Custodial Review 81

Custodial the

Review

The Custodial Review informing the Prison, Border Agency and Police Services Edition 81

The reduction of false convictions see p12

Family life behind bars see p14 A new model of psychopathy, see p16 The justice data lab – can we finally understand what works in reducing reoffending? see p18

Juliet Lyon CBE– On her new role as Chair of the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody see p8 Can improved drug screening aid prison reform? see p20

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

Contents Issue 81

the Custodial Review Editorial Sales: Tracy Johnson, Martin Petty Tel: 01234 348878 sales@custodialreview.co.uk Administration: Lyn Mitchell Design/Production: Amanda Wesley

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News

8

Juliet Lyon CBE– On her new role as Chair of the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody

Production Editor: Richard Shrubb

12 The reduction of false convictions

by Dara Mojtahedi, a Lecturer in

Investigative Psychology.

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Family life behind bars

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A new model of psychopathy

by Professor Daniel Boduszek, Dr Agata Debowska & Dominic Willmott

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The justice data lab – can we finally understand what works in reducing reoffending?

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Can improved drug screening aid prison reform?

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News from the Howard League

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News

Cover photographs provided by Charlotte Clover-Lambert and Custodial Review The publisher will consider financial reimbursement for relevant articles. If you have an article, or wish to compose one, on a relevant topic then please contact the publisher on stevem@pirnet.co.uk. It’s subject to acceptance so please contact prior to starting and it will appear on the Custodial website.

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Thousands of frontline staff in London and the South East will benefit from an immediate boost to their pay Prison officers at 31 prisons to receive immediate pay increase and thousands of staff to benefit from specialist training opportunities in skills such as self-harm and suicide prevention – further professionalising and building pride in the service.

The new package will mean prison officers at the 31 establishments will see a pay boost of up to £5,000, with new recruits receiving higher starting salaries. New starters will receive up to £29,500 – an increase of £5,000 – while a prison officer in London could see earnings increase to £31,000.

Justice Secretary Elizabeth Truss said: “Prison officers do a challenging and demanding job day in and day out. I want frontline staff to know that their work, experience and loyal service is valued. We also want to attract the best new talent into the service, ensuring we recruit and retain the leaders of the future.

These hard-working, dedicated staff are key to delivering our ambitious reform agenda, and it is right that we offer them greater support as we move ever closer to transforming prisons into places of safety and reform.

Thousands of new learning and development opportunities which will help staff progress in their career will also be made available nationwide.”

As part of a comprehensive strategy to further professionalise and upskill the service, staff who take part in the new training scheme will be required to support and mentor colleagues – handing down knowledge and supporting future leaders. They will also be given specialist training in mental health and self-harm prevention, boosting their pay and progression in the Prison Service.

This investment supports the government’s nationwide recruitment drive to recruit the best talent from around the country.

Governors at 30 prisons across the country have also been given greater freedom and flexibility to attract and recruit locally, reducing the time it takes to get new recruits through the door. Applicants will also be able to visit the prison before they take up post, and be in touch with a mentor while the recruitment process is underway.

This wholescale, organisational reform will be supported by measures within the Prisons and Court Bill, which will set out a new framework and clear system of accountability for prisons, the Custodial Review

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building on the wide-ranging reforms set out in the Prison Safety and Reform White Paper.

This news comes just days after ministers announced a new frontline service focused on reforming offenders and cutting crime, to launch from April 2017. Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service will have full responsibility for the operational management of offenders in custody and the community, including strengthening security in prisons, tackling extremism and building intelligence about criminal gangs.

The pay increase will be granted to Band 3 Officers on Fair and Sustainable (F&S) terms at eligible prisons.

The prisons include: Aylesbury, Bedford, Bullingdon, Coldingley, Cookham Wood, Downview, Elmley, Feltham, Grendon, High Down, Highpoint, Huntercombe, Medway, Send, Stanford Hill, Swaleside, The Mount, Woodhill, Brixton, Belmarsh, Isis, Pentonville, Rochester, Wandsworth, Wormwood Scrubs, Erlestoke, Lewes, Whitemoor, Chelmsford, Guys Marsh and Littlehey.

The new award replaces existing pay increments for staff at the most difficult-torecruit prisons.

Since publication of the White Paper

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389 job offers have been made to new recruits wanting to join the Prison Service which puts the government on track to recruit the first 400 of the additional frontline officers committed to be in place by March 2017 They are appointing 75 mentors for new starter Prison Officers to help them in their first few months in the job which we know can be a difficult time They have started targeted local recruitment initiatives at 30 sites so that governors can more easily recruit the people they need we are launching a new Prison Officer apprenticeship scheme that will help increase diversity and make it easier to join the Prison Service They have launched a new graduate scheme to attract people from top universities to join the Service They have launched a Troops to Officers scheme that will support people to join the Prison Service after leaving the military.

New Service User initiative at HMYOI Cookham Wood Central and North West London (CNWL) NHS Foundation Trust Health and Wellbeing Team (HWBT) at Young Offenders’ Institution Cookham Wood has appointed two teen ex-offenders as its first service user representatives.

The pair, Sam and Jerome (not their real names), have joined the team to help in Page 4

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promoting its work throughout the site and in helping to de-stigmatise mental health issues throughout the site’s population.

They will join team members in running groups for young people newly entering custody, helping to orientate them to the mental health services available and to think about coping with the struggles of being a teenager in prison.

Lead Clinical Psychologist at YOI Cookham Wood, Dr Celia Sadie said: “The boys have already had an impact on our work and we are grateful for their insights.

The roles reflect the team’s awareness of the importance of involving service users at every level of service design and delivery.”

They also offer opportunities for the young people to get involved with the team’s research programme, to advise on the team’s policies and processes, and to help reach out to young people who might otherwise be reluctant to engage.

To help others identify the duo they will wear teeshirts with a logo specially designed by one of the pair.

CNWL runs a forensic CAMHS (Child and adolescent mental health services) team at the site, which is a Young Offenders’ Institution for 15-18 year-old boys.

Justice Minister meets frontline staff at HMP Peterborough Dr Phillip Lee visits prison to meet staff and listen to the challenges they face and the support they give to help offenders turn their backs on crime.

Justice Minister Phillip Lee visited HMP Peterborough and paid tribute to dedicated staff as part of a tour of prisons to engage with frontline prison officers and staff.

The visit comes after Justice Secretary Elizabeth Truss announced a major package of reforms to improve safety – including an additional £100 million to help tackle the rise in drugs, reduce violence and improve safety.

HMP Peterborough has formed close links with the local community to help to provide training, education and employment opportunities for female prisoners, helping to reduce reoffending, cut crime and create fewer victims.

During his visit, Minister Lee met with Peterborough’s new Director Damian Evans, to hear first-hand the challenges that staff face supporting the women in their charge, and how the wholescale reforms to the prison system will help to combat the rise in drugs, drones and mobile phones entering our prisons. continues overleaf u

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Justice Minister, Dr Phillip Lee, said: “Prison Officers at HMP Peterborough do a challenging and often dangerous job and work with a range of complex and vulnerable women, who need intensive help and guidance.

I came here today to express my gratitude to the Director and his team for the work they are doing, which will help reduce reoffending, cut crime and lead to fewer victims.

We will continue to listen to them and all prison staff as we develop our strategy on female offenders and deliver on our important reforms to make prisons safe and cut reoffending.

The positive work at Peterborough represents the wholescale changes that are taking place across the prison system following on from the White Paper announcement last month.

This includes giving governors more powers over education, work and health, so they can tailor support to the prisoners in their charge.

In the New Year, we will announce further reforms on the way we manage female and young offenders.”

Justice Minister praises ‘fantastic’ Novus work at HMYOI Wetherby Dr Phillip Lee, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Justice, called for the work Novus does in collaboration with HM Prison Service at HMYOI Wetherby to be replicated across youth justice.

Dr Lee, speaking at the Youth Justice Convention 2016 in Milton Keynes, described the work done at the establishment with Army Cadets, sports clubs and The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award as ‘fantastic’.

The Army Cadets programme, delivered to Novus learners in HMYOI Wetherby, helps to improve their behaviour and discipline. This year Novus also became a National Operating Authority for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, which allows learners to explore new skills and talents, and improve their CV. Dr Lee said: “It is great that boys in Wetherby can participate in army cadets training and also start their Duke of Edinburgh award but I want to see more of this. I hope to support governors and directors to have the confidence and freedoms to enable this type of activity more regularly and on a greater scale - where appropriate working with community partners who can assist.

I will be exploring if we can expand and extend this fantastic work.”

Dr Lee also called for sports clubs to the Custodial Review

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support young people in custody and after release. Novus learners and colleagues at HMYOI Wetherby enjoyed coaching sessions run by Premier League outfit Everton and Championship favourites Newcastle United, while Novus also has a long-standing relationship with Rugby League club Leeds Rhinos.

He added: “I would like to encourage more sports clubs to work with young offenders in custody and then supporting them to continue to participate in sport when they leave. Leeds Rhinos support PE at Wetherby one day a week​.”

Peter Cox, Managing Director at Novus, was in attendance for the Justice Minister’s keynote speech and welcomed his comments.

Mr Cox said: “We are delighted that Dr Phillip Lee highlighted the work Novus does at HMYOI Wetherby. The Army Cadets programme has had a very positive impact on the self-discipline and confidence of learners, while our relationship with sports clubs is a great engagement tool for the young people, which encourages them to participate in sport when they are released.

Earlier this month we visited St James’s Palace to accept our accreditation as a National Operating Authority for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. The DoFE (Department of Further Education) programme has been rolled out to our learners in the Young People’s Estate, which allows them to explore new skills and talents, develop their selfesteem and encourage a desire to give back to their communities.

We are pleased that Dr Lee has called for this kind of work – which has been carried out as part of a very positive collaboration with HMYOI Wetherby - to be repeated throughout youth justice, as it can only lead to more positive outcomes.”

Unilink has won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation

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The company receives this prestigious award for the development of outstanding, innovative products which help prisons to become more rehabilitative. Unilink’s secure email service allows messages to be sent to and from prisons rapidly, while ensuring that security requirements are maintained. This works with Unilink’s prisoner self-service system that enables messages to be delivered securely to and from prisoners through biometric kiosks and in-cell devices.

That this software makes prisons safer and more rehabilitative has been shown by an independent study into prisoner self-service

by Prof. Cynthia McDougall of the University of York, which concluded that there was a significant effect of giving prisoners more responsibility through self-service. The software is used in every privately run prison in the UK and some public prisons and in addition Unilink has just won a $2.5m AUD to supply equivalent systems in Australia.

Email-a-prisoner, which helps family and friends communicate easily with prisoners to maintain relationships that are key to reducing reoffending, has also been awarded ‘Best Citizen App’ and has also been recognised with the award of the overall 2015 Digital Leader.

Young learners share career ambitions with Justice Secretary Young learners had the unique opportunity to tell Justice Secretary Liz Truss what they want to do in their future careers during her visit to HMYOI Cookham Wood.

Ms Truss toured the education facilities at the Rochester-based young offenders’ institute, where young people are learning new skills through education. The visit came just days before Novus’ education provision at the establishment retained a ‘good’ grade from Ofsted.

Unilink received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation at a ceremony on 30th November in London.

The Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London, Wg Cdr Mike Dudgeon OBE DL, presented, on behalf of Her Majesty, a Queen’s Award for Innovation to Unlink Technology Services Ltd, part of The Unilink Group. The awarding certificate signed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and the former prime minister David Cameron were received by Francis Toye, CEO of Unilink and Derek Jones, founder of Unilink Technology Services. Master of ceremony was Robin Knowles, Founder of Digital Leaders.

The Presentation Ceremony took place in the company of over seventy people – customers, partners, staff and friends.

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Novus’ Johneyfur Masih meets Justice Secretary Liz Truss at HMYOI Cookham Wood with a cake baked by young learners.

Following an unannounced visit, inspectors determined that the YOI was well led and working effectively. They concluded that there was enough vocational training and education for all learners to have daily access, the quality of the teaching was good, and those who completed courses achieved qualifications.

Novus, part of LTE group, is the UK leader and innovator in offender education, skills

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and employability interventions that reduce reoffending and divert people from criminal behaviour, allowing them to make a positive contribution to society.

The organisation is also working hard to develop pathways to apprenticeships, enabling young people to progress to sustainable employment when they leave prison - a subject the Minister was very keen to discuss with staff during her tour.

Peter Cox, Managing Director at Novus, said: “Novus offers young people in custody the opportunity to change and our team at

Improving inmate and officer safety.

The pressures on our custodial system are well documented. The government has pledged funding to address the problem but what can be done now to improve officer and inmate safety?

At the end of last year HMP Birmingham saw what was dubbed the ‘worst prison riot since Strangeways’. Four wings at the privately-run Category B prison were overrun by inmates, riot squads were deployed while prison inmates posted ‘selfies’ of themselves wearing prison officers’ uniforms and showing off sets of keys.

All this coming less than a month after Elizabeth Truss, Secretary of State for Justice highlighted the case for an urgent overhaul of the prison service in the Government’s latest White Paper, Prison Safety and Reform.

According to Ministry of Justice figures the prison population in England and Wales topped more than 85,000, at the end of last summer. An explosion in the use of indeterminate sentences and the increased use of long determinate sentences, were listed as key drivers behind the near doubling of prison numbers in the past two decades.

This has been accompanied by a significant fall in prison officer numbers falling by a third between 2010 and 2015. MoJ figures state that the total number of full-time staff was cut by more than 10,000, to 23,746, cutting the number of prison officers, supervising officers, custodial and other managers.

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HMYOI Cookham Wood were more than happy to offer Liz Truss a tour of our facilities.

Improving English and Maths skills is a key focus in our education departments across the country and the Minister was very keen to hear about our work in this area. In fact, one of our young people told the Minister how much he enjoys creative writing and also how he would like to become an accountant.

She was also very taken with our catering and hospitality classes and spoke directly to young people about their future ambitions in these areas.”

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Peter added: “The Government is tackling the root cause of youth crime with an unprecedented package of education and training for young people, and Novus is fully supporting the reducing re-offending agenda.”

Liz Truss went on to meet one-on-one with Novus’ Head of Education at Cookham Wood, Martina Meshlova, and Governor Graham Spencer.

For more information on Novus, visit http://novus.ac.uk

in 2015, with a 25% rise in reported incidents of self-harm to more than 32,000.

The detailed figures show that the number of suicides rose to 100 in the 12 months to March, up from 79 in the previous 12 months.

Statistics paint a very difficult picture for both the prison service but also those within the prison system”, says Dave Broxton, Managing Director, Bohle. “There are clearly lots of vulnerable individuals within our prison population, people with substance abuse problems, mental health problems – and safeguarding their welfare, as well as that of those who work in our prisons, has to be key.

The challenge is to do that at a time when our prison population is growing and the service is under exceptional pressure.

This is something that has not passed the attention of Government. At the launch of her White Paper, the Secretary of State set out her vision for the future of the custodial service in 2020. Alongside an increased focus on rehabilitation, she pledged more than £1.3bn to its estate, including the building of new prisons to create up to 10,000 new adult places.

The problem that the UK faces in particular, is that more than a quarter of our prisons were built before 1900”, says Broxton. He continues: “These are environments which are often poorly suited to inmate welfare.

Observation, particularly of vulnerable

This means that by the end of 2015, there were 3.6 inmates for each operational prison staffer, 1.1 more than in 2010. In addition, the number of assaults on staff has also increased, with 423 assaults on prison staff in the 12-months to the end of March 2016 - a rise of 40% on the previous year.

inmates, is often more difficult at a time when prisoner numbers are on the up and the prison service resources are stretched.

According to the World Health Organization, suicides tend to occur by hanging when the victims are being held in isolation or segregation cells, and during times when staffing is the lowest, such as nights or weekends. There are also a lot of suicides when prisoners are alone even if they are technically sharing a cell, making the effective observation of inmates key.

Bohle offers an extensive range of convex security and safety correctional mirrors developed specifically for the sector, featuring an incredibly robust and tamper-proof construction with specific anti-ligature features. In eliminating blind corners and supporting more effective observation of inmates, these can make a significant contribution to officer and prisoner safety.

The challenges in our prisons, particularly older prisons are clear. Addressing them is complex, multi-faceted and its clear, won’t be delivered overnight.

The improved observation of prisoners, particularly those who are at risk of self-harm or suicide, is a small, but crucial element in that wider solution.

Statistics suggest inmates also aren’t coping.

MoJ safety in custody statistics confirm a growing tide of violence and despair inside prisons, with the number of assaults rising 27% to more than 20,500. A total of 9,458 prisoners – one in 10 – are reported to have self-harmed

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An opinion piece by Dave Broxton, Managing Director, Bohle.

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Juliet Lyon CBE– On her new role as Chair of the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody Juliet Lyon worked as the Director of the Prison Reform Trust for 17 years before she decided it was time to step down and hand on the baton of prison reform.

She was delighted that former prison governor, Peter Dawson has succeeded her at PRT. Juliet has now taken on the Chair role at the Independent Advisory Panel into Deaths in Custody (IAP) a public appointment role. She applied for this position because she feels really strongly that many of these deaths in custody are avoidable. She is certain that the IAP can have a vital role in reducing these tragic events, which have regrettably become more frequent in recent years.

Custodial Review (CR) Who is, and what is, the Independent Advisory Panel into Deaths in Custody and who is it answerable to?

Juliet Lyon (JL) The IAP is sponsored by three departments. The lead sponsor is the Ministry of Justice; it is also sponsored by the Home Office and the Department of Health.

It is a very small, non-departmental public body. It therefore has the independence that is needed when it comes to helping to reduce deaths in state custody. It is a comparatively new body having been established after the Fulton Review in 2008 and is part of a three tier structure. The first tier is the Ministerial Board on Deaths in Custody; this is chaired by three ministers which is unusual in that the Chair(s) consist of the Prisons Minister, the Health Minister (who has prisons in her portfolio) and the Home Office Minister who is also the Minister for Policing.

The next tier is the Independent Advisory Panel, (IAP) which I chair. The panel is made up of a QC, a forensic psychiatrist, a forensic psychologist, a top level clinician, and the Head of a human rights charity supported by a secretariat.

The third tier is a group of stakeholders, people with a particular interest who may be academics, practitioners, or people who

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have suffered bereavement themselves. This is a substantial group of people who remain in touch with the IAP, and who can be called upon for specialist advice and information.

The structure is designed to maintain reducing deaths in custody as a high priority for whichever government is in power.

CR What real influence does the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody actually have?

JL Our primary purpose is to help reduce deaths in custody and we do that by being the main source of advice for ministers and for operational leads across the Ministry of Justice, Home Office and the Department of Health. I certainly can’t say that we can ‘make things happen!’ However I believe that we can influence matters for a far better outcome.

We hope that by producing solid evidence, identifying good practice and encouraging better practice where and when it has failed, and issuing and monitoring guidelines, we will help ministers and service leaders who have to make difficult decisions make ones that prevent avoidable deaths.

CR Why did the investigation by Lord Harris, former Chair of the IAP, have an age range of 18- 24 years, it doesn’t equate to any NOM’s categorisation?

JL Because of actual, not legal maturity. If the review had adhered strictly to the YOI age range it would have cut off at 21. However due to the work that has been done by the Barrow Cadbury Trust looking at a slightly older age range, and studying young people’s maturity and taking into account more recent research on brain development, the instigators of the Harris Review thought it right to look at people within the 18-24 age range as this group are still in the process of growing up and developing.

Lord Harris was asked by the Ministry of Justice to look at the death of young adults in custody following a 2012 report into deaths in prison that the Prison Reform Trust published together with an organisation called INQUEST. The report called ‘Fatally Flawed’, looked into deaths of young people in custody. The government responded very positively to the INQUEST / PRT report, and subsequently commissioned Lord Harris to undertake his review. Lord Harris said of his 2015 report that his findings had wider implications for the overall prison population.

CR There have been a huge amount of reports and investigations into suicides over the last 24 years.Yet we now have 324 people a year dying in custody. What difference can a panel like this actually make?

JL There are two parts to that answer. The first being that the situation was changing for the better (though too slowly). However it could be seen that, until recently, levels of deaths in custody had reduced and had also begun to stabilise. Due to the aging of the prison population, worsening prison conditions and patchy access to healthcare, and the introduction of new illegal drugs, there has recently been a rise in the number of natural deaths (a concern we have as well) but with regard to suicide the programmes we’re starting to make a difference. Particularly Safer Custody had begun to reduce the risk. So painstakingly, year on year, there was some improvement.

However over the last 2-3 years we have seen a really steep rise in self-inflicted deaths.

Levels of self-harm have risen alongside the levels of violence in prison. To see the progress in suicide prevention work swept back in such a major way is very dispiriting.

Where this independent panel can make a contribution is where it is separate from, but works very closely with operational services. Because unusually for such an organisation it covers, and is financed by, the three departments where the solutions to the problem lie.

The panel also can do things that haven’t been done in the past. This includes working with the prisoners’ media to seek solutions from prisoners themselves; to ask them for their recommendations for reducing selfharm and self-inflicted deaths. I have huge respect for those who work as Insiders and Samaritan Listeners within the prison estate and there are many people in prison who can offer solutions. The IAP is working with the prisoners newspaper, Inside Time, to call on people in prison and families to help. Though it is a small arm’s length body, the IAP can still have influence upon the blockages in the system.

CR With Brexit occupying the majority of the government and the media, deaths in custody may become less attention worthy, which would be a phenomenal shame. Information and reports really work if public pressure is continues overleaf u

INQUEST was founded in 1981. It is a small charitable organisation and the only organisation in England and Wales that provides a specialist, comprehensive advice service to bereaved people, lawyers, other advice and support agencies, the media, MPs and the wider public on contentious deaths and their investigation.

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Rieber Thermoport offers perfect solution for feeding fasting prisoners during Ramadan

New anti-ligature radiator guards and vent covers offer greater safety and strength

Rieber Thermoport 10 insulated food containers are earning “rapturous applause” from the Prison Service for helping to feed prisoners during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting.

HMP GARTH: “They are brilliant. We were recommended other boxes by the prison service but the Rieber boxes are better. They keep the foot piping hot. We carried out a test starting at 86degC. Four hours later they were at 78degC. The catering staff are happy and the Imam and prisoners have given rapturous applause. They also save labour for the rest of the establishment – we just have to hand them out.”

HMP ONLEY: “Thermoport…no problems!

They kept the food hot and there was not one single complaint; in fact we had compliments from the prisoners and the Imam.”

Rieber’s Thermoport 10 insulated food containers will keep one meal hot for more than four hours, saving time and labour. The boxes are filled and sealed during the usual lunchtime or evening meal service and then collected by prisoners. No extra labour is required and the prisoners get a good hot meal when they are ready for it.

Prior to using Thermoports, prisons fed fasting prisoners by serving up sandwich based meals or hot soups or stews in vacuum flasks. Both methods required extra labour and supervision by the prisons to ensure the food was served at the right temperatures – vacuum flasks, for example, will only hold hot food for a few hours.

Telephone: 01225-704470 Email: sales@bglrieber.co.uk WEB: www.bglrieber.co.uk twitter.com/bglrieber

A new range of anti-ligature radiator guards and vent covers compliant with Home Office guidance, is now available to order from Contour Casings on short lead times.

To minimise the risk of selfharm, Contour’s anti-ligature radiator guard and vent cover grilles use holes perforated directly into the metal case rather than a mesh welded separately. The holes are 2mm diameter with the centres at 4mm, set in a triangular pitch. This meets the requirement laid out in The Home Office Police Buildings Design Guide – Custody, July 2009, section PD3.02.14, thereby ensuring the suitability of the guards and covers for use in the most demanding of secure environments, such prisons, police cells and other custodial facilities.

Contour’s grille design has been independently tested and certified by a UKAS accredited laboratory and effectively exceeds IP3x standards (BS EN 60529). This tests materials for Ingress Protection against objects greater than 2.5mm in diameter – which could include the width of a shoelace for example.

In addition, radiator guards and vent covers are now stronger as a result of the grilles being punched directly into metal, rather than as a separately welded mesh. This reduces the number of potential weak points.

Contour anti-ligature radiator guards and vent covers are available in a very wide range of sizes and manufactured from mild steel in thicknesses from 1.5mm to 3mm. Guards and covers are also available in aluminium for use in damp or humid conditions.

Tel: +44 (0) 1952 290498 Email sales@contourcasings.co.uk or visit www.contourcasings.co.uk

Safe doesn’t have to mean “dull” Manufacturers of the Ryno furniture range are putting people first by combining extreme safety with vibrant colours and smooth styling.

Thousands of Ryno products are currently in use in custodial facilities and mental health units across the country, helping to create recovery-led environments with an unparalleled level of safety.

Ryno, an innovative furniture range manufactured

by Pineapple Contracts, is characterised by a bright colour palette and the organic, flowing shapes. These attributes work together to add a more “human” feel to typically harsh custodial environments. They also aim to soften the potentially intimidating atmosphere experienced by children (and other family members) during visiting times, encouraging better visitations and the associated psychological benefits.

But behind the smooth designs lie a host of design features which make Ryno products uniquely safe for prisoners, staff and visitors alike. Most of the benefits are derived from the one-piece rotationally moulded design. This enables heavy weight to be added (75kg), making the chairs impossible to throw in the event of disruption. The one-piece construction also means there are no legs to detach and use as a weapon, and stashing opportunities have been eliminated.

By using a bespoke polymer blend, Pineapple have achieved a fire retardant and anti-bacterial material which is easy to clean and is fully recyclable.

Being water-resistant and UV stabilised also make many of the products perfect for outdoor use.

Pineapple Contracts have been creating furniture for demanding environments for over 40 years. They focus on enhancing the environments of clients by providing style and quality, with a relentless commitment to safety and durability.

For more information visit www.rynofurniture.com or call 01622 237830.

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Juliet Lyon CBE– On her new role as Chair of the Independent Advisory Panel continued brought to bear as a result. What can the panel do to leverage its effectiveness and to keep it in the public eye? There are means for small organisations to have great leverage with the right approaches. Can your panel utilise them?

JL Everything we do has to be done through the lens of, ‘Is this going to reduce deaths in custody?’ A day in the media, if we could prove that it would reduce deaths, is well worth having. However if it is simply ‘a day in the media’ it is not. Not everything we do will necessarily be published (though things like the minutes of our meetings, reports and evidence to committees are published on our website). There will be particular times when we want to go to the media because we have information, evidence, or new research that we want disseminated as widely as possible. Our main work is on advising and influencing the ministers and the operational leads. This comes most effectively from the information found through research, best practice, and international examples that can help to reduce deaths.

I don’t think there’s a single way of achieving this end. I don’t think fuelling a public scandal will necessarily be the best way. However if I believed that it was a way of reducing deaths I wouldn’t hesitate to use it!

Despite the attention that is going to go on Brexit, we have a Prime Minister who spoke very strongly and movingly a couple of years ago at the Care Not Custody Conference organised by the WI and PRT. She spoke about the need to remove vulnerable people from custody and not using police or prison cells as a place of safety for people with mental health needs or a learning disability. Of course people’s attention is going to be on what on Earth we’re going to do about Brexit, but I still think it is worth reminding everybody what Theresa May said and meant.

There is also the public sympathy element, I don’t think that anybody, even those most interested in punishment in prisons, want to see deaths in custody. They don’t want to have people die, to have families bereaved, have staff really shaken by those terrible experiences.

People know this issue matters. Families who have experienced a death in a public service know what that’s like and how distressing it is and how important it is to handle things properly and respectfully. I don’t think there is an ‘opposition’ to resolving this issue, but you’re right – there’s a preoccupation with other things. It becomes a low priority, and it is part of the job of the panel to make sure it stays as a very high priority for three ministers across three departments we are charged to advise.

CR You have been in the job for the last five months. Where do you think its direction of travel is?

the Custodial Review

JL The panel has to remind itself that it only has one function and that is reducing deaths. It is very easy in an organisation this small to become distracted. Commissioned by government, the Harris report ran very wide and has informed the White Paper. We cannot follow that example on a daily basis and remain effective. So the panel is focusing first on deaths in prison custody, and not only on self-inflicted deaths but on so-called natural deaths (where the average age is 56 which give you an idea of how many of those deaths are avoidable) and will advise on improvements to treatment and conditions and healthcare.

In relation to police custody we are waiting on Dame Elish Angiolini’s report which was commissioned by the (then) Home Secretary.

This is due to be published soon, we are going to be guided by its recommendations and see this as an opportunity to strengthen the panels’ role in sustaining learning. In terms of deaths of those detained under the Mental Health Act, two of our panel members are working hard in that sphere at the moment.

We are of course making IAP visits to all forms of state custody including recent visits to Broadmoor, the John Howard Centre, Redhill police custody suite and a number of prisons.

In terms of prison deaths, I want us to come up with our first piece of work very soon, which is a rapid information gathering exercise about the deaths of women in custody and how to prevent them. We’ve gone out to a wide range of experts to ask them for their assistance with that, will share findings and recommendations with Ministers and prison governors as well as the Board and publish in the near future.We are concerned about clusters of deaths in custody and exploring how best to reduce the risks of clusters forming in prisons. We are working with the prisons media to ask prisoners themselves how best to prevent suicide and self-harm.

In the spring we will be having a day of family learning led by bereaved families supported by the charity INQUEST. We will also be moving our attention to those ‘natural deaths’.

So there is a clear and quite rapidly developing programme on deaths in prison custody. The IAP will make its contribution alongside other bodies. We are by no means alone in this field however we are alone in terms of our non departmental public body status and our independence. It it is important to recognise the work that is being done by amongst others NOMS, shortly to become HMPPS, the Department of Health, and NHS England.

Nobody sits comfortably with the situation as is. It has devastated people, who have worked very hard to try to effect changeaand a reduction in the number of deaths only to begin to see it slip away.

CR Thank you for talking to the Review.

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JL Since the Harris Review was published we are pleased to note in the recent Justice White Paper produced by Justice Secretary Liz Truss that there is direct reference to Lord Harris’s review and incorporation of a number of important recommendations made. These include the need to have a prison officer responsible for a small number of named prisoners, ensuring as close as possible a relationship between prison officers and prisoners.

Another was about recording levels of self-harm in prisons and making sure that those were known. A final one of note was closer family engagement with prisons.

JL The police have stopped using police custody for the most vulnerable, supported by the (then) Home Secretary and now our Prime Minister Theresa May who is determined to reduce police custody for people with mental health needs and learning disabilities. She said the same about deaths in prison.

Hence diversion and liaison services for vulnerable people in police stations and courts.

Of course in prison we have large numbers of people with unmet mental health needs.

Coupled with all of that the 30% or so reduction in budgets has had a major impact. In particular trying to keep people safe, knowing your prisoner well, and that prisoner knowing you, is a professional relationship that is pivotal. In many instances that has been lost by losing experienced staff. Those individual links are crucially important and must be rebuilt.

Wasting energy is a crime at HMP Edinburgh With an operational capacity of 870, Her Majesty’s Prison (HMP) Edinburgh is one of Scotland’s largest secure facilities. As part of its operational policy HMP aims to use energy as efficiently as possible and maintain suitable climate conditions, which is why it uses a Building Energy Management System (BEMS) from Trend.

Part of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), HMP Edinburgh is a large community facing facility that houses offenders predominantly from courts in Edinburgh, the Lothians and Borders. Located in the west of the city, the building of the prison started around 1914, and has recently been rebuilt to modern standards.

devices that had become obsolete or difficult to service.

Any viable enhancements to the BEMS that could increase energy efficiency through hardware and software upgrades, in addition to improvements in information display and accessibility, were also identified. The findings also needed to outline a schedule of priced upgrades and replacements.

The survey took two weeks to complete and soon after the report was presented to the SPS which recommended a specific course of action.

Whilst HMP Edinburgh might have a slightly different remit compared to the vast majority of multi-occupancy premises, when it comes to saving energy and reducing expenditure on this resource, it shares many of the same concerns. SPS has a defined energy management strategy in place and has worked closely with Trend for almost 20 years. Part of this relationship currently includes the operation of a framework service contract for BEMS maintenance.

Ronnie Macdonald is Energy & Engineering Services Manager at SPS, and states, ‘We have comprehensive BEMS installed at all of our main establishments, which over the years had been set up by a number of different system integrators, all with their own ideas about user interface configuration, control strategies and the most appropriate technology. We identified that through greater consistency in relation to technologies, strategies and staff interaction, we could realise significant operational and energy efficiencies. We therefore decided to call Trend in to see what could be done.’

Following an initial site visit, Stuart Lonie, Trend’s Business Development Manager, suggested that a Trend Controls Survey would be the best way to review how the building was being used and identify opportunities where energy savings could be made. He comments, ‘As the use of a building changes, so does the profile of its building services and it needs to be able to adapt to maximise efficiency. A Trend Controls Survey report provides an in-depth overview of findings following an on-site survey which is undertaken by a Trend energy engineer. It includes recommendations to facilitate further quantified improvements, which can be presented as a full business case with expected return on investment (ROI). This was exactly what Ronnie was looking for.’

First things first Prior to the survey, a set of objectives was agreed upon.

These included the identification of hardware and cabling that had reached the end of its service life, as well as

In order to carry out the works, a competitive tender was conducted, which was won by Paisley based Craigalan Controls Limited – a Trend Technology Centre (TTC) with a high level of expertise in specifying, configuring and maintaining BEMS. However, from the outset the process was a team effort, with the SPS managing the project and experts from the Trend team offering technical assistance and advice whenever required.

Taking a view One of the primary reasons for having a BEMS is to be able to access and use information that is presented, via an easy to understand format.

Considered the ‘brains’ of a BEMS, the Trend 963 Supervisor is a graphical, real-time user interface that makes it possible to monitor specific activities and make any necessary changes.

Trend’s Stuart Lonie comments, ‘The SPS wanted to ensure that each 963 Supervisor across the SPS estate could adopt the same platform. This meant developing the same graphics, text, colours and measurement values. Since the application of the new standard, problems are easy to identify and, what’s more, it enables plant and building services to be monitored in real time and changes to be made where necessary. It even learns the structure of a system so that it can make adjustments to how the building services are configured.’

Being able to ascertain exactly how much energy is being used in various parts of the building would offer a significant advantage. To that end all existing sub-meters were brought up to a good working condition and, where necessary, additional devices were installed and configured in a way that enabled information to be supplied to the 963 Supervisor in a consistent format.

‘We wanted to give particular attention to the mechanical control panel, as this provides us with the most cost effective level for sub-metering,’ states Ronnie. ‘The reason being that it is directly responsible for the building’s air handling units (AHUs), pumps, fans and associated equipment – components that can represent over 40 per cent of the total electricity consumption of a prison. We knew that if we could get this under control then significant energy savings could be made.’

The sub-meters now provide a full energy usage profile every 30 minutes, which when plotted provides a detailed

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usage pattern over 20 days that shows variations between day, night and weekend consumptions.

This data is then assimilated into a daily total, which can also be viewed as part of a 3-year profile showing comparisons between weekdays and weekends and furthermore allows seasonal patterns to be identified and compared. This is a vast improvement on the previous configuration, which simply focused on previous week, month and overall energy demand, all of which failed to give information in a useful format. Once the new control strategy was implemented, the mechanical control power usage could be clearly identified and electrical savings measured.

‘As a result of the work carried out directly from the recommendations in the Trend Energy Controls, there has been a significant reduction in electricity use associated with the mechanical control panel on the BEMS related element alone,’ says Ronnie. ‘The amount of electricity coming through the mechanical control panel to the building prior to the exercise averaged 41 per cent and this figure was cut to 33 per cent afterwards – an eight per cent saving on-site electricity. This equates to many thousands of pounds in savings, and the ROI period for all works, including the replacement of outdated and obsolete plant, was very favourable and fell well within the defined requirements of the SPS.’ HMP Edinburgh now operates heating & ventilation systems under a demand led strategy, whereby provision of services are based upon the real-time demands of each individual heating, domestic hot water, and ventilation system across all of it’s buildings. The BEMS controls these systems at part load by default and automatically increases output as and when required, in other words energy is only consumed when actually required. A good example is ventilation rates which are set at 80% of capacity by default, and automatically increase to 100% dependant upon monitoring of CO2 levels in extracted air.

Onwards and upwards Ronnie Macdonald of SPS believes that the entire exercise has transformed the way energy is used at HMP Edinburgh and the results of the BEMS optimisation programme have exceeded initial expectations. He concludes, ‘It was always my belief that we could get far more out of our BEMS. The Trend Controls Survey, however, was the real turning point in enabling us to go back to basics, clearly assess what was possible and identify which activities could provide the best results. I’m delighted with what’s been achieved and we will use this experience to roll out similar programmes across other SPS sites.’

For further information please call Trend Marketing on 01403 211888 or email marketing@trendcontrols.com.

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The reduction of false convictions By Dara Mojtahedi Dara Mojtahedi has presented his research in multiple conferences and the emerging findings of his research have become widely accepted by both academics and practitioners within various police forces.

Dara Mojtahedi is a Lecturer in Investigative Psychology at the University of Huddersfield.

Currently in the completing stages of his PhD in Co-witness influence, Dara’s main research interests focus around eyewitness behaviour. In particular, Dara’s research concentrates on the phenomenon behind false memory within criminal settings. Through empirical research, he has been able to identify the fundamental predictors that can cause eyewitnesses to recall false memories, when questioned by police.

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Today, we live in a world where the availability of scientific resources can allow investigators to draw upon a magnitude of different approaches when attempting to identify and convict the correct offender of a crime.

Such approaches range from the common use of DNA tracing to the use of forensic entomologists (experts in insect and arthropod biology) in identifying the geographical characteristics of the crime scene and the offender.

Despite the availability of such scientific advances, police officers will often stick to relying on the age-old approach of collecting eyewitness statements as the main protocol for collecting evidence, even when CCTV footage is available. And why shouldn’t they?

Eyewitness statements will often be the fastest way for police officers to reconstruct the key details of an event, additionally witnesses are instructed to only identify the information that they remember seeing personally, which would suggest that we can assume that the evidence given by witnesses would be truthful. However, evidence would suggest that this trust placed on eyewitness statements can often be miss-judged.

is evident that despite the risks eyewitness statements play in convicting innocent people, they still provide investigators useful information and thus to suggest that eyewitness statements should be ignored would be to significantly slow down the investigation process and consequently reduce the number of convictions made. Instead we must identify the factors that can influence eyewitness to confabulate stories when giving statements and attempt to aid officers in combating these risks.

The existing literature has identified possible explanations for ways in which eyewitnesses could recall false details of an event, such explanations include, poor vantage points, memory decay and poor memory encoding through induced stress. However much of these explanations fail to reliable identify ways in which eyewitnesses can falsely blame a bystander for committing the crime.

Reports show that eyewitness statements can be heavily inaccurate, with a recent report indicating that over 70% of false convictions were caused by false eyewitness statements, making them one of the least reliable forms of evidence used in investigations.

Today I am a lecturer in Investigative Psychology at the University of Huddersfield, but prior to taking on this position, I worked in bars and restaurants whilst studying. Suffice to say, working in a place that distributed alcohol meant the staff would often witness fights breaking out during service. What caught my attention was the amount of times that witnesses would collectively identify the wrong man as the person at fault.

Statistics show that in 39% of misidentification cases, there were multiple eyewitnesses blaming the wrong person for committing the crime. What are the chances that multiple eyewitnesses would react similarly to a bad vantage point or poor memory decay? Instead, Elizabeth Loftus, a leading expert on eyewitness memory coined an explanation known as the “misinformation effect”.

Despite these inconsistencies in reliability, research shows that police officers will still regard them as one of the most reliable forms of evidence, with surveys indicating that one in every two officers stating that it is usually the main lead for investigations. It

The misinformation effect argues that eyewitnesses can inherently recall the false information of others through source misattribution errors. In other words, eyewitnesses may often fail to correctly differentiate between information that they

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had witnessed and information about the event that they will have learnt after the incident. The majority of previous research has observed this phenomenon on eyewitnesses when asked to identify if certain items were present during an event.

However very little research had attempted to identify if eyewitnesses could be influenced by their peers when attempting to attribute blame to the correct suspect. Under the supervision of Dr Maria Ioannou & Dr Laura Hammond, our research team was able to test the effects of co-witness influence in blame attribution (paper under review).

Participants were placed into groups and watched footage of a bar fight breaking out. Afterwards, they had a short time to discuss what they had seen. During the post-event discussion, the researchers had planted actors as dummy eyewitnesses who purposely suggested that the wrong man had started the fight.

The results found that eyewitnesses could be easily influenced by cowitnesses into blaming bystanders for starting the fight.

Such findings indicate that not only can offenders evade blame for public crimes, but that eyewitnesses can be manipulated into blaming innocent bystanders for committing the crimes instead.

Research by the Innocence Project has found that in 48% of misidentification cases, the real perpetrator will be go on to reoffend.

Although the findings were significant, the research team indicate that this is just the start of the project. The next stage is to help develop suitable intervention techniques for police officers to help eyewitnesses filter out post-event information from their statements. The researchers aim to base this form of intervention off of similar strategies incorporated by the cognitive interview technique, with the hopes of eventually aiding in the reduction of false convictions.

New anti-climb systems provide building protection and reduce costly damage A new heavy duty anti-climb fascia system, designed to protect rooflines from unauthorised access and vandalism is now available from Contour, a leading manufacturer of building fabrications. The fascia system is particularly suitable for installation in secure and residential detention facilities.

Key features of the anti-climb fascia include its ability to work in conjunction with almost any guttering system, its suitability for installation on new build or RMI projects, an integrated internal framework ensuring a robust solution and main ‘bullnose’ panels manufactured from 3mm thick aluminium alloy. For environments at a very high risk of abuse or damage, Contour can manufacture fascia panels in mild or stainless steel.

The anti-climb fascia design can give a contemporary appearance to a building exterior, whilst fulfilling the core objective of providing a virtually un-scalable roofline. Contour’s anti-climb fascia is complemented by a downpipe protection system which can fit over existing cast iron, plastic and aluminium downpipes, fully encasing them, making climbing pipes virtually impossible.

Precision engineered from 2mm thick, high quality architectural grade aluminium, they are strong, durable, lightweight and non-corrodible.

For further information on Contour’s anti-climb buildings systems visit www.contourcasings.co.uk or call +44 (0)1952 290498.

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Family life behind bars The recent ‘Life in prison: Contact with families and friends’ paper estimates the number of children in the UK affected by a parent in prison each year is upwards of 200,000. Through its work in prisons in London and Winchester, national children’s charity, Spurgeons, knows firsthand the affect this can have. Chief Executive, Ross Hendry, highlights the positive impact family connections whilst in prison can have on reducing reoffending rates: Although one of the seven Pathways to Resettlement, it is often the Children and Families pathway that gets the least focus or input.Yet support from family members can provide the cornerstone for enhanced life chances on release from prison, and support for a positive lifestyle moving forwards. Maintaining or rebuilding meaningful family ties during custody has been proven to impact positively on the reduction of reoffending rates.

As well as managing visitor centres in London and Winchester, we provide a range of parenting interventions and family support through our Invisible Walls service at HMP/YOI Winchester. This ranges from support during visits; engagement in parenting programmes; regular family days and homework club for school age children and their Dads. National

statistics show 45% of adults are reconvicted within one year of release. Since 2013, from a sample of 105 fathers involved with the project there, only 10.5% are known to have returned to prison within 12 months of release.

Family relationships are put under enormous strain throughout a custodial sentence and it’s no surprise that many break down. For prisoners who are parents, the relationship with their children almost always remains hugely important and a truly motivating factor for not returning to prison. The need to support families during custody is not just about reducing reoffending, but also the risk of intergenerational offending. The loss of their father can be traumatic for children and lead to long term problems. For boys, a father’s imprisonment significantly increases their risk

of offending and becoming involved in the criminal justice system.

In an ideal world, supporting family relationships alongside the offender journey should be a matter of course. Prisons play a key role in supporting this process, helping to ensure visits are as family friendly as they can be and that children have access to toys and suitable play activities. Not surprisingly, budgets and provision varies hugely across the prison estate.

Regardless, it’s this support that provides the basis of whether visits from family - the only time that the ‘outside’ and the ‘inside’ comes together - is a positive experience. The effects of a difficult or stressful visit are felt for a long time for both the family going home, and the prisoner going back to his cell.

This doesn’t just start and end on visiting day, and generally extends to supporting those serving the sentence on both sides of the bars. It involves everything from managing the separation and emotional stress, alongside practicalities such as financial pressures and housing. One of the most difficult things is how to talk to the children about what is happening, and the reality of a custodial sentence - particularly if the sentence is for a number of years.

We have seen the very positive effect of working with groups of fathers and providing them with a safe place to talk together about their children and their role as a father. This has created informal peer mentoring on the wings, where prisoners have connected in a positive way by attending courses and family days together. We have also seen how this engagement with men as fathers has given them back a valued identity and built their self esteem and confidence. Individuals have regularly gone on to complete other courses, become wing reps and achieved things through personal development in a way that they may not have otherwise done. This in turn affects behavior and overall emotional wellbeing and is an important factor in prison life.

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Where positive relationships have been maintained and included regular visits and engagement in parenting interventions, it is far more likely that the family will be involved in planning and supporting resettlement. It will still be a major readjustment for everybody on release but with communication and planning that considers the needs of the whole family, this is far more likely to be successful.

The Losel et al (2012) study identified a number of predictors most consistently linked to positive resettlement outcomes for fathers, mothers and children. This included, amongst

others, high quality of family relationship; good communication between the father and family during imprisonment; high frequency of contact during imprisonment; and participation in family-oriented programmes.

Helping to maintain family connections, and ensuring that communication is as good as it can be between all those involved in the case (prison based offender managers; probation; Community Rehabilitation Company’s; Children’s Services and schools), can play a pivotal role in reducing reoffending rates.

And, just as crucially, keep families together.

Unfortunately not all prisons are in a position to provide focused services. Budgets will always be restrictive. But as we move towards commissioning ‘Prisoner, Family and Significant other Support Services ‘, partnership work between the Ministry of Justice and charities like ours, who are well placed to provide such specialist services, might just be the answer.

For more information about our work in prisons, or to find out how we can support you, please contact Lauren Baldridge on 01933 417436.

Quotes from service users: “By talking in a group you get a sense of relief, knowing you’re not the only one in this position. You also learn a lot about how to be a much better parent when you get out; a better role model in yourself. This gives you that ignition that you want to be out there with your children and do better for them and yourself.”

“The course made me realise that being a Dad is not just about being fun. I have realised that my children will look up to me and learn from my actions, words and the way I interact with them. Being a good Dad is about taking the time to make my children feel loved, safe and happy.”

Pull out statistics: • • •

About Spurgeons’ work within the criminal justice system Spurgeons is one of the UK’s leading children’s charities, supporting children and families affected by imprisonment. Our work includes the delivery of intervention and support programmes to ensure the cycle of generational offending is broken.

We currently work in eight prisons across London and HMP/YOI Winchester.

Our award winning service, Invisible Walls, was set up initially through a Department for Education grant awarded for two years. Current funding is through the Big Lottery Fund, alongside additional grants from Hampshire and Portsmouth Troubled Families, Hampshire and IOW Police and Crime Commissioner; as well as through local fundraising. Through Invisible Walls, we aim to reduce reoffending and improve outcomes for families by:

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supporting children and families visiting through the prison visitors’ centre and providing information and advice

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delivering parenting programmes and support for fathers in prison and their families including a homework club, one

to one casework and regular family days

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providing individual pre and post release planning and support for fathers in custody including a ‘bridging service’ into local services training local practitioners to enable them to identify and respond more effectively to the needs of prisoners families

Invisible Walls reports into the Children and Families Resettlement Pathway as part of the prison Reducing Reoffending Strategy. The service has a high profile within the prison and is promoted at induction and on the wings through Dads Reps who act as a single point of contact.

Case work: Invisible Walls has contributed to more than 70 Child Protection cases through submission of reports, attendance at conferences and facilitating meetings between social workers and fathers before release. In cases involving care proceedings, we have undertaken intensive work with fathers whose behaviour and lifestyle choices posed significant risks to their children. The majority of these resulted in positive outcomes following our

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Approx 200,000 children each year have a parent in prison.

65% of boys with a convicted parent go on to offend.

End of service data shows 80% of families receiving support from Invisible Walls reported it had helped them maintain and strengthen their family relationships.

intervention and the children stayed within the family with plans put in place to support contact arrangements on release and rebuild relationships.

The service receives referrals from outside agencies, schools and Children’s Services. This has led to some very specific casework that has linked the support that is in place in the community with the prison based support.

This has resulted in sharing of school reports and Child Protection plans in a way that has allowed the father in custody to be involved in supporting and encouraging positive outcomes for the child. In one case, a Year 10 boy who had been excluded on a number of occasions, was reintegrated successfully back into the school with the support of his father, rather than become permanently excluded.

We worked directly with one school to support a vulnerable Year 6 girl who was extremely distressed about her father being in custody and was self harming. We worked together to make a scrapbook of letters, poems and pictures between the father in custody and his daughter which provided emotional support and reassurance at a very difficult time for her as she prepared to move on to secondary school.

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A new model of psychopathy utility for criminal behaviour. For instance, the exclusion of factor 4 of the PCL-R (encompassing items that relate to antisocial behaviour, including poor behaviour controls, early behaviour problems, juvenile delinquency, revocation of conditional release, and criminal versatility) reduces the predictive validity of the measure in regards to future reoffending. Even though the affective and interpersonal manipulation components correspond with Cleckley’s original conceptualisation of a psychopathic personality, erratic lifestyle and antisocial behaviour more closely resemble measures of criminal behaviour and Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD). Notably, prior research revealed that only the affective and interpersonal factors’ items work equivalently well across race and gender, with poor generalisability of the remaining factors being reported. Further still, antisocial traits were found to diminish over time, suggesting that the generalisability of this element of the construct may also be affected by the age of respondents.

by Professor Daniel Boduszek, Dr Agata Debowska & Dominic Willmott The concept of psychopathy has long been of interest within the criminal justice system, often presented as the causal antecedent to serial violent and sexual offences. Despite this, psychopathy has remained difficult to assess, with research in the area compromised by the absence of an established definition of the disorder. The first comprehensive conceptualisation of psychopathy was proposed by Hervey Cleckley in 1941. Cleckley suggested the prototypical psychopath to be characterised by the following 16 traits: superficial charm, absence of delusions, absence of “nervousness”, unreliability, untruthfulness, lack of remorse and shame, antisocial behaviour, poor judgement and failure to learn by experience, pathological egocentricity, poverty in affective reactions, loss of insight, unresponsiveness in interpersonal relations, fantastic and uninviting behaviour, suicide rarely carried out, impersonal sex life, and failure to follow any life plan.

This Cleckleyan representation of psychopathy served as the foundation for designing widely utilised psychopathic assessment tools, namely the Psychopathy Checklist (PCL) and its updated version, the Psychopathy Checklist – Revised (PCL-R). The PCL-R is most often conceptualised as consisting of four factors: (1) callous affect, (2) interpersonal manipulation, (3) erratic lifestyle, and (4) antisocial/criminal behaviour. Psychopathy, as assessed using the PCL-R and the associated self-reported measures, has been reported to be

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predictive of recidivism. However, when considering numerous items within the measure pertain directly to criminal and antisocial behaviour alongside the suggestion that future behaviour is best predicted by past behaviour, such findings are not surprising. Indeed, the formulation of psychopathy as grasped by the PCL(-R) and its derivatives, is weighted heavily towards indicators of behavioural expressions of the disorder, such as deviancy and maladjustment, which can have a profound influence on the scales’ predictive

The essence of the psychopathy disorder seems to be captured more successfully through assessments of affective deficits and interpersonal unresponsiveness. The proneness to contravene social and legal norms, on the other hand, appears to be a possible behavioural outcome of a psychopathic personality. In line with such a notion, a growing body of evidence suggests that psychopathic personalities can thrive in both criminal and noncriminal contexts. For example, the prevalence of psychopathic traits was demonstrated to be higher in a corporate sample than that found in community samples. Interestingly, heightened psychopathy scores in U.S. presidents were correlated with a better-rated presidential performance. As such, if criminal/ antisocial tendencies are just one possible manifestation of psychopathy, other non-criminal/ antisocial behaviours in which psychopaths may partake should also be accounted for.

A simplified solution, therefore,

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would be to exclude antisocial items from psychopathy measures altogether.

Our model of psychopathy Although Cleckley’s conceptualisation of psychopathy received the most widespread acceptance among researchers and clinicians, some of the traits listed in his clinical profile, such as pathological egocentricity, are largely missing from the existing psychopathy assessment tools.

Further, we have recently suggested that criminal/ antisocial tendencies are the consequence of psychopathic traits, rather than an integral part of the disorder, and individuals with increased psychopathic traits may be successful in both criminal and non-criminal endeavours. Thus, given the broad spectrum of activities in which psychopaths may engage, the inclusion of antisocial items in psychopathy scales appears counterproductive.

Instead, there is a need for a clean personality model of psychopathy, which could be used among both forensic and non-forensic populations. Accordingly, new generation of research which distinguishes between personality deviation and social deviance is warranted.

In an attempt to address these issues, we sought to create and validate a brief self-report scale of psychopathic personality traits for research purposes (the Psychopathic Personality Traits Scale - PPTS) and are currently working on a diagnostic tool which will be based on the new theoretical model we have devised. This new model grasps the essence of a psychopathic personality regardless of respondents’ age, gender, cultural background, and criminal history.

Central to our new model of psychopathy are four components: affective responsiveness, cognitive responsiveness, interpersonal manipulation, and egocentricity.

The affective responsiveness

component reflects characteristics of low affective empathy and emotional shallowness.

The cognitive responsiveness component measures the ability to understand the emotional state of other, mentally represent another person’s emotional processes, and emotionally engage with others at a cognitive level.

The interpersonal manipulation aspect reflects characteristics such as superficial charm, grandiosity, and deceitfulness.

Finally, egocentricity assesses an individual’s tendency to focus on one’s own interests, beliefs, and attitudes. Our research explorations to date have displayed empirical evidence of this new conceptualisation of psychopathy, validating the model’s utility in a sample of 1,794 inmates from maximum and medium security prisons, and over 3000 participants from nonforensic settings.

A noteworthy addition to these recent findings are our earlier results which demonstrated the moderating role that intelligence appears to have in the relationship between psychopathy and emotional responding, indicating that psychopaths with higher intelligence can respond in a socially desirable manner to emotionally provoking stimuli.

To verify whether deficiency in cognitive responsiveness to emotional states of others is a universal feature of psychopathy or is contingent on intelligence levels, it is our suggestion that future research which makes use of our newly evidenced model of psychopathy should control for respondents’ IQ. Of importance, such research challenging the widely accepted notion of psychopathy and associated factors can also challenge the assumptions on which current criminal justice practices are based, subsequently leading

to improved risk assessment, treatment provision, and prevention strategies.

Key references: Boduszek, D., Debowska, A., Dhingra, K., DeLisi, M. (2016). Introduction and validation of Psychopathic Personality Traits Scale (PPTS) in a large prison sample. Journal of Criminal Justice. 46, 9-17.

Boduszek, D., & Debowska, A. (2016).

Critical evaluation of psychopathy measurement (PCL-R and SRP-III/ SF) and recommendations for future research. Journal of Criminal Justice.

44, 1-12.

Bate, C., Boduszek, D., Dhingra, K., & Bale, C. (2014). Psychopathy, Intelligence and Emotional Responding in a Non-Forensic Sample: A Physiological Investigation.

Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology, 25(5), 600-612.

Professor Daniel Boduszek is a Professor of Criminal Psychology based at the

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University of Huddersfield.

Dan’s current research interests and publications include psychopathy, criminal social identity & criminal thinking styles, mental health in prisons, and homicidal behaviour. Contact: d.boduszek@hud.ac.uk Dr Agata Debowska is a Senior Lecturer based in Psychology at the Liverpool John Moores University.

Her research interest and publications include psychopathy, violence against women, as well as child abuse and neglect.

Dominic Willmott is a PhD candidate in Forensic/ Criminal Psychology based at the University of Huddersfield. His research interests include psychopathy, violent & offending, and jury decision making.

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The justice data lab – can we finally understand what works in reducing reoffending? anywhere near a complete picture of what works with what type of offender, and the key lessons from these successful interventions that should be reproduced elsewhere.

My organisation, RAPt (incorporating the offender employment enterprise Blue Sky) receives around £18.5 million of taxpayers’ money, and £1.5 million of philanthropic support, per year. Philanthropists nail us to the floor to demonstrate that we are using their money to really turn lives around and reduce reoffending but, to my eternal surprise, we rarely get asked to prove our impact on reoffending rates to get the other £18.5 million. We have the proof, and think we would win more contracts if that were the key criteria. But in my experience, it rarely is.

Mike Trace is CEO of RAPt, a UK charity that provides substance misuse, mental health and employment services to offenders.

As Deputy UK Drug Czar in the 1990s, he oversaw the creation of one of the first nationwide prison drug strategies.

Every job I have done for the past 32 years has, in one way or another, had the rehabilitation of offenders as an objective – to support their own wellbeing, of course, but also to reduce reoffending rates, and therefore the numbers of crime victims. Over these years I have developed my own views on what works to reduce reoffending.

But that is all they are – views and opinions.

Of no more value than the views and opinions of anyone else – the Prime Minister, Home Secretary, prison governor or officer, exoffender or Daily Mail reader - until I can provide evidence and data to back them up..

That is why I have always been bemused at how little effort has gone into really finding out what works in reducing reoffending, and turning offenders’ lives around. As far as I can tell, government (largely supported by public opinion) has had an explicit objective to reduce reoffending rates for over 50 years. Billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money, and hundreds of millions in philanthropic donations, have been invested in support of this (conceptually relatively simple) objective.

Yet, none of us can point to comprehensive and compelling research or evidence that shows what sort of interventions in the lives of offenders leads to a reliable reduction in reoffending.

That’s not to say that we should join the ‘nothing works’ brigade. There is clear evidence to show that some interventions work with some offenders. What we don’t have is

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This is why I have been a staunch supporter of the Justice Data Lab (JDL) since its inception.

The attempt by the Ministry of Justice to produce a consistent process by which providers of interventions can submit their cohorts of beneficiaries for analysis, and compare their reoffending rates with comparable groups of offenders in the JDL database, has moved our collective understanding forward significantly.We now need to be brave enough to keep expanding its portfolio of reports, and to openly debate their findings and implications for policy and commissioning.

Of course, the JDL has its weaknesses and problems to address – it is criminally underresourced for the potential task it could be performing; it relies too heavily on Offender Assessment System data to construct its comparison groups (which can lead to false results); many of the biggest providers of interventions have not yet submitted their cohorts for analysis; and it is currently unable to construct comparison groups for offenders who are drug and alcohol dependent.

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Most interventions submitted for analysis could not show a measurable impact on reoffending rates.

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For many of the interventions submitted, this was because their cohorts were too small to register statistically significant results.

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The small number of clearly successful interventions tended to focus on access to employment and training, or personal development (although it is important to note that there were also

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But my biggest concern is that it has not created a platform for open debate of its findings. Every report is welcome in that it allows some statistical conclusions to be drawn from the cohort analysis, but every report raises some questions about those statistics, and some fascinating debates around the factors that led to success or failure. The field would benefit greatly from these debates, which are essential for turning raw data results into meaningful understanding.

We are, quite rightly, on a policy trajectory of giving governors more responsibility for the progress made in their prisons towards reducing reoffending. This will lead to much hand wringing about the limited power of governors to effect change, the difficulty of attributing impact, and the best form of measurement. I hope these debates are approached with an attitude of not letting the best defeat the good – as long as governors are incentivised (and given influence over resource decisions) to get the best, most proven, interventions in to their prisons, we will have made a great leap forward in tackling the shameful reoffending rates we currently preside over.

If the money currently spent on efforts to reduce reoffending is better focused on truly evidence based interventions then we will all be able to show a much better return for the taxpayer money that supports us. The wealth of material produced by the JDL should be used to stimulate debate that, over time, builds a much more comprehensive and shared picture of what is worth commissioning.

NOMS, MOJ, or an NGO such as Clinks should be hosting meetings and producing digests on this valuable material, and those spending the money should only be buying interventions that can demonstrate they deliver the outcome.

unsuccessful interventions in each of those areas).

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Successful interventions were all very clear on the nature of their target group, their theory of how change would be achieved, and how their model would be delivered.

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The JDL has not yet provided reliable reports on one major area of intervention – drug and alcohol treatment – because of its difficulty of creating an appropriate comparison group.

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Can improved drug screening aid prison reform? treatment and drug-replacement medication.

It could also ensure that arriving offenders are placed in the most appropriate wing and drugfree wings are only accessed by non-users.

Drug screening is also needed to ensure that prisoners don’t break the terms of their Release on Temporary Licence (ROTL). More effective monitoring of prisoners during preparation for release via ROTL and on return could contribute to levels of successful rehabilitation into the community.

Dr Paul Yates has over 17 years’ experience working within the United Kingdom Criminal Justice System in the area of forensics

Increased drug screening could also address the issue of diversion of medication, where prescribed medication is ‘diverted’ from its intended use and sold to other prisoners.

Better knowledge of existing drug misuse in a particular prison could aid investigation and deter diversion.

Illegal drug use in UK prisons is a serious issue. There is a high level of drug dependency among offenders entering prison, with 29% of prisoners arriving at prison admitting to having a drug problem.

Furthermore, despite mandatory drug testing since the mid-1990s, drug misuse is prevalent within institutions; 1 in 3 prisoners say it is easy to get hold of drugs once inside and 30% of prison drug tests based on suspicion are positive.

frequency of drug testing and the range of drugs tested for.

Drug misuse has negative consequences for both prisoners and staff. There are clear links, for example, between opiate dependence and re-offending. Meanwhile, an increase in prison violence has been fuelled in part by the greater use of new psychoactive drugs in UK prisons.

The white paper proposes publishing the most important of the performance standards in a new prisons league table, including entry and exit tests (in future years) and the average rate of positive results from random drugs tests. This will make performance easier to understand for those who are not directly responsible for the system.

Secretary of State for Justice Liz Truss’ white paper on prison reform, released in November 2016, includes recommendations that attempt to address drug misuse. As Truss observes, “offenders cannot be expected to turn their life around while they are dependent on drugs”. The new white paper proposes the roll out of additional drug tests while also strengthening key existing measures.

In the short term, the government aims to continue to pursue and evaluate technology that can detect drugs including body scanners and drug trace detectors. In particular, the white paper emphasises supporting governors to enable drug testing on entry to and exit from prison as part of a more extensive testing programme, while also increasing the the Custodial Review

In the longer term, the government aims to fundamentally reassess the existing strategy for tackling the supply and demand for both illegal drugs and new psychoactive substances.

This will build on existing work with NHS England and others to improve substance misuse services.

Using drug screening to better understand the scope of drug-use in prisons could assist the prison service as a whole. Gathering more reliable data could improve identification of prisoners with drug problems and thereby enable more focused and targeted drug rehabilitation before release.

Illegal drugs can cause unpredictable and violent behaviour, threatening the health of both prisoners and staff including the risk of self-harm. Therefore, reducing drug misuse through more frequent screening could increase the safety of both offenders and prison staff.

Drug screening programmes could be made more effective by becoming more frequent and testing for more drugs. Better drug screening on entry to prison could ensure that offenders receive the correct treatment.

When there are delays in receiving prisoners’ files, information about any drug misuse could enable continuation of an offender’s medical Page 20

Testing all prisoners in line with the new reforms introduced in Truss’ white paper will be challenging because of the limitations of existing drug screening methods. For example, urine tests require specially prepared toilet facilities for collection of observed urine samples making them costly and difficult to administer.

One of the biggest obstacles to rolling out more frequent drug screening will be the prison officer time required to carry it out.

The aim of testing all prisoners on reception and release will be particularly time intensive.

Current screening methods are time consuming, requiring time to set up collection areas, collect samples and wait for lab results.

Staff must be specially trained to collect biohazardous body fluids such as blood, saliva and urine for testing and hazardous waste disposal facilities are required. The samples themselves are difficult, messy and time-consuming to obtain, particularly when offenders are unwilling or unable to cooperate. Critics of mandatory drug testing say it is not truly ‘random’ as it is constrained by limited resources such as prison staff, time and money.

Since 2012, the use of psychoactive substances in prisons has risen dramatically, presenting prison staff with real challenges.

The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) called these psychoactive substances a ‘game-changer’. The government have rolled out new drug tests to track down psychoactive substances, but additional tests are still needed. Until recently, there were no effective tests available to establish whether prisoners have taken these drugs.

Drug screening methods employing more advanced technology will be required to implement Truss’ proposed reforms given the limited prison resources available. New drug screening methods should ideally be non-

invasive, easy-to-use and non-biohazardous to reduce the time prison staff have to spend in sample preparation and collection.

Looking to the future, potential innovations in drug testing include breath screening and fingerprint sweat. The latter method will also have biometric capabilities to avoid sample mix-ups by, for example, capturing an image of each fingerprint sample.

expansion of drug testing, as laid out in Truss’ white paper.

pilots trialling the device in UK health services and coroners’ services.

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Currently, the most accurate drug screening methods require a blood or hair sample to be sent to a laboratory. The development of portable drug screening methods would enable on-the-spot screening. This would come closer to truly random drug testing as a support for drug screening programmes in prisons.

Dr Paul Yates is Business Development Director at Intelligent Fingerprinting a small business based in Cambridge, founded in 2007. This British company has secured new investment, which will enable it to continue its pioneering work in fingerprint-based drug screening.

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The £2.5m investment comes from private UK and US investors

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This follows previous funding from private investors and government-funded grants

It is clear that existing drug screening methods are not perfect and further technological developments are required to enable the

The investment will fund the continued development and manufacture of the company’s first portable drug-screening device, which screens for multiple drugs in less than 10 minutes. The investment will also facilitate

Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales. Annual Report 2011–12, London: Her Majesty’s Inspectorate for England and Wales (2012).

2 Ministry of Justice, Prison Safety and Reform (2016), p. 31: https://www.gov.uk/government/ uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/ file/565014/cm-9350-prison-safety-and-reform-_ web_.pdf 3 BBC News article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ uk-37854358 4 Ministry of Justice, Prison Safety and Reform (2016), p. 41: https://www.gov.uk/government/ uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/ file/565014/cm-9350-prison-safety-and-reform-_ web_.pdf

Police Federation Exhibition 2017 The Police Federation of England and Wales Conference and Exhibition is being held 16 and 17 May 2017 at the International Convention Centre, Birmingham.

If you wish to reserve an Exhibition stand, please contact Charlotte Clover-Lambert, charlottecl@polfed.org for a booking form or visit http://www.polfed.org/events/ annualconference.aspx

The Exhibition comprises more than 60 stands, 2m x 4m with a choice of space only or shell scheme. Attendees will be from all the police forces in the UK, including Scotland and Ireland, along with forces and Federations overseas.

Stands are selling quickly and are offered on a first come first served basis, so it would be advisable to check first if your choice is still available.

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Justice Secretary launches new prison and probation service to reform offenders A new frontline service focused on reforming offenders and cutting crime will launch in April 2017, Justice Secretary Elizabeth Truss announced.

Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) to replace National Offender Management Service (NOMS) A new executive agency of the Ministry of Justice, called Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, will replace the National Offender Management Service from 1 April 2017.

The Service will be responsible for the roll out of the government’s programme to improve the way we reform offenders to protect the public and tackle the unacceptable levels of reoffending. Michael Spurr will become the Chief Executive of the new HM Prison and Probation Service from 1 April 2017.

HM Prison and Probation Service will have full responsibility for all operations across prison and probation. The Ministry of Justice will take charge of commissioning services, future policy development and be accountable for setting standards and scrutinising prison and probation performance.

The creation of HM Prison and Probation Service will build a world-leading, specialist agency, dedicated to professionalising the prison and probation workforce, backed by an additional £100m a year and 2,500 additional prison officers.

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The Service will be a place that staff are proud to work, attracting the brightest and best talent to deliver modernised offender reform, strengthened security, counter-terrorism and intelligence capability.

In recognition of the vital work carried out by prison and probation staff, new schemes to improve promotion opportunities have been launched, including; enhanced professional qualifications for probation officers, a new leadership programme, an apprenticeship scheme to launch in April and higher pay and recognition for specialist skilled officers dealing with complex issues such as counter-terrorism, suicide and self-harm support and assessment.

This forms part of our far-reaching organisational reforms to the system, which will make services more accountable to Ministers for delivery and performance.

This will be further supported by measures within the Prison and Courts Bill, which will create a new framework and clear system of accountability for prisons. Probation services will also offer improved training and learning opportunities for offenders to ensure they do not return to a life of crime, working hand in glove with prisons to ensure a more integrated approach. We will set out more details later this spring.

A key priority of HM Prison and Probation Service will be to focus on the particular needs of offenders. To meet the needs of women offenders across the whole system, for the first time there will be a Board Director responsible for women across custody and community.

Sonia Crozier, Director of Probation, will take on this responsibility (reporting directly to the CEO) from 1 April 2017.

We set out in December 2016 the government’s plans for the youth justice

A reusable GPS Tracking System designed for day release.

Prisoners – who could be temporarily released from their cells as part of a huge government reform – can be safely monitored with an innovative device from 3M. Described as the biggest ‘shake up’ to prisons since the Victorian times, it was announced in the Queen’s Speech that satellite tagging is going to be used to allow inmates to leave jail to go to work.

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system, putting education and training at the heart of youth custody.

We are working closely with the Youth Justice Board to review existing governance arrangements and will set out changes in due course.

New service will be responsible for rolling out government’s reform programme to reduce reoffending and protect the public. The service will launch new leadership programme and new promotion opportunities for staff.

Changes backed by additional £100 million to boost frontline by an extra 2,500 staff.

HMPPS will have full responsibility for the operational management of offenders in custody and the community, including strengthening security in prisons, tackling extremism and building intelligence about criminal gangs. Supported by work to recruit an extra 2,500 officers, the new service will launch leadership and promotion programmes for prison and probation officers to further professionalise and build pride in the service.

The new operationally focused service will be supported by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) taking on responsibility for overall future policy direction, setting standards, scrutinising prison performance and commissioning services.

Justice Secretary Liz Truss said: “This new and operationally focused frontline service will implement the reforms we have announced to make our prisons safe and cut reoffending.

Our prison and probation officers do a vital job and they deserve to work in a world-class organisation which supports them in reforming offenders and keeping the public safe.

“Our One-Piece GPS Tracker can be attached and detached with a highly secure removable strap, which enables offenders to leave prison for limited periods of time on a daily basis. As our technological solution means that the strap does not have to be cut, it takes away the risk of damaging the equipment and making it ineffective.”

The One-Piece GPS Strap is fitted into one side of the monitoring system with a locking clip and tamper plug. On the other side of the device, only the locking clip is fitted and installed around the offender’s ankle.

This will be part of the Prisons and Courts Reform Bill, which is aimed at reducing the rate of reoffending and improving public safety.

They are then able to leave prison and be monitored. Upon return, the device is removed with the specialist tool. Once detached, the device can be charged and then reattached the following day.

Science-based technology company 3M offers an easy and efficient solution for tagging offenders while on temporary release from prison.

This enables supervised release of prisoners on a number of programmes including;

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3M has designed a secure strap for its One-Piece GPS Tracking System that can only be removed with a specialist tool and can then be reused on a daily basis.

Matt Prevett, Police Market Lead for 3M, said: “Under the government shake up, prisoners will be freed temporarily to go out to work in a bid to prevent the cycle of reoffending. While on release, the offenders need to be effectively monitored to ensure the public is protected and 3M has the ideal solution to allow this to happen.

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Release to work Prisoner escort On licence or parole Parole Board Hearing Release

To find out more about 3M’s monitoring solutions, please visit www.3M.co.uk/electronicmonitoring

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Creating HMPPS will bring clarity to managing our prisons and probation services while further professionalising staff and building pride in their work.”

The move follows the Prison Safety and Reform White Paper which outlined an overhaul of the prisons estate with the forthcoming Prison and Courts Bill due to make reforming offenders a key duty of prisons for the first time.

For the first time, there will also be a Board Director with specific responsibility for women across the whole system, reporting into HMPPS Chief Executive, Michael Spurr.

Michael Spurr said: “The launch of HMPPS provides a great opportunity to focus on and improve operational performance in prisons and probation.

There is a great deal to do but I am confident that with the additional resources the government are providing, we can transform the system and deliver the high quality of service the public deserve.”

The service will be dedicated to professionalising the prison and probation workforce. New schemes to improve promotion opportunities have been launched,

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including:

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Enhanced qualifications for probation officers

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A new leadership programme

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Higher pay and recognition for specialist skilled officers dealing with complex issues such as counter-terrorism, suicide and self-harm support

An apprenticeship scheme (to launch in April 2017)

This wholescale, organisational reform will be supported by measures within the Prisons and Courts Bill, which will set out a new framework and clear system of accountability for prisons, building on the wide-ranging reforms set out in the Prison Safety and Reform White Paper.

The ?Justice Secretary went on to report on progress on recruitment and retention:

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389 job offers to new recruits have been made to people wanting to join the Prison Service which puts the government on track to recruit the first 400 of the extra 2,500 frontline officers committed to be in place by the end of March 2017 Boosting pay for hard-working staff by up to £4,000 at some of the most difficult-

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to-recruit prisons and those with high levels of staff-turnover, including HMP High Down, HMP Downview and HMP Coldingley

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Appointing 75 mentors for new starter prison officers to help them in their first few months in the job which we know can be a difficult time

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Providing retention payments at sites with the greatest levels of staff turnover.

For example at Feltham which is close to Heathrow we provide a £3000 retention payment;

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Starting targeted local recruitment initiatives at 30 sites so that governors can more easily recruit the people they need

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Launching a new Prison Officer apprenticeship scheme next year for over 1000 new officers that will help increase diversity and make it easier to join the Prison Service

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Developing a new graduate scheme that will encourage people from a broader range of backgrounds to join the Service

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We have launched a ‘Troops to Officers’ scheme that will support people to join the prison service after leaving the military

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Prisons need a profound culture change to prevent people from losing their lives through suicide

Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “Overcrowding and understaffing in prisons is placing intolerable stress on staff and prisoners, and putting lives at risk.

Many cells were poorly furnished, with graffiti and missing windows. Showers were dirty.

Healthcare required improvement, and there were not enough social care staff to meet prisoners’ needs.

“No one should be so desperate while in the care of the state that they take their own life. Staff who work in prisons should never feel so under pressure that they cannot stop and listen.

About one in four prisoners were released without somewhere sustainable to live.

According to a report published on Monday 13 February by Centre for Mental Health and the Howard League for Penal Reform.

“As prison suicides reach record levels, it is time for action. By taking bold but sensible steps to reduce the number of people in prison, we can save lives and prevent more people being swept away into deeper currents of crime and despair.”

Preventing suicides: staff perspectives, the last of four reports from an investigation into suicide in prisons by the two charities, finds that distress, self-harm and suicide attempts are too often seen as manipulative rather than signs of need and vulnerability among prisoners.

Staff shortages, a ‘toxic’ working environment and a failure to recognise the traumatising impact of prison for both prisoners and staff all contribute to an unsafe environment.

The report is based on interviews with health care staff working in prisons and those reviewing clinical care following suicide deaths.

Its publication follows the release of figures showing that 119 people lost their lives to suicide in English and Welsh prisons in 2016.

The report finds that the majority of prisoners have multiple and complex needs including poor mental health, but many do not get access to mental health support. It concludes that prisons need to shift from a primarily punitive approach to a culture centred on wellbeing, recovery and rehabilitation.

The report sets out three vital steps to improve safety and wellbeing. First, all prisons need to adopt a ‘stepped care’ approach in which the whole system is responsible for a prisoner’s wellbeing and mental health support is available at every level of need. Second, all prison staff need training and support to support prisoners’ wellbeing, and look after their own. And third, robust risk assessments are essential when a person arrives at a prison.

Sarah Hughes, Chief Executive of Centre for Mental Health, said: “Every loss of life in prison is a tragedy for everyone involved.

Our research shows that we need a new approach to suicide prevention in prisons by putting safety and wellbeing at the heart of our criminal justice system.

“We need to bring about a culture change in prisons that puts safety top of the agenda, that understands the traumas both prisoners and staff too often live with, and that means people get the right help when they need it.

“Making the changes set out in our report will save lives and enhance the rehabilitation of all prisoners.” the Custodial Review

The Howard League for Penal Reform has responded to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons’ report on Exeter prison, published on Wednesday 1st February Inspectors visited Exeter in August last year and found a prison in decline, due in part to staff shortages. The overcrowded prison is designed to accommodate 326 men but, at the time of the inspection, it was holding 490.

Ten people had died through suicide since the prison was previously inspected in 2013, including three who took their own lives in the two months before inspectors arrived. An eleventh prisoner lost his life through suicide shortly after the inspection.

There were insufficient staff to run the prison properly. Inspectors were told that the prison was suffering a shortfall of 13 prison officers.

On the penultimate day of the inspection, only 29 officers were on duty.

Levels of violence were far higher than at other local prisons. There had been 96 assaults – 30 on staff and 66 on prisoners – and 173 recorded incidents of self-injury in the six months prior to the inspection. More than half of the prisoners surveyed by inspectors said that they had felt unsafe during their time at the prison.

Too many prisoners were unable to attend education or activities because of staff shortages. Almost half of prisoners were locked up during the working day, and some spent as many as 22 hours a day inside their cells.

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Andrew Neilson, Director of Campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “This a terrible report, which once again highlights the systemic issues afflicting prisons across the country. It is particularly concerning that Exeter has seen many prisoners taking their own lives, and that inspectors have little confidence conditions will improve. People’s lives are literally at stake.

“The government has made welcome statements about addressing the problems behind bars but we need to go further. Too many people are currently cut adrift into violent and dangerous institutions, where they are swept away into deeper currents of crime.

“Only reducing pressure on the prison population and removing the worst of overcrowding will secure a safer system that can work for everyone.”

Cardiff prison: Easy to find drugs, harder to find clean clothes and bedding The Howard League for Penal Reform has responded to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons’ report on Cardiff prison, published on Tuesday 13 December.

Inspectors visited the prison in July and August and found it to be understaffed and overcrowded. Designed to accommodate 539 men, it was actually holding 770 at the time of the inspection. A significant number of men had been transferred into the prison from English jails.

Staff shortages and the increased availability and use of new psychoactive substances had led to a rise in unpredictable and violent behaviour. Almost half of prisoners said that it was easy to get illegal drugs.

The shortfalls in staffing meant that a temporary restricted regime was in place at the time of the inspection. Inspectors’ roll checks during the working day found that almost half of prisoners were locked in their cells.

Inspectors found that some cells were in a poor state, and there was a lack of basic facilities such as clean clothes and bedding.

Many prisoners had only one set of clothes.

Cardiff prison had an unusually high level of reported mental health problems. Healthcare

was generally good, and there was good provision for those suffering from severe mental health issues. There were, however, a large number of prisoners with lower-level mental health problems whose needs were not being adequately met.

Cardiff is one of the first prisons to have implemented a smoking ban. Inspectors found that there had been a short-term rise in violent incidents, but that measures introduced by management, such as providing access to e-cigarettes and training peer supporters to help people give up smoking, had been reasonably effective.

Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “This inspection report on Cardiff prison is slightly better than reports on other prisons which we have seen of late, but still it raises considerable cause for concern.

“Cardiff is an overcrowded and understaffed prison where it is easy to get drugs but much harder to get clean bedding. It is disgusting to find that many of the men crammed into this jail have only one set of clothes to wear.

“This report illustrates why we must reduce pressure on the prison system. Bold action is needed to stop throwing so many people into these failing institutions, where they are swept away into deeper currents of crime.”

Justice Secretary visits frontline staff in Bristol delivering key prison and court reform work Elizabeth Truss thanked staff at HMP Bristol and Bristol Civil and Family Justice Centre for their ‘vital work’.

Justice Secretary Elizabeth Truss paid tribute to the vital work of staff across our justice system as she met with teams at HMP Bristol and the Bristol Civil and Family Justice Centre to hear about their experiences.

The visit comes after the Justice Secretary announced a major package of reforms to improve safety in prisons – including an additional £100 million to bolster frontline staff by 2,500 with almost £460,000 allocated to HMP Bristol. This is in addition to our £1 billion investment to improve access to justice and the experience for all court users,

119 people died by suicide in prisons in England and Wales last year An all-time record number of people lost their lives through suicide in prisons in England and Wales last year, figures seen by the Howard League for Penal Reform confirmed on Thursday 26 January.

Official data published by the Ministry of Justice show that 119 prisoners died by suicide during 2016 – the highest number in a calendar year since current recording practices began in 1978. The previous high was in 2004, when 96 deaths by suicide were recorded.

Twelve women lost their lives through suicide in 2016 – more than double the number of women who took their own lives during the previous year.

They were among a total of 354 people who died in prisons in England and Wales during 2016 – another record high and a 38 per cent rise on the year before.

In addition to the 119 men and women who took their own lives, 196 prisoners were recorded to have died of natural causes.

Investigations into the deaths of a further 28 prisoners remain incomplete, with further information awaited.

in particular vulnerable victims, witnesses and children.

HMP Bristol is already making improvements to safety and security thanks to over £400,000 funding for the prison. This includes extra money to roll out CCTV across the prison in order to deter violence, as well as introducing a number of interventions for emotional support such as anger management.

The Secretary of State sat down with the Governor and prison officers at HMP Bristol to hear first-hand the challenges they face and how the reforms and increased investment is helping.

These figures show that the number of prisoners who died by suicide in 2015 has been revised upwards from 89 to 90, raising concerns that the total recorded in 2016 could yet rise further.

The figures also reveal: There were 37,784 reported incidents of selfinjury in prisons during the 12 months to the end of September 2016 – a 23 per cent rise on the previous year.

Recorded incidents of self-injury among men rose by 30 per cent in a year – from 23,359 in the 12 months ending September 2015 to 30,465 in the 12 months ending September 2016. Recorded incidents of self-injury in men’s prisons have risen by 88 per cent since 2012.

Recorded incidents of self-injury among women in prison fell by 2 per cent. However, although women make up less than 5 per cent of the prison population, women’s prisons accounted for 20 per cent of all incidents of self-injury.

There were 3,372 serious assaults in prisons during the 12 months to the end of September 2016 – a 28 per cent rise on the previous year.

There were 25,049 assaults in total – a 31 per cent increase.

There were 6,430 assaults on prison staff – a 40 per cent increase on the previous year. The number of serious assaults on staff rose by 26 per cent to 761.

Later at Bristol Civil and Family Justice Centre Ms Truss met with senior judges and frontline staff to see some of the impressive work being delivered to digitise our courts and speed up the delivery of justice. This includes increasing the use of video links cutting the need for time-pressed people to travel back and forth to court buildings – and developing plans for simple, online systems so civil disputes can be resolved more quickly.

The visit also follows urgent steps taken by Ministers to ban perpetrators of domestic abuse from cross-examining their victims within the family court system.

Speaking after the visit, Elizabeth Truss said:

Elizabeth Truss said:

Our prisons need to be places of safety and reform and our dedicated frontline staff are vital to achieving this ambition.

“We have a world leading legal system but I am committed to modernising our courts to make the experience more straightforward for all users.

The impressive work being done day in day out by the HMP Bristol officers I met today is too often unnoticed, but it is crucial to reducing reoffending and improving public safety. I will continue to listen to them and all prison staff as we deliver on our important reforms.

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It is vital that justice is efficient and simple, and the impressive work being done by the dedicated court staff I met today shows how we can make the best use of technology and simplify processes to improve access to justice and the experience for all court users.”

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HMP Leyhill – a safe and decent open prison with good work, training and education for prisoners

HMP Hewell – improvements in many areas but serious safety concerns remain on closed site.

HMP Leyhill was a safe and decent prison which helped to prepare prisoners for release, said Peter Clarke, Chief Inspector of Prisons when he published the report of an unannounced inspection of the open prison in Gloucestershire.

Safety needed to improve on the closed site of HMP Hewell but some notable progress had been made and the open site was generally good, said Peter Clarke, Chief Inspector of Prisons when he published the report of an announced inspection of the category B local prison and category D open prison in Worcestershire.

HMP Leyhill currently holds around 500 men.

A major element of its role is the preparation of many men being held there for release back into the community. Given the serious nature of the offences committed by some of the men, the long sentences they have served and the changing nature of the prison population, this is a complex and challenging task. Since its last inspection in 2012, the population of the prison had changed. In 2012, sex offenders accounted for about 20% of the prisoners at Leyhill. On this more recent inspection, it was around 60%.

Inspectors were pleased to find that:

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Violent incidents were rare and lowlevel victimisation, including that directed towards sex offenders, was managed well; The number of self-harm incidents was very low and prisoners at risk of selfharm were supported well; Security was proportionate and the number of absconds had reduced year on year; The prison was proactively addressing the supply and demand of illicit drugs and the use of new psychoactive substances had declined; Staff-prisoner relationships were good; The management of learning and skills was good and the quality of teaching and learning was outstanding; Public protection measures were mostly sound and release on temporary licence (ROTL) assessments were high quality; and The offender management unit was appropriately focused on reducing risk and the quality of risk (OASys) assessments was good.

HMP Hewell is a complex establishment.

Much of the prison is a relatively modern local facility holding over 1000 adult male prisoners and serving courts in the West Midlands.

Linked to the main prison, about half a mile away, is an old country house which operates as an open prison holding 200 prisoners. The differences in the purpose and role of both sites led inspectors to assess each facility separately. On the open site, inspectors found a successful prison that, while needing some renovation, was safe and respectful with reasonably good work, training and education opportunities and did reasonably good work to resettle prisoners back into the community.

On the closed site, Hewell continued to face many challenges and there were some areas of serious concern, including safety.

At the closed site, inspectors were concerned to find that:

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However, inspectors were concerned to find that:

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Although inspectors commended the use of prisoners as orderlies, mentors and advice workers, they needed to be properly trained and supervised; Access to ROTL was problematic and too few placements were available; and The lack of approved premises delayed the release of some men who had been deemed ready for release by the Parole Board.

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Prisoners are particularly vulnerable on arrival, yet first night procedures were chaotic, staff were overwhelmed and prisoners felt unsafe; The level of violence was far too high and although the prison had begun good work to help reduce it, much was not yet embedded; Levels of self-harm had increased, four prisoners had taken their own lives since the last inspection in 2014 and the prison had not yet sufficiently implemented recommendations from the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman following investigations into these deaths; Conditions in the segregation unit were very poor, many cells around the prison were overcrowded and the inpatient facility in health care was very poor; and The availability of drugs remained very high.

However, on the closed site, inspectors were pleased to find that:

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Although too many prisoners were locked in cell during the working day, most had access to some learning and work opportunities and there were enough to occupy all for at least part of the day; Learning and skills management was good and teaching much improved; A restorative justice unit had developed where restorative and community principles were very constructively applied; and Services to help prisoners resettle back into the community on release were reasonably good, with some impressive joint working with the community rehabilitation company (CRC) and some very effective work on finding accommodation for prisoners and changing their offending behaviour.

On the open site, inspectors were pleased to find that:

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There were no safety concerns; Cleanliness had improved but the site was still in need of refurbishment and some toilets were in poor condition; As on the closed site, teaching and learning for education and vocational training courses was good; Useful partnerships had been developed with training companies, helping prisoners to secure employment; As on the closed site, the management of resettlement had improved and some aspects of offender management were very good; A quarter of those on the open site worked out of the prison each day, after thorough risk assessments; and Some good work was being carried out with prisoners to reduce the risk of them reoffending.

Court custody facilities in North and East London – a mixed picture Some important safety concerns remain about how people are held in some London court cells, said Peter Clarke, Chief Inspector of Prisons. When he published the report of an inspection of court custody facilities in North and East London.

The inspection was part of a series of inspections of court custody carried out by HM Inspectorate of Prisons. At the time of inspection there were seven courts that had custody facilities in use: four magistrates’ courts and three crown courts. The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) had contracted Serco to manage court custody and escort services on behalf of HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) in London.

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Working relationships among those responsible for delivering court custody were reasonable. However, provision was severely hampered by ineffective delivery of the cleaning and maintenance contract for which none of the agencies was directly responsible.

Some investment in the estate was needed to address the unacceptable conditions inspectors found for detainees and staff.

The diverse and generally well trained staff group was a strength. Custody staff dealt with detainees professionally and sensitively and on the whole paid good attention to their welfare during their time in court custody.

Inspectors were, however, concerned to find that:

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There was no effective formal assessment of detainees’ risks on arrival to ensure they were identified and managed. This criticism had previously been raised following a death in custody at Thames Magistrates’ Court in April 2015;

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Inspectors were concerned to find that:

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The number of violent incidents was far higher than at other local prisons and than at the time of the previous inspection; Too many prisoners felt unsafe; There had been 10 self-inflicted deaths since the previous inspection and there was another suspected self-inflicted death shortly after the inspection; There were high levels of self-harm and serious concerns about some aspects of health care provision; Prisoners spent too much time locked in their cells and too few managed to take part in work, training or education, as the daily routine was often curtailed; and There were real weaknesses in offender management, and work to help prisoners resettle back into the community, despite some good aspects, was undermined by staff changes and staff shortages.

Observations and checks on some detainees, including the most vulnerable, were not always carried out as frequently as required;

However, inspectors were pleased to find that:

A number of factors, including delays in obtaining warrants, contributed to detainees spending too long in custody; and

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The routine application of handcuffs in secure court custody facilities was disproportionate.

HMP Exeter – a prison in decline, due in part to staff shortages There were not enough staff at HMP Exeter and safety had declined, as had work to rehabilitate prisoners, said Peter Clarke, Chief Inspector of Prisons. Current staff should, however, be praised for their efforts, he added when he published the report of an unannounced inspection of the local prison in Devon.

HMP Exeter held 490 adults and young adult prisoners at the time of its inspection. It was previously inspected in 2013. This more recent inspection found a clear decline in safety, in work to reduce reoffending and manage offenders through their sentence, and in the provision of health care. The biggest challenge facing the prison was that at the time of the inspection there were insufficient staff to run a predictable daily regime. The situation was apparently exacerbated by the long recruitment process for new staff. Inspectors considered whether the management team could have done more to mitigate the impact of staff shortages, and although there were some issues that could be addressed, it was difficult to see how outcomes could have been significantly better given the staffing shortfalls.

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The management team were leading staff to deliver a service under challenging circumstances; Relationships between staff and prisoners were good; The substance misuse service was very good and services for the many prisoners with mental health problems were good; The management of learning and skills was good and the prison provided enough activity places for the population, but they were not fully used and too many sessions were cancelled; and Plans to help prisoners resettle back into the community were generally detailed, and some provision was good.

HMP Channings Wood – a prison in decline.

HMP Channings Wood was struggling to cope and safety had deteriorated, said Peter Clarke, Chief Inspector of Prisons when he published the report of an unannounced inspection of the training prison in Devon.

HMP Channings Wood held just over 700 prisoners at the time of its inspection.

The full range of sentences and ages were represented in the population, but well over half of prisoners were serving four years or more and a significant minority were serving indeterminate sentences. At its last inspection in 2012, the prison was performing reasonably well but needed to improve work, training and education for prisoners. This more recent inspection found that the prison had regressed markedly. Safety was a significant concern.

Inspectors were concerned to find that:

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Levels of violence had increased noticeably and were now comparable to similar prisons, but action to address violence was poorly coordinated; Use of force had increased but oversight was not good enough; Two prisoners had taken their own lives since 2012 and there had been a number of serious incidents of self-harm, yet attention to this was limited; There had been a number of acts of indiscipline, some serious and concerted; Over half the population said that it was easy to get illicit substances, and there was compelling evidence that substance abuse, including the abuse of new psychoactive substances, was widespread; Despite Channings Wood being a training and resettlement prison, a restricted regime had been in place for two years; Too little attention was given to ensuring prisoners attended work, training or education and many of the places available were not used; The management of prisoners’ sentences and risks had deteriorated; and Half of all prisoners arriving at the prison did not have a risk assessment (OASys), plans that were completed were often inconsistent and offender supervision was reactive, largely because staff were deployed elsewhere.

However, inspectors were pleased to find that:

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The general environment and most accommodation in the prison were good; Most prisoners said they felt respected by staff, though inspectors observed some staff being unhelpful or unwilling to challenge poor behaviour; Time out of cell was reasonable for those who worked but around a fifth of prisoners were locked in cell during the working day; Teaching and learning were, for those who attended, generally good in education and vocational training; and The work of the community rehabilitation company (CRC) was becoming increasingly effective and work to help prisoners resettle back into the community was reasonable.

HMP/YOI Thorn Cross – a well-led open prison HMP/YOI Thorn Cross was a safe and decent prison with good work, training and education provision for prisoners, and support to help them resettle back into communities, said Peter Clarke, Chief Inspector of Prisons.

Managers and staff were to be congratulated, continues overleaf u the Custodial Review

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he added when he published the report of an unannounced inspection of the open prison in Cheshire.

HMP/YOI Thorn Cross holds just over 380 prisoners. In recent years it has evolved from an institution holding mainly young prisoners to one that holds prisoners of all ages and sentence lengths. At this inspection nearly three-quarters of the population were aged 30 or over and the majority were serving sentences in excess of four years. Thorn Cross has been a good establishment for many years.

Its last inspection in 2012 was positive and it remained a well-led and confident institution, receiving inspectors’ highest judgement in all areas inspected.

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Very few prisoners said they felt unsafe, good support was provided for new arrivals and there were few violent incidents; The number of prisoners at risk of selfharm was few, but those in crisis received adequate support; Security was proportionate; Drug services were excellent; The environment and accommodation were good; Staff-prisoner relationships were overwhelmingly positive; Prisoners had very good time out of their cells and were able to access good education and vocational training opportunities; and Public protection arrangements were sound and services to help prisoners resettle back into the community were also good.

Some prisoners expressed frustration about the perceived fairness of the release on temporary licence (ROTL) scheme, where prisoners work outside the prison. The prison should do more to understand and address those negative perceptions.

HMYOI Cookham Wood – a young offender institution which continues to improve HMYOI Cookham Wood was well led and working effectively and confidently with the boys it held, said Peter Clarke, Chief Inspector of Prisons when he published the report of an unannounced inspection of the young offender institution in Kent.

Cookham Wood holds boys aged 15 to 18. It is one of only a few such facilities in England and serves a substantial catchment area across much of southern England, with boys held for many reasons. They range from those recently the Custodial Review

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remanded to those beginning long sentences.

In recognition of the risks, challenges and vulnerabilities presented by the boys held, inspectors visit such institutions annually. At its last inspection in May 2015, inspectors were encouraged by progress that had been made. This more recent inspection found that progress had been maintained over the past year, though some safety concerns remained.

Inspectors were pleased to find that:

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Safeguarding and child protection arrangements were well developed;

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The care offered to boys at risk of selfharm was good;

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Most of the residential units were new, with much of the prison having been rebuilt in recent years, although some areas were grubby;

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The staff were knowledgeable, caring and working patiently with some boys whose behaviour was very difficult;

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Access to time out of cell was better than at the last inspection, though over a quarter of boys were locked up during the working day;

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There was enough vocational training and education for all boys to have some access daily, the quality of the teaching was good and those who completed courses achieved qualifications;

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Ofsted scored the provision ‘good’ across the full range of their assessments, but more needed to be done to prevent routines being disrupted, which affected attendance and punctuality;

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Work to support boys resettling back into the community remained reasonably good, with excellent support from the casework team; and

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Several new offending behaviour interventions had been introduced.

Inspectors were pleased to find that:

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The level of violence – some of it serious and including assaults on staff – was a serious concern and despite some significant and innovative work to tackle it, this work was not yet embedded;

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the huge catchment area contributed to the often late arrival of boys on their initial transfer to Cookham Wood, undermining the early risk assessment and settling in processes, though the attentiveness of staff and good reception and induction arrangements mitigated some of this risk;

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Some sentence plans paid insufficient attention to the risks young people posed – of harming others and of reoffending.

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HMP/YOI Norwich – a well-led prison which continued to improve HMP/YOI Norwich was well led, had continued to make progress and managed many of the challenges it faced, said Peter Clarke, Chief Inspector of Prisons when he published the report of an unannounced inspection of the Norfolk jail.

HMP/YOI Norwich is a local prison holding a complex mix of remanded and sentenced category B, C and D adult prisoners and remanded and sentenced young adults. The prison is unusual as it is split across three separate sites, each with different functions.

These complexities are a challenge for management. At the last inspection in 2013, inspectors found that the prison had made good progress. This more recent inspection found that progress had been maintained and, in some areas, built upon. Despite facing similar challenges to other local prisons, including lower staffing levels, increases in violence, and the influence of new psychoactive substances, prisoners were more likely to say they felt safe at Norwich than at other similar prisons.

Proactive action had been taken to increase safety and, while more needed to be done, the approach had resulted in a more stable prison Inspectors were pleased to find that:

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Arrangements for supporting newly arrived prisoners had improved, particularly for the many men who arrived with substance misuse issues; The prison was overcrowded but still provided a basically decent living environment and staff-prisoner relationships were good; Ofsted rated the provision of learning and skills as ‘good’ and attention had been paid to enhancing the work, training and education places available; work to help prisoners resettle back into the community at the end of their sentence remained reasonably good, but a shortage of social housing meant too many men were released without stable accommodation; and Work at the category D resettlement unit, Britannia House, was notable, with excellent use of release on temporary licence (ROTL) and most men had secured employment when discharged.

However, inspectors were concerned to find that:

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There had been four self-inflicted deaths since the last inspection in 2013 and although support for those at risk of self-harm was generally good, there were some weaknesses in case management; Although the range of work, training and education opportunities had improved, and most prisoners had something

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worthwhile to do, there were still too many men locked up during the working day (30%); and Although offender management work was generally up to date, levels of contact between men and their supervisors were insufficient.

HMP Whatton – some excellent work with high-risk offenders.

HMP Whatton had a clear sense of purpose and was doing some excellent work to reduce the risks posed by the prisoners it held, said Peter Clarke, Chief Inspector of Prisons.

In January he published the report of an unannounced inspection of the training prison in Nottinghamshire.

HMP Whatton is a category C prison holding over 800 prisoners. It provides services that seek to address the offending behaviour of mainly sex offenders. Over 90% of its population are serving long sentences in excess of four years, with just fewer than three quarters serving indeterminate or life sentences. Prisoners held at Whatton come from across the country and about two-thirds are over the age of 40. At its last inspection in 2012, inspectors reported positively on the prison, which was doing some excellent work with a settled but high-risk population. This more recent inspection found the same.

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Whatton remained an overwhelmingly safe prison and there was comparatively little violence or antisocial behaviour; Care for those in crisis was good, though levels of self-harm had increased in recent times; Security arrangements were proportionate and the segregation unit was well managed;

Public protection work was mostly good; There was an extensive range of offending behaviour programmes to meet need and support the prison’s main function; and Relationships between staff and prisoners were very good.

However, inspectors were concerned to find that:

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There was some evidence that medications were being diverted and used illicitly; Although the environment and quality of accommodation was generally good, conditions on B wing remained poor; and

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The way race diversity complaints were answered was poor and required immediate attention.

The UK’s National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) can reveal that in excess of 124,000 people in the UK are detained on any given day in secure hospitals, prisons, immigration facilities, secure children’s homes, police cells and military prison. The actual number of people detained on any given day is likely to be much higher as it has not been possible to include data for a number of settings.

While a range of population data is available for specific detention settings, there is no collated data that provides an overview of detention across every setting in the four jurisdictions of the UK. This report brings together those figures for the first time and reveals some surprising gaps in the data.

It found that:

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The amount of time prisoners had out of cell was very good; The quality of teaching, learning and coaching was excellent and prisoners developed useful skills;

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The National Preventive Mechanism reveals for the first time how many people are detained in the UK

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The throughput of individuals into police custody from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016 was at least 1,220,391. It is not known how many of these were children; An estimated 88,611 adults over the age of 21 were detained on 31 March 2016 or 1 April 2016 across the UK in adult prisons; On 31 March or 1 April 2016 in England, Wales and Scotland there were 6,345 people aged 20 or under detained in youth custody. There were a further 155 under-21s detained in Northern Ireland; There were 3,426 people held in both residential and non-residential immigration detention at the end of March 2016; Between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2016, there were 63,622 detention events under mental health legislation in England; and Between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2016, 76,530 applications for Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards were granted in England.

Researchers for the NPM could not obtain from the authorities the total numbers of people in military detention, detention in customs facilities or detention during transfers and escorts between places of detention or courts. Collecting up the numbers of people detained has been more difficult than expected, some of the data is limited and there are significant variations between types of data across each setting and jurisdiction.

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These figures are published alongside the UK NPM’s seventh annual report, which also gives an overview of its work monitoring detention across the whole of the UK. The NPM is made up of 20 independent organisations that monitor all prisons, police custody, immigration detention, secure mental hospitals, secure children’s homes and other forms of detention in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. NPM members work together to deliver the UK’s UN treaty obligations to prevent detainees being mistreated in custody.

This year the NPM appointed its first independent Chair. On behalf of the 20 members of the UK NPM, the new Chair of the NPM, John Wadham said: “For the first time, we have some real idea of the numbers of people detained across all four parts of the UK. The numbers are not yet as precise as we would like, and collating them was not straightforward. They do show the sheer volume of people deprived of their liberty and the scale of the task for members of the NPM. There is still a lot we don’t know about precisely how many people are detained, where they are held and who they are, and we intend to work with the authorities to improve the accuracy of these figures for next year. The UK’s NPM has a unique tradition of professional inspectors and members of the community visiting places of detention and their role is an important check on what goes on behind bars and closed doors.

“Unfortunately too many of the people we lock up are ill-treated or have to deal with poor conditions in detention. The figures we have published show just how important it is to maintain the focus on improving the treatment of those in detention – whether they are children; people with dementia or other mental health issues locked up for their own good; asylum seekers; migrants or prisoners.”

The NPM’s 20 independent bodies have powers to inspect or monitor regularly all places of detention and all share the aim of preventing ill-treatment of anyone deprived of their liberty. The NPM was established in 2009 by the UK government to meet its UN treaty obligations. Through regular, independent monitoring of places of detention – conducted through thousands of visits every year – the NPM plays a key role in preventing ill-treatment in detention.

Throughout 2015-16, NPM further developed their work on the use of isolation and solitary confinement in the UK by producing comprehensive guidance for the monitoring of isolation in detention. This guidance will be finalised and published in 2016-17. In the coming year, the NPM will also study the issue of transitions and pathways between different forms of custodial settings to understand the issues and to ensure effective scrutiny across different organisational boundaries. the Custodial Review

Meet, network and do business The forum brings together the operators, architects, contractors, project managers, M&E consultants and the manufacturers and suppliers delivering projects in this specialist sector.

The custodial facilities forum is a must attend event for anyone involved in the design, build, management and supply of custodial facilities including prisons, youth detention centres, police custodial units, and customs and immigration facilities.

Call Sue Ramcharan on 020 8288 1080 sue@stable-events.co.uk www.cf-forum.co.uk Meet, network and do business 22nd - 23rd September 2017 Whittlebury Hall, Northamptonshire

RHS Lewis Oxley of Fireworks Fire Protection demonstrates their misting nozzles.

The ‘one to one’ meetings were conducted for 20 minutes and proved very productive.

the Custodial Review

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Left, Chris Liddle of HLM Architects Right, Steve Mitchell, Publisher of Custodial Review.

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