Childhood trauma common theme in documentary - Frampton
"I'm not saying without boxing, I would've been a tearaway or in and out of jail. But I know that because I did have boxing, it certainly helped steer me away from that," says former two-weight world champion Carl Frampton, reflecting on his recent dive into the world of probation.
He was speaking ahead of the release of a new documentary series which sees him go behind the scenes with the Probation Board for Northern Ireland. Probation officers supervise more than 4,100 people who are subject to a range of court orders and licences at any given time.
For the series, Frampton spent time with officers and those on probation, as well as hearing the stories of victims of crimes. "I just wanted to find out for myself what it's all about," he told BBC News NI.
It is the first time television cameras have been given this sort of access and the result is BBC NI programme Carl Frampton: On Probation.
Mental health issues
The former boxer previously presented Carl Frampton: Men in Crisis where he investigated why so many young men in Northern Ireland struggle with their mental health. It's unsurprising that his new documentary also explores the issue.
"It sometimes affects the way they behave," he said, adding that the "vast majority" of the service users he spoke to "have had some sort of issues with their mental health". While meeting service users, Frampton found many to be "friendly".
"I think the common denominator that I noticed anyway was trauma during childhood for the majority of them and having bad upbringings and maybe parents who were abusive and maybe abandonment issues or whatever.
"When you hear their story and you hear everything that's gone on in their lives as they were growing up, it kind of makes you feel sorry for them," he added. "I felt a lot of sympathy for them.
"You're not really surprised that they have involvement in the judicial system afterwards as they grow up into adults." Working on the show highlighted the influence boxing had on him.
He said he came from a "rough area" in north Belfast with a lot of "bad influences around", but he was very lucky that he had good influences around him such as his parents and boxing coaches.
He said he thinks the documentary will "give people a bit more of an understanding actually what they do in the probation service, and what their aim is really".
Frampton added that probation was "obviously a lot cheaper" than a custodial sentence.
"So they're trying to change people's behaviour, try to get them on the straight and narrow and maybe get them back into work and just become a somewhat normal citizen."
Main object is 'rehabilitation'
Frampton said he got to know "some of the service users and some of the probation officers".
"Something that I noticed was the relationship that the service user actually has with the probation officer," he said. When there is a good relationship then the service user will "get the absolute most" out of it, according to Frampton.
"I just didn't really understand what a probation officer's role was. I thought they were maybe going to be kind of old battle axes and, cracking the whip all the time, but that wasn't the case."
"Obviously, if they stepped out of line, there was repercussions as well," Frampton added. "But the main objective is to rehabilitate people, and that's what they're trying to do."
The mental health of the probation officers is also highlighted in the documentary. "What they're having to deal with and the stories they're having to hear every time," explained Frampton.
While his professional career was boxing, Frampton said he enjoys presenting. "I'm not a reporter, I'm not a journalist, so I feel like I get a little bit more out of people, and they can maybe trust me a wee bit more and share more information a little bit freely, and I'm not gonna judge them. "I just wanna hear their stories, so I'll keep doing it as long as they keep asking."
The full series of Carl Frampton: On Probation will be available on BBC iPlayer from Monday 18 May.
"Obviously, if they stepped out of line, there was repercussions as well," Frampton added. "But the main objective is to rehabilitate people, and that's what they're trying to do."
The mental health of the probation officers is also highlighted in the documentary. "What they're having to deal with and the stories they're having to hear every time," explained Frampton.
While his professional career was boxing, Frampton said he enjoys presenting. "I'm not a reporter, I'm not a journalist, so I feel like I get a little bit more out of people, and they can maybe trust me a wee bit more and share more information a little bit freely, and I'm not gonna judge them. "I just wanna hear their stories, so I'll keep doing it as long as they keep asking."
The full series of Carl Frampton: On Probation will be available on BBC iPlayer from Monday 18 May.
This is what bbc does best when it puts its mind to it.
ReplyDeleteSocial work system
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect to Carl Frampton, he is an independent observer who states he knows little about the work of the probation service and yet he is able to identify causes and solutions which are employed and which make interventions work.
ReplyDeleteIf he can do this as somebody with no prior knowledge, how is it that ‘the leaders,’ remain blinkered.
Do they not see or do they claim to have a bigger vision?
If it is the latter, can they share it with the rest of us.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bridging-the-gap-omic-delivery-in-five-male-open-english-prisons
ReplyDeleteSocial work in NI not like the nonsense in England
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgrpdkevvnko
ReplyDelete"!Eleven members of staff have been sacked by an NHS trust for inappropriately accessing medical records of the Nottingham attacks victims....On Thursday, Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust confirmed it had dismissed 11 members of staff, while 12 had received final written warnings and two had first written warnings."
One of Ian Coates' sons said "Morbid curiosity and inappropriate voyeurism have become a huge issue, not just with the NHS, but with the Nottinghamshire Police force. The council, the mental health trust, the probationary and prison service amongst others. Unfortunately, the numbers continue to grow with each update we receive, and it is a huge kick in the teeth when we are already down,"
NHS draws a clear & umabiguous line. But what will happen to the probation staff who also accessed records without authorisation?
"The inquiry also heard seven probation service officers were identified as having accessed the information. HM Prison and Probation Service found four of those officers accessed files legitimately, but THREE did not have a legitimate reason to do so. However, it was deemed by the probation service and the Ministry of Justice's data protection unit that the breaches were not serious enough to warrant further action."
Oh.
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15836573/Widow-taking-late-husbands-firm-tribunal-sell-family-home-pay-case-settle-estate-2029.html
ReplyDeleteJust imagine if there was a trades union in probation who decided to take the employers to court for the problems they caused due to stress related illness and mental health problems.
There are precedents, all it takes is the willingness.
Accessing any record outside of your own work is gross misconduct . Your not paid to look at cases outside of your own allocated time that your paid for . NHS acted properly and got rid and the probation has a high bar to match all staff access records for gawping at should be gone once understood it will cease as staff appreciate the penalty v the risk.
DeleteNot necessarily. In probation you're encouraged to have professional curiosity, which includes looking at co-defendants files; individuals linked to cases, such as DV victims with previous partners linked to probation. Many of the cases that are high profile are already restricted taking the temptation away from you. Anything could be picked up in terms of keystroking but that would be very labour intensive. Equally some of the cases you'd expect to be restricted, haven't been. Sometimes looking at a case that you're aware of can bear fruit to improve your own OASYS risk assessment or overall practice. It's not about being people just being nosey, some of it can be helpful in terms of better management of a case, as a by-product of that curiosity. If you were to disclose the information to a third party to put someone at risk, then that's of grave concern. But that's a different intention.
DeleteCivil Service 26/27 pay remit - 3.5%
ReplyDeleteSadly that is less than the 4.9% council tax rise, 4.5% food inflation, 30% fuel rise, average 5% utilities rise as well as a host of other increases which impact on what disposable income we have.
DeleteHowever, I'm heartened by the fact that higher management recognise and are grateful for the work we do and I'm going to get through the next year with only that as succour.
Thank you HMPpS xxxx
Yet the employer will point to inflation at 2.8% (how, exactly!?!) as an example of the remit being 'generous'.
Deletehttps://www.irishlegal.com/articles/probation-service-launches-five-year-strategy-to-boost-lived-experience-participation
ReplyDeleteThe Probation Board for Northern Ireland (PBNI) launched its Service User Involvement Strategy 2025–2030 at Clifton House, Belfast, setting out a five-year plan to embed co-production and participation across probation practice, policy, and service improvement.
DeleteThe strategy builds on nearly a decade of work to involve people with lived experience of the justice system, including those who have offended and those who are victims. It commits PBNI to inclusive and ethical service user involvement, aimed at achieving better outcomes and safer communities.
At the launch event, attendees heard a strategic overview and took part in a 20-minute panel discussion on the benefits of service user groups, featuring service user, practitioner, and partner perspectives.
Launching, the strategy director of operations Gillian Montgomery said: “Service user involvement isn’t an add on – it’s essential to developing effective, and responsive services. This strategy is about listening, learning, and engaging with people who know the system best from lived experience, so we can improve outcomes and help change lives for safer communities.
“We’re committed to authentic, safe and inclusive participation—moving beyond consultation to co production where appropriate. You’ll see this through strengthened local service user forums, and the development of roles such as Peer Mentors to support service delivery and training.”
Tony, a service user attending the event said: “Being involved has helped me feel heard and respected, and it means services better reflect real needs. It’s not tokenism—our ideas are taken seriously, and we can see changes happening.”
Yet the majority will accept the 3.5% we're going to be offered!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.pbni.org.uk/files/pbni/2025-02/Probation%20Board%20for%20Northern%20Ireland%20Pay%20Scales%202024-25.pdf
ReplyDeleteIn a world where post custody supervision is a compulsory 12mth journey through the probation service, I find the following article extremely interesting.
ReplyDeleteWhat will be probations answer be to a new strain of political prisoner?
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2026/may/23/anti-protest-sentences-rise-england-wales-political-prisoners
'Getafix
Britain has created a new breed of political prisoners through the systematic incarceration of people acting to prevent climate breakdown and the annihilation of Gaza, a report claims.
DeleteThe research by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and the protest group Defend Our Juries says that custodial sentences for acts of direct action or civil disobedience were once rare but are now being imposed with increasing length and frequency.
Their report, which will be launched on Tuesday, points to an increase in anti-protest legislation in England and Wales, police powers and civil law injunctions brought by corporations and public bodies as well as judges removing legal defences and “exceptionally long” sentences.
In what they say is the first analysis of the jailing of “Britain’s new political prisoners”, the researchers identified 286 cases involving climate and Palestine-solidarity activists who were sent to prison for protest for a total amount of jail time of 136 years.
The average detention period in the 256 cases for which data was available was 28 weeks, with one in three protesters jailed for six months or more and one in five for more than a year.
David Whyte, the report’s co-author and professor of climate justice at QMUL, said: “These are exceptional sentences that are being used to apply to protests which are themselves profoundly political.
“So it’s clear that extreme sentences and the level of remand detentions [before trial] at an extreme level are being used to respond to one category of prisoners and that’s prisoners who’ve been detained because they’ve been involved in civil disobedience, direct action as a result of political protest. So there is something going on which is profoundly political. Very often those protesters are reflecting majority rather than a minority view.”
The report describes remand as “the first line of attack”, with the effect of chilling protest and civil disobedience. The researchers found that in 60% of cases, final sentences were more lenient than time already spent in custody awaiting trial. They highlight the “Filton 24”, who were charged with offences connected to a Palestine Action direct action protest at a factory near Bristol run by the Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems.
The accused spent up to 18 months in jail – the standard pre-trial limit is six months – before all but one were bailed after the first set of six defendants were cleared of aggravated burglary. Two out of those six were subsequently acquitted of criminal damage. Eighteen more defendants due to stand trial over the events at Filton still face other charges.
Contempt of court, where there is no jury trial, was found to account for 40% of cases of imprisonment. Contempt charges either arise from the conduct of a defendant in the courtroom, including where an order of a judge is breached (8% of total imprisonment cases), or where a civil injunction obtained by a private company or public authority to prevent protest is breached (32% of cases).
Whyte said: “The real danger is that you criminalise people for breaching something which is essentially a civil injunction. So that doesn’t start as a criminal offence but it ends up with a criminal penalty and that’s very concerning because it means that private companies, effectively, are imposing injunctions which lead to large numbers of people going to jail.”
DeleteThe report found that 69 people were imprisoned, including some for holding placards, after Warwickshire borough council obtained a high court injunction in 2022 in response to Just Stop Oil’s direct action campaign at Kingsbury oil terminal.
A judicial spokesperson said: “Judicial independence and impartiality are fundamental to the rule of law. Upon taking office, judges take the judicial oath where they swear to act ‘without fear or favour, affection or ill will’. In each case, judges make decisions based on the evidence and arguments presented to them and apply the law as it stands.
“Judges and magistrates sentence according to the law set by parliament and the sentencing guidelines set by the independent Sentencing Council, as well as the facts of each case which may have aggravating or mitigating factors.”
Thank you. An important post which helps highlight the current Labour Govt trait of pandering to industries responsible for or otherwise contributing to climate disaster, wars & genocide ("Multiple United Nations bodies and independent experts have concluded that Israel's warfare methods in Gaza are consistent with the characteristics of genocide").
DeleteClimate disaster? It's this type of nonsense that makes people switch off. There is no disaster, scaremongering hasn't and will never work.
DeleteThe evidence shows quite clearly that climate change is ongoing, extremely damaging and certainly feels like a disaster to those people who are facing the brunt of it. These changes will not be halted now and nothing will change this process. The people who will suffer the greatest from this disaster are being born today. Facts are facts and they aren’t interested in what you may think…
DeleteFrom the probation institute website.
ReplyDeletehttps://thinkingaboutprobation.substack.com/p/whats-the-price-of-a-pay-rise-in
'Getafix
Probation practitioners in England and Wales recently received a 6% pay rise, backdated to 1 April 2025. The increase was the product of a long pay dispute between the three unions which represent probation staff – Napo, Unison and GMB – and Government. It replaces the 3-year deal that was agreed in 2022 and led to awards of 3.2% at a time when inflation was as high as 11.2%. According to the three probation unions ‘the cumulative value of total Probation staff pay rises from 2010 till 2024 [was] 11%, [while] the cost of living [rose] by 81.2% over the same period’.
DeleteIt’s undoubtedly good news for staff who have long been in receipt of lower pay settlements than their criminal justice counterparts working in prisons or the police. The pay rise is one of the highest in the public sector for 2025 - which averaged 4% - so will go a small way to reducing the gap that has grown between different criminal justice institutions.
Napo and UNISON rejected the initial 4% offer, lodged formal trade disputes, and eventually secured 6% after what HMPPS describes a “protracted process.” This is a positive development, but I wonder what it says about the employer-employee relations for a workforce that is described in the Public Accounts Committee report as operating in a culture of ‘emotional strain and trauma’.
However, what struck me was the conditions that have been applied to the pay offer and I wonder what practitioners think about this, especially as the tone amongst some I’ve spoken to recently felt more like ‘too little, too late’.
The deal with HMPPS includes a commitment by probation staff and the unions to ‘work together on the modernisation of the probation service through Our Future Probation Service programme (OFPS)’. This includes policy reforms such as:
· Supervision packages;
· Online check-in;
· Justice Transcribe;
· Service centres;
· Revising case transfer policy;
· Implementing Sentencing Act reforms.
Call me a cynic but when policy reforms that are ostensibly about improving workloads and delivery models have to be bundled into a pay award as conditions, something doesn’t feel quite right. I’ve already written about Justice Transcribe and it’s clear that this is an organisational priority for HMPPS, with Dr Jo Farrar saying in a recent evidence session at the Justice Select Committee that:
We are rolling that service out at the moment, and it is already having a big impact on the probation officers who are using it—up to two and a half hours a day saved.
Online check-ins – also mentioned by Jo Farrar at the Justice Select Committee - are a big red flag for me: this sounds like a resurrection of the abandoned probation kiosks policy that was floated in the early TR period. I assume the idea is something to do with this Government digital marketplace concept which promises to support:
Probation Services to deliver remote supervision and mobile reporting. It integrates case management and reporting, enabling service users to check-in at agreed locations or offices via mobile device/kiosk. It features bio-authentication, appointment reminders, 2-way messaging, customisable forms, curfew checks, community service info, access to information and documents.
I’m also concerned by the ‘service centre’ idea. If this job advert for a PSO in the Norwich hub is any guide, these are remote working hubs where practitioners remotely supervise high caseloads of low-risk people. This doesn’t sound like the kind of relational, person facing probation work that people enter the service to do, nor the kind of practice that Jo Farrar talks about in relation to Justice Transcribe which ‘allows the probation officer to engage completely with the person in front of them and listen to them’. Rather, it makes me think of a form of Taylorism - the reduction of complex work to standardised, measurable tasks in the name of efficiency - that goes against what we know about effective probation practice.
Conclusion
DeleteThe 6% pay rise is welcome and long overdue - the cumulative gap between probation pay and the cost of living since 2010 is stark, and it was good to see the unions pushing back on the initial offer. However, the conditions attached to the deal are worth keeping an eye on. When a workforce that has been ground down by years of under-resourcing, impossible caseloads and a culture of emotional strain is asked to accept digital transformation as part of its pay settlement, I start to worry about who the modernisation is really for.
Justice Transcribe, online check-in and the other OFPS commitments may well improve efficiency, but efficiency is not the same as effectiveness, and a probation service that checks people in via a mobile app is a very different thing from one that builds the kind of relationships the literature on desistance tells us actually matter. The sardonic ‘too little, too late’ response I have heard from some practitioners may reflect a deeper scepticism about whether the system understands what good probation actually looks like and on this reading, I think I’m tempted to agree with them.
Jake Phillips
I voted against the offer for precisely this reason. Service centres will lead to PSO redundancies. The unions have already agreed to this by accepting the offer.
Delete"a probation service that checks people in via a mobile app is a very different thing from one that builds the kind of relationships ... that ... actually matter."
DeleteWhilst I'm not especially fussed what 'desistance tells us' (it was merely a modern reinterpretation of pre-existing good practice that allowed some canny bods to make a few quid), I am in agreement with the statement.
The 'new' direction - yet another elephant that the chronically myopic napo have failed to spot in the probation room - is one which will continue to change probation beyond recognition. It reduces staffing numbers overall, ultimately removing the need for a probation qualification and increasing demand for IT literate data processors who will manage large swathes of those subject to probation via 'online check-in'.
In short, it simply builds on the current trend, i.e. more PSOs, sufficient supervising SPO grades and far fewer qualified PO grades.
The evidence is in plain sight in HMIProbation documents:
West Midlands
Staffing level (staff in post FTE)
SPO PO PSO (inc. PQiP)
101% 92% 105%
Yorks & Humber
SPO PO PSO (inc. PQiP)
98% 79% 111%
East of England
SPO PO PSO (inc. PQiP)
91% 73% 118%
Greater Manchester
SPO PO PSO (inc. PQiP)
96% 72% 108%
South Central
SPO PO PSO (inc. PQiP)
100% 69% 115%
Kent, Surrey & Sussex (a transcribe justice pilot)
SPO PO PSO (inc. PQiP)
88% 64% 140%
East Midlands
SPO PO PSO (inc. PQiP)
88% 64% 140%
Enjoy your backdated 6% - if & when it lands. It might be the last pay rise you ever see.
What concerns me most is that when they told us about the 6% deal, they didn't tell all staff about the associated "conditions"....they did NOT make it clear to all that the new higher offer had "strings attached" and certainly weren't transparent about what those strings were. To force a union into accepting "workforce modernisation" without knowing the specifics of that modernisation is abominable! As jake quite rightly says, something smells fishy and I suspect that's because what we hsve voted for is a deprioritisation of what the probation officer role is and what the service is here to do. Supervision packages seems to be something akin to very limited one to one contact delivered via this weird SPARK thing thst suddenly dropped into our mailboxes the other week, in favour of crs services and group based interventions.....evidence based practice this is not...and yet now our hands will be tied with the threat "that's what you voted for in the pay deal"....
Delete"To force a union into accepting 'workforce modernisation' without knowing the specifics of that modernisation..."
DeleteSurely it was the unions' joint responsibility to appraise themselves of the specifics & make those specifics clear to members when presenting the 6% offer?
If they failed in their duty then refer them to the Certification Officer.
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/certification-officer
They're not going to fudge a 6% pay offer without demanding entrails along with the pounds of flesh they require. Even though it's their fault it's so long delayed, we can enjoy a decent payday for one month knowing full well that we would be shafted thereafter. We didn't vote for any of it., but the New Sentencing guidelines were always going to be about dumping more community cases on probation so the poor old prisons can have a rest. We kinda shoulda really have noticed that before signing away the pay deal we were railroaded into agreeing and then told how great it was without giving it more context or how long the delay was in the first place. They just concentrated on calculating the numbers and then told us look how lucky we are. It's dark arts. But they got what they wanted. Ohh, an increase in SSOs to 3 years... won't that be peachy? They give with one and shaft with the other. When someone tells you what they're like, believe them. This organisation is no different.
DeleteThe deception continues 'at pace':
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y83zpxj3xo
"A prison was hailed as "one of the most impressive" in the country two weeks after an inmate was found dead in his cell there... Nigel John Keenan died at HMP Haverigg on 13 March 2025, with a jury concluding "heightened stress and worry" ahead of his release probably contributed to his suicide and opportunities may have been missed by prison staff to assist him... Weeks later, between 31 March and 10 April, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (HMCIP) staff inspected the open jail in Millom, Cumbria, and praised it in their report for its safety and mental health support... HMCIP said: "Strong leadership by an experienced governor and his highly capable deputy meant that Haverigg was one of the most impressive jails in the country." "
2147 and 850 it was well reported on this blog that Napo would
ReplyDelete1 end up by saying over to members to decide.
2 that the deal would be improper
3 that the additional percentage was a trick
4 that Ian Lawrence would certainly have assisted them in the staging of a rejection then a acceptance of the revised with strings.
The whole thing so obvious to many applied in a way it is our fault. However it was well published in this blog to reject the stings deal and force Napo to continue action. Had we got to acas on a trades dispute they would have made it clear new talks on new work is a non related pay discussion. If Lawrence has any capacity he now has to challenge the legality of their off and have the strings withdrawn and open new talks or face workloads rejection as an action to be consulted to members . Ian Lawrence is not our friend he assists them .
Hi...I was 2147...to be clear i was criticising HMPPS....I saw nothing in their direct comms that made it clear that the 6% deal included conditions or what those were or what they meant....surely they should have, so that staff could have made an informed decision based on both what the unions AND the employers interpretation of these were, what they meant and their view on this transparent and clear from both parties?
DeletePeople are so focused on what rise.at they think they deserve in their pay packet they've neglected to consider the erosion and deprofisonalisation of the service itself.
DeleteIt's really not the workload or hours that command renumeration, it's the value of the service, and the contribution of those employed within it to that value that creates the bargaining power for higher and respectful renumeration.
Hate on me all you want, but I wouldn't have given a 6% payrise, because I think what this current model of probation, what it achieves, just isn't worth a 6% rise.
Probation has really lost its importance, and any future pay awards will only be below 2%.
,Getafix
Hi 2147 it was posted on here and that 2% extra was in condition that new restructure would be auto agreed. I'm not sure getafix is valuing the job down right now because we have to get back to what are trained for.
DeleteThanks 2143 I know it was and I saw it here too...but that's exactly my point! I saw it here, but the employer itself didn't make that clear and surely it was their duty to do so?
DeleteA lot of people on here show themselves up in the chat. What started as a blog about Probation on TV, turns into a moan on pay, time to grow up. Start a new chat on pay or at least offer something constructive. Digital is taking over, it's cost cutting and convenience. Accept it or move on
ReplyDeleteThat's a point but I was replying to what's been said as people do. This blog does meander through issues on everyone's minds or tensions. There has been some flashpoints but it is with editor to determine direction cuts and reprints. I love the blogs freedom to posters on all things probation related.
Delete0729 the blog doesn't allow us to "start a new chat" only the blog owner can do so. You've expressed your opinion that you are perfectly content with the pay deal and that "digital is taking over"...but i hardly see your comment "accept it or move on" as constructive either so you are the one who seems to be showing yourself up
DeleteYes, I recall the convenience argument when they rolled out computers. More time face to face and all that business. Unfortunately we know what happened. It was used as a cost cutting exercise which largely removed a layer of staff as we all became computer administrators. It could have been different but savings drove the changes and the rest is history. It’s more than likely AI will follow a similar path. A means of reducing staffing and in thrall to progress. Humans are astonishingly creative but so poor at application.
DeleteIntroducing computers was fine but getting rid of skilled secretaries was unforgivable.
Deletehttps://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/janice-nix-jail-brother-london-b1283676.html
ReplyDeleteA stepmother convicted of killing a five-year-old girl in a scalding hot bath was once a major drug dealer dubbed "Mama J" who later became an award-winning probation officer.
DeleteJanice Nix, 67, was found guilty on Tuesday of the manslaughter of Andrea Bernard, whom she forced into the bath in Thornton Heath, south London, on June 6 1978.
Ms Nix, of Clapham, south London, was also convicted of cruelty to Andrea’s brother, Desmond, between October 1975 and June 1978, when he was aged seven to nine.
Following the jury’s verdicts, full details of Ms Nix’s past – including her time as a drug dealer and her subsequent career – can now be reported, as detailed in her memoir.
During a life of crime, Nix would carry a gun, make drug deals worth tens of thousands of pounds, drive around Brixton, south London, in a white-leather-interior Vitara jeep with “Nasty Girl” written in red and silver on its side – and once served a nine-year prison sentence.
Andrea’s death was treated as an accident for nearly half-a-century until her brother Desmond Bernard contacted police with new information in September 2022, her trial at Isleworth Crown Court heard.
The year before the police investigation was launched, Nix published a book on her life titled Breaking Out and written with Elizabeth Sheppard.
She had been in a relationship with the children’s father, also named Desmond Bernard, and was in effect their stepmother.
The two victims and Mr Bernard Snr have been given different names in the memoir and there is no mention of one of the children dying.
The book indicates Nix was shoplifting while helping to raise Andrea and Mr Bernard, and suggests her criminal career escalated after her stepdaughter’s death.
It details multiple convictions including her first prison sentence – nine months in 1985 – for shoplifting, resisting arrest and failing to attend probation appointments.
While inside, she reflected: “Shoplifting? Dipping? What kind of pettiness was that? I was ashamed of the smallness of my crimes.
“I’d certainly learned from my mistakes, but what I’d learned was that I wanted to go harder – much harder. I made a big decision: as soon as I had done my time inside, I was stepping it right up. I was ready to rise to the next level.”
In 1992, she was jailed for nine years for possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply.
Yet Nix managed to turn her life around, and describes entering Parliament to give evidence to MPs on ex-offenders seeking employment, then winning the Probation Service’s diversity and engagement award in 2015.
Getagrip, Getafix. We work our asses off and try our best.
ReplyDeletehttps://insidetime.org/newsround/women-leaving-hmp-downview-to-homelessness/
ReplyDeleteIn their most recent report on HMP Downview, prison inspectors expressed concern at the high number of women leaving the jail to homelessness. They found that less than one quarter of those walking out of the prison gates had suitable homes already arranged, and 10 per cent left to homelessness or did not attend the housing they were allocated.
DeleteCharlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, said that “shortages in probation staffing both inside and outside the jail” led to “some high-risk and vulnerable women not having their post-release living accommodation confirmed until much too late”. Inspectors cited one outgoing prisoner having been allocated places in two different Approved Premises hostels which were both withdrawn just before her release day. She was then offered a last-minute hostel place but did not attend, and so was recalled to prison.
There was also found to be a lack of “through the gate” support from community-based resettlement agencies which impeded prisoners’ ability to “plan their outward journeys”.
The Ministry of Justice commented: “We are working more closely with the local councils responsible for tackling homelessness to improve outcomes for women leaving Downview, and help meet our target to end prison leaver homelessness by the end of this Parliament.”
NAPO MAG TODAY: Napo Opposes HMPPS Plans to Remove Access to the Workload Measurement Tool
ReplyDeleteNapo has strongly opposed HMPPS plans to withdraw practitioner access to the Workload Measurement Tool, warning the move undermines staff safety, workload management and employer accountability. This week HMPPS have advised staff of its plans to withdraw practitioner access to the Workload Measurement Tool (WMT), in advance of its removal in several months.
Napo has not agreed to these changes
We have been made aware of several untrue and incorrect statements having been made by regional senior managers to the effect that Napo, and other trade unions, have agreed to this. We have not and will not agree to these plans. It is now for any individual who has made these statements – whether out of ignorance or malice – to urgently account to staff why they have done so, retract their comments and apologise to their colleagues.
In earlier discussions that took place with the trade unions, Napo representatives have clearly and repeatedly explained to HMPPS figures the hugely negative impact their plans would have on the staff involved, and more widely in the workforce.
During these exchanges HMPPS have admitted for the first time that for a significant period the WMT underestimates the workload of the staff involved. They have failed to publicly acknowledge this in their communications on the future of the WMT, making only vague, and frankly misleading, comments on its accuracy.
These plans completely disregard previous agreements made between the employer and the trade unions on staff safety and care. HMPPS appear clueless as to how they now intend to meet their legal duty of care to monitor and manage individual workloads, for ‘sentence management’ staff and all other employees. They cannot adequately explain how they plan to provide workload reductions for staff requiring these, for instance as reasonable adjustments or as facility time for trade union representatives.
Despite claiming to value the importance of staff and their wellbeing, HMPPS have completely failed to ensure that an adequate mechanism to monitor and manage the workload of staff. HMPPS claim to have been aware that the Workload Measurement Tool (WMT) under-reports on the workload of staff but has not communicated that to its employees. They tell us that they have known that this will become worse due to changes planned under the employer’s heavily criticised and under-delivering Our Future Probation Service (OFPS) programme have not yet made sufficient plans to have a replacement in place.
Napo have, for months, been calling on HMPPS to agree to the joint ownership of the Workload Measurement Tool (WMT), including on any future version of this tool, and for its application to as many other workers outside of ‘sentence management’ as possible at the earliest opportunity.
We believe this is the only way for staff to have any confidence on this issue, given HMPPS’s consistent inability to adequately protect us in this regard, and be open and honest with us. Napo will now include demands for positive change, and a completely different approach by the employer, in relation to workload measurement and management.
We will be responding to a letter sent by the employer yesterday after they had decided to enact these changes, regarding industrial action in response to their failure to resolve our longstanding workloads dispute.
Have you seen the napo mag regarding WMT, Probation DG, and ACAS talks collapsing?
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