Custodial Review Magazine issue 72

Custodial the

Review

The Custodial Review informing the Prison, Border Agency and Police Services Edition 72

It’s not just a prison cafÊ see page 12 Eoin McLennanMurray, President of the PGA, two years on, see page 8

The staff gym at Full Sutton, see page 22

Prison Technology Services (PTS), founded by exprisoner Derek Jones, see page 28

www.custodialreview.co.uk For thousands of products, services and links

Fireworks Fire Protection installs world’s first LPS 1223 approved fire suppression system in The Clink at HMP Brixton.

Fireworks are pleased to announce that they are installing the Hydramist® 15ampu kitchen fire suppression system. It’s the world’s first LPS1223 approved watermist fire suppression system and it protects the deep fat fryers on the site. The Clink Restaurant is situated in the old Governors house that has been used recently as administration offices within the grounds of the prison and has been replaced with a three-storey restaurant and meetings venue, which is due to open in the next few months.

trusts and philanthropic individuals to build future Clink restaurants and each training restaurant relies on the income from diners and donations to operate.

Edmond Tullett, Governor, HMP Brixton says: “Brixton is more than delighted to host the third Clink training restaurant in the Regency Roundhouse which dates back to 1819. The restaurant will provide an unforgettable experience for customers and an unrivalled opportunity for prisoners to acquire marketable skills that will lead to local jobs and provide a pathway to a better life.”

The kitchen will be operated by prisoners who will take on full-time positions within the restaurant under the guidance of a tutor chef and restaurant manager.

Fireworks design and install specialist high pressure watermist fire suppression systems to meet a large number of different applications for the Custodial sector and have over 150 installs throughout England and Wales. As a distributor for the Hydramist product range they are now able to offer systems to cover the risk of fire in prison kitchens with the latest installation just complete at HMP Peterborough.

The Hydramist® 15 AMPU offers fast and effective extinguishing of catering equipment fires, is safe for people and the environment and dramatically reduces the spread of smoke from a fire.”

Kitchen Fires:The Problem

The restaurant will follow The Clink’s Five Step Programme that has been successfully implemented at the award winning and successful Clink restaurant at HMP High Down in Surrey, educating prisoners and equipping them with the skills and tools to secure employment upon their release.

Chris Moore, chief executive of The Clink Charity believes Brixton will cement the future for further Clink restaurants. “Brixton was the perfect site for our next restaurant. HMP Brixton is undergoing a regeneration project and was looking for an organisation to work with to develop the building into an opportunity for rehabilitation. The central location lends itself to securing support from local businesses and members of the public, providing they are committed to The Clink’s vision and once the necessary security checks have been processed, providing real-life experience for those prisoners who make it through the selection process to join the programme.”

In 2012 the charity agreed a partnership with Her Majesty’s Prison Service (HMPS) who supports the charitable initiative in a bid to open a further seven Clink Restaurants over the next four years. The charity is solely reliant on the generous support of the industry, charitable

Until now restaurant and commercial catering fryers have used dry powder or wet chemical fire suppression systems. Whilst effective at initially suppressing and extinguishing the fire these traditional systems offer little or no cooling resulting in a prolonged return to production for the kitchen. Additionally they leave a large amount of potentially hazardous residues from the chemical based fire equipment and surrounding areas which must be cleaned up before cooking can re-commence.

This leaves a restaurant without a kitchen during this period.

Kitchen Fires:The Solution The Hydramist® 15AMPU uses atomised tap water at high pressure to quickly and effectively extinguish the fire and prevent re-ignition by cooling the oil and hot surfaces. The Hydramist® system’s very fine droplets of water turn to steam upon contact with the flames.

The steam created then smothers and extinguishes the fire in under 10 seconds. After extinguishing the fire the mist continues to cool the oil and hot surfaces to below ignition temperature in less than 30 seconds preventing re-ignition of the fire. After activation next to no clean-up is necessary as only clean water is used allowing the kitchen to be back in operation extremely quickly (in most cases within minutes). A further advantage of this system is that smoke is prevented from spreading throughout the kitchen and into other areas as the smoke particles from the fire are captured by the watermist droplets and the smoke is washed out with the fire. The Hydramist® 15AMPU uses a high pressure pump connected to the kitchen water supply resulting in a system that can run for as long, or short, as required. The Hydramist® 15AMPU Kitchen Fire Suppression System offers a cost effective, fast reacting solution to this fire risk. Using a wall mounted Hydramist® pump also eliminates storage issues associated with traditional fire suppression equipment.

For more information on the Hydramist® 15AMPU please call Lee Haines on 01953 458420 or email lhaines@fireworks-ltd.com

Contents Issue 72

2

News

8

Eoin McLennan-Murray, President of the PGA, two years on

12

16

It’s not just a prison café More news

22

The New Staff Gym at Full Sutton some years later....

26

Avoiding the relock shock: the latest on key management & access control

30 Latest press releases from

The Howard League

28 Here’s how Secure Payment

Services, a Digital Service,

will help cut back officer time,

improve security and help

friends and family 30

Editorial Sales: Tracy Johnson Tel: 01234 348878 sales@custodialreview.co.uk Administration: Lyn Mitchell

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Product news

The publisher will consider financial reimbursement for relevant articles. If you have an article, or wish to compose one, on a relevant topic then please contact the publisher on stevem@pirnet.co.uk. Its subject to acceptance so please contact prior to starting and will appear on the Custodial website.

Custodial Review is now accepting articles from serving officers and staff within the whole custodial industry.

All articles will appear on the Custodial website and will appear in the magazine subject to the Publishers discretion. Approx length 1500 to 2000 words. We are also pleased to accept news and information.

Please contact the Publisher, Steve Mitchell, stevem@custodialreview.co.uk or on 01234 348878 for more details.

Design/Production: Amanda Wesley Publisher: Steve Mitchell The Publisher holds all copyright and any items within may not be reproduced in any way, for any purpose, without the written permission of the Publisher.

This publication contains Crown Copyright material reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.

Copyright: the Custodial Review Published by Review Magazines Ltd, 53 Asgard Drive, Bedford MK41 0UR. Tel: 01234 348878 Fax: 01223 790191 E-mail: info@custodialreview.co.uk Website: www.custodialreview.co.uk HM Prisons Executive and the Home Office do not sponsor or in any way support this Publication in any substance, commodity, process, equipment, editorial or service advertised or mentioned in this book, nor are they responsible for any inaccuracy or statement in this publication. Whilst every care has been taken to ensure accuracy, the information contained within, this publication is based on submissions to the Publishers who cannot be held responsible for errors or omissions. The Publishers cannot be held responsible for any article, advertisement, picture or photograph supplied

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Offenders to pay more towards victim support services

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New system of restraint for managing people safely during immigration removals

Criminals will pay up to £1.5 million more per year to help victims recover from the devastating effects of crime,Victims’ Minister Mike Penning has announced.

Ministerial statement Immigration and Security Minister James Brokenshire.

The victim surcharge, which has already raised around £51 million since 2010, will be extended so that offenders given a custodial sentence in the magistrates court will now be ordered to pay the surcharge.

I am announcing that I have formally approved a new restraint system for safely managing people being escorted during immigration removals.

The money raised is then used to help victims of rape, domestic violence, families bereaved by murder and fatal road traffic crimes.

Victims’ Minister Mike Penning, said:

This fulfils a commitment by this government to provide training for escort staff that reflects the environment they work in, both in-country and overseas. The bespoke training is tailored to the experience and behaviour of detainees and staff in immigration removals and provides practical tools to de-escalate situations and minimise the use of restraint.

“It is only right that offenders should pay both for their crimes and to help repair the damage they have done.

“I want all victims to get the support they need and deserve, whether through counselling, help through the criminal justice process or another form of support.

“The money being raised through the surcharge is already being put to use in some ground breaking ways to help people move on with their lives as much as possible. I am pleased we are bringing in these changes and raising more money for victims.”

Previously offenders sentenced in the magistrates court could be given extra days in prison instead of paying the surcharge, however the government has brought in the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to prevent this and ensure criminals were made to pay.

The new system has been assessed by the Independent Advisory Panel for Non Compliance Management, chaired by Stephen Shaw. The panel was established to provide support to the National Offender Management Service in the design of the new training package, to provide independent advice on the quality and safety of the new package, in particular on the use of restraint techniques.

The extension will come in from 1 September, and will see those sentenced to 6 months or less ordered to pay £80, and £100 for those given between 6 and 12 months imprisonment by magistrates. It is expected it will apply to 43,000 cases per year. This change is the final reform pledged by the coalition in its bid to make offenders pay more to help their victims.

The report by the Independent Advisory Panel for Non Compliance Management is welcomed by the government. The report recognises the balance to be struck between treating detainees with respect and minimising the need for restraint, with our responsibility to enforce immigration law, which sometimes requires the use of physical intervention.

It is the latest in a number of changes introduced by this government to make more money than ever before available support victims of crime.

Next year there will be a potential total budget of up to £100 million, doubling Ministry of Justice’s previous spending of around £50 million per year. A further £12 million raised through the victim surcharge and other fines has recently been allocated to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) on top of their budgets for next year, specifically for innovative projects to support victims. This will allow for schemes to be set up in line with the local need in that area.

After careful consideration of the panel’s comprehensive assessment of the quality and safety of the new system, the government has accepted all of its recommendations. The new training for overseas and in-country escort staff will begin implementation on 28 July 2014.

Appointment of new Forensic Science Regulator announced The Home Office announced the appointment of a new Forensic Science Regulator. Dr Gillian Tully will replace Andrew Rennison, whose term of office will come to an end next month.

The Forensic Science Regulator is an independent role responsible for establishing and enforcing quality standards for forensic science used in the investigation and prosecution of crime. Dr Tully’s three-year term of appointment will start on 17 November 2014.

A self-employed consultant in forensic science, providing advice on casework, expert training and quality systems, Dr Tully previously spent 23 years working in the Forensic Science Service, which included a four-year period as Head of Research and Development.

Norman Baker, Minister for Crime Prevention, said: Dr Gillian Tully has the experience and judgement necessary for this important role, dealing with those who deliver forensic service, the industry and government.

I should like to record the government’s appreciation to Andrew Rennison for his contribution in successfully introducing the first set of quality standards in forensic science.

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I am placing a copy of the full report of the Independent Advisory Panel for Non Compliance Management and the government’s response to the report in the Library of the House. A redacted version of the Manual for Escorting Safely and supporting guidance will be published in due course.

Cedars pre-departure accommodation and overseas family escort - well managed but more to do Cedars is a high-quality, well managed institution but more should be done to reduce the stress of removal, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons. When he published the report of an unannounced inspection of the pre-departure accommodation near Gatwick.

Cedars provides pre-departure accommodation for families subject to immigration control who are being removed from the UK. This was its second inspection. Forty-two families had been held there during 2013 for an average of just over three days. Inspectors accompanied families under escort to and from the centre from the point of initial arrest.

Inspectors also inspected the progress of a family from the point of arrest by immigration officers to the point they arrived in their home country following an escorted removal flight.

The important role that Barnardo’s staff played in the centre had been maintained and helped to ensure that the needs of children were uppermost in the minds of all staff.

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Joint strategy to reduce the number of young people who offend The Welsh Government and Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (YJB) launch their Youth Justice Strategy The strategy, ‘Children and Young People First’1, gives clear guidance to those delivering youth justice services on how to prevent offending and reoffending by children and young people, and meets a commitment in the Welsh Government’s ‘Programme for Government’.

Lesley Griffiths, Minister for Local Government and Government Business said: ‘First and foremost, our approach to youth justice is to treat those involved, or at risk of becoming involved, in offending behaviour as children and young people first and offenders second.

‘We made a promise to consider what more needed to be done to strengthen policies in education, housing, substance misuse, health and social services.

‘This promise covered a pledge to ensure greater accountability of all partners in relation to children and young people in the youth justice system. The strategy seeks to improve services to better meet the needs of children and young people who are at risk of entering, or who are already in, the youth justice system.

‘Young people involved in persistent offending and risky behaviours are overwhelmingly the most vulnerable in our communities. They require support to prevent them from further offending and it is for this reason we are working to ensure better support for these young people.’

Lord McNally, Chair of the YJB, said: ‘This strategy supports our joint commitment to provide a youth justice system in Wales that prevents crime and protects communities.

‘By promoting ways to reduce reoffending, and improving the outcomes for an often challenging group of young people, this strategy helps us continue to make impressive reductions in the number of firsttime entrants and under-18s in custody.’

‘Children and Young People First: Welsh Government/Youth Justice Board joint strategy to improve services for young people from Wales at risk of becoming involved in, or in, the youth justice system’ the Custodial Review

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Ixion Holdings announces a new funding stream for its Veteran’s service “Live At Ease” The new service commissioned by NHS England as a 12 month pilot will have a remit of Early Intervention within the Criminal Justice system focussing on Custody Suites and Courts.The project has already commenced across Cheshire and will go live across Lancashire from the 2nd June.This work builds on the hugely successful North West pilot project commissioned in April 2012 by the NHS which was available to any veteran of the Armed Forces and their family members and did include a Criminal Justice Element.

The new contract is specific in supporting the Liaison and Diversion initiative which supports those arrested under suspicion of committing an offence by the Police Authorities. Live at Ease will work closely with the existing Custody Suite Agencies, Police, Probation , legal teams, Health Professionals and Courts to Assess the Health and Social needs of Individuals which may impact on their offending behaviours. The Assessment will provide key information prior to sentencing which may better inform the judicial process.

The key Interventions supported will be:Housing; employment; debt and finance; family matters; welfare and benefits; health and wellbeing including mental health and learning disabilities; and substance misuse.

Live at Ease will collaborate with existing partners within the custody suites and provide a wrap around service ensuring that the needs of each individual are managed with

the appropriate outcomes. The role is not to duplicate but to augment existing services and work with all agencies.

The service will have appropriate Governance through the management of the contract from NHS England and will work with several military charities as well as statutory and voluntary services in providing the very best of available Interventions. The pilot is one element of a range of services currently being commissioned by NHS England to support the overall “Transformation and Rehabilitation of Offenders Agenda” and specifically focussing on the veteran as a unique and key group of people. Live at Ease will encourage all agencies to establish the principle of “Asking the Question” within all assessment procedures to ascertain an individuals service within the Armed Forces. It is envisaged that through providing a one point of access into support services, managing the case journey and ensuring positive engagement and outcomes this will form part of a positive process in reducing re-offending.

The pilot will operate for 12 months and will feed into future initiatives which Commissioners will value when the new Criminal Justice operating structures are in place mid 2015.

If anyone would like to discuss the delivery model or require any further information on this project please email Mike True – Head of Service, Michaelt@ liveat-ease.org.uk Or telephone mobile 07720 096319

Dualway – the unique anti-barricade door solution Since its launch the unique DUALWAY Anti-Barricade door system from Cooke Brothers has already generated a huge amount of interest leading to a surge in business for the company from a number of industry leading names operating in the specialist Custodial, Secure Units, Mental Health and Hospital Healthcare sectors.

Designed to suit either new build or retrofit applications where individual doorsets are required within an existing facility, the Dual Way Door System provides unrestricted and immediate access into a room in a situation where a patient has barricaded himself or herself in.

The Dual Way system utilises a frame within a frame principal, allowing for a standard 44mm or 54mm doorset to be mounted within a secondary high security steel outer frame. In everyday use the standard inward opening doorset operates as a normal door, providing full 90-degree access using a purpose designed full height Anti-ligature continuous hinge. The outer frame is produced from preformed steel providing rigid support, whilst the high level of security engagement is by means of purpose design heavy duty mechanical hook bolt locking as standard or with the option of an electronically powered locking system where required.

In an emergency or barricaded door situation the door and inner frame can be quickly released enabling the complete doorset to swing outwards allowing immediate entry into the room. Access is achieved by releasing the dual hook locks mortised into the outer frame and operated by unique security profile keys or where specified via an electromagnetic access control system.

To discover more about the unique DUALWAY Anti-Barricade Door System please contact the sales team at Cooke Brothers Ltd on 01922 740011. Email: sales@cookebrothers.co.uk or to view the latest DUALWAY video by visiting the web site www.cookebrothers.co.uk Page 6

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Eoin McLennan-Murray, President of the PGA, two years on greater emphasis on staff making sure of them not coming back. What do we actually have?

Eoin McLennan-Murray last spoke to the Review as the President of the PGA, two years ago when the spending cuts were beginning to bite and their effect was beginning to be noticed. He had expressed some high hopes that the financial pressures could produce some really radical policy shifts. I wanted to know if his hopes had been realised. I met with him at HMP Coldingley where he is now the Governing Governor.

Custodial Review, The last time we spoke you were ‘only’ wearing the President of the PGA’s hat, now you are wearing an additional very large hat as you are now the Governor here. What’s developed that brought this about?

Eoin McLennan-Murray (EM) The Cabinet Office issued new instructions about how much of the taxpayer funded time could be spent on union and association duties. The new rules state that the maximum is 50%.

This would mean that unless the Association is prepared to fund my entire salary then I can only work on its business for half of the time.

The only posts that can be done part time are usually found at Headquarters and they are few and far between at my level of experience and grade and I simply wasn’t interested in the work such a post would entail. So just over a year ago I decided that I would return to a job I’ve done successfully in the past. It’s a full time role and so I fit in the work of the President around it.

CR Two years ago we discussed what the budget restrictions could bring, one of them was it could bring around a slimmer prison system with less people locked up and with a the Custodial Review

EM Just the opposite, the population has grown faster than was originally predicated.

We have less staff facing prisoners as two layers of management have been replaced with one, Principal and Senior Officers have been replaced by Custodial Managers. Under benchmarking, when the system has been fully rolled out, we will have reduced our Prison officer headcount by 30% and will have increased the Officer Support grades. The result of all this is that Officers now have a lot more non prisoner facing tasks to do in their working day. This removes them from being face to face with the inmates as often as before. It’s that contact that underpins the safety, security and decency that underpins all the good work we do in the prisons.

Many prisons have not yet reached the staffing levels that Benchmarking requires; this is due to recruitment difficulties. This makes an already tight staffing level worse and has removed any resilience in the manning levels.

A bed watch added to a slightly increased level of staff sickness will result in us having to close some of the regime in order to cover the watch. This isn’t conducive to tackling reoffending, which is essential in reducing prison population long term.

CR You also said you hoped the financial pressures would bring about more autonomy for Governors as there will be far less structure above them. Did it or has more centralisation bought about a service that’s heading towards a universal franchised ‘McPrison’ like system?

EM No, we have had far more centralisation of decision making. Budgets, HR policy, regime innovations, staff deployment and the establishment mix of grades are all determined by central policy, they can be deviated from however it’s a very bureaucratic process. If someone wants to introduce an innovative intervention policy it’s still possible but it’s a longer more convoluted process. It still happens and that goes to show that even in such a tightly controlled environment innovation can still be achieved if the people driving it have the tenacity.

New ideas can be pushed up the line for approval at HQ and have been successful.The drive to improve outcomes by introducing something new has always been very strong, however it’s more challenging to do now than it’s ever been.

CR The Private sector is being brought in even more to join the work against recidivism, is an entirely good thing in the eyes of the PGA? EM From a professional point of view anything that can achieve a reduction in reoffending is something we will support.

Ideally we would like to be involved in the selection of such participants and interventions as we have a unique understanding of what is effective and what’s not. So input would be something we would wish to have more of.

The private sector has advantages we do not enjoy; they are less bureaucratic and have fewer constraints than we do in the Service and we fully support the efforts that produce results and in my opinion the jury is still out on Payment by Results. The creation of the new Community Rehabilitation Companies that are then to be sold off to the private sector concern me as I do not have any idea what they intend to do to achieve the required aims of reducing reoffending. We don’t know who the successful bidders are or what they are proposing as it’s considered to be ‘Commercial and in Confidence’. We had a meeting here with some of the bidders and I was unable to respond to any of them as they were not prepared to discuss their ideas for fear of them being leaked to other bidders. I’ll be very interested to see what it is that they can come up with and if it’s anything that we have not already thought of. Once they are appointed we will know what they propose and what we have to do to work with them in partnership to deliver their programmes and meet their agreed objectives. The decision is due out later this year and I’m awaiting it with a great deal of interest.

CR Andrew Selous MP is the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Minister for Prisons, Probation and Rehabilitation and also an Assistant Whip, in a Coalition Government. Is that a satisfactory situation?

EM I’m not entirely sure just how much work an assistant Whip is however the Prison Minister Probation and Rehabilitation used to be a full time role under Jeremy Wright. It’s a very varied area and with all the changes that are going on in it at present makes it a big brief for any Minister to get into without the additional work of another role.

CR The political issues regarding not having short sentences, you described it as being a result of the politicos wanting to be seen to be tough on crime. We spoke about Kenneth Clarke’s speech when he advocated their removal. Are we going to be getting less short sentences?

EM No, I’m not aware of any reduction in them, the revolving door population who are mostly a result of acquisitive crime and continues overleaf

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When it comes to safety, Carpenter SuperSafe pillows are the safe and secure choice for 100% of the UK’s publically operated HM Prisons.

As the number one name in custodial bedding, Carpenter prides itself on its constant levels of innovation and recycling credentials for all products designed specifically for the demanding environments of prison cells, custody suites and immigration centres.

As a result of stringent testing, all pillow composites comply with the highest fire performance, meeting the full requirements of BS7175 Section 2, including ignition sources 0, 1 and 7. Independent testing of pillows is conducted annually at a UKAS accredited independent test laboratory and certification subsequently issued.

National sales manager for Carpenter Fireseal, Richard Harris said: “Safety should be the primary consideration of any product, especially for those used in high risk environments.

“Fire performance is key and designed into our SuperSafe pillow collection using technology gained from our mattress range. By incorporating our Fireseal foam into pillow cores it allows maximum evacuation time in the event of a fire in a prison cell, saving lives.

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Carpenter also produces mattresses to fire standard BS7177 Very High Hazard including FTS15 with the range including vandal resistant and Polytran wipe clean covers. Carpenter supplies 100% of the UK’s publically operated HM Prisons and now has a significant share of the private prison and custody cell market. Its zero waste system - recycling used mattresses and pillows – has saved the Ministry of Justice in excess of £1m per year on landfill costs.

For further information on Carpenter’s Supersafe range contact: info.uk@carpenter.com Page 9

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Eoin McLennan-Murray drug dependency are still moving through our system and driving the high reconviction rate. They also drive the high victim rate. Ken Clarke’s brave speech has not been followed up by his successor and there is no demand from the top down to alter sentencing policy.

The right wing of the Conservative party seems to have won the argument. Though perhaps that’s unfair as the Labour party did nothing to reduce the prison population during their tenure.

CR Mental health management was something that you felt was improving when we last spoke, is that still the case?

EM There have been improvements, the Diversion schemes have developed in reach schemes that are functioning well. However we still lock up mentally ill people who should be under psychiatric care. The huge grey area of personality disorder patients is still an issue.

We need to determine at which point on the scale someone becomes a mental care patient as opposed to a control issue that should be managed in a prison. There are still too many people who have been diagnosed with a mental illness being locked up in the prison. It is just not the right place for them to be.

CR What’s the solution, back to the asylums of years ago?

EM That model was disbanded and replaced

by Care in the Community, which some quarters are very critical of. I have seen that since the asylums closed we have seen a large increase in prison numbers who have mental health issues.Years ago they would not be held in prison. In an ideal world more medium secure psychiatric units would be built that could accommodate and treat these people.

CR Locking up young people.You said this was an issue that needed to be tackled at source, long before the criminal justice system became involved. What’s the situation two years on?

EM We are locking up less young people and this is a good outcome. Although we now have a more concentrated mix of young serious and violent offenders. This is due to the gang culture that seems to be pervasive.

It’s prevalent within the prisons and fights will break out simply because two people are part of different gangs. When I worked with Borstal boys years ago we used to have fights break out, young people are quick to anger and just as quick to calm down. Back then the usual injuries were a bloody nose or a black eye.

These days its far worse, once a participant is down they can expect to be stamped upon and in all likelihood be seriously injured. Even in full view of CCTV cameras hard core violence is common. This is the mentality we have to contend with in some of our young offender institutions and it’s bought into them by the young people who already participate in gangs the Custodial Review

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in the outside. These people are so involved in the culture that all we can do is hope to contain them whilst they are in our custody.

Changing their behaviour is an incredibly challenging task so action before they reach this stage is essential if they are to avoid it.

This involves stopping truancy, improving and supporting aspirations and tackling the environment that produces this core of very vulnerable and violent individuals. There are initiatives, however the scale on which they must be done is huge and we have to make it a priority.

It has to involve the life ambitions of young girls so that pregnancy isn’t their best career choice. It must address disillusioned youngsters who don’t see a future for themselves in regular society because they do not have the skills to succeed in it. So they turn to gang culture as it is an attractive option that gives them a sense of belonging and purpose. It has to involve the parents too as low aspirations are easily passed down the generations.

Parents with criminal records and poor employment chances are most likely to pass these lifestyle choices onto their children.

It’s the kids who are about to go off the rails that we need to tackle so that they do not produce another generation. It’s not a quick fix, its 15 years work at least, but there really isn’t an alternative.

CR With your PGA hat on what makes you most fearful when you look at the UK Justice system?

EM Per capita we lock up twice as many as some of our European neighbours. These are not lawless countries, Germany, France and Italy are not dangerous places to live.Yet they lock up far less people than we do. We have a love affair with custody in this country and we know that people who are put into the criminal justice system usually do not recover from that because of the stigmatisation it creates. In Spain they have their criminal slate wiped clean at 18. They understand that kids can go off the rails but they can learn from it and Spain realises that it’s not conducive to a child’s integration into society for childhood mistakes to affect the rest of their lives. In this country childhood mistakes follows you until death and stacks the odds against you for life.

So the more people you put into the Criminal Justice system then the greater the problem Page 10

becomes with time. They are disadvantaged by childhood errors all their lives and their children will be too. So it becomes a selfperpetuating cycle.

I think they should have sorted the legacy of indeterminate sentences, that is an open sore that is festering away deep in the system. I’m also saddened that with all the pressures we face that we are still putting money into programmes that do not reduce offending and really only make things worse. We have missed a great opportunity to slay a few sacred cows, like locking so many people up.

The budget pressure was huge and it could have been another good reason for taking a brave decision and changing policy on short sentences, I consider it was an opportunity missed and was the result of a lack of courage by the present government. They placed a restriction on pay in the public sector which was very unpopular. Why didn’t they take a fundamental decision on custody that would have had a long term benefit and saved a lot of money too?

CR Looking at it from the other direction, what makes you think,Yes, we are getting there?

EM There are a lot of positives. Some of our establishments are becoming working prisons where a lifestyle of a normal working life is being instilled into people who have never known what it’s like to hold down a regular job. Here at Coldingley we try to run a system where they get up and go to work for seven hours every day. It’s as much as we can squeeze into the regime and we arrange it like recreational activities are done outside working hours. This is an attempt to normalise what happens here with the outside world. This generates a sense of purpose and a routine that will help them keep a job when they are released. We also have very effective programmes to address negative behaviour, these work, the problem being that we do not have enough resources to deliver them to everyone that would benefit. So we never reach a critical mass where the results would be self-evident.

We have come a long way with the decency agenda, it’s such a cornerstone of how we run the prisons and contributes enormously to the progress we have made over the last years. The investment in the prison estate is also a major improvement the new prisons and house blocks have made conditions far better. The war on drugs is the big one; more senior and influential people are recognising that there has to be a new policy approach to the now discredited ‘War on Drugs’. If they can continue it and make it really stick it’s a programme that will tackle the major source of short term sentences.

CR Thank you for talking to the Review again.

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It’s not just a prison café It’s called Café Britannia, but not a café it’s a well-appointed restaurant-cum-coffee shop that serves a wide variety of food from readymade baguettes to Burgers, Omelettes and Linguine Bolognese. Its good, uncomplicated food that’s prepared very well.

Drinks are a choice of soft and hot and the coffee is especially good.

I didn’t make myself known until after I had eaten because I wanted to just eat, watch and be another paying customer. The food is cooked to order and is tasty, hot and fresh.

It can take a while to arrive at busy times however it’s worth the wait. Whist I watched my fellow diners enjoyed a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere and I could have been in an up market café - diner in the town centre.

The place is spacious and the tables have room around them. Patrons were from across the spectrum, mothers with young children, businessmen having meetings, couples meeting for lunch, cyclists stopping en route and a publisher who sat in the corner and watched. I was probably the only person there who was actively thinking I was in an inmate staffed establishment.

tells them. She has ‘form’ for working with prisoners as she is a prison visitor and in a previous role she was the General Manager of a shopping centre in the town that gave inmates work experience. During her six years in that role she was heavily involved in the Chapelfield custody and community project where people who were being released on temporary licence obtained work experience at the centre doing a variety of roles that

CR Why was Café Britannia opened and whose idea was it?

DT It was an idea that had been spoken of for quite a while since the building became vacant, it used to house the officers dining room and kitchen. It’s an elegant standalone building alongside the front of the prison with a fabulous view out over the city and the cathedral is clearly visible in almost any weather. No one was prepared to take up the challenge and run a cafe until the MoJ proposed that the building should be sold off as it’s an asset that they decided was surplus to requirements. This threat galvanised the idea into reality and Governor Styles and I decided to work together to get the Café setup in partnership with the prison as a social enterprise.

CR It must have taken money and time to develop the facility and bring it up to date.

Where did the money come from?

DT I provided the funding and Governor Styles put his full support behind the project by ensuring the MOJ didn’t sell the building and allowed us the use the building and its facilities. This was a start however the building and it’s out of date kitchen had been unused for 5 years and I had to come up with finance to cover the required modernisation. This was in the region of £30k. I had this already, so it didn’t involve debt; however it is a big commitment.

CR What was the driving force that took you from the safety of the Managers job at the shopping centre to the Chief Executive and ‘GDB’ of Café Britannia?

Café Britannia was founded by HMP Norwich Governor Will Styles and Davina Tanner.

Davina is the Chief Executive, an important sounding title that seems to encompass all those roles that come under it, including General Dogs Body. She is a no nonsense person who gets things done, she speaks quietly and with authority and has the air of someone who is used to people doing as she the Custodial Review

prepared them for work. It also worked with the local shops to find full time paid work for the inmates on release. The Chapelfield project won a number of awards and been recognised nationally for the work that it was doing. She left the managers job to set up the café at the prison, a bold move and I wanted to know more of what was behind this decision and the café..

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DT The café started out as a small project and it was envisaged that it would stay that way. We thought that its customer base would just be prison staff and that there would be little if any interest from the general public. We therefore estimated that the turnover would be about £200 per day and it would remain at about that level. How wrong we were! continues overleaf u

Supersafe Mattress Range success in USA Carpenter, the manufacturer of Fireseal foam, has won a major deal to supply its Supersafe Mattress cores to one of the US’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of custodial bedding.

The North Carolina-based company will take its first shipment of Carpenter Fireseal foam mattress cores this month. They will be used within the detention cell bedding market and sold throughout the US. Said Richard Harris, national sales manager for Fireseal: “The contract is a considerable win for us. We already supply 100 per cent of the UK’s publically operated HM Prisons and now have a significant share of the private prison and custody cell market.

“Incorporating Fireseal foam into mattress cores allows for maximum evacuation time in the event of a fire. All of our products are tested in independent laboratories, making them a credible and reliable choice for use in prison cells, custody suites and immigration centres.”

Supersafe Mattresses are produced to fire standard BS7177 Very High Hazard including FTS15 as specified by MOJ. Carpenter Supersafe range of mattresses include a fully welded vandal resistant and Polytran wipe clean cover option.

The company operates a zero waste system – recycling used mattresses and pillows – saving the Ministry of Justice in excess of £1m each year on landfill costs.

For further information contact Carpenter on 01457 892418 or email sales.uk@carpenter.com.

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It’s not just a prison café continued The turnover climbed rapidly as more local people started to come and it soon became imperative that it needed to be run by a full time manager. So I took the plunge and that’s where I am today.

CR Staffing and training was one of the main reasons that the project was set up in the first place, so how do you provide work for the inmates, what type of inmates and what level of training do you give to them?

DT We work with people who are about to get their books or have just received them. At present we have 13 people here who are living in Britannia House which is the cat D part of the establishment. I have 6 permanent staff that are ex-prisoners plus 3 more civilian staff who I recruited locally and have had no contact with the Criminal Justice system. 3 of them are chefs who have extensive catering experience.

CR How about issues like prisoners handling cash and serving alcohol?

DT This hasn’t been a real problem with HMP Norwich, when the inmates were working at the shopping centre they were handling cash and they carried out many other functions. All the front of house people you were served by today are prisoners and they do all the functions. Alcohol isn’t an issue here because we are not licenced, although I would like us to be and the Governor is looking at the proposal sympathetically. To accommodate the need for alcohol at private functions held on the premises we have partnered with a local brewery called Adnams. They apply for a temporary licence when it’s needed and they also supply and serve the drinks, so prisoners do not have to touch it. This could provide an acceptable long term answer to what is a sensitive issue.

CR What training courses and processes are you providing? Do any of your prisoners come to you with qualifications in hospitality?

DT The prison does carry out a lot of training and their kitchen is a successful place for doing this, so many of our intake do have their hygiene certificate and those that do not we put through one immediately. Most of the training is then ‘on the job’ because the Custodial Review

that’s what we are about, it’s getting prisoners used to working in a hospitality business and interacting with a full range of customers.

We would like to do far more training for qualifications however we have only been open since January and we have been so busy that we have been unable to bring in all the education we would like to. One of the most valuable lessons they can learn is to interact with customers, react to changing events and learn to adapt. This is essential in a fast moving

people coming from as far afield as Cambridge and Ipswich. We have become known for doing simple food very well prepared and good news travels!

CR It was originally thought that it would be for the almost exclusive use of the prison staff, this has proved not to be the case, I saw some of them having to stand in a long queue for a while to be served, has that caused any difficulties?

DT The prison staff only have an hour for lunch and have to clear security to get here. We do not always have the ability to turn their food choices around as quickly as we, and they, would like because of the sheer volume of orders from members of the public. We constantly have to look at ways of sorting this out; sometimes we don’t do it as well as we would wish to.

CR You are taking a serious amount of money every day, so is the venture making a profit and what do you do with it?

situation like a service counter. Some take longer to gain this confidence than others and sometimes we just don’t get it as right as we would like to. However the café’s prime purpose is the training of ex-offenders so we give them plenty of opportunity to learn. We have found that customers, both from the prison and from the outside world are aware of this and more tolerant then perhaps they would be elsewhere.

CR Promoting the business, what did you take in your first week, what is the take now and how did you promote it so the increase come about?

DT We took £400 in the first week and now we take about three times that per day.

It took off very quickly and that took me by surprise. Several obvious things helped. One is the location, it’s a splendid building and it has a fantastic view, it’s not far from the town centre and it has plenty of car parking. But this does not account for the whole increase.

The public of Norwich are very supportive and open minded. I found this to be true when I was working with ex-offenders in the shopping centre. The public like the fact that they are giving people a chance. We haven’t done any paid for advertising and we have Page 14

DT It’s making money but not a profit!

This is because we have to heavily invest in new equipment to enable us to cope with the increased demand. The kitchen wasn’t equipped for 300 covers a day so we have had to purchase new kit including four new ovens, fridges and a dishwasher! We cannot borrow money as we are a social enterprise so we won’t have a massive profit at the end of year one, but we will not have any debt other than my initial investment. We are likely to start making profits in year 2 and as a social enterprise our plan is to donate profits to community causes to build safer communities.

We’ve made a good start with all the customer tips we get in the Café donated to Victim Support, to date we have donated over £3,000.

CR Are you getting any criticism for local business that you are undercutting them and using cheap prison labour to do so?

DT We have had a little of that, my viewpoint is that we do all our buying from local companies and we have made a couple of price rises because the cost of our supplies has risen and, like all businesses we have to provide a return. We are off the beaten track and are not right next to any business that we are a direct competitor to. We don’t get the prisoners

labour for nothing, we pay the prison for their work, so this goes directly back into the Treasuries coffers and we will be paying rent once the setup costs of the establishment and the new equipment is paid off.

CR What does the future hold?

DT We are developing the conferences and the private events side of the café.

We would also like to start selling our own branded products and also carry out off site catering at external events.

I feel there is a market for this as the kitchen

is only working at maximum capacity for a short while around lunchtime, the rest of the time it’s able to be utilised for other purposes, so it could be used to produce branded food or meals for outside catered events or farmers markets. There could also be another Café Britannia in another location, not necessarily next to a prison, it could be in another town so that ex-offenders can go there to gain work experience before moving on.

CR Comparisons will be made with the Clink series of restaurants, would you say they are valid?

DT In some ways yes others no. We do not have the celebrity backing, the professional

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input and the huge amount of money they do. Neither do we have the a la carte menus that they offer. We created the Café on £30k plus a ‘wing and a prayer’, which only goes to show that it doesn’t have to aspire to high cuisine from the outset. This is evolving into a sustainable and easily imitated concept that can bring valuable training to offenders without enquiring massive finance or celebrity backing. It’s shown that providing prisoners with experience can be done at all levels in the hospitality business.

CR Thank you for talking to the Review.

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HMP Winchester - not enough progress HMP Winchester was not making sufficient progress, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons, publishing the report of an announced inspection of the Hampshire jail.

HMP Winchester is a complex establishment, in effect two prisons in one. The main category B site is a Victorian prison holding 556 men while the newer West Hill site is a category C training prison holding 129 men. At its last inspection in October 2012, inspectors found that outcomes had deteriorated sharply.

Because inspectors were seriously concerned about the prison, this more recent inspection was, unusually, announced so that the prison would have a clear deadline for making improvements. There had been some progress but too little had been done.

As before, the prison was seriously overcrowded and was operating at 35% above its certified normal capacity. As a result of the closure of other local prisons in the west of England, the prison was serving a much larger catchment area. Some men’s progress had been set back because they had moved prisons in the middle of training courses or other work to address their behaviour. The prison had started to hold young adults following the closure of Reading Young Offenders Institution and was struggling to manage them safely.

These population changes, budget reviews and other national policy initiatives had been challenging to manage.

Despite these challenges, inspectors were pleased to find that:

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relationships between staff and prisoners had improved considerably; the prison was much cleaner; prisoners had more time out of their cells; there had been a major effort to reduce the availability of illegal drugs and to improve support for prisoners with substance abuse problems; health care services were getting better and support for at risk of self-harm was reasonable; and there had been much better progress on the West Hill site than on the main site.

However, inspectors were concerned to find that:

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the main prison remained insufficiently safe and more prisoners said they felt unsafe at the time of this inspection than at the last inspection in 2012 or than at other similar prisons; measures to reduce violence were weak and measures to address the behaviour of bullies were ineffective; the segregation unit continued to provide an unacceptably poor environment and regime; there was a failure to collect and/or use

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data effectively to understand what was happening and to take the necessary corrective action; not enough thought had been put into managing the behaviour of the newly arrived young adults, who were overrepresented in violent incidents; too many prisoners were still locked up during the day on the main site; the management of learning and skills, the quality of provision and prisoners’ achievements all required improvement; although the number of activity places had increased, too many available places stood empty; and little thought had been given to Winchester’s new role as a resettlement prison and resettlement outcomes remained insufficient on both sites.

Nick Hardwick said:

“HMP Winchester had made progress since our very critical inspection in 2012 but the progress was slow and limited.The prison needs a clear focus on the basics – keeping the men it holds safe and secure, treating all of them decently and preparing them to return to the community at less risk of reoffending, with good quality activities and resettlement support.We will look forward to receiving their action plan in response to this report’s recommendations and will expect to see much greater progress when we return.”

HMP Send - a very effective women’s prison HMP Send was a safe and decent prison which did excellent work to rehabilitate the women it held, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons, publishing the report of an unannounced inspection of the women’s prison in Surrey.

HMP Send holds just over 280 convicted women prisoners, well over half of whom are serving long or indeterminate sentences for serious offences. Its last inspection was in 2011 and found a settled institution with an impressive regime for prisoners. This inspection found that improvement has continued and Send is now a very successful prison. It is one of the few prisons to achieve the highest grading for outcomes across all four healthy prison tests: safety, respect, purposeful activity and resettlement. An excellent range of interventions was offered to address offending behaviour, including a facility to address the needs of women with a personality disorder.

Inspectors were also pleased to find that:

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Send was a very safe institution where violent incidents were very rare; levels of self-harm continued to reduce and care for those who were vulnerable

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was good; there was little evidence of significant illicit drug use; women with alcohol issues received appropriate support; living conditions and the environment were generally very good and relationships between staff and prisoners were particularly strong; mental health provision was impressive; prisoners had a good amount of time out of cell and reasonable access to the prison’s grounds; learning and skills provision was well managed and there was sufficient education, training and work for all the women held; and resettlement services were much better than inspectors usually see and offender management arrangements were good.

Inspectors felt that the promotion of equality and diversity required attention, although most outcomes were reasonable, and also thought support for women who had been victims of domestic violence should be improved.

The incentives and earned privileges (IEP) arrangements supported the safety of the prison but some requirements, notably that the hoods be cut off women’s coats, were ridiculous.

Nick Hardwick said: “We highlight a number of relatively minor concerns that will assist the prison, but overall this is an excellent report that describes the work of a very effective prison.

Women, some of whom are dealing with long sentences and considerable personal challenges and risks, are kept safely and in a prison that affords them respect.They use their time usefully and their risks are addressed meaningfully.

This is not only a good prison; it is a useful and effective prison.The governor and staff should be congratulated on their success.”

HMP Haverigg - some progress but safety needs to improve There was a real prospect of improvement at HMP Haverigg but it still had some way to go, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons. Publishing the report of an unannounced inspection of the training prison in west Cumbria.

HMP Haverigg is perhaps the prison service’s most isolated prison. It had weathered the uncertainties of budget cuts, prison closures and new policies better than most prisons.

It had maintained its performance, there was a real sense of momentum and realistic plans were in place to tackle some long-term weaknesses. Nevertheless, outcomes for prisoners were still not good enough in some crucial areas.

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Inspectors were pleased to find that:

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most prisoners said they felt safe, significantly more than at the last inspection and more than at comparable prisons; support for men at risk of suicide or selfharm was consistently good; staff-prisoner relationships were generally very good and mitigated some of the weaknesses in the prison; health care had improved; most prisoners were out of their cells for a decent amount of time during the day; there was a wide range of work, training and education opportunities on offer which were linked to employment prospects in the areas to which most prisoners would return; the ‘smokery’ produced and sold smoked food and provided a very realistic working environment; and practical resettlement services, such as helping prisoners to find accommodation or a job on release, were generally good.

However, inspectors were concerned to find that:

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a minority of prisoners were subject to gang and debt-related bullying;

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staff supervision was made difficult by the layout of the prison, with many prisoners accommodated in ‘billets’ or huts, poor external lighting and limited CCTV coverage;

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not all incidents of violence were identified or investigated and support for victims was poor;

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the use of segregation had increased, the use of force was high and some incidents were poorly dealt with;

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the prison needed to improve its equality and diversity work and had little idea of the identity and needs of prisoners with protected characteristics; there were too few work, training and education places available and allocation processes were inefficient; and almost one-third of the population had an out of date or no OASys assessment.

Nick Hardwick said:

“Prisoners who kept their heads down, made the most of the opportunities on offer and whose needs were typical of the prison’s population as a whole would probably do reasonably well at Haverigg.

However, those who needed more support or whose needs differed from the majority might have a less positive experience – sometimes to an unacceptable degree. Progress is being made and a positive, experienced staff group have created the foundations for further progress, but some processes need to be significantly improved and managers need to give close attention to ensuring that poor practice is challenged and improved.”

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Michael Spurr, Chief Executive Officer of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), said: “I am pleased that the Chief Inspector has highlighted the progress being made at Haverigg during a period of real change.

“The wide range of work, training and education is helping to rehabilitate and resettle offenders and the Governor and his staff deserve real credit for the continued improvement.

“They will now use the recommendations in the report as part of their ongoing plans for the future.”

HM Armed Forces Service Custody Facilities - improving, but further modernisation needed Service custody facilities are an improvement on the old system of guard houses, but the process of modernisation needs to continue, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons.When he published the report of an announced inspection of Service Custody Facilities across the UK. Service custody facilities were established in 2009 to replace the old system of army unit custody facilities (guard houses) and similar facilities in other Services. They were intended to professionalise the detention of Service personnel held for short periods in military custody (remand) or short sentences of military detention. Service personnel detained for longer periods are held in the Military Corrective Training Centre (MCTC) in Colchester. This was the first inspection of SCF and, like the MCTC, inspectors were there by invitation. In all other respects, this inspection was consistent with inspections of all other types of custody.

Inspectors visited 15 SCFs across the UK, three run by the Royal Navy (RN), five by the Army and seven by the Royal Air Force (RAF). Some are small and seldom used.

Many hold intoxicated personnel for a few hours while they sober up. A few hold a wider range, including those awaiting a short military sentence of less than two weeks or those awaiting further investigation or trial.

Inspectors felt consideration should be given to further rationalisation of the SCF estate, consolidating fewer facilities used by all three Services, staffed by professional custody personnel. Some SCF had an agreement with local police to hold military personnel in police cells which seemed an appropriate option for SCF in more remote locations and could be extended more widely.

Inspectors were pleased to find that:

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experienced detention personnel from the Military Provost Staff (MPS) and this professionalisation of the role was being extended in other Army SCFs; in those SCF that mainly held intoxicated personnel for short periods, the treatment of and conditions for those held were generally acceptable; and those held for longer periods had a good range of activities, good time out of their cells and often very good relationships with custody staff.

However, inspectors were concerned to find that:

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there were inconsistencies in how different SCF were run and some were so small and infrequently used that personnel called in to staff them were unfamiliar with procedures and the risks they had to manage; there were joint protocols between the Services and civilian police in England and Wales, but not in Scotland or Northern Ireland and even where protocols did exist, there was a lack of clarity about who would detain, hold and investigate an alleged offender; in the RN, the same personnel might be responsible for both investigative and custodial functions, which created a conflict of interest; the most important part of checking intoxicated detainees, full rousing to ensure they can wake and respond, was not done; there was real danger that detainees who posed different risks, of self-harm for instance, or who had different needs, such as women or under-18s, were not well cared for; the cells and regime were bleak and spartan throughout and needed to improve for those held for longer periods; recording practice was often confused and the transfer of information from an SCF to the MCTC or other unit also required improvement; detainees had been transferred in vehicles with their hands cuffed behind them which was dangerous; and complaints processes were not adequately confidential.

Nick Hardwick said:

“In all forms of custody it is the exceptions that prove the greatest risk to those held and consequently to the reputation of the detaining authority.The treatment and conditions of most detainees held in the SCF were an improvement on what went before. However, the process of professionalisation and standardisation needs to continue so that the Services can be confident that detainees whose risks and needs differ from the norm or who are among the few held for longer periods, can be managed safely and securely.” continues overleaf u the Custodial Review

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Dover Immigration Removal Centre - a mixed report Dover was working reasonably well in some respects, but needed to feel more like an immigration removal centre, not the prison it once was, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons. When he published the report of an inspection of the immigration removal centre (IRC) in Kent.

Situated in a 19th century fort on the cliffs above the town, Dover has been an IRC since 2002. It is managed by the Prison Service and holds up to 280 adult and young adult men.

At the time of the inspection, the centre was anticipating the arrival of a newly appointed centre manager. In recent years inspectors have described a satisfactory institution that was making steady progress. At this inspection there were many aspects of Dover that worked well but some significant shortcomings that needed to be addressed.

Inspectors were pleased to find that:

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Dover was a safe institution and although fewer detainees than expected said they felt safe on their first night, these negative perceptions improved as detainees settled in; recorded incidents of violence and self-harm were low and there was little evidence of bullying; use of separation and segregation was encouragingly low; the assessment of torture survivors had improved and had correctly led to some releases; diversity work was reasonably good, although the provision of translated material was limited; about half of detainees felt they could fill their time while at the centre and there was a reasonable amount of paid work on offer, and education available; and welfare officers were able to offer good basic support to detainees but many detainees did not know about them.

However inspectors were concerned to find that:

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some physical aspects of security were excessive and some house blocks had prison-like environments; the reward scheme was inappropriate and its application was punitive; immigration processes impacted on detainees’ stress levels and their sense of safety and too many did not have an immigration lawyer; the management of cases was too slow; some uniformed staff were dismissive and unhelpful and in some cases, unprofessional; and arrangements to support detainees prior to removal or release were very limited.

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Nick Hardwick said: “Dover IRC is currently experiencing a period of transition in management, and this should be seen as an opportunity. Many arrangements and much of the provision at Dover work adequately well with pockets of good practice.The institution has not been a prison for over 12 years but in many respects it is still run like one. As indicated in previous reports, the centre needs to give greater emphasis to the specific needs of detainees and respond proportionately to the risks it faces.”

HMP Bedford a well run local prison, but some improvements needed HMP Bedford was a fairly safe and well run prison but it needed to do more to rehabilitate prisoners, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons, publishing the report of an unannounced inspection of the local jail.

HMP Bedford is a small prison dating from the 19th century. At its last inspection in 2009, inspectors described a well-run prison that tried to mitigate the risks it managed and was achieving some reasonable outcomes .

This inspection has made similar judgements, although there had been some deterioration in the provision of work, education and training and resettlement services.

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most prisoners in Bedford said they felt safe; most violent incidents were relatively minor and the prison collected useful data to support its strategies to reduce violence; the management of those at risk of selfharm was generally good; the strategy to restrict the supply of illicit drugs was reasonably effective; relationships between staff and prisoners were a real strength; much had been done to ensure the prison was reasonably clean, although some cells were damp and many were doubled up; although the amount of time out of cell varied greatly among prisoners, the daily routine seemed to be delivered consistently; overall the quality of learning and skills opportunities provided was good, but much work on offer was low skill and mundane; and health care services were good.

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needed to be done to understand and address this; accountability for the use of force, of which there were a significant number of incidents, also required improvement; there had tragically been four self-inflicted deaths since 2009 but inspectors were assured lessons had been learned from these incidents and that investigation action plans were being followed up; accountability for the use of segregation and the routine in the segregation unit needed to be better, although staff worked well with the prisoners held there; there was sufficient purposeful activity for only half the population, although the prison had sought to maximise the limited space available for providing activity places; resettlement services and offender management were not well coordinated; and public protection arrangements were very weak and required urgent attention.

Nick Hardwick said:

“Despite its problems Bedford is a fundamentally well run prison that importantly is both safe and respectful.The prison is confronted with many risks and operates in a less than ideal environment, but continues to use its available resources well.There is evidence of some improvements in learning and skills provision and the confidence with which staff relate to prisoners underpins much of its good work.

Bedford’s main priority must be a clearer focus on its resettlement function and greater competence in the management of risk of harm reduction, sentence planning and structure to ensure effective public protection.”

Michael Spurr, Chief Executive Officer of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), said: “I am pleased that the Chief Inspector acknowledges Bedford is performing well and provides a safe and respectful environment for the prisoners it holds.The Governor and his staff should be commended for their hard work in achieving this.They will now use the report to continue to make improvements.”

Prisoners should have supervised internet access, says Chief Inspector Prisoners need greater access to new technology to assist with their rehabilitation, as long as the risks are carefully managed, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons.

Today he spoke at the Modernising Justice through Technology, Innovation and Efficiency conference in London.

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Referring to the findings of a joint report by the Prison Reform Trust and Prisoners Education Trust, Through the Gateway: How Computers can Transform Rehabilitation, Mr Hardwick said that greater internet access could assist prisoners in looking for jobs and studying for qualifications as well as for making practical arrangements prior to their release.

There are other potential benefits of using technology to modernise justice, including digital case management and improved efficiency in the day to day running of prisons, he added.

Nick Hardwick said: “Like other risk management processes in a prison, prisoners’ access to new technologies and the internet needs to be based on risk assessment of the individual concerned and properly supervised.

“I don’t think we can go on with prisons in a preinternet dark age: inefficient and wasteful and leaving prisoners woefully unprepared for the world they will face on release. I don’t believe you can modernise justice through new technology without addressing this.Yes, there are security issues to be addressed, but the technology allows every key stroke to be monitored and access can be risk assessed.We now need to get on with getting this part of prison policy to make its long overdue entrance into the 21st century.”

Progress made since death of Zahid Mubarek but no room for complacency There has been positive change in prisons since the racist murder of Zahid Mubarek in 2000, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons. However, he added that there was a danger that, with the passage of time, the drive that led to those changes has been weakened or forgotten. He published the report of a review of the implementation of the Zahid Mubarek Inquiry recommendations.

The racist murder of Zahid Mubarek by Robert Stewart in HMYOI Feltham took place in March 2000. Shortly after the attack, police discovered that Stewart had strong racist views and learned that he had had a violent past while previously in custody and that his mental health had been questioned. As much of this was known by some prison officers at Feltham, there were questions to be asked about how Robert Stewart and Zahid Mubarek had been placed in the same cell and whether what was known about Robert Stewart had been circulated to all who needed to know, including responsible managers.

For four years after his murder, successive Home and Justice Secretaries refused the call by Zahid Mubarek’s family and others for an Inquiry into his murder on the grounds that Prison Service internal inquiries had

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been sufficient to identify weaknesses in the system. Eventually the House of Lords ruled that the UK was required to conduct a Public Inquiry in order to comply with its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights. The subsequent Inquiry by Mr Justice Keith, published in 2006, found over 186 failings across the prison system, and made 88 recommendations. In particular it identified some key stages when “had appropriate action been taken, the tragedy which befell Zahid could have been prevented”.

Ministers and the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) have since stated that almost all the recommendations have been accepted and most fully implemented. The Zahid Mubarek Trust was established by members of Zahid’s family who were determined to ensure that positive words about change and implementation were translated into action. Concerned that implementation of the recommendations was no longer a priority, the Zahid Mubarek Trust encouraged HM Inspectorate of Prisons to use inspection evidence to assess what progress had been made and sustained.

This short report does not attempt to assess how far each of the individual Inquiry recommendations has been implemented. Too much has changed with regard to the prison population itself, procedures and policies to make that a meaningful exercise. Instead, the report looks at the broad themes the inquiry addressed and examines what evidence there was of positive change.

Inspectors were pleased to find that new systems and processes have been put in place and electronic case records have made sharing and using information easier.

However, concerns remain: • the implementation of new processes has been inconsistent; • risk assessment processes that might identify a prisoner who posed a risk to others are too often delayed or poorly completed; • information-sharing is still a considerable weakness across the prison estate; • too many prisoners still share cells designed for one, regardless of sentence status (ie remanded with convicted prisoners); and • prisoners from black and minority ethnic groups consistently report a worse experience than white prisoners.

As this report was being completed, the government announced an independent inquiry into the death of young adults in custody. The results of the inquiry will influence a review of the young adult estate which provides an opportunity to consider again the unresolved issue posed in the Keith report: “The Prison Service should review whether the advantages of holding young offenders on the same wing as adult offenders outweigh the disadvantages and whether the Page 19

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practice should be extended to other prisons.”

Nick Hardwick said: “There was a real danger that the Keith Inquiry into Zahid Mubarek’s murder had become filed under ‘completed business’.This report shows that there is no room for such complacency and we hope this review will provide those responsible for the current inquiry with a clear and helpful reminder of why the lessons from the Keith Inquiry are still relevant today and why work is still urgently required to ensure those lessons continue to be understood, accepted and acted on.”

Chief Executive of the Zahid Mubarek Trust, Imtiaz Amin, said: “This report provides an insight which belies the perception of progress described by NOMS over the years. It is deeply worrying that where the implementation has succeeded in satisfying tick boxes, the authorities have failed to achieve the long term impact to address the areas of concern described by the Zahid Mubarek Inquiry.We hope this report provides the catalyst for further action given that current figures for violence and deaths in UK prisons remain alarmingly high and as ever, disgraceful.”

Pakistan escort and removal of detainees - treat detainees more respectfully and manage escort staff better.

Detainees were not treated with enough decency in the removal process despite some impressive care and concern from individual staff, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons. When he published the report of an inspection of escort and removals of detainees to Pakistan.

Inspectors were pleased to find that:

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the generally experienced escort team managed the removal safely; most staff behaved appropriately; and the reception of detainees in Pakistan was courteous and quick, with embassy oversight and welfare support available immediately on arrival.

However, inspectors were concerned to find that:

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some staff persisted in using control techniques that were more likely to escalate tensions than promote calm behaviour; escorts had still not been provided with training on the use of force in confined environments such as aircraft some two and a half years since inspectors first recommended it; continues overleaf u the Custodial Review

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many of the contracted staff were exhausted and could not avoid falling asleep, even when in charge of detainees identified at risk of self-harm; and a small number of staff were unprofessional and behaved inappropriately.

Police custody in Northumbria - further improvements needed Police custody in Northumbria was mixed and some improvements were necessary, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons, and Dru Sharpling, HM Inspector of Constabulary, publishing the report of an unannounced inspection.

The inspection was part of a national programme of joint inspections of police custody. This was the second inspection of police custody in Northumbria: the first took place in August 2011.Northumbria covers a large geographical area and ran seven fulltime custody suites: Newcastle Etal Lane, Sunderland Gillbridge, Washington, South Shields, Gateshead, Bedlington and Wallsend/ Middle Engine Lane, as well as three part-time rural suites at Hexham, Alnwick and Berwick, and three part-time resilience suites at Southwick, Whickham and North Shields.

Inspectors were pleased to find that:

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the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) was involved in the training and development of an active Independent Custody Visitor scheme; the police service was in the process of opening a new custody suite while closing existing buildings, but continued to maintain those buildings to a good standard;

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individual detainee and officer interaction was respectful and sensitive and there were cases of exceptional individual attention;

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police officers made efforts to keep children out of custody; however when cases were more complex, staff did not pursue other options, such as the local authority, to

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provide alternative accommodation;

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Nick Hardwick said: “The removal was well organised and completed with little incident.

However, too many of our findings replicated those at previous inspections, particularly those in relation to the dignity of detainees. Generally efficient procedures did not amount to respect for detainees who, it seemed to us, were seen as commodities to be delivered rather than as vulnerable individuals deserving of individual attention. Staff also had little awareness of important inquiry findings that should have been cascaded down to them following the death of a detainee during a scheduled flight removal in 2010.”

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there were examples of good multiagency working to support detainees with a history of substance misuse; and the force, with help from partner agencies, had provided an improved scheme to help keep mentally ill people out of police cells.

However, inspectors were concerned to find that:

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custody recording systems involved a mix of paper and computer records, allowing opportunities for human error and omission in recording strategic and individual detainee information;

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the force did not have sufficient focus on learning from adverse incidents, which included learning from four IPCC investigations, nor did it have robust quality assurance systems in place;

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in most cases, risk assessments were routine and mechanistic;

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handovers could be subject to incorrect recording of risk information; and

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clinical governance of health care had not improved since the 2011 inspection, and medical rooms varied in levels of cleanliness.

Nick Hardwick and Dru Sharpling said:

“This report describes some good individual care of detainees but some processes to ensure this happened on a consistent basis required improvement.This report provides a number of recommendations to assist the force and the Police and Crime Commissioner to improve provision further.We expect our findings to be considered in the wider context of priorities and resourcing, and for an action plan to be provided in due course.”

Police custody in Islington - generally positive but more staff needed Police custody in Islington was generally positive but staff shortages were affecting the care offered to detainees, said Martin Lomas, Deputy Chief Inspector of Prisons, and Dru Sharpling, HM Inspector of Constabulary, publishing the report of an unannounced inspection.

The inspection was part of a national programme of joint inspections of police custody. This was the second inspection of police custody in Islington the inspectorates have carried out. The first was at the beginning of the joint work programme, in 2008. The borough ran two custody suites, a primary suite at Islington police station and a smaller standby suite at Holloway police station which was used for specific operations, such Page 20

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as policing football matches. The focus of the inspection was on the primary suite.

Strategic oversight of the suites was provided centrally by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Criminal Justice Directorate within the Territorial Policing department, which seeks to ensure consistency in custody provision across London. The commander had good strategic oversight of custody, which was discussed at a range of meetings.

Inspectors were pleased to find that:

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a nurse was on site 24 hours a day, supported by a forensic medical examiner;

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detainees were generally treated with respect, although their diverse needs were not always met;

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a good mental health liaison and diversion scheme was operating; and

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custody was not used as a place of safety under the Mental Health Act.

However, inspectors were concerned to find that:

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the Islington suite was grubby with ingrained dirt in some places;

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the layout made it difficult for custody staff to have overall control, which was compounded by the extremely poor quality of the CCTV monitors;

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there were instances when staff were too busy to meet the needs of detainees; and

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as elsewhere in the MPS, there was a lack of appropriate monitoring of the use of force.

Martin Lomas and Dru Sharpling said:

“This report provides a small number of recommendations to assist the force and the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime to improve provision further.We expect our findings to be considered in the wider context of priorities and resourcing, and for an action plan to be provided in due course.”

HMYOI Glen Parva - an unsafe young offender institution Despite some determined efforts by a new governor and her team, and some early and limited signs of improvement, outcomes for young men held at HMYOI Glen Parva were unacceptable in too many areas, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons. Today he published the report of an unannounced inspection of the young offender institution in Leicestershire.

Glen Parva held 659 young men aged 18 to 21 at the time of its inspection. This report is one of a sequence of HMI Prisons reports (Aylesbury, Brinsford, Feltham and Isis) which

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reveal serious concerns relating to young offender institutions of this type. Unless the young men held were safe, very little else would be achieved. Glen Parva was not safe.

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although the atmosphere was not tense, almost half of the young men held said they had felt unsafe at some time;

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recorded levels of assaults on other prisoners and staff had risen by over a quarter over the last year;

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inspectors saw evidence of prisoners charging ‘rent’ for cells with the threat of violence if this was not paid;

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the prison was not on top of the availability of legal highs such as Spice, and the risks of debt and bullying this brought;

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the response of many staff to this behaviour was poor and there was an unacceptable attitude among some staff that poor behaviour by detainees was inevitable; the use of the segregation unit was high and the regime was inadequate and, while most of those in segregation were there as a punishment, some had committed their offences to get themselves placed away from the wings and safe; there was a direct link between the high levels of bullying and levels of self-harm which the YOI itself had identified;

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two men had killed themselves in 2013 and tragically another young man killed himself two months after the inspection;

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there were still weaknesses in the assessment, care in custody and teamwork (ACCT) self-harm monitoring arrangements and some young men were not getting the support they needed;

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half the population were doubled up in cells designed for one and many cells were dirty and lacked basic amenities; and

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there were insufficient activity places available and those that were available were underused and of insufficient quality.

However, inspectors were pleased to find that:

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innovative substance misuse services were very good and an example of best practice;

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support for prisoners with disabilities was generally good, reflecting very good health care overall;

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the prison had a good idea of what needed to be done and had introduced a new core day to improve access to activities and time out of cell;

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the Trackworks railway maintenance workshop showed what could be done when high quality training, linked to good employment prospects, motivated prisoners to make good progress; and

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practical resettlement services were reasonable and NACRO worked effectively to help prisoners find accommodation, employment or training.

Nick Hardwick said:

Inspectors were concerned to find that:

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“Glen Parva is a concerning institution.

Local management can do much to improve things.There was some reassurance that many of the problems at Glen Parva had been identified and there were plans in place to address them, which they had begun to implement before the inspection started. It is much too early to assess these changes.”

Police custody in Southwark - progress made, but more to do Police custody provision in Southwark had improved but there were still some gaps in provision and some issues to address, said Martin Lomas, Deputy Chief Inspector of Prisons, and Dru Sharpling, HM Inspector of Constabulary, publishing the report of an unannounced inspection.

The inspection was part of a national programme of joint inspections of police custody. This was the second inspection of police custody in Southwark the inspectorates have carried out. The first was at the very beginning of the joint work programme, in 2008. Since then the force had rationalised their custody provision and there was now just one suite of 30 cells at Walworth Road with another suite of eight cells for the detention of terrorist suspects only. The suites at Peckham and Southwark were no longer in use.

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not all detainees were handcuffed and there was very Page 21

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little strip searching; pre-release risk assessments were completed well; the suite had been recently refurbished and was generally clean; the suite benefitted from having a nurse on site 24 hours a day with support from a forensic medical examiner; custody was rarely used as a place of safety under the Mental Health Act; and of the 38 recommendations in the previous report which remain relevant, 15 had been achieved and eight partially achieved.

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as elsewhere in the MPS, there was a lack of appropriate monitoring of the use of force, both locally and London-wide;

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arresting officers were aware of alternatives to custody but said not all acted in accordance with this, and that senior managers had told them voluntary attendance at a police station as opposed to arrest should only be used in exceptional circumstances. This was not a lawful order;

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staffing needed to be reviewed to ensure that there were always enough staff to cope with demand;

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the recent introduction of custody support inspectors across boroughs, twinning with Lewisham, had led to some problems with ensuring that reviews were carried out at the correct time due to time taken travelling between suites.

Inspectors were pleased to find that: there were some excellent interactions between custody sergeants and detainees;

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However, inspectors were concerned to find that:

Strategic oversight of the suites was provided centrally by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Criminal Justice Directorate within the Territorial Policing department, which seeks to ensure consistency in custody provision across London. They had recently undertaken their own inspection and introduced several processes to improve the care of detainees.

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the Custodial Review

The staff gym at Full Sutton, some years later....

Eight years ago in 2006 Custodial Review published an article on the new staff gym that had been built at HMP Belmarsh. The building was constructed by the works department and equipped with the assistance of a loan from the Civil Service Sports Council. The costs of the equipment being paid by membership subscriptions over the following years. Five years ago HMP Full Sutton did the same and we ran an article on the project at the time. governor ear bashing and a ton of paperwork before the gym came into being. It’s now a well-established facility at the prison and we went back to see what’s happened in the intervening years.

The driving force behind the gym at Full Sutton is Paul Mackintosh. He is a catering officer who has spent his entire career at HMP Full Sutton. He joined the Prison Service in 1998 as a residential officer and ten years ago a vacancy came up for a trainee caterer.

It was a role he thought he could be good at and so became a Catering Officer. Keeping fit was something he had always done, so when the chance to open a gym for the staff came along he took it. A lot of persistence, a lot of

the Custodial Review

Custodial Review It’s been nearly five years since we last were here, it was just after the gym had opened. Funding for the loan was something that concerned you as it was to be paid for out of membership subscriptions and therefore potential and membership numbers were of great importance. Can you recall how many members you had and how has that changed over the years?

Paul Macintosh We started with 170 members and this has plateaued to between 140 to 150 and the membership mix is 100 staff members and 40 who are family or local residents. These are members who pay their subs month after month, when we had higher membership numbers we seemed to

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have to chase some of the people for their contributions, not an ideal situation, so we keep the numbers to those who pay without needing follow up. There are approximately 600 staff at the prison and in addition to that we can have family members and the Governor has also opened membership to residents of the village of Full Sutton.

CR How much did you borrow from the CSSC, what was it used for, has it lasted and when is it all paid off?

PM We signed up for £65,000 for the equipment and as the loan was to be paid back over 5 years; we have just one more payment to make in January 2015, so the gym is now nearly debt free! We bought all the gym equipment with the loan and it’s lasted very well. All of the resistance kit has been used extensively and all we have had to do is replace cables. The running machines and treadmills have been the

Bellow left: the main gym area with its resistance equipment.

Below right: the cardiovascular area.

biggest maintenance issues because they do get an enormous amount of use. They have a lot of micro switches that get affected by sweat and the sheer pounding that they take.

However we haven’t had anything expensive to repair or replace.

CR So will you now keep the subscriptions at the same level and use the spare funds to improve the facilities?

PM That’s the plan, we would like to extended the facilities and create somewhere where aerobic exercise can take place. Kettlebells are becoming very popular these days and we just do not have the space for people to use them. We have already purchased two Evo spin cycles and we also acquired seven pieces of equipment that became redundant when the gym at HMP Everthorpe closed. We are looking at a couple of the Versaclimber units because several of our members have expressed a keen interest in using them.

However we still have a space issue and I do not want to take out any of the kit we have in there now. All of it is well used and I would rather we expanded the space we have first.

CR How do you maintain, run and staff the facility? How do you make sure people are using the equipment safely?

PM We do not have any permanent staff on duty, its unstaffed whist it is open, so it doesn’t use up any of the establishments staff resources. We have a full training and induction session for all new members and we can do refresher courses on equipment use when requested all it takes is an email or a phone call. We have a full membership application form, part of which is confirmation that they are members of the CSSC, this is essential as that covers part on the insurance. We haven’t

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had an accident in the nearly 5 years we have been open.

CR In the 5 years you have been open have you managed to measure or assess any of the benefits to the staff who have used the facility?

PM Yes we have, there are people who train regularly, people who you would not think would be attracted to it and many build their continues overleaf

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The staff gym at Full Sutton continued

free time around getting in here to use the equipment. It’s also become a place where staff from different parts of the prison have come together to train at the same time as a unit. It’s become a hub where people meet to get fit and some peer pressure comes to bear that encourages regular training. We have also had several people carry out fitness related sponsorship events for charity and so it’s also a good place to pick up sponsorship!

CR You mentioned expansion, the building is full and there is never any spare space in the prison service, how can you expand and improve the gym?

PM We have already expanded a little in that we have put a cage in the outside area where the golfers can go and practice hitting shots without visiting a driving range. In the meantime we have improved the look of the place by printing large pictures to make the walls look less bland and more inviting. With the assistance of the Parish Council we have installed a defibrillator; we jointly funded this as no external finance was available. However what we would really like to do is extend the building out to one side, or should an adjoining room within this building become available then we are ready to put a bid into the Governor for their use as a larger gym.

We have also looked at a sauna and a flow pool where people swim against a machine generated current. However these would increase the maintenance and supervision requirements so are matters that would require looking into closely. the Custodial Review

CR What facilities would you bring in?

PM Kettle bells are becoming very popular as are the machines like Versaclimber. Boxing is also something people are asking about and we have a punch bag in the present gym, but it’s something we would look to expand upon.

I’d like to spread the kit out too, we have a lot of it and we have a lot of members using it too.

So a bit more space between the machines would be appreciated by the users.

CR Have you considered the outdoor kit that’s available nowadays, several prisons have installed kit from Fresh Air Fitness in the exercise yard and I’ve seen it in public spaces too.You have outside space here that could be used I noticed the new golf facility is out there.

PM We have looked at that as we have it in the Segregation unit here. However it’s difficult with this facility because we cannot control who would have access to equipment that outside of the gym building as the outside area is not fenced off. The golf driving facility is housed in its own lockable cage to prevent unauthorised use. We could also get into insurance and vandalism issues if people who are not members were using outdoor equipment. Here we have digital keypads on the two doors and members are given the code on joining.

The users tend to police the system and people using it when they are not members are very rapidly caught out and dissuaded.

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We also have CCTV on the outside and the doors, however living in such a small community helps, in a town more comprehensive measures would be needed.

CR Maintenance, how do you keep the place clean and the kit functioning?

PM We have a cleaner who sorts out the floors and toilets and the routine maintenance is done occasionally as and when needed by committee members, there isn’t much involved as the equipment is so robust and people here tend to clear up after themselves..

CR You are five years down the line from when the gym opened, if you were giving any advice to someone thinking of opening one what would it be?

PM Over engineer everything, all the paperwork, inventories, risk assessments, do it to the max. We had a committee meeting every month at first so all the details could be sorted, now we have them every 6 months.

Don’t do membership cards unless the amount of people using the gym is huge as they are a lot of work for no gain. Keep the size of the committee to about six people and make sure that they are fully represent the membership with all sections and ages in the mix. Don’t over complicate matters or obtain high maintenance kit. Remember it’s for people to enjoy themselves and to keep fit and healthy.

That’s what keeps people paying there subs.

CR Thank you for talking to the Review.

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the Custodial Review

Avoiding the relock shock: the latest on key management & access control by John Young John Young is Sector Lead for High Security at integrator Quadrant Security Group.

In a prison environment, keys are key.

However, MoJ guidance on key management and security demands a level of tracking and auditing of a prison’s key inventory that can tie up valuable staff time, while still being vulnerable to human error.

Technology designed to prevent these events has advanced hugely over the last couple of years, yet there is always scope to knit the net more tightly and ensure no key is lost or left unsupervised at any time.

A wide range of technology is available today to help prisons manage access control, key distribution and key auditing. The following provides a snapshot of the latest products, their strengths and weaknesses, and a look at what’s next on the road to zero key loss.

The technology menu Key vending machines: Designed as large locker units, key vending machines contain staff keys and control access to them. They can also provide the facility to issue two-way radios and portable panic alarms, which are automatically recharged once returned to their compartment in the machine. A specific staff member can only gain access to a preprogrammed, specific set of keys, controlled by either a standard access control ID card (which could be swipe, prox or smart technology) or by a PIN number. These machines cannot prevent keys being taken off site, prevent staff from leaving without replacing their keys, or confirm the correct staff member is collecting keys. Cards can be lent out, lost or even stolen.

Turnstiles and electronic gates: Gates and barriers can prevent access by unauthorised personnel. However, only a full-height turnstile can effectively allow access to exactly one authorised member of staff, preventing ‘tailgating’ (a second person closely following the authorised one) or ‘piggy backing’ (two people passing through the turnstile together).

Cards can still be passed back to another person unless this is prevented by use of ‘antipass-back’ software available in sophisticated access control systems (ACS). Anti-pass-back systems constantly track the location of staff and will only allow access into and out of areas that could physically be reached. This prevents staff ‘passing back’ their cards for use by others, but is only effective when all entrance/egress points are controlled by full height turnstiles.

Key detection archways: Key sets can be fitted with ‘tags’ on their keyrings, similar to those used for article surveillance in retail applications. An antenna loop is then fitted to the egress site point, where an alarm is triggered in the event of a member of staff passing through with their keys. This system will not, however, prevent staff members from simply ignoring the warning and leaving site with their keys.

Visitor management systems: Designed as a stand-alone system or linking into the site access control system, a visitor management system allows staff members to pre-book any visitors to the site. When the guest arrives, security or reception will have their ID badge prepared, with appropriate clearance levels set. Any ID card issued would be set to expire automatically at the end of the day. However, without integration into the access control system, a visitor management system can only produce a paper card with no functionality.

CCTV: The latest CCTV systems utilise IP

identity of staff drawing keys or attempting to remove them from site, but can be a powerful tool when combined with other parts of an integrated system.

Weak links in the key chain?

Hardly any of the above technologies, however much of a stepchange they represent to previous solutions, are in isolation able to completely eliminate the possibility of key loss, tampering or human error during key dispensing.

Some potential weak links and limitations of technology have already been mentioned, in summary they are:

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Lack of ability to prove a person carrying an ID card is correct owner

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Possibility of tailgating

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Possibility of piggy-backing

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Possibility of pass-back

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Lack of protection against removal of keys from site

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No log of location of key holders

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No log of keys issued/ returned

The road to zero key loss The key to zero key loss, and the emerging best practice in prison access control, is the intelligent integration of all this technology, interweaving all touchpoints and transactions, creating safety nets and checks around every single key’s roundtrip through the facility.

Biometric ID: Biometric ID readers are now considered reliable and fast enough to be Ultra-high definition 4K cameras are used widely, and staff acceptance is For example, key vending starting to appear now, driving up the usually high. Several technologies machines can be linked to the quality of video capture and making it ever are available; including retina scan, access control system, allowing easier to identify individuals pictured. facial recognition and wrist scan, the tracking of each member but the most popular and effective of staff’s key issue and return. is fingerprint. For the latter it’s The ACS can log and time/date not the actual fingerprint that stamp all transactions at the technology to provide high-definition images is stored, but a code derived from the print vending machine in addition to each movement and the flexibility, resilience and control of an during registration. Units are now priced to throughout the various portals on site.

IP-networked system. allow more widespread deployment, which Adding full-height turnstiles and integrating HD cameras also enable zooming into a has in turn led to greater public acceptance them with the access control system with static camera image without loss of quality. of the technology. Biometric ID methods ‘anti-pass-back’ prevents multiple people Video analytics can be used to recognise allow accurate and reliable authentication of a from gaining access or drawing keys using the faces, detect movement into or out of preperson and their credentials. They are slower same card. It also allows the ACS to track the determined areas and specific behaviours such than prox or smart card readers, but this movement of each individual around the site. as loitering, travelling in a certain direction, slight delay is not considered an issue in highobject left, object removed, etc. CCTV alone The integration of ‘anti-pass-back’ with the key security environments. cannot provide an easy check on the true vending machines can also prevent staff from the Custodial Review

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leaving the site without first returning their keys. A tag detecting loop can warn staff of any attempt to leave site prior to approaching the access-controlled turnstile.

The final level of integration, to provide a complete system, would be the addition of a link from the access control system to CCTV, presenting entrance security staff with an image of each staff member as they use their ID cards to enter – the guards can then compare the live video image with the one stored in the ACS to ensure the card is being used by the correct cardholder. Biometric readers could be incorporated to further automate this process.

Gapless audit trails Technology available today can automatically generate a log of all staff, detailing the time of entry and egress from each secure area, as well as the time of issue and return of any keys for each individual member of staff.

In the event of a missing person or set of keys, the system can easily be interrogated to provide the last known transaction, for example the current location of a cardholder. It can also provide the facility to automatically initiate detailed random spot check searches of individuals both in and out of the establishment.

In summary: prisons today can choose from a rich menu of technologies to improve access control and key management. Intelligent integration of these technologies can close any remaining gaps and loopholes, while providing a reliable key audit trail.

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the Custodial Review

Here’s how Secure Payment Services, a Digital Service, will help cut back officer time, improve security and help friends and family Secure Payment Services (SPS) is the new prison digital service which reduces the work of Finance provides intelligence for Security and makes things easier for prisoners, their friends and family.

The service allows friends and family of prisoners to make payments to prisoners, subject to specific limits and security requirements, quickly, automatically and inexpensively. It also helps to improve prison security and saves officer manpower by reducing or completely removing the need to handle cash, cheques and postal orders.

Indeed with Unilink’s self-service finance system there is a direct interface and no manual typing of prisoner finances at all.

Prison officers and finance departments really appreciate the tracking, the security of payments and the assistance from the Secure Payments Helpdesk.

Secure Payment Service is currently available only in private prisons. Free for prisons, it is popular with friends/family and prisoners as well as reducing administration and increasing security.

These are just a few of the many comments received:

“…. we appreciate your help… the information you provide is helping us identify the key areas of the prison where we have potential bullying and drug problems, and are able to act on these problems before they get out of hand, we are also using intelligence to check the payments are legitimate” Security Department, Lowdham “… we have found Secure Payment Service of benefit in many ways;- Sender’s details are provided against all funds received, useful when resolving any issues; unusual activity can be identified quickly…… and the relevant parties notified should other action be required.

It takes very little time to process compared with postal cash or visitors’ cash, the funds transfer is securely deposited directly into the Trust bank account, so there is no physical cash to count and to secure onsite; less cash onsite means less banking trips and cash collection, no issues with uncleared funds; counterfeit bills, bounced cheques, or missing cash / postal orders / cheques.” Assistant Director, Thameside

Prison Technology Services (PTS), a Unilink company, was founded in 2006 by ex-prisoner Derek Jones. PTS is a UK SME, pays UK Corporation Tax and VAT, and has extensive experience in the provision of communication tools for prisoners and their families; both providing the well-known “email-a-prisoner” system, between prisoners and their families and facilitating secure payments to prisoners.

PTS operates in the EU, does not need data on prisoners and uses CJSM in accordance with ISO27000 to enhance security.

For more details please email support@ prison-technology-services.com or call 0844 873 3111 the Custodial Review

From an administrative perspective the secure payment service has caused us no extra work load and has helped decrease the amount of money we receive through Royal Mail. The uptake of SPS use has trebled since the go live date in January (2014) and we feel the service can only go from strength to strength. We have also found the use of SPS when receiving Euros as this was not accepted in our prison and the currency exchange helps with our foreign national prisoners. I feel I have an excellent working relationship with yourselves and can ask any questions Page 28

or queries and they are dealt with most effectively.” Finance Dept.

“Here at HMP Parc we have nothing but positive feedback for the secure payments service. Since it was introduced, our needs and preferences have all been adhered to and processes have been adapted to suit us.

If there is ever a query I know that I can just email the helpdesk and they will get straight back to me.

Using the secure payment system has increased efficiency in regards to prisoners receiving money. Not only do the prisoners receive their money sooner, but it decreases my work in regards to banking cash, cheques and postal orders.

Using the Secure Payment System gives Finance and Security full information on the sender. When we receive cash we have no certain idea of the source; they can place any name or address on the letter, we would not know. This way you have to have all the information... it’s very easy to use, and to export.” Head of Finance, HMP Parc

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Young adult prisoner suicides: Cries for help are going unheard The Howard League for Penal Reform has responded to the Prison and Probation Ombudsman’s learning lessons bulletin on young adult prisoners who died by suicide, published on 13 August.

The report reveals that, between April 2007 and March 2014, 89 young people aged 18 to 24 took their own lives in prison.Two-thirds of these young people had identified mental health problems and one in five had been subjected to bullying in the month before they died.

Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “Every death in prison is a tragedy and almost all are preventable. This bleak compilation of tragedies sets out in shocking detail how young adults, and especially those with mental health problems, are left to suffer in institutions where violence is rife and bullying is commonplace.

“Prisoners are dying for want of a radio to listen to or a book to read. Cries for help are going unheard. Families’ concerns are being ignored. It is a shocking indictment of the state’s approach to people in trouble.

“Things will get worse before they get better, and the blame for this lies squarely with the government. Increased overcrowding driven by cowardly sentencing and ill-conceived jail closures, together with a 30 per cent cut in officer numbers, has turned prisons into warehouses where yet more people will die needlessly.”

Case studies The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman’s report includes 11 anonymous case studies, outlining the circumstances in which prisoners died. Below are some extracts from these case studies: “On the third night of segregation, he asked an officer for a book, and another prisoner if he could borrow their radio, but was unable to get either. The next morning he was found hanging in his cell. He was 20 years old.”

“The next night, still in segregation, Mr D used his cell bell to call for staff on a number of occasions. He had previously received warnings for misusing the bell. However, it appears that a number of cell bells that night, including that of Mr D, were not answered for extended periods or cancelled without the officer on duty checking the prisoner. The last time he pressed the bell for assistance was just before midnight. He was not checked until almost three hours later by which time he was dead. He was 22 years old.”

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“The investigation found that he was effectively forgotten during the four days he spent at the prison: very little staff interaction with him was recorded, and no manager checked on his welfare. Mr G hanged himself and was found dead by an officer unlocking prisoners in the morning.”

“His partner told a social worker she wanted to end the relationship. When he found out, Mr E was distraught. Staff were aware of the situation; he was checked and supported by a number of them but no one thought that re-opening the ACCT was necessary. In the early hours of the morning, his observation panel was seen to be blocked. Despite this an officer did not check him for another hour.

By this time he had hung himself and it was too late to attempt resuscitation. He was 23 years old.”

Doncaster prison: Serco to blame for disastrous deterioration The Howard League for Penal Reform has responded to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons’ report on Doncaster prison, which is operated by Serco.

Inspectors found that levels of violence in Doncaster were four times higher than in comparable prisons. Many of the prisoners at risk of self-harm were on a basic regime or held in segregation. There have been three suicides at the prison since April 2011.

Staff were overwhelmed and lacked control, and one wing had been damaged by fire and vandalism during a riot. A significant number of prisoners spent more than 22 hours a day locked in their cells. In one case a man had not received essential heart medication for 10 days.

Doncaster is very overcrowded. It is designed to accommodate 738 prisoners, but at the time of the inspection it was holding 1,132.

Research by the Howard League has found that the number of prison officers in Doncaster was cut by 10 per cent in three years – from 204 in September 2010 to 184 in September 2013. Public sector prisons have faced much greater staff cuts.

Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “This is the latest in a worrying series of inspection reports showing how prisons which were once performing bearably have deteriorated to the point where they are now chaotic and dangerous.

“Prisons in the public sector have been hit by deep budget cuts which have impacted on safety, but Doncaster does not have that excuse. Serco’s board should be made to

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explain why this violent, filthy, drug-infested prison is failing so miserably.

“Still at the centre of a major fraud investigation for its role in the tagging scandal, Serco has once again shown itself to be very good at winning contracts and very bad at delivering them. This disastrous report is the final straw.

“Doncaster should no longer be left in the hands of a multinational which puts shareholders’ interests before public safety.”

The wasted millions spent on needless remand Courts wasted an estimated £230million of taxpayers’ money last year by needlessly locking up people on remand, figures published by the Howard League for Penal Reform revealed on 18 August 2014.

During 2013, more than 35,000 people who had been remanded in custody went on to be either acquitted or given non-custodial sentences.

The money spent on keeping them in prison would have been enough to build 16 new secondary schools, pay 10,000 nurses for a year, or reverse the government’s cuts to the criminal legal aid budget.

Of the 36,044 men, women and children who were remanded into custody by magistrates, 25,413 (71 per cent) did not go on to receive a custodial sentence.

In the crown courts, 9,844 (27 per cent) of the 36,833 men, women and children remanded were either acquitted or given a non-custodial sentence. However, there was a significant gender difference, with 41 per cent of female defendants being acquitted or receiving a non-custodial sentence, compared to 26 per cent of male defendants.

The figures suggest that there is widespread overuse and misuse of remand across England and Wales – despite the recent introduction of new legislation designed in part to reduce the number of people locked up needlessly.

People on remand receive a very poor regime when in prison. Overall they spend more time locked in their cells, receive less help and support when inside, and are inadequately prepared for release. Remand prisoners are also at the greatest risk of self-harm and suicide.

Remand is currently the key driver of the rising prison population. Its misuse puts further pressure on the country’s overcrowded and under-resourced prison estate, where suicides and assaults have risen alarmingly after the number of officers was cut by 30 per cent in three years.

the Custodial Review

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Ranby: A dangerous and dirty prison The Howard League for Penal Reform has responded to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons’ report on Ranby prison.

Inspectors found Ranby to be an "unsafe" prison where levels of violence were higher than expected and evidence suggested they were getting worse.

There had been two suicides in 2013 - the first for five years. Another two have occurred since the inspection.

Ranby is a Category C training prison for adult males and a designated working prison.

However, more than a quarter of prisoners were locked in their cells during the working part of the day. Two hundred prisoners were not working.

Research by the Howard League has found that the number of prison officers in Ranby was cut by 29 per cent in three years - from 253 in September 2010 to 180 in September 2013.

Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform said: "This is a dangerous and dirty prison. It's dangerous for prisoners and for staff, but that means it's dangerous for the public too, as men spill out back into communities more likely to cause mayhem and harm.

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with 52 in the previous 12 months.

Serious assaults on prison officers have increased by 38 per cent, and incidents of selfharm among men rose by 7 per cent to almost 17,500. Women accounted for 26 per cent of self-harm incidents despite making up only 5 per cent of the prison population.

The MoJ has identified 29 prisons whose overall performance is of “concern” or “serious concern”.

For the second year running, every probation trust in the country was classed as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’. But these trusts were dissolved by the MoJ on 1 June 2014, despite the government’s own figures showing that reoffending is going down.

The figures were published less than a month after the Howard League revealed that the number of prison officers in England and Wales had been cut by 30 per cent.

Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “Prisons are becoming places of extreme violence as men are caged with nothing to do all day, and in some terrible cases they have become death traps.

“The contrast with the probation service is stark, as the final year of more than a century of success at keeping the public safe is finally destroyed.

"The responsibility for prison after prison becoming places seething with crime, violence and death rests with the government which has made this its policy."

“The world has truly gone mad when prisons are getting more violent but have government support, and probation that reduces crime is being destroyed.”

Prison suicides rise by 69% in a year

Glen Parva: “Land of Lord of the Flies”

The number of people taking their own lives in prison has soared by 69% in a year, figures seen by the Howard League for Penal Reform revealed on 31st July.

Statistics published by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) show there were 88 suicides in the 12 months to the end of March 2014, compared

The Howard League for Penal Reform has responded to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons’ report on Glen Parva prison.

Inspectors found that Glen Parva was “not safe”.

Assaults on prisoners and staff had risen by a

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quarter over the last year, and inspectors were not assured that all incidents were recorded.

Three young men have taken their own lives in Glen Parva since April 2013. Inspectors found a direct link between high levels of self-harm and high levels of bullying in the prison.

Use of the segregation unit was high, reflecting an increase in serious incidents such as barricades and hostages. Most prisoners in segregation were there as punishment, but inspectors found that many had committed their offences to get themselves placed there so they would feel safer.

Although Glen Parva holds only young men, inspectors found that 28 per cent of inmates were locked in their cells during the working day.

The report follows inspections of other YOIs – Aylesbury, Brinsford, Feltham and Isis – which have given cause for concern. ‘This is a model of custody that does not work,’ the report concludes.

Research by the Howard League has found that the number of prison officers in Glen Parva was cut by 36 per cent in three years – from 250 in September 2010 to 160 in September 2013 - and the charity is about to publish new figures that show a further cut was made to only 140 officers this year.

Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “This prison is dangerous for teenagers and this sounds more like an extract from William Golding’s Lord of the Flies than a report on an institution that is meant to help young people turn their lives around.

“Yet another report of violence and idleness inflicted on teenagers by the state shows that the use of short prison sentences and remand is at the core of the problem.

“The government must take courageous action to take these young people out of such a toxic environment before more of them die, or take responsibility for the consequences.”

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Pickersgill-Kaye Ltd has announced a new appointment as part of its ongoing investment in its employees, products and manufacturing systems in a move to help the company break into new markets and bring further customer benefits.

Mark Tailby brings nearly 35 years’ experience in the steel door and security locks industry to his new position as Product Manager, High Security Locking responsible for Pickersgill-Kaye‘s renowned range of high security multipoint locks and the heavy duty perimeter gate lock range.

Group Managing Director, Peter Murphy, said: “Mark was with Adams Rite Europe Ltd, who originally distributed the Pickersgill-Kaye Limited High Security Multipoint Locking Systems. He was actively involved in the conception and launch of the product range, and spent three years promoting the product in the security door market.

“His industry knowledge will be of great benefit to us and our customers as we continue to develop our business within the high security sector.”

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