 42, was seen as a "rising star" in the Prison Service, quickly climbing the career ladder from graduate entrant to HMP Kirkham governor in six years, Preston Crown Court heard.
But it is alleged she "didn't play by the rules" and while governor at the Lancashire prison she began a relationship with inmate Anthony Saunderson, who gave her the car.
When police raided her home in Orrell, Wigan, they found a toothbrush with his DNA on it
In April 2020, Saunderson was sent a message on Encrochat saying "car... for ya bird 12 quid or work" and a photo of the black Mercedes.
The "12 quid" meant £12,000 and "work" meant drugs, jurors heard.
Saunderson asked "what work they want" and he was told "top or weed" meaning cocaine or cannabis.
Two days later Saunderson arranged for "17 packs" to be dropped off in Manchester to pay for the car, it is alleged.
The Mercedes was registered to Ms Pegg at her home five days later.
Ms Pegg was arrested at her home in November 2020.
*** Ms Pegg denies two counts of misconduct in a public office ***
Prison Governor, Kerri Pegg, 'Had fling with drug dealer inmate'. BBC news.
ReplyDeleteYea flung her career and wealth out the window ok . Stupid.
DeleteI hear that the HMPPS will be upgrading the current computer systems to include the role out of artificial intelligence. I had assumed that some form of artificial intelligence was already in great use at the more senior levels, but clearly I was mistaken. Now let’s just stop and think….what could possibly go wrong when you put the government and anything digital together? No doubt any cost inflation can be reclaimed by kicking over a few disabled citizens and all that kind of behaviour.
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong with kicking over the disabled if your in labour. They are lost. I know of people on pip with nothing obviously wrong and that's who labour are going for. They will damage everyone else as collateral.
Deletehttps://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/violent-offenders-could-be-let-out-early-in-government-plan-to-free-up-prison-space/ar-AA1BObIQ
ReplyDeleteThe justice secretary has not ruled out shortening the sentences of violent offenders in a drive to create more space in an over-stretched prison system.
DeleteSpeaking to Sky News, Shabana Mahmood MP said the government wanted to follow the example of Texas in the US, where she said a "good behaviour credit scheme" allows offenders to earn an earlier parole hearing.
When asked how victims of violent offenders would react to such a move, the justice secretary said her message to them was: "We've all got an interest in making sure the country does not run out of prison places.
"If you run out of prison places, none of your options are good options, or anything anyone would be happy about.
"So we've got to do things differently."
Ms Mahmood was speaking at the opening of HMP Millsike in East Yorkshire - a brand new nearly 1,500 capacity prison, built as part of a government plan to create 14,000 new prison spaces by 2031.
The new Category C jail is focused on rehabilitation, with skills and training for inmates to try and help them get jobs when they leave prison.
It also has technology like barless windows and X-ray body scanners to stop drugs and drones getting into the prison.
But, by the Ministry of Justice's own estimate, their target for new prison spaces will not go far enough to tackle the overcrowding crisis.
Prisons are currently at over 99% capacity - with less than 800 spaces left in jails across England and Wales.
The government recently triggered Operation Safeguard, an emergency measure to hold prisoners in police cells because of a lack of space.
The Lord Chancellor said the government has launched a sentencing review because it "cannot build their way" out of the crisis.
Ms Mahmood added that just focusing on short sentence reviews "would not go far enough".
MPs from the Public Accounts Committee warned earlier this month that the plan to deliver the 14,000 new places on time are "still fraught with risk and uncertainty".
DeleteThey also said the government is facing a nearly £2.8bn bill to fix disrepair issues across the existing prison estate.
Tom Wheatley, president of the Prison Governors Association, told Sky News the "maintenance crisis" is worsening problems with overcrowding.
He said many jails built in Victorian times "require an awful lot of money to maintain".
"And if you don't maintain them - if you lose a heating system or security systems that are absolutely necessary for the prison to run effectively - you also lose the accommodation. So these things become compound issues."
https://www.wired-gov.net/wg/news.nsf/articles/Demos+To+fix+the+justice+system+the+government+must+first+grapple+with+the+forgotten+service+Probation+28032025090500?open
ReplyDelete'Getafix
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz0303vkg7ko
ReplyDeleteThe government has threatened to override the body advising judges in England and Wales in a row over how ethnic minority offenders should be sentenced, days before new rules are set to take effect.
It comes after the Sentencing Council refused a request from Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood for it to rethink new instructions for judges due to begin on Tuesday.
Mahmood said the guidelines would lead to "differential treatment" of offenders by courts.
Under the rules, which have prompted a "two-tier" justice row, judges will be expected to consider the lives of offenders from ethnic minority and other backgrounds before deciding on punishment.
Downing Street said Sir Keir Starmer was "disappointed" the council had refused to change the guidance and "all options" were being considered in response, including passing legislation to block the changes.
But shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick, a vocal opponent of the new guidance, said the threat to legislate was "too little too late".
"From Tuesday, [Mahmood] will preside over a sentencing system she conceded is two-tier," he added.
The row began earlier this month when the council, which advises judges and magistrates on prison terms and community punishments, issued new guidance, external on when a court should order a pre-sentence report into an offender's life.
These reports contain information about an offender's background and are intended to help judges decide what sort of punishment is appropriate.
The updated guidance says judges should normally request a pre-sentence report on offenders from an ethnic, cultural or faith minority, and other groups such as young adults under 25, women and pregnant women.
The council argues its new guidance is intended to remedy a "disparity in sentence outcomes" between white and non-white offenders.
But after the Conservatives argued it would lead to a "two-tier" approach to sentencing, Mahmood said she would request it was changed.
She also echoed that "there will never be a two-tier sentencing approach under my watch".
7 march:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.spectator.co.uk/article/two-tier-justice-is-taking-over-the-courts/
Two years ago, few had heard of the term ‘two-tier justice’. Indeed, Ministers and leaders across the criminal justice system have spent much of that time vigorously denying its existence. Yet the examples of a justice system which is failing to deliver ‘equality before the law’ are numerous: the failures of the police and prosecutors to act when individuals chanted for ‘jihad’ at a political rally; the sexual abuse of many hundreds of children in Rotherham because professionals feared being accused of racism; the postcode lottery of how non-crime hate incidents are recorded depending on which police force area you live in.
The publication of the sentencing council’s instructions on how judges and magistrates should approach the process of sentencing convicted criminals is the latest evidence of a two-tier justice system at work.
The new guidelines for the ‘imposition of community and custodial sentences’ instruct judges and magistrates that they must request and consider a pre-sentence report before forming an opinion about sentencing, unless the court considers it unnecessary because they already have sufficient information about the offender.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-66842521
ReplyDeleteMore than 1,000 Metropolitan Police officers are currently suspended or on restricted duties, the force has said, as it tries to root out rogue officers.
The crackdown follows convictions of former officers David Carrick, a serial rapist, and murderer Wayne Couzens.
The Met's Stuart Cundy said the number of affected officers was almost the size of a small police force, with one in 34 suspended or restricted.
He warned that removing all corrupt officers could take years.
In figures described as "eye-watering", the Met - Britain's largest force which employs 34,000 officers - also revealed:
In the past year 100 officers have been sacked for gross misconduct - up by 66% on the normal rate
The 201 officers currently suspended represents a rise from 69 in September 2022
275 are awaiting a gross misconduct hearing, a significant proportion of which involved alleged violence against women and girls, compared to 136 last year
The number of reports from the public and officers of alleged misconduct has doubled
Some 450 are also being investigated for historic allegations of sexual or domestic violence, the force said.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgdgv5rnk2o
"A former police officer who sent "unwanted sexualised messages" to women on social media has been found guilty of gross misconduct.
Matthew Stewart, who was a constable for Cumbria Police, was found to have sent numerous women unsolicited, sexually explicit messages while on duty through apps including Tinder and WhatsApp, an accelerated misconduct hearing ruled.
Mr Stewart began working for the force in September 2018 and was an officer in North Cumbria and Carlisle. His last day was in June 2024."
Let us remind ourselves of the guidance:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/news/item/sentencing-council-publishes-comprehensive-new-guidance-on-imposing-community-and-custodial-sentences/
"The independent Sentencing Council has today published a significantly revised version of the Imposition of community and custodial sentences guideline.
The guideline sets out the principles that magistrates and judges must follow when imposing community orders and custodial sentences, including deciding whether a custodial sentence can be suspended. It has been developed through public consultation and comes into effect on 1 April 2025.
The aim of the revised guideline is to make sure the courts have the most comprehensive information available about the circumstances of the offender and the offence, and the range of possible sentencing options, so that they can impose a tailored sentence that is the most suitable and appropriate for the offender and offence before them.
The revised guideline places greater emphasis than before on the critical role of pre-sentence reports (PSRs) in sentencing decisions and provides more detailed guidance on the circumstances in which courts should request PSRs. These reports are compiled by the Probation Service to provide essential information about the circumstances of the offence and the offender that enables the courts to more precisely tailor sentencing decisions.
Community orders and suspended sentence orders frequently have requirements attached that oblige the offender to meet specific conditions. Requirements can fulfil all the purposes of sentencing, including punishment and rehabilitation. The revised Imposition guideline provides more information than before on the function and scope of each requirement, enabling sentencers to attach those that are the most suitable and appropriate for the individual offender."
Its NOT "two-tier justice"... its the essence of levelling the playing field, of intelligent sentencing practice.
But its clearly a trigger for those who prefer to demonise, isolate & penalise the least advantaged & the least privileged.
They're the same crew who think that driving quarter of a million citizens into poverty in order to balance the nation's bank balance is just fine. They don't seem to care that the public purse was stripped bare by well-known wealthy thieves & liars with form... the same thieves & liars they won't tax or punish in any way shape or form... the same thieves & liars they are protecting & nurturing & cosying up to... because despite their claims to hold differing political views, they're all chums together.
Them - the chumocracy: greedy, selfish, covetous, resentful, malicious, mendacious... etc ad nauseaum.
Us - the poor saps they're bleeding dry for their enrichment & entertainment.
Us & Them (1973)
"Forward", he cried from the rear
And the front rank died
The general sat and the lines on the map
Moved from side to side
Out of the way it's a busy day
I've got things on my mind
For want of the price of tea and a slice
The old man died
[Richard William Wright/George Roger Waters]