Custodial Review 75 edition

Custodial the

Review

The Custodial Review informing the Prison, Border Agency and Police Services Edition 75

Colnbrook, more than the contract states

Nick Hardwick, 4 years later

Putting our money where their mouth is..

‘Pension Penfriends’ scheme

Keep safe from token cloning

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Contents Issue 75

the Custodial Review Editorial Sales: Tracy Johnson, Martin Petty Tel: 01234 348878 sales@custodialreview.co.uk

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News

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Nick Hardwick, 4 years later

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‘Pension Penfriends’ scheme

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The Emergency Services show

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News from the Youth Justice Board

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Putting our money where their mouth is..

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Nick Hardwick’s appointment as HM Chief Inspector of Prisons has been extended.

Nick Hardwick’s appointment as HM Chief Inspector of Prisons has been extended in order to allow the recruitment process for his successor to be re-run.

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has confirmed to the Justice Select Committee that he will not be proposing a preferred candidate to them as there was not a wide enough pool of candidates from which to select.

The Committee had been due to hold a pre-appointment hearing with the preferred candidate later this month, with Mr Hardwick’s fixed term originally due to end in July 2015.

Hepatitis cases responsible for 93% of prison disease reports

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The number of single reports of infectious diseases made to PHE has more than doubled since 2011 (549 reports). The increase in reports reflects significant improvements in testing for hepatitis and other blood borne viruses (BBV) in prisons, which in a major change is moving from an ‘opt-in’ to an ‘opt-out’ policy to help reduce transmissions.

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of chronic illnesses, mental health and substance misuse problems than the general public.

Improving health in prisons can help deal with entrenched inequalities, ultimately benefiting the health of the communities to which the majority of prisoners return, while tackling substance misuse problems in prisons also helps to reduce re-offending rates.

The prison population is around 85,000 at any one time, but the number of new receptions for 2013 to 2014 amounted to a total of 204,941, highlighting the highly mobile nature of the prison population – both between sites and between prison and the community. The majority of prisoners only serve a sentence of 6 months or less, presenting a real challenge to improving their health.

The report flags concerns that health improvements in prison may be lost when a prisoner returns to the community and shows the important role that local authorities have in ensuring continuity of care. In total 39% of local authorities have prisons within their area, however all local health bodies have a responsibility for people in their communities who are in contact with the criminal justice system.

Professor Kevin Fenton, Director of Health and Wellbeing at PHE said:

Health and justice annual report sheds light on prison health and inequalities.

New figures from Public Health England (PHE) reveal hepatitis B and C cases accounted for 1,174 of 1,268 infectious diseases reported in English prisons during 2014.

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Improving the health of prisoners delivers a ‘community dividend’ by benefiting the areas to which most prisoners eventually return. By intervening in prisons we can help prevent the spread of infectious diseases, lighten the burden on the NHS from long standing problems, and reduce re-offending linked to poor health. This principle underpins our work in prisons and is no more evident than in our vital work on blood-borne viruses which will help reduce infection rates inside and outside prison walls.

Preliminary results from prisons who have already introduced the ‘opt out’ policy reveal a near doubling of BBV testing. These early adopters report 21% of new entrants were tested for hepatitis C and 22% for hepatitis B in the first phase, compared to 11% for hepatitis C and 12% for hepatitis B previously. The majority of early adopters stated that the policy has helped them identify people who would otherwise have remained undiagnosed.

We are world leading in our ability to collect surveillance data on infectious diseases from the whole English prison system in near real-time, allowing us to quickly identify and respond to emerging threats. With this experience PHE has a leadership role with the World Health Organization’s Health in Prisons Programme, helping other countries across Europe in their efforts to improve the quality of prisoner health.

The prison population has a higher incidence of hepatitis C than the general population (8% compared to 2%), therefore diagnosing and treating hepatitis C and other BBVs in prisons is designed to help reduce transmission both in prisons and in the community.

Public Health England exists to protect and improve the nation’s health and wellbeing, and reduce health inequalities. It does this through world-class science, knowledge and intelligence, advocacy, partnerships and the delivery of specialist public health services. PHE is an operationally autonomous executive agency of the Department of Health. Website: www.gov. uk/phe. Twitter: @PHE_uk, Facebook: www. facebook.com/PublicHealthEngland

These new figures were published on15th June 2015 in PHE’s health and justice 2014 report, which details the important changes in the health and justice system and discusses the public health needs of people in prisons and other prescribed places of detention.

This group experience a number of health inequalities, including suffering a higher burden the Custodial Review

Background

From April 1 2013, NHS England became responsible for commissioning all health services (with the exception of some emergency care, ambulance services, out Page 4

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of hours and 111 services) for people in prisons in England through ‘Health and Justice’ commissioning teams in 10 of NHS England’s 27 area teams, supported by a small national Health and Justice team.

The PHE health and justice team will work in partnership with NHS England commissioners in support of their responsibility for commissioning public health functions in prisons, at national and local level. In addition to the national team, 10 health and justice public health specialists will be located in PHE Centres, mapping to those 10 NHS England area teams with specialist health and justice commissioning teams.

While PHE has an important role in providing expert public health advice guidance and support tools to NOMS and NHS England which supports commissioning in the context of this agreement, it does not have any direct responsibility for commissioning or performance management of healthcare services in secure and detained settings, nationally or locally.

PHE is committed to working with local authorities to support the Transforming Rehabilitation programme which aims to improve integration between health providers in custody and in the community.

First police force achieves RSQM Greater Manchester Police (GMP) Tameside Division has become the first police force to achieve the Restorative Service Quality Mark (RSQM).

The award recognises the good quality, safe and sustainable restorative service provided by the police force, which joins 17 other RSQM awardees from sectors including criminal justice, education and care.

Gary Coglan, GMP’s restorative justice development officer, said: “The RSQM has ensured that our restorative justice services are of the exceptional national standard that victims of crime deserve.

“For an organisation as large as GMP, which provides restorative justice at many levels, the process was initially daunting. However, regular contact with our RSQM assessors ensured that the evidence we were providing was relevant. This saved us a lot of time and allowed us to focus our energy on the right areas for development.

“Achieving the award was a validation of all the good work that we have put into restorative justice and, as the first police force to achieve this award, we felt a sense of pride in what we are doing. The next goal is to ensure that these standards are built upon and shared across the whole of the GMP divisional areas.

“The RSQM ensures that restorative justice is delivered to the highest standard and, to anyone thinking of applying, I would say go for it!”

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New polling demonstrates public support for restorative justice The public believe that victims should have the right to access restorative justice, according to new polling published today by the Restorative Justice Council (RJC).

The polling, carried out by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the RJC, sought the public’s views on restorative justice and found that an overwhelming 77% of people think that victims should have the right to meet their offender.

The RJC is now calling for a right to access restorative justice to be included in the forthcoming Victims’ Law, which the government plans to introduce during the current parliamentary session.

Restorative justice enables victims to meet or communicate with their offender to explain the real impact of the crime, and puts victims’ needs at the centre of the criminal justice process.

Including a right to access restorative justice in the Victims’ Law would ensure that more people are able to benefit from the process.

The RJC’s chief executive officer, Jon Collins, said: “The Victims’ Law could be a significant step forwards in ensuring much more widespread provision for restorative justice, which is clearly something the public support. The Restorative Justice Council is urging all those involved in developing the Bill to seize this opportunity by giving all victims the right to access restorative justice.”

The majority of the public think that restorative justice can help offenders see what impact their crime has on victims (59%) and can help victims to move on (53%). But the polling also shows that, despite a high level of support for the principles behind restorative justice, only 30% of people had heard of it.

The RJC has developed information and materials for victims including Moving on, a new film promoting the benefits of restorative justice, which can be viewed at www.restorativejustice.org.uk

Moving on - new film to raise awareness of restorative justice On 16 April, the Restorative Justice Council (RJC) launched Moving on, a short film about restorative justice. Produced by the awardwinning team at Catsnake Film, Moving on brings to life the way many victims continue to suffer the effects of crime long after the event and how restorative justice can help.

Moving on has been produced to raise awareness of restorative justice in England and Wales, and the RJC is working to make sure it’s seen by as many people as possible. According the Custodial Review

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to Ipsos MORI research, three quarters of the public agree that victims should have the right to meet their offender, but only around one in five understand the term ‘restorative justice’.

Restorative justice works – it can help victims recover from crime and it cuts reoffending by 14% - but victims of crime need to know that it’s available.

Sara Adams from Lincolnshire Secure Unit said: “Over the years we have recognised that young people respond better to situations if they take responsibility for what they have done, a key principle of restorative justice... The unit was very pleased that we received the award and that the hard work that we put into restorative justice has been recognised.”

Moving on shows Lucy, the victim of a mugging, replaying events endlessly in her mind. Only when she meets the mugger in a restorative justice conference is she able to put the incident behind her – it gives her a chance to explain the impact of the crime, and humanises him in the process.

Kate Brooksbank from Bradford Restorative Justice Hub had this advice for other services thinking of applying for the RSQM: “The process of the RSQM is straightforward. There are very clear instructions throughout the process and it is an excellent opportunity to look at the different standards and indicators and to reflect upon current practices and what you’re doing well at and those areas that may just need a tweak to ensure best practice is achieved.”

In real life, Tania met the mugger who snatched her bag, dragging her along the street. She said: “Afterwards, I felt relief. I felt like I could draw a line under my experience – that it was now over and I could move on. Restorative justice gives you back control over yourself, over what happens to you.”

Burglary victims Ed and Rumbie met their offender while he was in prison. Afterwards, Rumbie said: “I felt a lot safer in our home and our neighbourhood - we felt empowered.” Her partner Ed said: “If someone else was considering restorative justice, I would tell them to go for it. It offers you emotional closure and it puts a perspective on a crime – it seems less sinister.”

Jon Collins, the RJC’s CEO, said: “We know that restorative justice can make a real difference to victims, helping them to put a traumatic experience behind them and move on with their lives.Yet too many victims of crime don’t know about restorative justice and are therefore not in a position to access its benefits. This film is intended to raise victims’ awareness of restorative justice and we hope that it will help us to spread the word about the positive difference restorative justice can make to victims’ lives.”

You can see the film on the RJC website at http://restorativejustice.org.uk/

Three more organisations awarded the RSQM The RJC has to announced that three more services, Lincolnshire Secure Unit, Leicestershire YOS’s restorative work and Bradford Restorative Justice Hub have been awarded the Restorative Service Quality Mark (RSQM).

The RSQM is a badge of quality that demonstrates that a service provides safe, high quality restorative practice which meets the six Restorative Service Standards. These services will join 14 others across a range of sectors who were awarded the RSQM in its first year.

Mazi Patel from Leicestershire Youth Offending Service said that they applied for the RSQM because: “We wanted to ensure that people who come into contact with the Leicestershire YOS have every confidence that they will receive safe and effective restorative services and therefore the RSQM will help us to deliver this message.”

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If you would like further information about the RSQM visit: www.rsqm.org.uk.

More evidence of the effectiveness of restorative justice for young offenders The latest evaluation of the youth conferencing restorative justice process in Northern Ireland has confirmed what previous studies have shown: that restorative justice is an effective way to deal with youth offending.

The Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland report assesses the effectiveness of the youth conferencing system. The youth conferencing system, which enables young offenders who have pleaded guilty to take part in a restorative process, is firmly embedded into the youth justice system in Northern Ireland and a youth conference order is the most common type of community sentence for young people in Northern Ireland.

The report notes that the reoffending rate for those who receive a youth conference order is 54% compared to a rate of 63% for those who receive other community sentences. Those who take part in restorative justice as part of a diversionary disposal have a reoffending rate of 19%. Updated figures for reoffending published after this report was compiled also show a lower rate of reoffending for those who took part in restorative justice as compared to other disposals. Due to the proven effects of the youth conferencing service and the high numbers of referrals involving young people brought up in care, the report recommends for restorative practices to be integrated into all care homes.

The study also involved interviews with both victims and offenders who had taken part in restorative justice. It found that most people who had participated had positive views on the process. The report concludes that the interviews demonstrated positive outcomes for a clear majority of young people who participated in conferencing.

The full evaluation can be found on the RJC website.

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Nick Hardwick, 4 years later

Custodial Review, (CR) Last time we spoke was in 2010. This post was a five year appointment. Are you staying on or do you have a new job to go to?

Nick Hardwick (NH) It was a 5 year appointment and they have extended it while they look for my successor. My term officially ends in July, but I expect to be here another 10-11 months. I will consider my future at the end of my current tenure.

CR Last time we spoke Kenneth Clarke was Minister of Justice and you and he shared an opinion that too many people are sent to prison.You felt that this was not a good use of resources.You also felt that there was a need for a leaner hierarchy in NOMS from the inmate to the Chief Executive as this would improve the service and also cut costs. Have these opinions changed?

NH To a great extent that’s all still the case.

First of all we still lock up more people than most comparable European countries. We need to look at prisons as we look at other public services and decide what we can afford, what are effective uses of resources and is there real value from what we’re putting into the system?

We also need to ensure that when people leave prison they are less likely to offend than when they went in. This is both good for the prisoner and the communities to which they return. We need to focus on rehabilitation and reducing reoffending from the day somebody starts their sentence and not leaving it to the last minute. The rehabilitation agenda was only supposed to start in May last year so it is very early days yet. We need to see what happens as a result of that.

I think there is a risk that the centre has been hollowed out too much so its capacity to identify and address both system wide and establishment specific concerns has been weakened. the Custodial Review

Nick Hardwick has fulfilled the role of Chief Inspector of Prisons for just over four years. In that time the government, the economy and public spending priorities have changed quite dramatically.

I last spoke to him when he had been in the job for 4 months and I recently returned to find out how his initial impressions had altered over the intervening years.

CR You also felt concerned about the public perception of the criminal justice system. Are you still concerned about this?

NH I would hope that people would say that our reports give an accurate representation of what is happening in the criminal justice system. There are a variety of views about what prisons are for and what they should be like. Whatever people’s views, I would hope they are based on accurate information. One of my roles is to explain what is happening in prisons, and that’s important for both politicians and policy makers, but so that also the public have the opportunity to compare what actually happens with how they perceive it to be and how they would want it to be.

CR Do you feel that the public’s perceptions have improved or changed over the last five years?

NH I like to think I have helped that process and that people who are interested have read our reports, but there are still a lot of misconceptions. For instance in the last five years I have done this job, I have yet to find the mysterious “holiday camps”!

There are two major misconceptions. The holiday camp one that says that prison is ‘all a bit easy’ however even the best run prison is a horrible place to be. I find them claustrophobic and I’m always happy to leave at the end of the day. When I go to a prison I have keys and I know I’m going to leave at the end of the day so it’s not a big deal for me. Prison is undoubtedly tough and sending someone to prison is a very severe sentence. The public still have a misconception about this.

The second misconception is about who’s there and why. The number of people in prison who have serious mental health problems is very disturbing. We were in a women’s prison at the end of last year where over half the inmates were receiving some kind of Page 8

treatment for mental health problems. There were also big problems with substance misuse.

A lot of people are in prison because they have trouble coping in the outside world. That’s not to say that those people have not committed offences and that a lot of them would be a nightmare if they were living next door to you.

That doesn’t mean they are the danger to the public that people imagine them to be. When I talk about the job I do, people often ask me, ‘aren’t you scared in the prisons?’ As they imagine that prisoners would attack you but this isn’t the case. There are some individuals who are physically dangerous but most aren’t.

Though that doesn’t minimise the harm that the prisoners have done.

CR We spoke about reoffending; you said ‘There is insufficient focus on the reward given for the activity prisoners do’. Is this still happening or is now starting to be addressed in schemes like ‘payment by results’?

NH The point I was trying to make was that there was insufficient focus on trying to reduce the risk that prisoners would reoffend after release. I think that a lack of progress is still the case. I still go into too many prisons where people are doing relatively short sentences and they are locked in their cells most of the day which means they spend their days in their bunks watching daytime TV. It is hard to imagine a less effective way of preparing someone for release. I am of the belief that getting people into the habit of going to work, so they can get and hold down a job when they leave, is critical to reducing the risk that they will reoffend. I think there is other activities that you can do to make that easier. Doing something about how they live, doing something about their drug habit, trying to make sure that they have reasonable relationships with their family. People have to make some choices and individuals have to choose that they will not reoffend. It is

difficult to get them to make those choices but if they do want to make a change and have a better life, then we need to make sure that the system is in there to help them make that choice rather than discourage them.

assaults on staff, of serious assaults on staff, of self-harm, have all risen very substantially since I started work. In particular, what’s worrying is the number of serious assaults is accelerating.

I’ve tried to understand why that is happening?

CR Is ‘Payment by Results’ doing that?

There are some long term trends we can examine. The proportion of people in for serious violent offences has grown. In the last year there has been a problem with new, psychoactive drugs, they get traded and that causes debt, which in turn causes violence.

There is no doubt in my mind that staffing shortages has had an impact on the levels of safety. The staffing shortages are not the reduction in agreed staffing levels, but the problem is the vacancies beyond that. Prisons have had their staff numbers and budgets reduced, and they could probably manage with the reduced staffing levels, but they struggle to manage with the the vacant posts they’ve got in addition in some prisons, particularly in London and the South East. In some prisons I don’t think there are enough staff to do the rehabilitation work and in some cases keep people safe.

NH Payment by results was an experiment going on in Peterborough Prison and Doncaster and generally that scheme hasn’t had much effect as we hoped. I don’t think that payment by results has worked very well, but I do think that we need to have a greater focus on outcomes and know more about them.

For instance resettlement agencies need to know if they put someone in accommodation, do they stay in that accommodation? A prison should know how many people reoffend when they leave it. If prisons help them get a job, do they stay in that job? It shouldn’t just be about following a process; it should be about what the outcomes are. When we inspect, we focus on outcomes. I’m not really interested in the processes.

CR You also said that part of your job is to ask the questions that the public asks. What questions are you asking on their behalf now?

NH I ask some of the basic questions such as, what is being done to address the behaviour and attitudes that brought someone into prison? I ask critical questions about security too. Obviously prisons need to be secure but if security is disproportionate then nothing happens in the prison, so I ask whether security measures are at the right level for the risks faced. I ask why aren’t people able to go to work? Why is a workshop with good facilities sitting empty while prisoners are sitting in their cells doing nothing?

Another question I ask is that given the high walls and barbed wire fencing, why do so many prisons have problems with drugs? I now know a bit more about the answer! If the public read our reports they will have a better idea of why that is happening but the trade in illegal substances is serious threat to security and safety in prisons. The most difficult interview question I have ever had was after a report on Gloucester Prison, a city centre prison which is now closed. A local radio journalist asked me, that though people walk past it every day they have no idea what goes on in there. What happens inside? Part of what I do is try to tell what is actually happening behind the walls.

CR The Equalities and Human Rights Commission has recently done a piece on non natural deaths in prison. That has increased in 2014. The EHRC suggested that this may have something to do with lower staffing levels. Do you think it’s connected?

NH One of the things that the prison service does well is that they publish really good data on what is happening in prison. Credit to them for being transparent and making that information available. If you look at the safety data that NOMS itself produces, you will see that the rates of self inflicted deaths, of homicide, of assault, of serious assaults, of

Low staffing numbers hamper relationships forming. At first I didn’t realise the extent to which prisons run on relationships. How is it that two members of staff can control 60 men on an exercise yard? It’s because of the relationships that are created. Most of the real work that gets done on the wing is because a member of staff knows the prisoners. One may come up to them and says, ‘I’m worried about Joe Bloggs, he hasn’t come out of his cell all day, he seems very down and we’re all worried about him.’ Most prisoners want a quiet life they may warn that someone’s going to kick off about something. A lot of the security and wellbeing of prisoners and staff depends on these relationships. The officer or the governor must know the people they are responsible for.

If there isn’t the time to develop these relationships because of an unfilled vacancy there can be real problems. We recently did a report on Dovegate where there had been an escape. Normally when I go onto a wing, I go into the office and ask if there’s anything I need to know about. I went onto a wing in Dovegate and prisoners were out but there was not any staff in sight. I thought that that was indicative of an unacceptable level of staffing, not the fault of the people who work there as the management team are doing their best in difficult circumstances, but they certainly didn’t have the staff they needed.

I don’t know the circumstances about this particular escape but when you’re that tight on staffing you don’t have the resilience. If there is the right staffing levels there might be one mistake but at least there’s some cover.

If there’s only one person and they make a mistake then that could cause problems.

Normally for something bad to go wrong it takes three or four people to make mistakes.

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that staffing levels were so low there. It is about vacancies rather than absolute numbers.

CR 4 years ago we were talking about the young offender estate and that there has been both a reduction in numbers and better outcomes for those in custody. Can the reduction be used to create smaller, more local units, and better opportunities as you hoped?

NH The numbers are continuing to fall, there’s now about 1000 in custody, mainly boys. That’s a big percentage fall in five years which is a good thing but the problem is that there is a large proportion with very bad behaviour and who are themselves at risk in lots of ways. This is a very difficult group to manage and they are now concentrated in a smaller number of establishments, which is a mistake. There has been a failure to take the opportunity to put them in smaller, more easily managed units so when they’re released they’re less likely to offend. 1000 is a small enough number to make it fixable and we haven’t taken the opportunity to do that. This is something the new Prisons Minister will want to think about.

CR You were talking about reorganising prisons to tackle reoffending. Is this still an area the Service needs to focus on?

NH One of the most interesting things the last government did was to reorganise the prison estate to establish what they called ‘resettlement prisons’, so that people doing short sentences or coming to the end of longer sentences will be put in resettlement prisons close to where they live. That should enable resettlement resources to be better organised than they were in the past. To me that makes a lot of sense. The question will be about delivery, it is too early to say whether the delivery works, but the objective is a good one.

CR Where do you think the Prison Service is going now and what is its biggest challenge?

NH The biggest decision that’s got to be made is about numbers and cost. The Prison Service has published projections about the future growth of the population and they’ve published three scenarios. The lowest scenario has a small fall. The middle and most likely scenario has a rise of a couple of thousand, and the highest has numbers going up to 100,000. But there are not any corresponding plans to build enough new prisons to meet demand. There’s also the question about taking further cost out of the system without jeopardising the resettlement objectives.

There’s a real choice for politicians about whether to spend money on increasing prison population or whether to spend it on other things. The Justice Committee said, you can’t take prisons out of discussions about what you’re going to spend taxpayers’ money on and how those prisons compare with other things.

That choice has still got to be made.You can’t let the prison population grow further without supplying the resources to manage it.

CR Thank you for talking to the Review again. the Custodial Review

‘Prisoners Penfriends’ scheme The prison letter-writing scheme ‘Prisoners’ Penfriends’ has an important role to play in helping to rehabilitate convicted offenders and support prisoner well-being, new research from the University of Warwick has found.

The findings are revealed in a report from the Law School’s Criminal Justice Centre. In this article one of the report’s authors, Juliet Horne, explains that the research found overwhelming support for the scheme but has also led to concerns about the threat to its expansion due to funding constraints and advertising restrictions.

Prisoners’ Penfriends is a small charity which, since 2003, has been putting offenders in touch with trained volunteers. Existing research highlights the importance for prisoner rehabilitation of connections with the non-criminal ‘outside world’, and how simply having someone to listen can assist in preventing prisoner self-harm and suicide.

Given the current resource pressures on the prison system and the recent rise in prisoner suicides, Warwick Professor Jacqueline Hodgson decided it was timely to examine the work of Prisoners’ Penfriends to see whether it may be able to contribute to the well-being and rehabilitation of prisoners.

The charity has its origins in a project set up by the Prison Reform Trust in the early 1990s. In 2003, Prisoners’ Penfriends took over the project, and in 2005 the Prison Service gave permission for the charity’s operation following the successful outcome of pilot projects in HMP Wandsworth and HMP Downview. 54 prisons currently operate the scheme and around 130 serving prisoners and six ex-prisoners are currently active participants. In 2013 the scheme was extended to include sex offenders, with volunteers receiving additional training for this work and all six prisons housing exclusively sex offenders are now participating.

Using a combination of interviews and questionnaires, we gathered the views of prisoners and volunteers about the work of Prisoners’ Penfriends. We found that prisoners who participate in the scheme are typically male, serving long or indeterminate sentences and many have little or no contact with anyone else outside prison. It is rare for women prisoners to participate in the scheme.

The prisoners who responded to our questionnaires gave us rich emotional accounts of the benefits they receive through their relationship with their penfriends. Prisoners told us about growing feelings of engagement with ‘the outside world’ and acceptance by the Custodial Review

‘normal people’. Regular and frequent letters provide a distraction from the routine of prison life as well as giving prisoners the opportunity to reflect on their experiences and express themselves.

Letters from their penfriends made them happy. As a result of being ‘accepted’ by their penfriend, prisoners experience friendship with someone outside their criminal contacts and come to see themselves as ‘more than just a prisoner’, they feel less stigmatised and ‘like a normal human being’.

The research also revealed possible benefits to prisoner literacy with some evidence that volunteers (who include experienced teachers) may be seeing improvements in prisoner literacy through the scheme. We have recommended that this should be researched further.

Prisoners’ Penfriends volunteers come from a wide variety of backgrounds but we found that they are typically well-educated women over the age of 50.

Volunteers take a thoughtful and considered approach to their work, attempting to tailor their correspondence to the needs of prisoners but, in turn, benefiting from the work, finding it satisfying, intellectually interesting and enjoyable.

Volunteers show great confidence in the detailed security procedures used by Prisoners’ Penfriends to keep them safe. Their training gives them a good understanding of the purpose of the scheme’s rules and volunteers report that they are closely supervised and supported through any difficulties. Prisoners appear to understand the need for safety rules too.

The prisoner and volunteer accounts paint a rich picture of genuine relationships of care and trust between penfriends demonstrating that even within the constraints necessary for the protection of volunteers, simple letterwriting relationships can lead to tangible benefits for both prisoners and volunteers.

The research indicates that the scheme is likely to improve prisoner well-being by providing a caring and committed listener to help prisoners through their life in prison. It is also likely to raise prisoners’ chances of successful rehabilitation, through connecting them with the non-criminal outside world, through providing someone who accepts them as more than just ‘an offender’ and shows belief in their capacity for change. As one prisoner wrote of his penfriend, ‘He is very helpful and caring and very understanding. He makes me feel like I Page 10

Juliet Horne

can achieve things in life. It’s made me want to be a better man when released and achieve my dreams if possible’.

This research suggests that the Prisoners’ Penfriends scheme offers an effective way to engage trained and committed volunteers in offering effective support for prisoners while managing security risks. There are clearly good reasons to expand the scheme to reach more prisoners, including possibly extending the scheme to juvenile establishments.

However expansion may present challenges for the charity. Prisoners’ Penfriends hopes that the evidence in our report will help them to obtain the additional funding needed to support expansion. The charity is also seeking the relaxation of the Ministry of Justice’s advertising restrictions as the research suggests that more advertising is needed to increase uptake amongst prisoners.

The final challenge for the charity relates to released prisoners. Prisoners’ responses indicate that prisoners expect their penfriends to be an important source of support after release from prison and existing research suggests that the continuation of this kind of support is likely to encourage desistance.

Despite these intentions, very few released prisoners continue to write to their penfriend.

Prisoners’ Penfriends is now looking for assistance from those who work with released offenders to ensure that prisoners who wish to stay in touch with their penfriend after release are supported in doing so.

In truth, these challenges arise out of the success of the Prisoners’ Penfriends project in providing a service that, as was made so clear in the responses to this research, is highly valued by prisoners.

To read the full report go to: www2. warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/ pressreleases/study_reveals_potential

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Whether you are looking for body worn video, medical kits, fire extinguishers, mental health support or PPE, a visit to this year’s Emergency Services Show will prove invaluable.Taking place at the NEC Birmingham on 23 and 24 September, this two-day showcase of innovation and collaboration is easy to get to and free to attend.

See and handle the latest kit Among the 400 companies and organisations exhibiting are leading names in communications, drug testing, IT, protective clothing and uniforms, training, safety and medical supplies. Bodyworn video will feature strongly around the exhibition halls where Edesix, Excelerate Technology, Handheld UK, Niton 999 Group, Pinnacle Response and Reveal have all booked stands.

LED Lenser will showcase its new F1R rechargeable pocket torch. Beaming superstrong white light up to 160 metres, it boasts the kind of performance normally found only in larger-bodied torches. The F1R is powered by a single Li-ion battery, which can be recharged from its own USB recharging station or any device with a USB port. Once charged the F1R has a maximum 60 hour burn time on its Low Power setting enough to provide comfortable illumination throughout the night on call-outs or patrols. Meanwhile exhibitor COAST LED Torches has announced that it has upgraded 15 of its best-sellers by up to 60% in lighting power at no extra cost. The

Networking and support A key aim of The Emergency Services Show is to develop relationships and partnerships between all blue light services and government departments like the Prison Service as well as non-governmental and voluntary sector organisations.

COAST HP7R, in regular use within numerous UK Police Forces for example, now has over 49% more light output.

Suppliers of PPE and workwear will also be showcasing new products. UK-based Technical Absorbents Ltd (TAL) will officially launch its K-SorbTM fabric, and visitors to the Shoei Helmets stand can see the new Neotec system helmet with built-in, drop-down visor.

The Emergency Response Zone is a networking focus of the show. Around 80 companies, voluntary sector and other organisations will be exhibiting in this area alone. These include the Ministry of Defence Police, which has an established strength of 2,700 police officers, based at numerous defence locations across the United Kingdom.

The MDP’s primary responsibilities are to provide armed security and to counter terrorism, as well as uniformed policing and investigative services to Ministry of Defence property, personnel, and installations throughout the United Kingdom.

Other Emergency Response Zone exhibitors of particular interest include: Mind Blue Light Services, BAPCO, College of Policing, Emergency Services Collaboration Working Group, Home Office ESN, Police National CBRN Centre, JESIP and National Ballistics Intelligence Service.

Entry and parking at The Emergency Services Show are free. The NEC is physically linked to Birmingham International Station and Birmingham Airport and is directly accessible from the UK motorway network.

To register visit www.emergencyuk.com

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News from the Youth Justice Board YJB response to HMIP inspection of Bromley Youth Offending Service Chief Executive of the Youth Justice Board, Lin Hinnigan, said: We take very seriously any concerns raised by inspections into youth offending services around the country. They play a vital role in communities by helping to prevent young people from committing crimes, which is why even one under-performing YOS is one too many.

In Bromley’s case, the YJB was informed of the findings earlier this year. We immediately accorded it ‘priority status’ and deployed experienced staff to support Bromley Council, as they take effective action to address the issues raised.

The YJB, together with Bromley Council, is committed to improve Bromley YOS’s performance so it reaches the high national standards we have set.

Background The YJB has placed Bromley on a ‘priority status’ where we will prioritise support to improve performance.

YJB response to HMI Prisons inspection of HMYOI Wetherby The Youth Justice Board for England and Wales response to an inspection of Wetherby under-18 young offender institution (YOI).

Lin Hinnigan, Chief Executive of the Youth Justice Board, said: The inspection report shows Wetherby is a well-run YOI, with dedicated and resilient staff, who are committed to securing good outcomes for the boys in their care.

The safety of young people is our priority and we recognise that reducing violence is a key area for improvement. We are already working with NOMS on a programme of reform which will help establishments to better meet the needs of the smaller but more challenging cohort of young people now in custody, including at Wetherby YOI”.

YJB response to Harris Review

Harris’ Independent Review into Self-Inflicted Deaths in NOMS Custody of 18-24 year olds.

Although focussed on the young adults’ secure estate, the Review’s findings powerfully advocate the benefits of a multi-agency and holistic approach to address the needs of those in the criminal justice system; to reduce the use of custodial sentences; and to rehabilitate those who are serving them. This same approach used by the YJB for the last 15 years - has been key to our success in reducing the numbers of young people in custody, and of first time entrants into the youth justice system, to their lowest ever levels.

We will be considering carefully where, and how, the well-informed recommendations that have been made could also apply to the care of children and young people in custody.’

YJB response to HMIP and Ofsted inspection of Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre The Youth Justice Board (YJB) acknowledges the findings of the HMI Prisons and Ofsted report into Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre (STC), published today.

Lin Hinnigan, Chief Executive of the YJB said: “Earlier this year, Ofsted informed the YJB of serious concerns in performance at Rainsbrook STC. As the safety and wellbeing of young people in custody is of paramount importance, and the YJB sets high standards to ensure it is maintained, we immediately required G4S to address the issues swiftly and effectively.

Rainsbrook has new leadership in place and an action plan to improve recruitment and training is being implemented. We are confident that Rainsbrook will return to the high levels of performance and care it previously delivered.”

Future generations need support to secure positive opportunities – says Nacro Following the Chancellor’s budget on 8th July, crime reduction charity, Nacro is urging the Government to focus on the youngest and most vulnerable in society.

A YJB spokesperson said:

It says that while it welcomes measures to increase the minimum wage and the introduction of earn while you learn and widening of apprenticeships, more needs to be done to secure positive outcomes for disadvantaged young people and individuals who are left on the fringes of society.

‘We welcome today’s publication of Lord

Jacob Tas, Chief Executive of Nacro explained:

An independent review into self-inflicted deaths in National Offender Management Service (NOMS) custody of 18-24 year olds is published.

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“Government plans to encourage young people into employment are a welcome step forward.Yet these steps alone do not go far enough. We need a system that allows young people to get into work, develop their skills and become independent and confident individuals. To do this we need to better invest in our vocational education system, encourage talent and produce highly-skilled workers.”

“Nacro is deeply concerned about the profound impact that cuts to housing benefit entitlements for 18-21 years olds will have on the future prospects of some young people.

In addition, we are worried that the proposed introduction for a living wage will only start at 25 and not 21 years old, and joined with a housing benefit cut will result in an impossible financial burden on young people working hard to build positive lives and who do not have the financial security of family support to rely on.”

“For many of the vulnerable young people we work with, staying at the family home is not an option. Many have suffered family break downs, been exposed to sexual exploitation, domestic abuse or are struggling with mental health or drug and alcohol problems. Many do not fit neatly into the exemptions set out by government, by its very nature housing benefit for this age group is a reflection of the vulnerable situations they find themselves in.”

“A loss of this support and the changes to the minimum wage would see many of them lose life changing provision right at a time that they need it the most. It will leave many facing homelessness and the closure of opportunities to realise their potential.”

The charity is also warning about the wider impact on people with mental health and complex problems such as drug and alcohol addiction from the proposed welfare measures and the direct affect this will have on communities.

Nacro is calling on Government to:

• • • • •

Focus on joining up services and investing in vocational education - placing it at the centre of growth, education and skills strategy.

Review the proposed cuts to housing benefit entitlements for 18-21 year olds.

Reduce the age from 25 to 21 for the new living wage premium.

Ensure exemptions for the most vulnerable people from welfare changes.

And, introduce sustainable measures to address the affordable housing crisis in the UK, supporting social landlords and the people they serve.

Jacob Tas, adds: “The Government still has an opportunity to redress the problems we have set out in the Comprehensive Spending Review. We urge them to do so and work with us to take an objective approach to deficit reduction and focus on what will work to truly achieve its ambitions.”

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Putting our money where their mouth is..

When it comes to restorative justice, the last parliament saw the government finally put its money where its mouth is and provide some funding to make restorative justice happen. The vast majority of this funding went to PCCs, who were charged with making victiminitiated restorative justice available in their area. The resultant services are now beginning to emerge.

This was a welcome step. Having spent this money, though, the government, as well as PCCs, will in due course be perfectly within their rights to ask what the impact has been.

What has happened as a result? Has the funding delivered real change? You would think that, at the very least, the Ministry of Justice will want to see the results before any further funding is provided.

Meanwhile the new probation landscape will see greater scrutiny than ever before on what money is being spent on and to what effect. There may be some latitude while new working models are developed and implemented and the new owners bed in, but in time there will be the need to justify every line in the budget. Funding won’t be available for any activity that doesn’t have an impact.

Restorative justice won’t, and shouldn’t, be immune to that.

Those of us who are confident that restorative the Custodial Review

justice can deliver should welcome this.

Research and experience both tell us that restorative justice, if delivered properly, will work. That being the case, we should be thinking now about how we will be able to prove it when the money runs out and we want to ask for more.

It doesn’t need to be a randomised control trial in every area. Realistically, it won’t be. It’s easier, however, to start measuring what you can now than realise later that you don’t have the information you need. But of all the things that restorative justice can deliver, what should we be measuring? What do we mean when we say that restorative justice ‘works’?

Different measures will matter to different stakeholders.You would expect the Ministry of Justice to be particularly interested in victims’ experiences, given that their funding for restorative justice comes from the victims’ surcharge. PCCs will also want to know, presumably, that the money that they have spent has delivered for victims of crime. The new owners of Community Rehabilitation Companies, with payment by results now the reality, will want to see that the money they are investing is having a measurable impact on reoffending rates.

For me, it will need to be a basket of measures.

Every service should be able to demonstrate what restorative activity has taken place.

Volume does matter.Victim and offender satisfaction with the process should be measured. And, where possible, reoffending rates should be recorded. Alongside this, the Page 16

stories of victims and offenders who have been through a restorative process should be systematically captured – they’re a powerful way to illustrate successful outcomes.

Will this be enough? If these services are able to build up sufficient caseloads, and if restorative justice is done well, then it should be. We should be confident that the results that restorative justice can deliver will be enough to persuade commissioners, funders and budget-holders that restorative justice is worth investing in. If they aren’t, then we haven’t done enough. But better to know, surely, than to realise in a couple of years that we’ve missed the opportunity to find out?

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 at, stevem@custodialreview.co.uk or on

01234 348878 for more details.

Prison flooring gets clean, green makeover A leading supplier of resin flooring to the custodial sector has taken advantage of improvements to technology associated with Polyaspartic materials and is launching a cleaner, greener and easier to use range of flooring products.

Elladur from Resin Surfaces Ltd (RSL) is a five-strong product range which is ideal for use in prisons and other high security environments because of its low odour, quick return to service benefits.

Customers are already in discussions with RSL on taking Elladur products into prisons where fast-turnaround, low impact features are essential.

The Elladur range will be low odour, low VOC, UV stable and have a degree of flexibility as well as being simple to use, providing speedy return to service even at low temperatures.

The initial range will include: Elladur SF Clear - clear, high build Polyaspartic coating with a gloss finish

The company will work with a number of specialist contractors in the first instance to introduce the new products into the prison sector.

Elladur SF Colour - coloured high build Polyaspartic coating

Ivy Wroe, Managing Director of RSL, said that it was exciting for the company to be taking advantage of one of the very latest developments in technology for the flooring sector.

Elladur Deco FL, a decorative flake system Elladur Deco BC, a decorative quartz system with enhanced slip resistance

She said: “Polyaspartic materials are excellent for quick return to service projects and an eco-friendly alternative to other materials in the market place. We know Elladur will help us open up new opportunities for us and our partners across the UK custodial sector.�

Elladur LM – a high build Polyaspartic, fast-cure line marking coating New systems will be added to this line throughout 2015.

The products can be applied to a wide range of substrates and are recommended into areas needing a high performance finish. The range is also good for decorative floor areas and adds durability to good looks, reducing the need for costly and time-consuming repairs.

For more information visit us at www.resinsurfaces.co.uk, follow us @ResinSurfaces or call 0161 483 1232.

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Colnbrook, more than the contract states Hannah Shires is the Head of Learning and Regimes at IRC Colnbrook and IRC Harmondsworth.

She started her career in Immigration at Oakington Immigration centre, a short term reception establishment, working first as a teacher and then progressing to manager until it closed 9 years later in 2010. There was no budget originally from the contractor for Education, but when other funding streams dried up she set up her own company and put in a proposal to deliver education and expand the provision. Once Oakington closed, she then moved to Campsfield House where Care and Custody had recently taken over running the centre from another provider. Her education experience was important in this regard because the previous contractors HMCIP report was quite critical in terms of education provision.

After working at Campsfield as a consultant for 9 months, she took on the post of Learning Skills and Regimes Manager. The Home Office worked with Care & Custody and invested in a number of capital improvements including: an expanded art room, study centre and Astroturf pitch installed to provide an improved level of facilities.

Soon after this she was promoted to the centre’s senior management team.

Care and Custody were bidding for the Heathrow contract at the time, and they gave her a blank sheet of paper and a fantastic opportunity to develop the regimes aspect of the bid. When they won the contract she was asked to join the mobilisation team in preparation for ‘go live’ and is now responsible for regime delivery at Campsfield, Colnbrook, and Harmondsworth.

Custodial Review What is the ethos behind keeping people busy at the IRCs? These people aren’t going to be here very long. Why keep them busy at all? Why are we educating those who have no clear right to stay in the UK when they aren’t going to be staying here?

Hannah Shires The original idea in Oakington was that these people would be released into the UK community so we needed to teach them English. Often they’d just come off the back of a lorry and didn’t know anything about Britain or the community the Custodial Review

The internet room.

The education rooms.

they could soon be living in. It’s slightly different in the IRCs, because we can never know where they might end up. It is difficult for these people, and my ethos is to put the detainee at the centre of everything we do. I ask myself, what do these people want, what do they need, how do we make their lives better both here and where ever they may go next? Because if we don’t provide them with purposeful activity and a decent regime, this can impact individuals and make time in detention more challenging. If we give them skills that are useful to them, and they genuinely feel that we care about them, then in turn they will be much more willing to work with us in a constructive way. This in turn makes it a much better environment for everyone.

CR In cost centred terms it is cheaper to keep them busy and engaged than to keep them bored and idle? How do you apply this to people that could be out of here on a plane in two weeks’ time?

HS Let’s take for example the female unit, Sahara. Detainees here are typically here for Page 18

less than 5 days. When Care & Custody took over the running of the centre there was a regime but we felt it was limited in scope, partly because the detainees were on site for such a short period of time; they could attend the gym if they wanted, but there was really little else apart from the activities on the unit.

We now have commenced yoga sessions once a week, first aid training and a beauty therapy session at lunchtime. Our barber is also a hairdresser. We took her to the female wing and asked the detainees what we could do for them that would be nice? They all asked for their nails to be painted, their eyebrows and their hair to be done. This is now something we do from Monday to Friday. They may be on a plane in two days’ time however by sitting and chatting with them, and just giving them the sense that we care and that they aren’t just parked here waiting for their plane, takes their mind off it and eases tension.

CR How did you organise these activities and where did the money come from?

The arts room.

HS We have an officer who is a trained yoga teacher so we can provide this in-house and we already had the hairdresser/barber who was working in the mornings and afternoons.

There is quite a lot of downtime in the middle of the day, so we’re using her skills during that downtime. We absorbed the costs of makeup and nail varnish. The major spend was on a professional nail dryer and trolley, this was funded through agreement with the Home Office (all shop profits must be used to help benefit/enhance the detainee experience within the IRC) CR What is the effect of this on the women?

HS The additional regime activities really help.

When they’re in the yoga class, learning about first aid or in the art room they don’t really think about being in detention. We only have 15 or so women here at any one time, but nearly all of them do join in the activities we provide and we continue to try and innovate to think of other activities or services we can provide them.

CR What about the male side?

HS Men typically show less emotion and often keep their feelings to themselves, but this can sometimes be more concerning and the regime is just as essential to keep their minds off their situation and keep them positive. One activity we run for them is the Cultural Kitchen and it is massively popular, there’s a 3-4 week waiting list. Eight people can cook, and they can then eat with their friends in their own dining room. It gives them a feeling of being empowered and in control.

They’re doing it all, and enjoying the process.

Part of the gym.

We have just opened a similar provision in Harmondsworth and they were delighted!

CR What else do you provide?

HS One of the key aims we have overall is to try and provide an environment which is safe and secure, but also where detainees can feel relaxed and have access the kind of services they need on a day to day basis whether it be to purchase products from the shop, pray in their place of worship or speak to welfare about concerns they may have. Just this month we have opened up the regime in Colnbrook, allowing all four main units access the regimes and activities together rather than as has previously happened only letting half the units access an area at any one time. There were many concerns before we did it – how would we cope with the numbers or keep tabs on where detainees were; but the change has gone through and despite there being a few teething problems the response from both staff and detainees has been massively positive as it has removed many frustrations and barriers by allowing the guys to access the areas they need when they need to. Hopefully, by relaxing the restrictions in turn will help to raise morale, relieve tensions in the centre and the changes should contribute to a more relaxed atmosphere throughout.

As to other areas of regimes, we give access to the internet and they’re allowed to do most reasonable things. For instance they are allowed to use any news site and things like online entertainment. We do not permit and actively work with our IT partners to prevent access to pornography / radicalisation sites and

The cardio room.

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similar. Anything to do with their case we make sure is unblocked. Detainees cannot access Facebook or use social networking sites in line with Home Office policy which is something detainees would very much like to do. That is a hard one to explain as they often just want to do things like look at photos of their children back home.

CR Do you get many people here who are computer illiterate?

HS Yes, less so at Heathrow, but certainly you come across some people who don’t know how to use a keyboard or mouse and don’t know how to write a letter. It doesn’t matter where they go in the world they’re going to need these basic skills. So I separate internet and IT for training purposes because IT training shouldn’t impact how much internet access they have. We teach spreadsheets, PowerPoint, and everything from basic skills to quite an advanced level.

CR What’s the take up on this and what else is there?

HS Uptake has always been good, but since we’ve opened up the access at Colnbrook it’s been even better. The gym is also popular and it’s important to enable people to let off a bit of steam. With the sports halls we rotate the sports we offer so that different nationalities get a chance to play the sports they like. We also try to get tournaments going as this creates local interest and we usually get spectators too.

We run Strong Man competitions and Insanity workouts which are very popular! continues overleaf u

The sports hall.

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More than the Contract states continued CR Are there real costs to this or are you just using the facilities you already have?

HS If we want to enhance and do something better, for instance we needed mirrors in a gym so people doing workouts can check they are training correctly we may fund this ourselves or approach the Home Office to utilise DWF. We also have a budget for maintaining those facilities too, it is expensive, particularly with tennis balls and cricket balls as we seem to be getting through about 30 a day!

CR Do you get ideas coming back from the detainees and do you work with them to realise the ideas?

They had a great time with them! No one asked for them, but they enjoyed it.

HS We will try something that’s been suggested and if it is really popular we will try and do it more. Some complained that there were no basketball hoops, others asked for the football goals and we procured both of these.

Sometimes the detainees are not sure what is allowed so it comes from us. The other day we had a Fun Day and we hired some sumo suits.

HS I think IT is very important so I would also like to expand the internet usage within the centre. In Colnbrook we have 18 computers and we’d like to expand this.

We have a booking system to ensure fair usage but it’s not ideal. They would benefit from additional access to more machines

The photography suite.

The beauty salon.

One of the religious worship rooms.

for relaxation and to help review their cases.

I’ve put more machines in the library and it’s another area we’re looking at expanding.

We’ve brought in Everyday First Aid training which is delivered by the Red Cross. This has been very popular and it covers what to do in the event of a car accident, when someone collapses, how to put them in the recovery position, it is very practical and hands on.

We also want to run more yoga classes. We already run them with the ladies and have nearly 100% take up, but we would like to start this with the men. One of the things I am really keen to do is something we call workshop based art. This includes workshops on screen printing using a press so they can learn how to print tee-shirts professionally. We do tiedie days, sewing and floristry and by focussing on practical skills we aim to feed into their the Custodial Review

CR What have you in mind for the future?

The music suite.

preparation for release. In this way when they leave after say, six months, they don’t feel that their time here has been a complete waste and spent in limbo.

CR What about teaching English?

HS This differs between centres. When I started at Oakington the majority of people had very little English, and we focused hard on that. We teach English here still but it needs more development in my opinion. One of the difficulties we have is that we never know how long the detainees will be here so we structure English as a series of modular courses and each module is a standalone one lasting a week to two weeks. They can start anywhere in the process and after they complete each module successfully they get a certificate.

In the classes we work on what is relevant Page 20

to them here, if they are into food and drink, we’d focus on what kind of food and drink they’re getting here, and how they would make something if they were going into the Cultural Kitchen. If they’re going to the shop we don’t talk about what they’re going to buy in Tesco’s, we talk about what they would buy in the shop here. This approach is really helping them as they are most likely to use it here. It is not just about the language, it is about the language embedded in the system where they are being detained. We do try to make it practical and expand it to the world outside so they can use their new skill in the wider world too. We have recently started to run Open University courses and on-line courses for those with a much higher level of English too.

CR Thank you for talking to the Review.

Making it fly by Jackie Smart is the Regimes, Equalities and Diversity Manager. She joined IRC Colnbrook 10 years ago as an officer and was promoted to a manager’s role nine months later. Prior to Colnbrook she worked at HMP Feltham and in local special schools.

She has filled the roles of Head of Activities, Regimes, Equality and Diversity at Colnbrook since 2009.

Custodial Review The Cultural Kitchen, the gym and similar activities, what do these bring to the job for you and the staff you manage?

Jackie Smart Diversity and job satisfaction are the obvious ones. Every day is different - we see the skills that detainees learn and we learn the same skills ourselves through working with them. We can have fun days and we can have serious days and we like to mix them up. If staff are in here seven days a week or on a lot of shifts, it can begin to get mundane therefore we try teach a lot of life skills. Whether the detainees are released in the UK or sent home is

Lunch in the Cultural Kitchen is a fabulous feast.

irrelevant to us as they need these skills wherever they are. We can have fun and interact with them and this way we learn a lot about our fellow staff and the residents as it is preferable to enjoy the day.

CR What does that attitude do to your day? And what effect does this have on staff retention and morale?

JS The day flies by! I often wonder how it is I’ve got to the end of the day and haven’t finished half what I wanted to do. I can lose a day completely, and eight hours can just fly by, as can thirteen hour shifts! I usually leap out of bed in the morning and really look forward

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to getting to work as we may be running a fun day, be cooking some really nice food, learning about photography or floristry. Another benefit is that staff turnover hasn’t been that high. We’ve lost some people recently through natural wastage, but I do have a waiting list of staff who wish to come to work our area.

They want to get involved in the activities, as the good interaction between the staff and detainees is well known.

CR How many staff do you have, and does this attitude have an effect on other departments? continues overleaf u

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Making it fly by continued JS We have over 20 staff in Education and Regimes on a range of sectors and shifts.

When we’re busy the units are quieter so the unit staff have time to get on with other tasks.

We try to get the staff on the units involved in various projects, and morale is higher in the centre as a result. Recently we had a Fun Day with a barbecue and music, the following day everyone was talking about it. It’s a fun thing that happened and it’s lifted everyone’s spirits, just as it would on the outside.

CR What about the effect on the detainees?

You don’t have to provide them with such interesting activities as they’re not here for long and are waiting to go back to their country of origin. What’s the effect on a newcomer to this?

Do they go from sad to happy?

CR Do detainees come to you with problems as opposed to them just landing on your doorstep?

JS Yes, people will come to me with a range of issues, whether they have fallen out with their Mum or girlfriend and what should they do, or someone may be concerned about another resident and feel that they are depressed and need a bit of extra help. We can get that extra bit of interaction that we don’t always see when they’re behind closed doors at night. A lot of us will wear diversity ribbons and they will feel that they can come and talk to us in confidence.

CR Has this impacted on self harm and other issues?

The Christian worship room.

JS We see a mixture of emotions from newcomers. Some may be scared, sad, worried, have mental health issues or be very confused.

Some will jump straight into activities and get involved in absolutely everything, others we may need to encourage a little by talking them into coming at a quieter time. We might get one of the ‘buddies’ to link up with one of them.

Generally everyone has something they’ve found an interest in. For instance, one detainee may do nothing else except music so we’ll focus on music for them, where others will get involved in absolutely everything. It’s really positive when you see their moods lift and they are able to focus all their stresses away so they almost forget about them until they have to. It passes the time for them in a constructive way.

I’ve seen many of them leave with happy memories too. Sometimes they come here hating the English and our system, but we try to give them some positive experiences here and that really helps them. Often they will go out into the community, whether here or abroad, with a skill they have acquired.

CR What about the effect on staff and detainee relationships? Is that markedly different?

JS Those relationships have really changed in the last ten years. The mood has lifted as we’ve opened everything up. When I started, all the doors were locked and the atmosphere was more stressful. They can come and go as they please to various areas now such as healthcare or the library, and as a result they feel independent. It is also a better working environment for us. the Custodial Review

radio programme and really thrived on it. He eventually went back to Ghana and volunteered for the BBC doing radio work, and now emails us every so often to thank us for what we’ve done for him. We’ve had a Chinese person who went back and started a cheesecake factory, something he’d learned to do in the Cultural Kitchen. He’s now able to provide for his family. Ultimately that’s why people have come here, to provide for their families and to improve their lot - if we give them the chance to do this why they are here then we all gain.

CR What about the future? I hear you’ve begun running Open University courses?

JS There are several short OU courses that residents can complete on the internet.

The Muslim worship room.

CR Absolutely! We don’t have as much selfharm as when we began this regime. There will always be self-harm but its frequency has generally fallen here. For example, we had a gentleman here with whom I was talking to about nothing in general, who suddenly burst into tears and said he wasn’t coping and had been considering self harm. He obviously felt he could come and say these things and get help before it was too late, we’ve put a lot of support in place for him and he’s doing very well now. Staff relate with different individuals and residents will go to different staff with their issues. It also works among the staff, we all have bad days, so if I’m having one my team will rally around me.

CR A heartless accountant would look at you having 20 staff whose sole purpose is to keep detainees entertained. They may think we could save £xxx in salaries. How would you answer that?

JS I’d call it absolute rubbish! Regimes is not just about giving people a decent and humane environment; it is also key to dynamic security.

If we left everyone in here with nothing to do, tempers would fray, frustrations rise and the centre would be far harder to manage. At the end of the day you might end up having to pay an extra 20 people to keep control of the place and deal with the extra welfare issues and conflict.

There are other, less obvious paybacks, we had a gentleman from Ghana who had several failed removals and has returned here a number of times. He engaged in our Page 22

Many of them have come to this country because they want to educate and better themselves, so we help them to do that. We have the media classes, cookery and floristry that are always popular, and they can start businesses using those skills wherever they settle. Cooking is a life skill in its own right and we do resettlement work that involves how to cook a meal for under £5. There’s lots of projects in the pipeline and if residents have an idea I’m always open to that as well because ultimately they’re the ones that have got to participate in it.

CR This has to be funded so how do you find the budget?

JS There is a budget for Regimes and also if it is something extra that the detainees would like we can speak to the Home Office about using the Detainee Shop Fund.

We are constantly looking for value for money and we find places to buy things cheaper, we will recycle a lot of items. For example, in the garden we try to keep the seeds from the previous year’s harvest so there is not a bill for seed the following year.

CR Do you have volunteers that come in to help?

JS We have had volunteers work here in the past however they have to be security cleared and that’s quite lengthy process. The Jesuit Refugee Service provides a lot of volunteers, Hibiscus come in and do a lot of things too.

CR Thank you for talking to the Review.

Dualway – designed for any anti-barricade door situation 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.

Dualway door open position

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 AntiBarricade 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

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Keep safe from token cloning in access control systems By Dave Hughes Cloning of tokens used in access control systems is a serious issue faced by many organisations in high security environments. Credentials such as badges, RFID tags or entry tokens can all be used for granting entry to a facility or restricted areas.

With token cloning technology easily available to anyone and third party tokens being cheap, duplicating a token can be done within a few seconds with the right equipment. But, this is not the full story.

Access control systems provide the essential services of authorisation, identification authentication, access approval and accountability. Electronic credentials are stored in the memory of a card or token and, theoretically, it is possible to create a process to clone any of them. Technologies used for storing data in tokens are usually based in open standard hardware which is easy to duplicate. This is not always the case however, as the key word here is ‘theoretically’. It is however important to remember that when it comes to access control there are various levels of security available.

There are several reasons why people clone tokens and cards. Sometimes it is with criminal intent but most times it is done to simply obtain duplicates in case of loss and to avoid paying official fees for replacement devices.

This puts institutions and individuals at risk as tokens end up in the wrong hands, making it difficult to control usage patterns.

Differences between mechanical and electronic access control One question that crops up in response to this is whether it might be better to use mechanical locks and keys in place of electronic access control readers and RFID tags to avoid the whole issue of token cloning altogether.

Whilst key based locks remain by far the most popular door security by some considerable way, key’s can also be copied and locks are vulnerable to picking. Cloning a token is generally a more complex process requiring a device to read and reproduce the RFID signal in a blank token.

But the question really isn’t the right one to be asking in the first place. The starting point should be what level of security you require and what do you need from the system.

Where a higher degree of security is needed, electronic solutions are a better fit. What’s more, they provide the user with a wide range of added benefits that are particularly useful to larger sites and to those that require tracking. the Custodial Review

With electronic access, your single entry token or access code grants you access to every door you need to access, so there’s no chance of forgetting the key for a particular door.

An additional benefit of electronic access control is complete history logging. This can be an invaluable tool for tracking response times or other activities internally. Furthermore, when an outside contractor or visitor needs access, a specific door can be opened remotely without any effort.

Employing an electronic access control system provides you with the ability to instantly revoke access. If a physical key is lost there is no way to block it or be sure that it has not fallen into the wrong hands. The only way of blocking access to the lost key would be replacing the original lock. This is not the case with electronic credentials as revoking access privileges is as easy as telling the system to stop trusting the revoked key. No further work is necessary.

Selecting an appropriate level of security An access control point can be a door, turnstile, parking gate, elevator, or other physical barrier, where granting access can be electronically controlled and can contain several elements.

Products with affordable readers that can be easily installed on top of a legacy system to upgrade it to a smart system. Smart readers such as the Oneprox GS3 HF range used in conjunction with smart credentials offer a highly secure access control solution suitable for any commercial or residential environment.

Many times manufacturers struggle to keep up with cloning techniques however they can incorporate processes and systems to ensure that electronic credentials remain safe and secure to those who would want to duplicate them. As technology evolves many manufacturers introduce new readers for higher security that prevent unauthorised entry and token cloning. While one may think that upgrading a system is a costly and time consuming procedure more often than not there is no need for a complete system upgrade. The new smart readers can be incorporated into the existing system without too much effort or costly procedures and offer a secure solution. If security or unauthorised entry is of concern speak to an installer or manufacturer to learn more about smart readers.

Dave Hughes is the Global Product Manager at STANLEY Security Products

Access control systems can vary from basic solutions that simply read a card number or PIN, and forward it to a control panel to the more secure intelligent readers that comply with strict security legislations and an externally tested and recognised certification such as the AES-128.

If you have a colleague who would like one, let us know!

Depending on the level of security needed manufacturers offer different types of access control solutions and each application has its own use. It is always advisable to consult with your manufacturer or installer and do a risk assessment of the site to find out the best solution for your application.

We will need your name, title, position & FULL address.

If high security is a must, a system that features an AES-128bit certification might be the best solution.

AES is available in many different encryption packages, and is the first publicly accessible and open cipher approved by the US National Security Agency (NSA) for top secret information when used in an NSA approved cryptographic module.

The AES-128 encryption is one of the most secure and the only known attack to successfully break it requires about 38 trillion terabytes of data, which is more than all the data stored on all the computers on the planet.

As such this is only a theoretical attack that has no practical implication on AES security.

AES-128 bit encryption is available from manufacturers such as STANLEY Security Page 24

To obtain your copy, or to subscribe please forward your up-to-date information to: The Custodial, Clifton House, 53 Asgard Drive, Bedford MK41 0UR. Tel: 01234 348878, Fax: 01223 790191 Email: sales@pirnet.co.uk or go onto www.custodialreview.co.uk and click ‘Subscribe’.

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HMP Pentonville – further deterioration HMP Pentonville had deteriorated still further and needed to improve, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons when he published the report of an unannounced inspection of the local north London jail.

HMP Pentonville is a large, overcrowded Victorian prison holding over 1,200 adults and young adult men. It continues to hold some of the most demanding and needy prisoners and this, combined with a rapid turnover and over 100 new prisoners a week, presents some enormous challenges.

At its last inspection in 2013, the prison was performing poorly. This more recent inspection found further deterioration and outcomes for prisoners were poor in three out of four healthy prison tests. Continuing high levels of staff sickness and ongoing recruitment problems meant the prison was running below its agreed staffing level and this was having an impact on many areas.

Inspectors were concerned to find that:

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Most prisoners felt unsafe as levels of violence were much higher than in similar prisons and had almost doubled since the last inspection; Prisoners struggled to gain daily access to showers and to obtain enough clean clothing, cleaning materials and eating utensils; Prisoners said drugs were easily available and the positive drug testing rate was high even though too few prisoners were tested; The prison remained very overcrowded and the poor physical environment was intensified by some extremely dirty conditions; some prisoners spoke about very helpful staff, but most described distant relationships with staff and were frustrated by their inability to get things done; Too little was being done to meet the needs of the large black and minority ethnic population, disabled prisoners and older prisoners; Prisoners had little time unlocked with the majority experiencing under six hours out of their cells each day and some as little as one hour; The delivery of learning and skills was inadequate and there were not enough education, training or work places for the population; Acute staff shortages had undermined the

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delivery of offender management, which was very poor; and The quality of resettlement services was very mixed.

However, inspectors were pleased to find that:

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The prison was working hard to combat violence and was starting to manage its relatively new young adult population, who presented significant control and gang issues, well; The treatment and care for prisoners with drug and alcohol issues was good; There had been some significant improvements in support and care for the substantial foreign national population and support for Gypsy, Romany and Travellers was good; and Health care provision had mostly improved.

Nick Hardwick said:

“At its last inspection in 2013 we noted that Pentonville was struggling and without investment in its physical condition, adequate staffing levels to manage its complex population, and effective support from the centre, consideration should be given to whether it has a viable future. We understand that plans for renovating and improving the physical environment have been prepared, but at the time of this most recent inspection, the prison had deteriorated even further.

Notwithstanding the need for investment, the very poor standards we observed – some of which were put right during our inspection when we demanded it – and the poor staff culture, evidenced, in our view, a failure of management and leadership. The prison needs a firmer grip and a persuasive plan that will ensure immediate deliverable and sustained improvements, as well as a more considered medium-term plan that will determine whether the prison has a future.”

Michael Spurr, Chief Executive Officer of the National Offender Management Service, said: “As the Chief Inspector points out, Pentonville is a Victorian prison which manages a complex and demanding population. When Inspectors visited in February the prison was going through a particularly difficult time. They were operating below staffing complement, performance had slipped and standards of cleanliness were unacceptable.

“Since the inspection a robust recovery plan has been put in place. The prison has an able Governor; the

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management team has been strengthened; staffing numbers have increased; there has been a crack down on the illicit use of drugs and cleanliness has markedly improved.

“I visited the prison on Friday to review progress. The prison was ordered, more stable and much cleaner than previously. The physical conditions remain challenging but we are committed to further developing the regime for prisoners and I am confident that when Inspectors return next year they will find a much improved prison.”

Offenders with learning disabilities not getting help they need in prison, say inspectors Prison and probation staff were failing to identify people with learning disabilities, meaning opportunities to help those offenders were missed, according to independent inspectors. In March they published the second report of a joint inspection into people with learning disabilities within the criminal justice system.

The report,’ A joint inspection of the treatment of offenders with learning disabilities within the criminal justice system: phase two in custody and the community’, reflects the findings of HM Inspectorate of Probation and HM Inspectorate of Prisons. The first inspection, published in January 2014, looked at what happened when someone is arrested and in police custody through to when someone first appears in court and is sentenced.

Inspectors noted the poor quality of services, inefficient processes and confusion among police, court service and probation staff about what constituted a learning disability. This second inspection presents an equally bleak picture about the experience of offenders with learning disabilities in prison and while subject to supervision in the community.

The first inspection found that no clear definition or agreement exists across criminal justice and health organisations about what constitutes learning difficulties or disabilities.

Although believed to be a sizeable minority, possibly as high as 30%, there is no way of knowing the number of people with such conditions within the criminal justice system.

Adequate provision is, consequently, not always made by the agencies involved to cater for their specific needs. The second inspection found that within probation and particularly in prisons, identification of offenders with learning disabilities remained a problem and continues overleaf

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as a result, the needs of people with learning disabilities were often missed.

Inspectors were concerned to find:

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Screening tools were not used routinely by probation officers or in prisons, and there was an over-reliance on disclosure of the existence of learning disabilities by the offender/prisoner or their family; Information about prisoners’ learning disabilities was rarely appropriately shared with relevant staff; Practitioners were frustrated by the lack of support from social and health care agencies; Some prisoners had learning disability nurses but, generally, offender supervisors did not consult them regularly; Although some initiatives and guidance were being developed by national and local leaders, frontline staff and some managers were either unaware or unable to implement it; and the Equality Act 2010 makes it clear that public authorities have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to meet the needs of service users with a disability (including a learning disability), but in most cases managers and staff in prisons or probation services were not doing this.

However, inspectors also found that:

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There were pockets of good practice and examples of staff developing supportive relationships and ‘going the extra mile’ but these were the exception, rather than the norm; and Offender managers and supervisors working in the community were keen to receive advice and guidance and those with direct access to community psychiatric nurses felt supported, however, most community psychiatric nurses were not trained or experienced in working with people with learning disabilities.

The chief inspectors made recommendations for improvement, which included: ensuring that prison and probation services comply with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 by making necessary adjustments to services delivered to those with learning disabilities, introducing a screening tool across the prison estate for learning disabilities and adapting interventions for people with learning disabilities to help reduce the risk of reoffending.

Chief Inspector of Prisons Nick Hardwick said on behalf of both inspectorates:

“In prisons we were alarmed that there were extremely poor systems for identifying prisoners with learning disabilities; in one prison we were even told that they could not identify a single prisoner

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who had a learning disability. This lack of identification is unacceptable. Even where a learning disability was identified, it was not always sufficiently taken into account in prison processes such as behaviour management or anti-bullying measures. Not surprisingly therefore, some prisoners with a learning disability told us about getting into trouble with staff or being bullied because of their learning disability. We are also concerned that little thought was given to the need to adapt the regimes to meet the needs of prisoners with learning disabilities who may find understanding and following prison routines very difficult. In the community, the position was slightly better; however, there was still scope for significant improvement.”

HMYOI Deerbolt – a reasonably good young adult prison HMYOI Deerbolt was a reasonably safe and decent prison, but faced some challenges, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons.

He published the report of an unannounced inspection in Dec 2014 of the young offender institution in County Durham.

HMYOI Deerbolt holds male prisoners aged 18 to 21. In 2011 inspectors found it to be a safe and decent prison that provided reasonably good work, training and education and some solid resettlement support. The population had changed, and Deerbolt now held mainly those convicted of violent and other serious offences, but evidence again suggested that the prison is performing reasonably well.

Inspectors were pleased to find that:

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Most prisoners felt safe and early days support was good; The prison had not had any self-inflicted deaths since opening, which was testament to good work supporting those vulnerable to self-harm; Substance misuse support on the recovery unit was excellent but needed to be extended to those on other units; Relationships between staff and prisoners were strong and staff had high expectations of the behaviour they expected from the young men; health services were very good, as was the general environment, although some residential areas were in a poor state of repair; Time out of cell was reasonable for most and although too many prisoners were locked up during the core day, most had some activity; Leadership and management of learning and skills was good and some excellent work was taking place to improve the

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range and amount of activities available; and Pre-release resettlement support was very strong and more prisoners than at similar prisons said they had done something that would make it less likely that they would offend in the future.

However, inspectors were concerned to find that:

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While most violent incidents were low level, some were more serious and the emerging problem of prisoners using new psychoactive substances meant the prison had to be vigilant; Use of force was not high, but overall arrangements did not provide reassurance that all force used was proportionate; Some aspects of education provision needed urgent attention, particularly the quality of some teaching and outcomes in functional English and maths; and Offender management arrangements were underdeveloped and many key assessments were overdue.

Nick Hardwick said:

“Overall, while Deerbolt remained a decent and generally safe prison, some key challenges were evident. Action to address the supervision of force started as soon as we raised concerns with the prison management, and needed to be quickly resolved. Deficits in the key areas of functional skills teaching and achievements, and offender management, needed close management attention, but we were confident that this would happen and that in time progress would be made. The quality of the buildings’ infrastructure is more difficultfor local managers to address and support is needed from the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) to resource the improvements required. This is a challenging agenda but Deerbolt remains one of the better young adult prisons we have inspected.”

Michael Spurr, Chief Executive Officer of the National Offender Management Service, said: “This is a positive report and I’m pleased that the Chief Inspector found Deerbolt to be a safe and decent prison.

“Deerbolt manages a challenging young adult population and the report highlights strong relationships with staff and high expectations of behaviour – which are key for successful rehabilitation.

“The weaknesses identified in education provision are being actively addressed and like the Chief Inspector, I am confident that the necessary improvement required will be achieved.”

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HMP Manchester – one of the best inner city prisons HMP Manchester was coping well with a challenging population and making progress, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons when he published the report of an unannounced inspection of the local jail.

HMP Manchester, once known as Strangeways, is a local prison which also holds a small number of high risk prisoners.

The overcrowded Victorian prison held a complex and challenging population. The normal pressures of a local prison – a high churn in the population and a high incidence of mental health and substance abuse problems – had to be managed alongside the need to hold its small, high risk category A population safely and securely. Its last inspection in 2011 was very positive about the prison and the quality of its leadership, although there were some concerns. This recent inspection found that HMP Manchester had maintained many of its previous strengths and, despite signs of the pressures the prison system as a whole is under, had made progress in addressing those concerns.

Inspectors were pleased to find that:

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An experienced senior management team was coping well with staffing shortages, preparing the prison for its new role as a resettlement prison and re-commissioning health and substance misuse services; There were high expectations of prisoners; Security arrangements remained very effective and facilitated, rather than restricted, the regime; The use of force was low and subject to much better supervision than inspectors often see; Poor conditions in cells were mitigated to some extent by good relationships with staff and most prisoners spent less time locked up than in many local prisons; Health care was generally good and health promotion was excellent; The quality of learning, skills and work was good and prisoners achieved well; There were enough activity places for most of those required to work and the prison continued to encourage a good work ethic; and practical resettlement services were generally good and through the gate substance misuse services were very good.

However, inspectors were concerned to find that:

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learning lessons from each incident and care for those at risk of self-harm was good; More prisoners said they felt unsafe than at the last inspection and there were more violent incidents, although both of these were lower than at comparable prisons; The prison held some men with profound disabilities and struggled to meet their basic needs; Too many prisoners were doubled up in small cells designed for one with inadequately screened toilets and some cells were damp; Prisoners from black and minority ethnic groups and Muslim prisoners reported less positively about relationships than the population; and There were insufficient programmes to directly address prisoners’ attitudes and behaviour.

Nick Hardwick said:

“HMP Manchester is one of the best large, inner city Victorian prisons and we have now found this to be so over two inspections. We still have some significant concerns and there is more the prison needs to do, but it has solid, longstanding strengths. It is better placed than most to continue to make progress and weather the pressures ahead.

Michael Spurr, Chief Executive Officer of the National Offender Management Service, said: “I am pleased that the Chief Inspector has identified HMP Manchester as one of the best inner city prisons they have inspected. It holds a challenging population and provides a positive regime promoting purposeful activity and a strong work ethic.

“The report identifies areas where further improvement is required and the Governor and her staff will use the report’s recommendations to address these over the next 12 months.”

Cleveland Police Custody – generally positive Police custody in Cleveland was generally positive, but needed to make some further improvements, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons, and Dru Sharpling, HM Inspector of Constabulary. As they published the report of an unannounced inspection.

The inspection was part of a national programme of joint inspections of police custody and the second inspection of Cleveland police custody suites. The first inspection was in May 2011. Since then the Redcar suite has closed and two fulltime suites remain at Middlesbrough and Page 27

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Hartlepool. Middlesbrough custody suite remains one of the largest in the country.

Inspectors were pleased to find that:

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There was a good focus on safe detention through supporting and developing policies on dealing with adverse incidents and complaints; There was a concerted effort to develop partnership work with health services to reduce the number of people who suffered from mental ill health being kept in police cells under section 136 of the Mental Health Act, but despite significant improvements, the number of those people detained was still unacceptably high; Staff interactions with detainees were generally polite, courteous and sometimes excellent, though there were some inconsistencies; Custody sergeants said they would refuse to detain people where appropriate and data supported the reduced demand on custody through these measures; Investigations made good progress to ensure that those detained were released quickly; Leadership of health provision was good and the service was effective and well integrated; and The arrest referral team in Middlesbrough screened detainees with substance misuse problems and directed people to community services.

However, inspectors were concerned to find that: The use of force needed to be monitored;

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there was little monitoring of the numbers of children who needed local authority accommodation and more needed to be done to ensure children were not kept in cells overnight; once booked in, most detainees were placed on standard 30-minute checks which meant the process of risk assessment to help identify the most or least vulnerable detainees was irrelevant; and Ongoing risk management was further undermined by poor shift handovers, especially at Middlesbrough.

Nick Hardwick and Dru Sharpling said: “Overall our inspection found that Cleveland police’s senior management team was focused on ensuring detention was safe by establishing partnership arrangements with other organisations that provided detainees, especially those continues overleaf u the Custodial Review

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with mental ill health, with appropriate care.

However, more could have been done in conjunction with local authorities to promote the welfare of children. Staff were courteous but further guidance should have been provided on preserving detainees’ dignity in the course of CCTV monitoring. There was evidence of a reduction in the number of people passing through the custody suites.

Patient care services for people needing medical attention in custody were good.

This report provides a small number of recommendations. We expect our findings to be considered and for an action plan to be provided in due course.”

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Staff shortages were holding up progress at HMP High Down, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons when he published the report of an unannounced inspection of the local prison in Sutton.

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Inspectors were pleased to find that:

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Despite the pressures it was under, the prison was focused on keeping prisoners safe; In common with many prisons, HMP High Down had had a serious problem with the availability of new psychoactive substances but a combination of effective treatment and supply reduction strategies and education appeared to have reduced the problem; The number of self-harm incidents was low and inspectors saw individual staff providing very compassionate and professional care; Security was well managed and generally proportionate; Despite the prison operating a restricted regime, a fully employed prisoner had about nine hours out of cell on weekdays, which was good; Management of learning and skills was starting to improve, albeit from a very low base; There was some very good vocational

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training and work available that offered prisoners opportunities to get relevant qualifications and experience, such as the Clink restaurant; The creation of a resettlement centre was positive, and some practical resettlement services were good, including help with accommodation on release; and Health services were good overall, but staff shortages resulted in too many appointments being cancelled.

However, inspectors were concerned to find that:

HMP High Down progress affected by staff shortages

HMP High Down held about 1,100 men at the time of the inspection. It was previously inspected in July 2011. Outcomes for prisoners had deteriorated significantly in the intervening period. Although they were now improving once again, progress was seriously impeded by serious staff shortages and a reliance on detached duty staff temporarily redeployed from other prisons.

Vacancies, a high number of bed watches and a lack of consistent staffing adversely affected many areas of the prison. New staff were being recruited and managers had a realistic view of the improvements required.

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The management and oversight of the use of force was inadequate, record keeping was poor and some incidents were not recorded; The management of equality and diversity issues was weak and the prison had done too little to understand and address the concerns of some prisoners from minority groups; There were insufficient activity places, almost a third of prisoners were unemployed, and unemployed prisoners were locked in their cells for about 22 hours a day; Staff shortages had an impact on resettlement activities and this was exacerbated by poor coordination of the relevant services; There was significant variation in the quality of the work of the offender management unit and the probation team, insufficient coordination between them and a backlog of work; and There were no nationally accredited offender behaviour programmes offered and not enough prisoners were transferred to another prison to complete these, meaning some sex offenders were released without having their attitudes, thinking and behaviour addressed.

Nick Hardwick said:

“There remained a number of areas of serious concern at HMP High Down. The prison management was aware of most of these, and despite serious staffing shortages, credible plans for improvement were being implemented. We saw impressive work by some individual staff.

However, there was still a big job to do. It is essential now that vacancies are filled, more activity places are provided and that managers ensure greater consistency in the quality of work done across all areas of the prison.”

Michael Spurr, Chief Executive Officer of the National Offender Management Service, said:

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“As the Chief Inspector has seen, staff at High Down are working hard to keep prisoners safe and support their rehabilitation, including through some innovative and effective training schemes.

“While good progress has been made over the last two years, we recognise that there is more to do.

“Fifteen new Prison Officers have joined High Down since the inspection and we will ensure the prison has the right resources and support to drive further improvement over the next 12 months.”

HMP Belmarsh much improved but more to do HMP Belmarsh was much improved, but progress was not yet embedded and some major challenges remained, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons. When he published the report of an announced inspection of the high security core local prison in south east London.

HMP Belmarsh held men serving a range of sentences. Some were relatively low risk prisoners with the range of needs typical to other local prisons, but a significant minority had been sentenced to long, determinate sentences, and over 100 men were serving indeterminate sentences or life. The high security unit (HSU) held a small number of the most high risk prisoners. The prison had recently begun to hold remanded young adults who would previously have been held in young offender institutions. This was a complicated population to manage.

The last inspection in 2013 found that stringent security arrangements were impacting disproportionately on all prisoners held, regardless of the risks they posed. At this inspection it was encouraging to see that the prison had made significant progress in striking a better balance between security required to manage risks presented by prisoners, and running a safe and decent establishment that could provide purposeful and rehabilitative opportunities to reduce the risks they posed after release.

Inspectors were pleased to find that:

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Arrangements and support for prisoners at reception and in their first few days at the prison were good; The safer custody team and chaplaincy ensured good support for prisoners vulnerable to self-harm; The segregation unit environment was much improved; Problematic drug use was low and substance use support services were very good;

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Relationships between staff and prisoners were much improved;

Executive Officer of the National Offender Management Service, said:

Resettlement work was strong, with some excellent practical support;

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“I am pleased that the Chief Inspector highlights the significant progress made at Belmarsh over the last 18 months.”

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Time out of cells had improved; and Public protection work was strong and a good range of offending behaviour programmes was offered.

However, inspectors were concerned to find that:

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Although levels of violence were not high, many prisoners still reported feeling unsafe and victimised; Young adults were disproportionately involved in violent incidents; Muslim prisoners and those from black and minority ethnic backgrounds were more likely to report that they felt unsafe and the prison needed to do more to understand and address this; Many men still lived and ate their meals in poor, overcrowded double cells which held three people; Further improvement was required to develop learning and skills to an acceptable standard; The HSU remained a limited environment and more thought needed to be given to managing those men on the main wings and; Some aspects of offender management work needed to improve.

Nick Hardwick said:

“HMP Belmarsh had much improved since our last visit. Outcomes were better in all key areas and this had been achieved without compromising security. Prisoners and staff we spoke to were positive about the changes that were being made. However, many of the improvements were recent and not yet fully embedded, and some major challenges remained. The prison needed to do more to understand levels of violence and fears about safety, especially among minority groups. Although learning, skills and work was improving and a new provider was starting work, there was much to do, particularly in terms of expanding the range of activities to meet the needs of the population. Similarly, while deficiencies in offender management had been recognised and were being addressed, improvements were still at a very early stage. The role and function of the high security unit needed a fundamental review. We found that the prison had credible plans to address all these issues and embed the progress that had already been made. We hope this report will assist with that process.”

Michael Spurr, Chief

“The prison holds some very dangerous individuals but the Governor and his team have worked hard to improve outcomes for prisoners whilst maintaining the security levels necessary to prevent escape and keep the public safe.”

“As the report makes clear, there is more to do – particularly in expanding purposeful activity and improving education outcomes.”

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“The Governor has clear plans in place to further develop the prison and will use the recommendations in this report to support that process.”

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voluntary work in the community; Processes of assessing prisoners’ eligibility for release on temporary licence (ROTL) were rightly cautious and well managed; Offender management arrangements were among the best inspectors have seen, as the whole prison worked together with a clear focus on resettlement; and No prisoner left the prison without accommodation arranged.

Some prisoners were concerned about being arbitrarily returned to closed conditions and were reluctant to use the complaints system because of this, but when inspectors examined a large number of cases, they found returns to closed conditions were made for good reasons and not linked to complaints.

HMP Kirklevington Grange - a highperforming resettlement prison

However, inspectors were concerned to find that:

HMP Kirklevington Grange maintained high standards and had improved still further, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons when he published the report of an unannounced inspection of the resettlement prison in Cleveland.

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HMP Kirklevington Grange prepares men, most of whom are coming to the end of long sentences for serious offences, for their re-entry back into the community. Its last inspection in May 2011 found that the prison was performing its specialist function very well. This more recent inspection found that the prison had maintained those high standards despite holding a more complex population and, in some important areas, had improved further.

Inspectors were pleased to find that:

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The prison was very safe, with few incidents of violence or self-harm; Prisoners responded positively to staff who expected high standards of behaviour; Security measures were mostly effective and although there were some problems with illegal drugs, this was less so than in comparable jails; Safety and security were driven by very good relationships between staff and prisoners; The prison had done some particularly good work with veterans to identify their needs and link them with specialist services;

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Prisoners had no access to the internet, which could have been used to prepare and equip them with the skills and resources they needed for life in the community; and Prisoners needed to have more information before they arrived at the prison about the process and timescales for release on temporary licence opportunities.

Nick Hardwick said:

“Kirklevington Grange has a unique and important specialist role. It performs this role very well although there is absolutely no room for complacency. It holds a more complex population than before and the risks inherent in its work will always need careful management. The prison’s future rule under the transforming rehabilitation agenda was not sufficiently clear at the time of this inspection but as we have said in the past, it should not be seen as an anomaly but a highly effective model from which other parts of the prison system could learn.”

Michael Spurr, Chief Executive Officer of the National Offender Management Service, said: “This report reflects the outstanding work being carried out at Kirklevington Grange to prepare prisoners to re-enter their communities.

The accommodation was mostly good;

“As the Chief Inspector has found, offenders here are being given real opportunities to gain the skills and experience needed to find jobs on release.

Purposeful activity was very strong and all prisoners were engaged in work, training or education in the prison or paid and

“We will continue to fully support the Governor and his staff as they maintain and build upon their high standards.”

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HMP Dovegate - more to do to improve Performance had dipped at HMP Dovegate, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons, as he published the report of an unannounced inspection of the training prison in Staffordshire.

HMP Dovegate is a complex prison. It houses a therapeutic community which is subject to a separate inspection report. Inspectors found that the prison had gone through a period of considerable change since its last inspection in 2011. There had been an influx of mainstream category B prisoners, many of whom were not from the area and nearly all of whom were convicted of serious violent offences. Dovegate also had a small remand function serving local courts and held a number of men who needed to be kept apart for various safety reasons, including those with gang affiliations.

In addition, there were a large number of men with significant mental health issues who needed a great deal of attention. The management team was new. Many prisons have problems restricting access to illicit drugs and this was a significant issue at Dovegate. There were particular challenges associated with the availability of new psychoactive substances which led to widespread debt and bullying.

Inspectors were concerned to find that:

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There was no specialist unit offering support for the early days in prison, so prisoners could be dispersed after their arrival to any unit with a space, meaning work to ensure their safety lacked consistency; Levels of violence were high, many incidents were serious and responses to violence were largely reactive and tactical; Violence was often associated with drug-related debt and prisoners were left feeling even more insecure because staffing on units was often insufficient;

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A number of prisoners being monitored for self-harm were being held in segregation without clear justification; Use of adjudications, segregation and force were higher than inspectors normally see and governance of use of force needed to be improved; Staffing levels were very tight and prisoners complained, and inspectors observed, that staff were often scarce; Attendance at activities was poor and the quality of learning and skills provision was inconsistent; and Visiting arrangements were poor.

However, inspectors were pleased to find that:

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Some good work had been done to understand and address the issues related to drugs; Security was rigorous, which was justified, but despite this, the units were largely calm; Care for prisoners deemed vulnerable to self-harm was good; A new provider of substance misuse and health services had recently started, resulting in better integration of these services, though challenges remained; Drug workers maintained a service in local courts which ensured continuity of treatment; Living conditions were generally good and relationships between staff and prisoners were a significant strength of the prison; Staff had high expectations of prisoners and were not afraid to challenge them when their behaviour fell below these standards; and Practical resettlement work had improved and the offender management unit was well resourced.

Nick Hardwick said: “The prison had struggled to maintain outcomes for a more challenging

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population and to respond adequately to the destabilising impact of new psychoactive substances. The performance of the prison had dipped and it had taken too long to address this. The various groups of prisoners in Dovegate need to be managed safely and coherently. This should include a dedicated first night/early days unit, better use of the stabilisation unit, and sensible arrangements to hold those who are vulnerable, either through debt or their inability to cope with prison life.

Purposefully occupied prisoners are more likely to develop skills that will help them on release, and less likely to have the interest or inclination to become involved in problematic prison behaviour. We were encouraged that the prison’s management team was focused on these challenges and some recent improvement and realistic plans for the future were evident. Nevertheless, there remains much to do and we hope this report will assist with that progress.”

Michael Spurr, Chief Executive Officer of the National Offender Management Service, said: “As the Chief Inspector acknowledges, Dovegate is a complex prison which has had to cope with a number of challenges, including adjusting to a new long term prisoner population and tackling new threats such as the illicit use of synthetic drugs.

“The prison has maintained a strong focus on decency and resettlement, it is working hard to tackle violence and improve safety, and is working with Ofsted to improve education outcomes for prisoners.

“I am confident that the management team at Dovegate will achieve the improvements required and we will monitor performance closely over the next 12 months to ensure that the progress noted by the Chief Inspector is maintained.”

PRODUCT NEWS Major export breakthrough boosts Pickersgill-Kaye

Securikey launches brand new digital door locks

Supplying cell door locks for the custodial suite of the first railway satellite police station on the route of the new Hong KongChina Express Rail Link is another major breakthrough during a successful year for lock manufacturer Pickersgill-Kaye Ltd. Pickersgill-Kaye, which designs and produces locks and safety products for the rail, security and custodial industries, provided its renowned 8-lever Kaye Class 1 Custodial Cell Lock to door manufacturer Jardine Engineering, which is part of an international consortium working on the prestigious project.

This is the first time that the Leeds-based business has exported its custodial products into China and Pickersgill-Kaye is confident that it will lead to further orders from the region, with more satellite police stations already planned for locations along the Express Rail Link.

This latest export boost helped Pickersgill-Kaye to post sales of around £3million for the year ending November 2014, up 25% on the last 12 months mainly thanks to a reviving UK market, while £638,300 was export business – with the company revealing that there are more major overseas projects in the pipeline.

For more information tel: 0113 277 5531 fax: 0113 276 0221 or visit www.pkaye.co.uk

Leading physical security product supplier Securikey has launched two new models as part of its best selling Keylex digital door lock range. The Keylex 700AR Series for commercial applications and the Keylex 700M Series for domestic use extend the options for customers requiring a high quality, user-friendly and quick to install access control solution.

the Custodial Review

The Securikey Keylex 700AR combines robust structure with adaptable functionality to meet a variety of customer requirements.

Perfect for use on LL standard duty, high security external door installations requiring either the Adams Rite 4710 or 4720ANSI Deadlatch, its narrow design also makes this model perfect for stile widths down to 60mm. It is particularly well suited for use on aluminium or hollow metal door sections. An inbuilt ‘free exit’ feature enables users to depart through the door without code entry, regardless of the lock status, ensuring strict control for those accessing the building while allowing a quick and easy exit for those who have authorisation to enter.

For those requiring information on the new Keylex 700AR and 700M models, or to receive advice on selecting a digital door lock to match specific requirements, Securikey is always available to help. Please contact 01252 311888, email enquiries@ securikey.co.uk or visit the website at securikey.co.uk

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