History > 2006 > UK > Prison (III)

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An honest day's graft

The prison service's 'can't do' culture is putting at risk attempts

to teach work skills to inmates and cut reoffending rates

G        Society        p. 6        6.9.2006

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2006/sep/06/
crime.penal 

12.15pm

Prison watchdog

damns Scottish jail practices

Thursday September 28, 2006
Press Association
SocietyGuardian.co.uk
The Guardian

A prison which houses 300 sex offenders has the worst conditions of any Scottish jail, according to a report published today.

The practice of "slopping out" at Peterhead prison in Aberdeenshire was branded a "disgrace", with some prisoners being locked in cells with their waste for up to 14 hours. In his annual report, Scotland's chief inspector of prisons, Dr Andrew McLellan, also attacked continuing uncertainty over the jail's future, stressing that a decision must be made.

The prison was commended for introducing single cells for all prisoners and fitting electrical power in each cell but Dr McLellan said: "Whilst these changes are important, it does not hide the fact that prisoners in Peterhead are living in the worst conditions in any prison in Scotland.

"The ending of slopping out in several prisons in the last two years has been welcomed in reports. Its continuation in Peterhead remains a disgrace. It is the worst single feature of prisons in Scotland."

The inspector noted a number of cells were very small and there was no access to sanitation in five of the seven units, just a chemical toilet which was emptied twice a week. The food and visiting arrangements at the prison were praised in the report as was the limited drug use at the jail and the good relationship between staff and inmates.

But Dr McLellan said he was concerned about the limited number of prisoners taking part in the jail's Stop rehabilitation programme and the limited number of opportunities for inmates to be prepared for release in the community.

In one of the report's nine recommendations, the inspector calls for a decision to be made over the jail's future. The move follows speculation Peterhead could be merged with Aberdeen's Craiginches to create a "super-prison".

Dr McLellan said the issue had been raised in last year's inspection and added that the "demoralising effect of uncertainty" had now been given another year to work. The inspector's recommendations also include the development of a suitable pre-release programme, further rehabilitation programmes to address the current waiting list and an allocated supervising social worker for every prisoner.

Responding to the report, the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) said getting rid of slopping out was "not a realistic cost-effective option", given the age and architectural structure of the prison, but that prisoners were able to access out-of-cell facilities as far as possible.

    Prison watchdog damns Scottish jail practices, G, 28.9.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/prisons/story/0,,1883091,00.html

10.15am

Cockroaches and no toothbrushes:

the Pentonville report

Thursday September 28, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Peter Walker

Inspectors found a long and troubling list of problems with Pentonville prison in north London when they carried out an unannounced inspection between June 7 and 16 this year.

The building was infested with cockroaches and other vermin; half the prisoners spent the bulk of the day inside their cells; and many complained of a lack of respect from prison officers.

Overall, the team of inspectors, working for the chief inspector of prisons, Ann Owers, noted "a failure to operate basic systems: a failure that was so endemic that prisoners at induction were told not to expect to have a pillow or to have their applications dealt with".

The 108-page inspection report, published today, acknowledged that the Victorian jail had a number of inherent problems, many due to its age. "Although much refurbishment has taken place, the original four cellblocks are as they were when the prison opened in 1842," the report said.

The failures cited by the report included:

· "Throughout our prisoner survey, responses to most questions were significantly worse than the comparator for other local prisons. Most worryingly, prisoners reported much poorer relationships with staff than at the last inspection, and there was an unusually high number of allegations of assault and victimisation."

· "Prisoners in our survey and in groups reported significantly worse relationships with staff than at the time of the last inspection. Only 43%, compared with an earlier figure of 64%, believed that most staff treated them with respect."

· "Unemployed prisoners, who represented half of the population, had only an average of 2.5 hours out of cell while employed prisoners were out for about seven. The average across the prison was about five hours, far less than the over eight hours the prison was reporting."

· "External areas of the prison were better cared for than at the last inspection. But many internal areas remained dirty and vermin-infested, and too many prisoners lacked basic requirements, such as pillows, toothbrushes - and, on one occasion, there was not even enough food to go round at the one cooked meal of the day."

· "Prisoners were very dissatisfied with the quality and quantity of food ... There was no pre-select choice, so religious and other special dietary requirements were not always met."

· "We were told that efforts were being made to eradicate pests but the prison was overrun with cockroaches and vermin. On our night visit, we found leftover meals and opened flour sacks in the kitchen attracting these pests."

· "Forty-two per cent of prisoners said it was easy to get illegal drugs in the prison, which was significantly more than in 2005."

· "First-night cells were better prepared. but there was no supportive first-night strategy and night staff did not know the location of new arrivals. In our survey, only 48% - against a comparator of 72% - said they had felt safe on their first night."

    Cockroaches and no toothbrushes: the Pentonville report, G, 28.9.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/prisons/story/0,,1882790,00.html

Inspector lists basic failures at prison

in corruption inquiry

Thursday September 28, 2006
Guardian
Alan Travis, home affairs editor

One of the UK's biggest Victorian jails is a dirty, vermin-infested institution where 40% of inmates have been assaulted or insulted by staff, according to an official inspection report published today.

Pentonville prison, where 14 staff were last month suspended on corruption allegations, is so poorly run that new prisoners were told on arrival not to expect to be given a pillow or a toothbrush, says the chief inspector of prisons, Anne Owers.

One evening during the inspection there was not enough food to go round at the only cooked meal of the day. She says the basic operations at the prison are at best patchy, at worst non-existent.

Her follow-up inspection carried out in July found that while external areas of the north London prison were better cared for, many internal areas remained dirty and vermin-infested, and overcrowding was so acute that it held 1,125 prisoners when it was only built for 897.

Staff-prisoner relations have worsened since her 2005 inspection and with five out of six recent suicides taking place within days of arrival, more prisoners said they felt unsafe on their first night. Only 43% said they were treated with respect by staff, compared with 64% a year ago.

"Fewer prisoners than in 2005 said they felt at risk from other prisoners, but many more felt at risk from staff. Forty per cent, compared with 29% last time, said they had been insulted or assaulted by staff," says Ms Owers, noting these figures are far higher than for many other local jails.

The chief inspector says that easy availability of illegal drugs inside Pentonville lies behind much of this fear of violence, but adds that some prisoners feared reprisals if they complained about ill treatment by staff.

Ms Owers confirms that "use of force" by staff was high and the recording of how and why it was used was inadequate.

At her previous inspection, the chief inspector found that prisoners were routinely locked in their cells for most of the day. She says it is commendable that they are now out of cells for more time, but the 140 unemployed prisoners are still locked up for 22 hours a day.

Michael Spurr, director of operations for the Prison Service, said Pentonville's senior management team had been strengthened and the governor was dealing firmly with allegations against staff. The operational capacity of the prison was temporarily reduced by 116 places after the 14 staff were suspended in the corruption inquiry.

    Inspector lists basic failures at prison in corruption inquiry, G, 28.9.2006, http://society.guardian.co.uk/crimeandpunishment/story/0,,1882609,00.html

Police cells ready as jail crisis looms

As the prison population approaches 80,000,
governors warn of chaos

Sunday September 24, 2006
The Observer
Jamie Doward, home affairs editor

Emergency plans to house convicted prisoners in police cells are being drawn up by the government as jails in England and Wales come close to overflowing.

The last time cells were used was in 2002 when 23 police forces were ordered to provide space for up to 600 inmates at a cost to the Prison Service of £10.4m.

A Home Office spokesman yesterday confirmed a plan had been drawn up to reactivate this scheme, Operation Safeguard, but stressed that 'the National Offender Management Service is doing everything it reasonably can to avoid' this. But while Home Office insiders stress the scheme is a last resort, they admit it now looks increasingly likely. On Friday the prison population touched 79,285 - just 1,015 places below full capacity.

Last week the director-general of the service, Phil Wheatley, told the prison governors' conference that the jails could only find room for another few hundred prisoners. This raises the troubling prospect that the prisons will be full in weeks leaving the Home Office with no room for manoeuvre. 'When we are full we are full,' Wheatley told the conference.

Last night the Prison Reform Trust issued figures showing that 88 out of the 142 prisons are operating above levels that the service accepts as allowing a decent standard of accommodation. Of these 18 are breaching their operating capacity, raising fears that security is being jeopardised, the trust said.

Juliet Lyon, its director, said the mounting crisis was caused by the government's enthusiasm for locking people up: 'The prison population is mushrooming out of control, the tabloids have the whip hand and the government is still trying hopelessly to build its way out of a crisis of its own making.'

Lucie Russell, the director of SmartJustice, a charity campaigning for community-based punishments rather than jail, said too many people were in prison for relatively minor crimes.

'We need prisons to keep us safe from dangerous and violent offenders but three out of five prisoners are serving time for non-violent crimes such as shoplifting,' she said. 'Many of these offenders are mentally ill and have major drug and alcohol problems.'

A Home Office spokesman disputed the trust's claims, saying there was often more prison space than the raw figures suggested because some inmates were out on home leave or for hospital appointments.

But with courts now sitting again after the summer, the total is expected to start rising in the coming weeks, triggering a crisis. 'The next month is going to be critical,' said Charles Bushell, leader of the Prison Governors Association. Plans to add up to 1,000 places - including the conversion of an army barracks near Dover into a jail - would have no impact until next year. 'By which time we'll have been in a bit of a mess,' he said.

The government also wants to release more prisoners on tagging orders to offset the crisis. But new figures obtained by the National Association of Probation Officers (Napo) show that the companies operating the scheme have been plagued by technical problems and communications breakdowns which mean violators are often not returned to court for breaching their orders.

In the 10 months leading up to last January, Group Four Securicor failed to meet its service levels 19 times, and its rival Serco did so 21 times. The failures brought the two operators large fines.

'By 2009, over £250m worth of probation business could be contracted out,' said Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of Napo. Yet the tagging scheme - 'the existing major private sector initiative - is expensive, fails to meet service level agreements and the orders are regularly breached'.

    Police cells ready as jail crisis looms, O, 24.9.2006, http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1879735,00.html

Many serious offenders

still not screened before release

· Inquiry finds police not always kept informed
· Management of freed high risk offenders 'patchy'

Friday September 8, 2006
Guardian
Alan Travis, home affairs editor

Nearly four out of 10 serious sexual and violent offenders released from prison on licence are being freed without being screened for their risk to the public, according to a report published today by official criminal justice watchdogs.

The investigation was ordered after a catalogue of disastrous failures in the supervision by probation and police officers of released serious offenders, culminating in the murder of the financier John Monckton at his London family home by Damien Hanson soon after he had been released early from a 12-year sentence for attempted murder.

The joint inquiry, carried out by the chief inspectors of probation, Andrew Bridges, the police, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, and prisons, Anne Owers, says that there is a "very patchy picture" in the way the criminal justice system manages high-risk offenders after their release.

They also found that more attention needed to be given to preparing offenders for release.

"In general, our findings reveal many encouraging examples of effective work, but there was a clear need for improvement in about one-third of the casework we looked at last year. While we found that much had been achieved, there were also many areas for improvement," the inquiry concluded.

Among the shortcomings identified by the inspectors is the finding that in 39% of cases a "risk of harm" screening had not been completed by the time a prisoner was released on licence, and occasionally there were very lengthy delays in their completion.

Even more worryingly, the inspectors found that "in only half of the relevant probation cases had a comprehensive management plan been completed on high and very high risk of harm offenders within five working days of their release from prison".

The failure to include any assessment of the risk that Hanson might reoffend in the report to the parole board that decided to release him was a key factor in the Monckton murder case. This was despite an earlier assessment that there was a 91% likelihood that Hanson would strike again.

The failure to undertake a rigorous risk assessment was also a feature of other recent high-profile cases.

The inspectors' inquiry also found that the police were not always advised of releases of prisoners on temporary licence and that there was little evidence in some cases of preparation for release.

"In a fifth of cases of prisoners just starting their sentences and just over a third of those prisoners about to be released, we found little evidence of positive, proactive and timely work between prisons, probation and police," the report says.

The inspectors acknowledged that the report was being published at a time of heightened public concern and rising expectations about public protection generally.

"Independent reviews of a small number of recent cases have clearly underscored the importance of effective offender management," they say.

"While it will never be possible to eliminate risk when an offender is being managed in the community, it is right to expect the work to be done to a consistently high standard," the inspectors conclude.

A Home Office spokeswoman said that since the report was completed a year ago the completion of risk assessments on the more serious offenders coming up for release had significantly increased and now exceeded official targets.

"Offenders in custody and the community are managed accordingly through risk of harm procedures, with resources concentrated on those who present the highest risk," she said.

High-profile cases

Financier John Monckton was murdered in November 2004 during a robbery at his Chelsea home by Damien Hanson, and accomplice Elliott White, while on probation. Hanson had been released on parole three months earlier after serving 12 years for attempted murder.

Naomi Bryant, 40, was murdered last August in Winchester by convicted sex attacker Anthony Rice, nine months after he was released on parole after serving 16 years of a life sentence.

Marian Bates, 64, a Nottingham jeweller, was murdered by robber Peter Williams in 2003, when he was electronically tagged by a private security firm and had already missed seven probation and police appointments.

PC Ged Walker, 42, was murdered by drug addict David Parfitt in 2003 while he was under the supervision of Nottinghamshire probation service after being freed on early release.

    Many serious offenders still not screened before release, G, 8.9.2006, http://society.guardian.co.uk/crimeandpunishment/story/0,,1867598,00.html

An honest day's graft

The prison service's 'can't do' culture
is putting at risk attempts to teach work skills
to inmates and cut reoffending rates

Wednesday September 6, 2006
Guardian
David Wilson

The government seems certain it has found the answer to help prevent offenders committing further crimes after leaving prison: find them jobs. It has been at the forefront of attempts to introduce "real work" projects into prisons. At the heart of such initiatives are the Reducing Reoffending Employer Alliance; the Business in Prisons Initiative, which aims to help offenders and ex-offenders to develop the skills required to start up their own businesses on release; the Custody to Work scheme; and local projects such as HMP Wandsworth's Learn2Earn project.

Some 1,500 prisoners are released on temporary licence every day to undertake paid work in the community, and about 500 companies already provide paid work for prisoners. Among them is National Grid; part of the Offender Training and Employment Programme, it has trained and employed more than 200 prisoners to date and aims to train and employ up to 1,000 offenders by the end of 2007.

Opportunities

The government formalised much of its thinking in a green paper last December, called Reducing Reoffending Through Skills and Employment. This states that government strategy in relation to reducing reoffending is to "focus strongly on jobs", and that "sustained employment is a key to leading a crime-free life".

Overall, when "looking forward", the green paper wanted to see "Enhanced opportunities for education and training [which] need to lead to skills and qualifications that are meaningful for employers and to stronger prospects of effective re-integration into society through work. Activity to improve individuals' employability while serving a sentence can be better connected to real job opportunities, with employers more involved in design and delivery of training."

A simple analysis of those entering and leaving our penal system suggests why the government has chosen to focus on work skills. Almost 70% of prisoners were not in work or training in the four weeks prior to going to prison, and 76% of prisoners did not have jobs to go to on release. The government calculates that as much as 18% of all crime can be attributed to former prisoners, at an estimated cost of £11bn a year. Thus, a strategy based on improving the employability of prisoners in tackling recidivism makes sense.

But what are "real job" opportunities in prison like? Can they deliver the results the government hopes for? And, what do prisoners and prison staff think?

For the past 12 months, I have been researching "real" work in prisons. While no one can doubt the government's sincerity in trying to make work inside more like work in the community, or deny the importance of its focus on helping prisoners to develop skills, the reality is that prison work - where it exists - is often mundane, repetitive and boring, and that employers who might want to go into partnership with prisons find the culture of jails and some prison staff so inward-looking that unless they are persistent, they simply give up.

The Howard League for Penal Reform, for example, in the past year has developed a design workshop, Barbed, in Coldingley prison in Surrey where the six prisoners employed on the scheme are paid a real wage, and have the same rights as other Howard League staff. Previously it had spent two years trying to get the scheme set up at The Mount prison in Hemel Hempstead. Frances Crook, director of the Howard League, says that "in the end, it was just impossible to make any progress [at The Mount]".

After a poor report by the chief inspector of prisons, Anne Owers, in 2004, the then governor at The Mount was moved and Crook "got the impression that they felt besieged and battened down the hatches. It made them risk averse. We could have helped them but they didn't want it.

"We got into detailed negotiations about prison regulations and the time that the prisoners could spend in the workshops - especially if they could work over lunch. It started to look as though they would only be allowed to work part-time, and we just couldn't create a commercial business with people working part-time. It was all done in the name of security. Prisons are very inflexible because of security, but often that's an excuse."

These "excuses" were not just given by the prison internally but also supported externally by the security culture at an administrative level within the the prison service. Indeed, Crook described how "once everything goes to Croydon - the administrative headquarters of the prison industries - it takes two years to come out again". Another employer we spoke to described the prison industries as having a "can't do culture", adding: "They want to prove that things can't be done."

What was true for the prison industries was also all too apparent to some prison staff, who clearly resented the opportunities that prisoners on real work schemes were being offered. The head of learning and skills at one prison described how she wouldn't consider introducing a real work scheme at the jail because she didn't want to see prisoners "taunted" by prison staff.

Prisoners told us the various forms that this "taunting" could take. For some, it was just "sarky comments. One [officer] said to me, 'This technology is wasted on you lot - you're scum.'" Other prisoners spoke of being deliberately locked up, or always being unlocked last so that they would be late for work. One prisoner described how staff "were always trying to dig at us".

Mind expanding

There was no doubt that prisoners employed on real work schemes gained enormously - and not simply from the real wage that they could earn, which allowed them to send money to support their families. One prisoner described how his work was "mind expanding - my brain has become active again". Another said: "I've learned skills in here that I'll be able to use on the outside - all prison work should be like this."

An inmate of Springhill prison near Aylesbury who works at the Oxford Citizen's Advice Bureau (CAB) told us: "The way the system treats you from beginning to end is what causes reoffending. By the time you get out of prison, you've lost your confidence. You don't see yourself any more. You look in the mirror and you say, 'Well - what am I now?' But if you have these work opportunities before you come out of prison then you have your confidence. You have a chance."

What is true for this prisoner could equally be true for others. If the government really wants to see progress on work in prisons, it seems that the prison service - and many of its staff - needs to recognise the value work can have for prisoners and, by helping them stay crime free on release, for us all.

· The report, Real Work in Prisons: Absences, Obstacles and Opportunities, by David Wilson and Azrini Wahidin of the Centre for Criminal Justice Policy and Research at UCE in Birmingham is available at www.lhds.uce.ac.uk/criminaljustice  or by calling Runjit Banger on 0121 331 6616.

An honest day's graft, G, 6.9.2006, http://society.guardian.co.uk/crimeandpunishment/story/0,,1865365,00.html