CR83 for web-2

Custodial the

Review

The Custodial Review informing the Prison, Border Agency and Police Services Edition 83

The Cascade Health & Learning Hub is open! see p16

Tackling corruption and smuggling in the US prison system

by Richard Shrubb see p8

Mental health needs in prison, scratching the surface

by Mike Trace, CEO of The Forward Trust see p13

There will be no quick fixes

by Phil Wheatley see p6

PRisoN learning together: The story so far see p20

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

Contents Issue 83

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

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There will be no quick fixes

by Phil Wheatley, formerly the DirectorGeneral of the National Offender Management Service

Production Editor: Richard Shrubb

8 Tackling corruption and

smuggling in the US prison system by Richard Shrubb 12

The Emergency Services Show: It’s all about you

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Mental health needs in prison, scratching the surface

by Mike Trace, CEO of The Forward Trust

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A Q&A with Andrew Digby Head of Technical Standards at the Ministry of Justice Estates Directorate

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The Cascade Health & Learning Hub is open!

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PRisoN learning together: The story so far

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RSQM –special offers for new criminal justice sector applicants

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Families of prisoners want “In” A survey before and after the vote shows drastic shift in opinions towards Brexit

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Stopping drones, the logical way

By Andy Loakes

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.

Annual Subscription £30. Free to qualifying individuals Custodial Review is now accepting articles from serving officers and staff within the whole custodial industry.

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

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

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

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

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

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review

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Crackdown on drugs, drones and mobile phones in prisons A huge haul of drugs and mobile phones has been recovered since the introduction of detection measures to crackdown on prison contraband.

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225kg of illicit drugs recovered from prisons in 2016

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Over 20,000 mobile phones and sim cards recovered

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Criminals using drones to smuggle phones and drugs into prisons jailed for a combined total of over 40 years

A £2 million investment has seen every prison across the estate fitted out with handheld mobile phone detectors and portable detection poles to step up the detection of illegal phones on the landings.

In addition, 300 specialist prison dogs have been trained in drugs detection to help stem the flow of illicit substances into our prisons, allowing officers to focus their efforts on reforming and turning the lives around of offenders.

The measures are part of a much wider strategy to tackle the most pressing threats to security in prisons and backed by a strengthening of the frontline with 2,500 additional prison officers by 2018.

New statistics show that in 2016, prison staff recovered 225kg of illicit drugs – the equivalent weight of 2 washing machines – across the prison estate.

And in the same year, over 13,000 mobile phones and 7,000 sim cards were recovered from prisons – helping to thwart the attempts of criminals to continue committing crime behind bars.

“These figures highlight the determination of prison staff to disrupt this behaviour, whilst at the same time sending a clear message that we will push to prosecute anyone who involves themselves in this kind of activity.

“The issues within our prisons will not be resolved overnight, but we must make progress in tackling these problems. Bringing in more frontline staff is an integral part of that.

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“The number of prison officers in post is on the rise, meaning we are on track to achieving the recruitment of 2,500 officers by 2018.”

The government has introduced strict measures to prevent drugs in prisons including introducing legislation which makes the possession of psychoactive substances a criminal offence.

Meanwhile, a specialist squad of prison and police officers has been formed to tackle the threat drones pose to prison security.

The team of investigators will work closely with national law enforcement agencies and HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) to inspect drones that have been recovered from prisons in a bid to identify and track down those involved in attempts to smuggle in contraband.

Figures show that to date, there has been a total of 35 arrests and 11 convictions of criminals involved in drone activity – resulting in those convicted serving a total of more than 40 years in jail.

This includes:

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the longest sentence of this type which was handed down in May, where Tomas Natalevicius and accomplice Dalius Zilinskas were jailed for over a decade collectively in December, Dean Rawley-Bell, 21, was jailed for 4 years and 8 months after he used a drone in attempts to smuggle drugs and mobile phones into HMP Manchester

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in October, drug dealer Renelle Carlisle, 23, was jailed for 3 years and 4 months after he was caught outside HMP Risley in Warrington with a drone in his bag, trying to smuggle drugs inside

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in July, 37-year-old Daniel Kelly was locked up for 14 months for trying to supply offenders at HMP Elmley and Swaleside in Sheppey, HMP Wandsworth in London and HMP the Mount in Hemel Hempstead with contraband

Prisons Minister Sam Gyimah said: “I have been clear that the current levels of violence, drugs and mobile phones in our prisons is unacceptable. We have put in place a number of measures to help disrupt this illegal activity as it is an issue I am absolutely determined to resolve.

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Progress made on making prisons safer and more secure includes:

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Rolling out new tests since September for psychoactive substances across the estate, including supporting governors to use drug testing on entry and exit from prison as part of a more extensive testing programme

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Orders at Court to block specific mobile phones being used in prisons. Since the legislation was introduced in August, we have had more than 150 mobile phones cut off

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Establishing a £3 million intelligence hub to tackle gang crime behind bars

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Making it a criminal offence to bring a mobile phone into prison, or transmit sounds or images from within a prison using a mobile phone. These offences carry a maximum penalty of 2 years in prison

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Working with the mobile network operators to do more, including developing new technological solutions, so we can block mobile phones’ signals in prisons

Probation Champion and Prison Officer of the Year 2017 Awards HM Prison and Probation Service honours staff for their efforts in transforming lives and reducing the risk of reoffending.

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Annual awards celebrate hard-working and dedicated staff from across HMPPS

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Ceremony follows creation of new frontline service HMPPS tasked with reforming offenders

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Government is investing £100 million to boost the frontline by an extra 2,500 staff

Prison and probation officers from across England and Wales are being celebrated for their contribution to reforming offenders and helping turn lives around.

The Probation Champion of the Year Awards and Prison Officer of the Year Awards are an opportunity to celebrate success, share best practice and shine a light on the great work being done by these staff to keep the public safe.

The annual awards are celebrated just months after the launch of HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), a new frontline service that is focused on reforming offenders and cutting crime.

Prisons and Probation Minister Sam Gyimah said:

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300 dogs across the estate to detect new psychoactive substances with positive feedback from prison staff

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Making the supply of psychoactive substances into prisons, and possession of them, criminal offences

“Our prison and probation officers work in a profession to be proud of, with responsibility for helping to keep the country safe and reforming offenders.

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Introducing legislation so we can now apply for Telecommunications Restriction

“I regularly speak with staff and I am constantly struck by the commitment they show to

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changing lives and improving outcomes for offenders. It is vital that we celebrate them and mark out gratitude for the compassion and professionalism they show day in, day out.

“I want staff to know that their work, experience and loyal service is valued. So many of them really are a shining example to the new recruits that are coming through the system.”

Michael Spurr, Chief Executive of HMPPS, said: “I want to thank all staff working in probation and prisons for the amazing work they do on a daily basis.

Our nominees represent the best of a service where dedicated professionals go the extra mile everyday day to keep the public safe and to reduce reoffending.”

These awards recognise work that so often goes unseen but is vitally important.

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There are eight categories in both the Prison Officer of the Year Awards and the Probation Champion of the Year Awards, which look to reward those with outstanding achievements in areas such as diversity, reducing reoffending and safer custody.

Gareth Key, from Gateshead, was given the overall title of Probation Champion of the Year on Wednesday. He was nominated by the father of an ex-offender who has now sadly passed away. The nomination was for treating their son with decency whilst helping them stay on the right path and steer him them out of trouble.

A member of staff at HMP High Down was awarded the title of Prison Officer of the Year at the annual awards. Iain Foskett, who has worked at HMP Highdown for 13 years, was nominated by his line manager for his commitment helping support staff at the prison, actively promoting positive relationships between staff and prisoners, and taking the time to mentor joiners.

The Prison Officer and Probation Champion of the Year Awards come at a time when we are expanding our workforce by recruiting 600 probation officers over the next 12 months and an additional 2,500 new prison officers by 2018.

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The Probation Champion of the Year Awards took place on Wednesday 21 June and the Prison Officer of the Year Awards on 22 June.

This last year saw the highest level of new joiners (band 3-5 officers) since March 2010 and prison officer numbers have increased for the first time since March 2016:

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

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

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launched a Troops to Officers scheme that will support people to join the Prison Service after leaving the military

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introduced a pay increase for Band 3 Officers on Fair and Sustainable (F&S) terms at 31 difficult-to-recruit prisons.

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There will be no quick fixes, A sobering look at the problems facing the new secretary of state for justice direction he abandoned plans to reduce the prison population. Instead, to save money and with the agreement and cooperation of the Prison Officers Association (POA), he introduced standardised routines, reduced staffing levels and a voluntary exit scheme for experienced prison officers. The number of prison staff was reduced by 7000, most of them prison officers. The POA agreed to this reduction despite the risk it created for the safety and security of prisons as part of a deal that allowed Chris Grayling to abandon market testing of public sector prisons. Chris Grayling preserved his right wing credentials by forcing through at breakneck speed a wholesale reorganisation of Probation Services contracting out much of their work and he also introduced more large scale centralised contracting for services to prisons.

Phil Wheatley was the Director-general of the National Offender Management Service until 2010.

The Government has a full agenda dominated by the Brexit negotiations and increasing public unease with the impact of continued austerity on essential services like health, social care and education. The scale of these challenges for a Government with a slim majority and a weakened leader create an obvious risk that there may not be a focus on dealing with failing and dangerous prisons and weaknesses in community justice. It will be important that the new Justice Secretary David Lidington ensures that this does not happen. Any optimism that he will do so has to be tempered by a recognition both that he is the fifth Justice Secretary in the last seven years and that reports of a rise in violence, particularly knife and gun crime are likely to complicate the politics.

In 2015 after the Election Michael Gove was appointed Justice Secretary. He inherited a legacy of increasing disorder in prisons and decided the solution was not more staff but greater freedom for Prison Governors to do their own thing and make local contracts for services with only minimal central direction.This policy generated great confusion as he never explained how it could be made affordable.

The aftermath of the Brexit referendum saw Gove replaced by Liz Truss. She recognised that there was a crisis and that staff cuts in prison had gone too far. She secured funding for 2,500 new prison officers partially reversing Chris Grayling’s staffing reductions but, distrustful of the advice she was receiving from her experienced prison managers, she initiated a complex Headquarters reorganisation.

Control over prison policy, strategy and resource allocation was handed over to civil servants with no previous experience of prison management. Her period as Justice Secretary ceased when she was reshuffled immediately after this year’s election.

In 2010 Ken Clarke set out a twin strategy of market testing all public sector prisons and reducing the prison population to manage the substantial reduction in the Ministry of Justice’s budget he agreed with the Chancellor.

All these changes have required the expenditure of much management time and effort to restructure and to develop fresh policies. Since 2010 not one of these major initiatives has lasted for long enough to deliver the hoped for benefits. All this nugatory work has had to be delivered against a background of austerity in Government spending. This has required real terms savings in the prisons and probation budget of 21% between the financial year 2009/10 and 2015/16. The workload has increased somewhat during the same period.

The prison population throughout this same period has remained broadly unchanged at nearly 86,000 and the supervision of all short term prisoners on their release has been added to the work of Probation organisations in the community.

Chris Grayling replaced him just over two years later and at the Prime Minister’s

That prisons are in crisis is undeniable. The Annual Report published in July of the Chief

To date each new Secretary of State for Justice has initiated a radical reset of the Department’s approach to prison and probation policy.

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Inspector of Prisons makes it absolutely clear that many prisons are scandalously unsafe and that the decline in safety and decency is continuing. The recent data on Safety in Prisons (Safety in Custody Statistics Bulletin published in July 2017) provides detailed statistics covering the twelve month period up to March 2017 for assaults and June 2017 for deaths. Analysis shows that the rate of self inflicted deaths has more than doubled since 2013 though there have been six less in the last twelve months compared to the previous period. Self harm has reached a record level of 40,414, up 5,749 on the previous twelve month period, assaults in the same period had reached a record high of 26,464, up 5,749 on the previous year, and of these 7,159 were on staff. This is a 32% rise on the previous year with the risk of serious assault on staff having more than tripled since 2012. There are only a few encouraging straws in the wind, self inflicted deaths are no longer increasing and for the last quarter shows a slight (4%) decline in the most recent quarter’s data on self harm compared to the previous quarter.

The latest statistics on prison staffing (National Offender Management Service Workforce Statistics bulletin 18th May 2017) cover the period up to the 31st of March. They show that in spite of a determined effort to recruit new prison officers, the overall number only increased by just 75 over the previous twelve months. On average prisons were 4.8% short of front line prison officers. The shortfall is measured against benchmark levels that were carefully designed to provide each prison with a level of staff sufficient to deliver safety, decency and security. However in nearly three quarters of prisons the benchmark level has not been met. Nearly a quarter of prisons are more than 10% short of staff. Prisons in London and the South East where the local economy is buoyant are finding it a particularly difficult to recruit and retain prison officers at current rates of pay, which have been substantially reduced in real terms since 2010 as a result of Government public sector pay policy.

The leaving rate for prison officers, which in 2015/16 was already at an all time high, has risen further to 9.4%. Experienced people have been replaced by newly recruited staff on cheaper terms and conditions. This may have reduced costs but it means that an unprecedentedly high proportion of prison officers (24%) are inexperienced and in their first two years of service.There is also a 12% shortfall in support staff who are also proving difficult to recruit at existing pay rates. This matters because the shortage cannot be entirely covered by overtime working and often has to be covered from the depleted numbers of prison officers. There is some good news in that much effort is going in to recruitment and the number of newly joined

By Phil Wheatley officers (1132) in the first quarter of 2017 was the highest ever.

The most hard pressed prisons are hitting a downward spiral. Insufficient staff, too high a proportion of inexperienced staff and a tripling in the serious assaults on staff mean that those on duty are increasingly feel unable to confront and deal with misbehaviour by prisoners.

When inmates are seen to get away with being aggressive and disruptive it makes life difficult not only for staff but also for those prisoners who want to keep safe and make positive use of their time inside. As a consequence good staff have increasingly looked for alternative employment opportunities elsewhere that are safer and prisoners feel more distressed and frightened, increasing the risk of suicide and self harm.

All informed commentators including HMCIP and the Justice Committee of the House of Commons have linked these reductions in staffing and changes in the workforce to the increased levels of suicide, murder and assault in prison. Other factors may have exacerbated the situation. These include the availability of new synthetic drugs ( New Psychoactive Substances NPS) which are easily available in the community, difficult to detect by traditional means, profitable to smuggle in to prison and often have an extreme effect on their users.

Though there is little published data about this problem it is almost certainly a factor.

It is significant that Scottish prisons, which have not had the same level of staff cuts, have not experienced a surge in violence and suicide. My judgement is that it has unlike not been possible in England and Wales to contain the threat created by NPS abuse as a result of staff reductions, staff shortages and the lower proportion of experienced staff.

It is also possible that lower pay levels have increased the risk of staff corruption and their involvement in drug smuggling. This is important because a single corrupt member of staff can do real harm to efforts to prevent drugs entering a prison It is also becoming clear that there is a crisis in the delivery of community supervision and sentences. Recent reports from the Probation Inspectorate indicate that there are serious failures in the quality and reliability of these services and that this is having an adverse effect on public safety.

When Chris Grayling reorganised local Probation Services he created regional Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) undertaking all the medium and low risk work with offenders, and a National Probation Service providing reports to court and undertaking all work with high risk offenders.

It now appears that this reorganisation precipitated the deterioration in the quality of work. It was accompanied by the introduction

of statutory compulsory supervision for short term prisoners (prisoners sentenced to under twelve months). The additional workload was to be resourced through efficiencies achieved by the creation of a single National Probation Service and competitive tendering for the CRC contracts. The Thematic Inspection “Through the Gate Resettlement Service for Prisoners Serving 12 Months or Under” conducted jointly by the Probation and Prison Inspectorates was published this June and sets out starkly how little is actually being achieved with this group of offenders. The Chief Inspector’s damning judgement is “if these services were removed tomorrow the impact on the resettlement of prisoners would be negligible”.

The recently announced decision by the Ministry of Justice immediately to provide substantial additional funding to the CRC Companies suggests that the Government believes that inadequate resourcing of this reorganisation may have been a major contributor to the weaknesses in performance identified by the Inspectorates.

The problems created by weaknesses in the performance of Probation and CRCs are real, though less immediately visible than those in prison. Offenders are not being supervised as originally envisaged, with most effort going into mechanistic achievement of bureaucratic targets rather than providing effective support and interventions that are more likely to reduce the risk of reoffending.

There is a real risk that this overstretched system will fail to spot the signs that an offender presents such a big risk to public safety that urgent and effective action is required. Any high profile failure of this nature would rightly be a public scandal and probably explains why ministers have decided to put additional money into the CRCs. It is too early to judge whether sufficient has been invested to mitigate the obvious risks that have resulted from the chaos unleashed by the reorganisation.

The latest data on the Criminal Justice system (Criminal Justice Statistics quarterly 18/5/17) highlights that crime and criminal prosecutions have been falling and are now at the lowest level ever (time period 1970-2016).

However there has not been a consequent reduction in the prison population because the proportion of serious offenders receiving custodial sentences has increased by a quarter since 2010 and the average sentence length has also increased by a similar amount since 2007. These increases are a result of statutory changes to the sentencing framework and a tightening up of sentencing guidelines by the Sentencing Council. While reversing them may Page 7

seem a logical response in order to reduce the size of the prison population to a level the Government can afford, it would be politically very difficult to deliver. This difficulty has been increased by the publication in July of the latest data on recorded crime which indicates that reported violent crime is increasing and there has been particular public concern about increased knife and gun crime. However continuing to run a dangerous prison system is equally politically unsustainable.

This is the toxic mix of problems the new Secretary of State David Lidington has inherited. He will have to manage these problems against a further planned reduction in the MOJ budget. It should be obvious that there is little if any scope for further savings in either prison or probation. Instead what is clearly required is an increase in staffing and improvements to staff pay and conditions which slow the resignation rate.

This is necessary to encourage more prison officers to gain experience so they can deal more confidently with difficult situations. It therefore should be clear that if budget reductions are required they can only be achieved safely if the workload is substantially reduced. Previous Secretaries of State have kicked the ball down the road behind a smokescreen of disruptive reorganisations but two recent serious incidents of disorder at Hewell and Aylesbury Prisons make it clear this is no longer a viable option.

If as a first step David Lidington allows his experienced senior prison and probation managers to get on with the difficult job of managing this pressurised system without second guessing them this will provide grounds for optimism. It would mark a change to the approach taken by the last two Ministers of Justice who have appeared reluctant to accept the advice coming from this quarter, choosing instead either to think they already knew all the right answers or to rely heavily on advice from senior civil servants with no operational experience. David Lidington must ensure he sets an affordable and realistic strategy to undo the damage described above. At the very least he must ensure prisons can operate within the law. Requiring them to operate with less staff than is necessary to maintain the health and safety of both prisoners and staff is potentially a criminal offence under the Health and Safety Act 1974. The Government has the power to suspend the application of this Act in prisons but unless it does so the Justice Secretary must ensure his prison managers have the resources to comply with this law There will be no quick fixes. Even when the workload and resourcing are matched it will take persistent hard work to sort out the mess that reckless cost cutting and a proliferation of ill thought through political initiatives have created. the Custodial Review

Tackling corruption and smuggling in the US centrally from Washington DC. Federal crimes are managed through the Department of Justice from Washington DC and the convict will be put in a Federal prison managed by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP). For example, if someone has shot and killed his family he could face the death penalty but this would be managed by the state unless he had a criminal conviction when he obtained the gun (breaking Federal law) in which case he would be tried and punished by the United States.

The Office of the Inspector General oversees the management of the Department of Justice (including the BOP) and investigates crimes among its 100,000 employees with a team of around 125 agents who have the same powers of arrest and investigation as the FBI.

Richard Shrubb is a sometime investigative journalist and a full time writer based in Poundbury, Dorset.

In June 2006 CBS News reported, “A furious gun battle erupted inside a federal prison Wednesday when a guard opened fire on FBI agents who had come to arrest him and several others on charges of having sex with female inmates in exchange for money, alcohol and pot. Two people were killed and another was wounded.” William Sentner, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) agent, died while returning fire on the corrections officer who had smuggled his firearm into the prison. Staff corruption in US prisons is a real problem that County, State and Federal management are trying hard to stamp out even now, 11 years later.

The 2016 OIG report, the Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons Contraband Interdiction Efforts reported, “a total of 134 BOP staff … were implicated in 99 substantiated contraband-related investigations over a 2-year period (July 17, 2012, to July 17, 2014).” While fewer than 1% of the 40,000 prison officers working in the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) estates, it still amounts to roughly one investigation being initiated by the OIG every week across the United States.

BOP, State and County Broadly, there are three types of prison estate in the United States. Most crimes are dealt with at state or county level from traffic violations to mass murders. These are managed through individual states’ criminal justice systems and the prisons are not managed

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Speaking to Custodial Review, Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz explained, “Eighty plus percent of our prisoners are in for drugs, firearms offences, criminal immigration and fraud.”

The US BOP manages the largest individual estate in terms of prisoner population, looking after 200,000 prisoners of the 1.5 million inside across the whole country. There is no national management structure for state and county prisons however. It is down to states and counties to run their own estates.

Corruption at state and county level is investigated by the FBI. Pay and conditions The Colombia Law School’s Centre for the Advancement of Public Integrity published a report in 2016 called Prison Corruption: the problem and some potential solutions that stated, “Correction officers largely agree that corruption is primarily caused by a desire for money, and further fuelled by the promise of increasing payoffs. Correction officers working in the United States in 2011 earned an average annual salary of $43,550 [£28,600], nearly 14% below the national median household income.” In one case, a California correction officer supplemented his $40,000 salary with more than $150,000 in payments from prisoners for smuggling phones into the state prison in one year.

Horowitz denied that pay is an issue in the government run BOP estate, saying that generally BOP correctional officers are paid a lot better than in state and county institutions.

There are inconsistencies in the BOP estate though Privately run Federal prisons don’t have to conform to the same recruitment and pay practices that the government run institutions

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do. Horowitz gave an example of one prison that was run by a private company which was found to have been paying its correctional officers less than Federal employees. “At the Adams County Federally contracted prison we found that not only was the company paying correctional officers far less than the Federal Bureau of Prisons but also less per hour than the State of Mississippi was paying its correctional officers. The promotion prospects were far less than the BOP. Additionally we found that the standards for hiring were also far lower than the Federal Bureau of Prisons, meaning that some of the officers at the Federally contracted prison would not have been hired by the BOP.” Across the BOP estate as a whole, Horowitz saw a number of other issues at play: “When we looked back at the staff at the BOP that got themselves into trouble, they had not as much educational background as those who did not commit crimes. The more experienced they were the less likely they were to engage in wrongdoing. Age played a role as well. This is consistent with my experience investigating corruption in the New York Police Department 20 years ago.”

Internal security Across the US prison system there have been a number of cases where correctional officers ended up in sexual affairs with prisoners. In November 2016 the Virginia TV station WDBJ 7 reported, a

“Department of Corrections employee who worked as an inmate counsellor smuggled contraband in for a gang leader with whom she had a sexual relationship. The inmate counsellor, who worked at Lawrenceville Correctional and Greensville Correctional Center in the southern part of the state, has been charged in a related case.”

The case highlights how some smuggling incidents have begun due to such relations leading to staff becoming vulnerable to inmates’ demands because of intimacy and even blackmail.

One of the reasons that sexual affairs can take place between correctional officers and prisoners is the lack of effective CCTV cameras inside. Horowitz said, “We are very concerned about the blind spots in prisons.

Both prisoners and staff know where these blind spots are. The more sophisticated staff and inmates engaged in wrongdoing know where to go. Blind spots often impede our investigations into staff misconduct as well as investigations by others involving inmate misconduct.”

Security at the gate should be extremely tight,

prison system with anyone in contact with prisoners being subject to rules governing what can be brought in, and this being enforced through searches.

Somewhat worryingly this hasn’t always been the case as was seen in the shooting incident at the beginning of this article – the correctional officer had smuggled the gun into the prison.

The 2016 contraband interdiction report stated, “In a January 2003 report, the OIG recommended that the BOP revise its staff search policy to require searches of staff and their property when entering institutions.

After more than 10 years of negotiation with its union, the BOP implemented a new staff search policy in 2013.” Soon after this was implemented the union took legal action to stop the search policy.

The report continued, “the Federal Labor Relations Authority ordered the BOP to cease and desist using the 2013 staff search policy following a union challenge to it. The BOP then reinstated the policy on March 28, 2016 with minor changes not relevant to this review. As a result, more than 13 years after our 2003 report, the BOP still has no comprehensive and effective staff search policy.”

Horowitz would not comment on the legal

action between the unions and the BOP. He said, “It is very frustrating that the issue of how BOP staff are searched when they enter a prison isn’t taken as seriously as it should be.”

Similar issues were found in the New York state prison system, where in one case a Riker’s Island correctional officer’s smuggling contraband into the prison led to an inmate escaping. The Colombia Law School report stated, “Specific recommendations of [New York State OIG] included: (1) front gate security staff will open and examine the contents of all bags and containers of employees entering and exiting the prison; limits on the number and size of containers will be enforced and clear bags and containers will be required; (2) utilization of metal detectors will significantly increase; (3) a random selection of employees will be pat-frisked upon entering and exiting the prison; (4) random use of canines to detect contraband will be considered; (5) security staff will be retrained in these procedures; (6) prison management will implement effective monitoring to ensure compliance with front gate procedures; and (7) during shift changes a lieutenant or high-ranking security officer will monitor front gate searches.”

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In the BOP, security to stop contraband being taken into prisons by staff that is in place can be somewhat loose as things stand. The OIG contraband report stated, “The [2013] policy provided that all staff and their belongings could be searched randomly or based on reasonable suspicion when entering, reentering, or inside an institution or on its grounds.

However, the policy did not prescribe any required frequency for conducting random pat searches, resulting in what we found to be infrequent staff pat searches of varying duration. It also allowed staff to possess and use within institutions items, such as tobacco, that are prohibited for inmates. Additionally, despite the BOP concurring in 2003 with the OIG’s recommendation that it restrict the size and content of personal property that staff may bring into institutions, the 2013 policy contained no· such restrictions. The policy further permitted staff to return to their vehicles to store contraband that had been identified during front lobby screening procedures…”

The same report found, “the policy permitted potentially corrupt staff who intended to introduce contraband continues overleaf u

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Tackling corruption and smuggling in the US prison system continued into institutions to avoid more severe disciplinary action by returning identified contraband to their vehicles. While we found institutions we visited staffed front lobby officer positions in accordance with the policy, some institutions selected inexperienced and junior personnel for these important positions.”

Speaking to Horowitz, we raised the idea that according to the report it would be possible for someone who was caught carrying drugs or a gun into the prison to simply return the contraband to their car and try to get them inside the complex when a young receptionist was doing the gate later on in the shift. He said, “When we hear of such an incident we will go out and question the person who allowed this to occur, not just the person who committed the offence. I have not heard of this recently as much as I did a while back. The message seems to be getting out that if you are not following the rules we need to make sure that that occurs.”

In the case of contraband being smuggled into prisons there is a grey area. Horowitz explained that there are items such as illegal drugs and weapons that should never be brought into the institution, that should be seized should they be found. He did say however, “In some circumstances, BOP policy allows staff to bring certain items that aren’t allowed into the prison – like tobacco and cell phones – back to their cars.”

Budgets As indicated above, budgets are a problem that has led to overcrowding in BOP prisons.

Horowitz explained, “The BOP budget has been increased quite substantially as a proportion of the Department of Justice budget over the last 15 years. However until very recently the overcapacity of the prison population has increased and staffing didn’t keep up. This has been a challenge even with the budget increases.” In short, while the UK has seen budget cuts in the face of a growing prison population the BOP has been getting increases in its budget but this hadn’t kept pace with increased demand for capacity until the population plateaued around two years ago. This created additional difficulties in an already strained system.

The UK prison system – a leading light?

The Colombia Law School report cited the UK prison system as a leading light in stopping contraband from being smuggled in by prison officers. In 2006 a report by the Met Police was leaked to the press detailing more than 1000 incidents of staff corruption.

The Colombia Law School report stated, “The government took action and began many different initiatives including the removal of cell phones from prisons and an effort to halt the flow of drugs into prisons. These efforts culminated in the creation of a new investigatory anti-corruption unit sponsored by the Metropolitan Police and the Prison

• •

National Custody Seminar The seventh National Custody Seminar and Exhibition will be held at the Hilton Hotel Warwick/Stratford-Upon-Avon from 11:00 on Tuesday 12 September until 13:00 on Wednesday 13 September.

This event will consider key issues affecting police custody both now and in the future as well as encourage and develop the sharing of best practice in this key area of police operations. Matters for discussion and debate this year are expected to include:

• • •

PACE Changes arising from the Police & Crime Act The Home Secretary’s Independent Review of Deaths and Serious incidents in police custody The NPCC’s National Custody Strategy

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•

Improving safety in police custody environments Learning the lessons from serious incidents & investigations Safeguarding the rights of suspects and victims

The event aims to set the scene and direction that will ensure custody suites across the country are operated professionally, allowing those responsible for procuring, managing and delivering front-line custody services to fully understand and comply with legislation, guidance and protocols and provide lawful, safe and proportionate police custody.

Delegates will hear from keynote speakers drawn from a range of important police custody stakeholders and partner organisations as well as from the National Custody Forum and lead custody representatives who will reflect their current priorities, focus and strategy.

This annual event has developed an excellent reputation for consistently delivering quality content that is highly relevant to those working in and around police custody and the many challenges that they face going forward.

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Service. The government also has instituted best practice guidelines to help combat prison corruption on a national level. The guidelines provide protocols for a national prison corruption prevention program, including detailed definitions of what is and is not prison corruption.”

Conclusions…

Horowitz and his opposite numbers in state and county prison systems look to the UK as a leading light in regard dealing with corrupt staff. For their parts however there are real problems that though small in terms of the proportion of corrupt staff in a large sector, endanger their colleagues and inmates alike.

Dealing with corruption is a focus for prison management at all levels of the system, and due to a wide variety of problems it has a long way to go before it can be fully stamped out.

NOTES CBS News report http://www.cbsnews.com/ news/fed-agent-guard-die-in-prison-gunfire/ Contraband Interdiction Efforts report https:// oig.justice.gov/reports/2016/e1605.pdf Colombia Law School report http://www. law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/microsites/ public-integrity/files/prison_corruption_-_capi_ community_contribution_-_september_2016.pdf WDBJ 7 report http://www.wdbj7.com/content/ news/Feds-Prison-guards-tried-to-smuggle-drugsin-for-gang-400079151.html

Who should attend: Police Federation Custody Representatives, Custody Officers and other officers and staff currently serving in custody, Custody Inspectors, Custody Managers, Police Estate Managers, Police Procurement representatives, Police Stakeholder groups and any organisations with a particular interest in police custody issues.

A 24 hour delegate rate is available at the cost of £250.00 (inclusive of VAT). This will include refreshments on arrival, buffet lunch and a three course dinner, together with bed and breakfast for the night of Tuesday 12 September and car parking.

A day delegate rate is also available at the cost of £150.00 (inclusive of VAT), to include refreshments on arrival, buffet lunch and a three course networking dinner. Please note that accommodation is not included with this package.

More details and the booking form can be found at http://www.polfed.org/events Louise.Dunne@polfed.org Tel: 01372 352026

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The Emergency Services Show: It’s all about you A visit to The Emergency Services Show gives you access to the very best knowledge, training, technology, kit and support networks to prepare for future incidents. This year’s event returns to Hall 5 at the NEC, Birmingham from 20 to 21 September with a host of new learning opportunities and interactive features.

communications and IT, protective clothing and uniforms, bodyworn video, drones and counter-drone measures, training and safety.

Health and wellbeing of all personnel is a focus of this year’s event and a new seminar theatre dedicated to the subject will cover issues such as fitness, nutrition, mental health and health and safety.

Among the 400 companies and organisations exhibiting are leading names in firefighting equipment, smoke detection, medical supplies, drug testing, the Custodial Review

A key aim of The Emergency Services Show is to develop relationships and partnerships between all blue light services and government departments like the Prison Service as well as non-governmental and voluntary sector organisations. The Collaboration Zone is a networking focus of the exhibition with around 80 companies, voluntary sector and other organisations, where visitors can network and exchange learning.

To register for free entry to the exhibition and seminars visit: www.emergencyuk.com

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Mental health needs in prison, scratching the surface Another disturbing report arrives, detailing the extent of mental health needs amongst prisoners, and the gap between that need and the level of service available.

The National Audit Office (2017) found that at any one time, 31,328 prisoners report mental health or wellbeing issues. Only 25% (7,917) of those with a mental health need were receiving treatment. All indicators of poor mental health are rising rapidly - incidents of self-harm rose by 73% between 2012 and 2016 to 40,161. Over the same time period, self-inflicted deaths almost doubled to 120.

Despite these worrying figures, 40% of prisons have not provided any refresher mental health training to prison staff, nor could the government report confidently on the quality of mental health services provided in prisons.

While the report brings together the available data into an excellent analysis, the main headlines are no surprise and have been known for years – that prisons contain tens thousands of individuals with diagnosable and treatable mental health issues but, instead of taking the opportunity to intervene to help them and protect the public, we hold the vast majority untreated in conditions that exacerbate their problems.

Successive reports have made the same broad recommendations:

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• •

We should send fewer offenders with mental health problems to prison in the first place – many (perhaps the majority) could be better treated in alternative facilities that prioritise treatment.

We should take care to ensure living conditions in prison do not exacerbate and initiate mental health problems and crises.

We should increase resources to mental health services in prisons, so that they are able to do more than fire fight and ‘scratch the surface’ of the true scale of need.

These recommendations make sense, and can all lead to long term improvements in mental health care, to reductions in reoffending, and to safer prisons. But, despite some small initiatives over the last three decades, they have

not been taken up in any concerted way, and the problems continue. This is because such concerted action needs political commitment, long term planning and resource allocation – all of which are in pretty short supply.

Smart diversion Currently, most prisoners have low level mental health needs (for example depression, trauma, anxiety) and/or drug/alcohol dependence. While these offenders are more likely to recommit minor offences, they are considered a low risk to the public and could be diverted at sentencing to NHS or social care facilities as alternatives to custody, or treated in dedicated prison units where mental health interventions are prioritised.

A meaningful reorganisation of the estate to achieve this goal would take time and careful planning - involving short term costs, with savings only accruing over the medium term. To date, no government has been convinced that the benefits of such a long term reorientation is worth the political or financial risk.

Positive living environments Similarly, a significant improvement to living conditions in prisons – to a level that ameliorates rather than worsens mental health problems – would require a massive capital investment, and probably could only occur with a significantly reduced prison population. Once again, the level of financial investment and political risk involved in such a strategy has not been attractive to successive governments. Of course, there are many smaller actions that governors can take to improve the physical environment or the emotional wellbeing of prisoners, but the fact is that most prisoners’ experience of incarceration at the moment continues to be one of fear, discomfort and indignity.

Effective services I remember visiting Brixton ‘F’ wing (Fraggle Rock) as an inexperienced drug counsellor in the 1980’s, and thinking that there must be some mistake – moving disturbed prisoners on to one underground location, with no light, association or mental health treatment – was a short term crisis measure that, while certain to increase the mental health problems of anyone who lived or worked there, would be resolved within months. But elements of this ‘warehousing’ approach still persist. The problem is fundamentally one of numbers – the large numbers needing help, and the calculations preventing either of the ‘game changing’ strategies described above.

Let’s assume that there are no game changers on the horizon – the level of mental health needs amongst prisoners will remain high, and the living environment is going to remain overcrowded and intimidating. What can we do to improve mental health support?

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There are signs that both the MOJ and NHS England are willing to get to grips with this challenge and, while the details of strategy and resource allocation are still uncertain, some smart tactics and service development can make a difference. The key, for me, is in a clear distinction between specialist and generic mental health provision.

There are clearly a minority of prisoners who have significant chronic or acute mental health problems. It is correct that these individuals need to be transferred to secure hospitals, or receive specialist (i.e. psychiatrist led) mental health services in prisons. The numbers diagnosed with these needs are relatively small, but what I observe is that the specialist mental health services struggle to meet their needs because they are stretched trying to cover a much wider group.

Meanwhile, this much wider group do not necessarily need such specialist attention – mental health services for them can be integrated into other offender management pathways (primarily substance misuse, through the gate, or education/employment). In fact, they already are: research we have conducted at Forward has shown that the majority of prisoners presenting for substance misuse treatment also register symptoms of (on average, more than three separate) low level mental health problems. Our response has been to incorporate mental health interventions into our drug/alcohol recovery programmes – with encouraging results: self reported levels of depression and anxiety were significantly reduced (full results will be published in our next research briefing paper due out soon).

We are starting to see anecdotal reports of the same impacts in prisons where we deliver targeted IAPT programmes.

A future service model that properly resources specialist mental health services (targeted to treating the highest need and most risky cases), while integrating low level mental health interventions into other areas of offender management, is within our reach.

Of course, there will be challenges in diagnosis and risk assessment, but we can do a much better job than the current lottery of patchy service delivery, and hopelessly overstretched specialist teams.

Mike Trace is the CEO of Forward, the leading social enterprise that empowers people to break the cycle of crime or addiction. The Forward Trust (known as Forward) is new name for The Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners Trust (RAPt) and Blue Sky Development and Regeneration, who have combined their services. Together RAPt and Blue Sky bring a combined 35 years’ experience of delivering life changing services to some of the most vulnerable and marginalised people in society.

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A Q&A with Andrew Digby, Head,Technical Standards Ministry of Justice, Home Office, Crown Prosecution Service Shared Estates Service Custody cells are complex pieces of design, years of experience and research have gone into their design and equipment..

A department that oversees a lot of this work is the Crown Prosecution Service Shared Estates Service. Its Head is Andrew Digby.

His full title is Head of Technical Standards at the Ministry of Justice Estates Directorate. His team is responsible for developing designs and technical standards for the MoJ, Home Office and other government department estate.

The estate includes custodial and detention facilities of all kinds in the United Kingdom. Andrew regularly advises on best practice in custody design and construction both home and abroad. He was awarded the Civil Service Project Management Award in 2014 in recognition of his team’s work on digital construction.

Digital construction can benefit in a number of ways:

•

•

Stakeholder engagement – With digital construction we can build 3D animated models of buildings for fly-throughs.

Walking through a building virtually allows stakeholders to understand what they are getting and suggest changes to designs if they want to improve them before a brick is laid.

•

Costing – It is possible to derive extremely accurate costings from an electronic model immediately, with a number of different ways of analysing the costs data, which in turn drives savings.

•

1) What does your department do?

The Ministry of Justice Estates Directorate is responsible for planning, constructing and maintaining the estate of the MoJ itself, Home Office, Crown Prosecution Services and agencies.

One of its duties is developing and maintaining the Home Office Police Custody Design Guide. The guide regulates design and construction of police station custody suites. It articulates best practice and gives interpretation of how legislative, regulatory and policy requirements should be met in custody design and construction.

Design – Digital construction dramatically reduces the design period and allows various parts of the design team to work on a common model in real time, which is extremely useful in complex builds. At the end of design period design information can be handed over to the construction team in a form which they can use right away, with no data loss.

•

•

Construction – Digital construction allows construction teams to run project plans directly from the model in an integrated way, ensuring accuracy.

Different subcontractors can add to or work from the plan simultaneously. It can run ‘clash detection’ software to ensure that each trade works in an aligned way.

Teams can download works plans so that they know exactly what they should be doing, where and when.

Handover – Information can be transferred seamlessly into the computer assisted facilities management database.

The facility management providers know exactly what they are getting, where it is and how to maintain it from day one.

Duplication – Using digital methods means that particularly successful architectural or M&E services in a building can be lifted and dropped from one project to another

The Ministry of Justice is also responsible for the management of the Police Design Review Panel. The Panel offers advice and guidance on all aspects of police forces physical estate, HQ buildings, police stations and custody suites.

It covers all stages of the planning, design and handover process, starting from conceptual thinking through to design, choosing and briefing a design and construction team, procurement, how to deliver effectively, how to hand over and how to measure the success of a building. The panel advises on technical construction, Healthy and Safety and occupant comfort amongst a number of other matters.

3) New materials and products. How does a manufacturer get them into the build, and how do they find out what new products are needed?

2) What is and how can digital construction benefit the custody environment?

As for methodology, techniques such as 3D printing, design-for-manufacture, off-site construction are increasingly common. We can

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Construction materials and methods are continually evolving as science develops.

Recently there has been pressure to build greener buildings; safer buildings; and build on tight and challenging spaces. This has led the market to look to develop new building methods and materials and the choice of materials for secure environments is far wider than it has ever been.

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now achieve high quality standards at costs which would have been impossible just ten years ago.

The MoJ Technical Standards and BIM Team can provide advice on options to clients, to ensure that they are content with the finished product and the best method of construction has been used for the project.

4) Best Practice. How has it changed over the last 5 years?

Previously, the construction industry has worked to ‘input guides’. Input guides which will attempt to capture every possible detail in the guides, including variations and exceptions.

However, we have found that this can be inefficient and difficult for construction teams to follow.

We are now moving towards guides which establish the principles of the design and which can be applied sensibly in all circumstances: an ‘output’ guide.

We now place much more emphasis on stakeholder engagement. We aim to produce materials which allow the stakeholder to set the design exactly as they want it in the building, and we will tailor design and construction to meet it.

There is a far wider use of digital construction, which allows the construction process to be more open, transparent and deliver high standards of quality, quickly. This should result in less facility management problems further down the line.

5) The project to revise the custody design guide – Why does it need revising and what revisions are coming out of it?

Firstly, to move towards an output type of guide. Construction materials and methodologies have advanced in the last five years and it is important that the custody design guide recognises this.

Strategic drivers have also changed, for example there is an increasing expectation of co-location of emergency services. We need to ensure that the guide reflects this and other policy changes.

There is now far more research on what works best in custody environments. We can draw on the latest research into effective police custody operations to draft a guide which helps forces get the outcomes they want, including placing more emphasis on safety and comfort.

We will aim for the design guide to support a range of approaches to police custody construction, with bricks and mortar and onsite tradesmen as important a consideration as 3D printed walls and factory built components.

Thank you for talking to the Review.

Case Study, Hytera PT580 TETRA radio upgrade with personnel location and alarm PMR Products and partners can provide a personal alarm with indoor location services onto existing prison radio schemes through a simple upgrade.

Location: • Kilmarnock, Scotland Function:

Objective and requirements: Kilmarnock is a 500 cell prison facility managed by Serco Ltd on behalf of the Scottish Prison Service. PMR have worked with Serco in all of their establishments for over 15 years and Serco have always promoted new radio technology and ideas to improve staff protection.

PMR’s SafetyNet and Locator system has been used at Kilmarnock for over 5 years. The original radios became beyond economic repair but the Damm TETRA infrastructure has many years of useful life ahead of it. The system has been refreshed and new radios provided using the Hytera PT580H. The main feature of the system is that a radio users can be tracked anywhere inside the prison and grounds. This ensures that all radio users can be located immediately if a problem arises and the personal alarm on the radio is the only button they need to press to raise help.

In the control room, the user location and alarm appears on a map of the establishment allowing a controlled response to the exact location of the incident by a dedicated team defined within a single talkgroup.

• Radio and personal alarm Product supplied: •

It is a retrofit to existing schemes, TETRA or DMR.

• Hytera PT580 with internal tracking device

•

Radio terminal becomes a powerful single device providing; audio communications, personal alarm, tracker indoor, tracking outdoor, text messaging, paging.

• SafetyNet Locator

Software can be added to perform other tasks such as guard duty scheduling, work orders, lone worker functions providing expert systems where decisions can be performed automatically.

• 130 Locator Beacons around the jail

•

SafetyNet Locator has a tracking feature which allows the deployment of staff to be viewed at an instant allowing resource to be planned more effectively.

Tracking can be used to improve safety of its radio users by identifying exactly where personnel are operating especially in hazardous or threatening situations.

Tracking can be turned off and positions only reported when an alarm is triggered or if a location update request is sent from the control room.

Hytera PT580 is a very robust radio much better suited to the harsh life within a shared user environment

•

Automatic updates of users’ location is now possible

•

Orange button on the radio raises a personal alarm

•

Control room staff can see instantly on a schematic diagram who’s in trouble

•

Resources can be deployed directly to the location where it’s needed.

Full audit trail is possible showing staff movements along with recording audio

•

Can also be applied to outdoor location using GPS

•

Controlled response from control can be done discretely to the correct location without alerting inmates through general announcements

• Indoor Mapping

Benefits: • Rapid response to personal alarms • Control room can issue response to a known location • Internal locator receiver fitted to standard radios • Upgrade to existing infrastructure; TETRA or DMR • Full audit trail of staff movements

Technical details: •

• UltraPRO

PMR Products have installed 3 Locator in UK Prisons and many more in a range of environments from retail to industrial applications, satisfying a wide range of safety and efficiency needs.

One of the key advantages of SafetyNet Locator is that it gives confidence to Prison staff that they can get help quickly if a problem occurs, directly to their position.

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See our website for further ideas and product information at www.pmr‐products.com

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The Cascade Health & Learning Hub is open!

Launch of The Cascade Foundation, A dyslexia hub, for all ex-prisoners right next door to HMP Doncaster

Jackie Hewitt-Main the founder of the Cascade Foundation.

Doncaster-based charity, The Cascade Foundation, has officially opened the doors of its new premises – The Cascade Health & Learning Hub on Marshgate in Doncaster town centre.

Over 70 people, including MP Rosie Winterton, attended the launch event on Friday 14th July to hear all about how the charity will be supporting local people with learning disabilities, such as dyslexia or dyspraxia and those affected by head injuries, to gain valuable qualifications and return to employment.

They were joined by ex-prisoners who told their stories of how their lives were transformed by the charity and its founder, Jackie Hewitt-Main.

Phil, a former inmate at HMP Chelmsford, spoke about how he left the prison with numerous qualifications and started his own property repairs and maintenance business for social landlords.

Dale Easter who spent over 22 years in and out of prison after discovering he was dyslexic in his early 20s explained how Jackie, his ‘Angel’, taught him to read and write, two skills which have changed his life. Dale, who has now been out of prison for three years, is

The event was well attended. Jackie Hewitt-Main opened the event with a resume of the charities work.

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Stephen Rachel of Stronger Families talking to Jackie with Paul Mitchell of Efficiency North.

Angela North and Sandra Zambelli.

now a volunteer with the charity and is focused on helping others achieve their potential.

Finally, Michael, a University graduate who ‘got in the with wrong crowd’ and ended up in HMP Doncaster shortly after he passed his finals, told guests how his whole attitude to life changed when he starting working alongside Jackie to help his fellow inmates learn to read and write using The Cascade Foundation’s sensory learning methods.

Jackie explains: “It’s taken us two years to get to this point so this launch event marks a key milestone in the charity’s history. The event gave us the perfect opportunity to showcase exactly what The Cascade Foundation has achieved and what we want to achieve in the future.

“It was fantastic to speak to so many people who clearly share our vision of transforming the lives of those with learning difficulties. We have so many plans and so many people to help so the more people that know about what we’re doing the better. If everyone tells just one person about The

Left to Right Caroline Lee (Efficiency North), Paul Mitchell (Efficiency North), Stephen Rachel (Stronger Families), Jackie Hewitt-Main, Michael Thompson (ex-prisoner)

Cascade Foundation, then the word will spread and we will attain our aspiration of becoming a national charity with a presence in every prison and community in the UK.”

Left: John Biggen, formally the Governor of HMP Doncaster where the story began.

Right: Paul Mitchell of Efficiency North

Dame Rosie Winterton, MP for Doncaster Central concluded: “I know that Jackie and the Cascade Foundation do important work in supporting people who have learning difficulties, such as dyslexia, or who may have had a head injury, to progress into employment and learning, making a real difference to their lives, and I was delighted to be at the launch of the Cascade Health & Learning Hub to show my support for the work that they and their volunteers do.”

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KAZ SEN/Dyslexia Typing Tutor – ‘A Skill for Life’ and powerful medium for learning and communicating and introduce a new accessible academic world they can cope in and even excel in - giving them a greater chance to reach their full potential.

Being diagnosed and coping with dyslexia can be extremely daunting and devastating and can present both physical and emotional challenges.

In the academic world, handwriting and producing a simple piece of work can pose extremely challenging difficulties. The level of concentration and effort involved can be exhausting, causing the individual to struggle and lag behind - lowering moral and selfesteem. However, with the aid of assistive technology, many of these issues can be overcome.

Through trials and feedback from special needs teachers across the world, it has been proven that touch typing and using a computer are formidable and life changing tools for individuals with dyslexia, as they present a new

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The skill of touch typing can eliminate many of the challenges and frustrations experienced when reading and writing: • •

• •

•

• •

The need for neat handwriting is no longer a priority.

Errors can be easily corrected without messy crossings out - resulting in neat and presentable work.

Spell checkers highlight mistakes and offer alternatives.

Reassurance with the above boosts confidence – promoting experimentation with vocabulary and spelling and allows concentration to be focused on content.

Quick and accurate touch typing can reduce the amount of time spent on a piece of work and often increases the amount of work produced.

Physical dexterity is enhanced helping handwriting skills.

Grasping the skill helps engrain reading, spelling and vocabulary

•

to memory.With ‘muscle memory’, spellings become a series of finger movements and patterns on a keyboard, reducing the likelihood of transposing or misspelling words.

The working memory is not overloaded - individuals can work at their own pace in a non-linear fashion, where they can process their thoughts first and structure them later.

Although the above benefits helped alleviate many of the issues experienced by dyslexics, disturbances relating to visual stress still posed a problem.

So KAZ Type took advice and guidance from Dr. Sue Fowler and her team at the Dyslexia Research Trust and further developed their typing tutor, to produce a new SEN/Dyslexia edition that addressed these issues.

The program’s simple opening

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‘Preference Screen’ offers: •

•

• •

•

•

A choice of coloured background/filter screens – for reducing white screen glare.

A choice of 2 specific research based background/filter colours - for steading letter movement and blurring.

A choice of dyslexic friendly typefaces – for ease of reading.

A choice of font colour – for contrast from background screen colour.

A choice of font size – for optimum visibility comfort and to minimize fusing and crowding of letters.

A choice of Keyboard – for optimum visibility comfort.

Once selected, these preferences are applied throughout the course, delivering the individual a tailored, simple yet dynamic course – equipping them with a ‘skill for life’.

Individual, Business and Educational Licenses available – Download / Online / LMS. Web: kaz-type.com/dyslexiaedition.aspx Email: info@kaz-type.com Tel: 01926 423424

NEWS

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New report calls on Sentencing Council to develop formal sentencing principles for young adults The Sentencing Council should work towards developing formal sentencing principles for young adults, similar to the principles that are in place for children, a report published by the Howard League for Penal Reform and the Transition to Adulthood (T2A) Alliance recommended on Tuesday 18 July.

The report, Judging Maturity: Exploring the role of maturity in the sentencing of young adults, presents research by the Howard League, the world’s oldest penal reform charity and a founding member of the T2A Alliance.

The Howard League analysed 174 court judgments in cases involving young adults, focusing on how judges considered the concept of maturity. The findings suggest that the age and maturity of young adult defendants are not sufficiently considered by the courts at present. However, the research also shows that where a young adult’s immaturity is raised by court professionals, the courts are well placed to factor it in to achieve better outcomes – and more likely to do so if sentencing guidance encourages it.

There is substantial evidence that young adults – aged 18 to 25 – should be treated as a distinct group from older adults, largely because they are still maturing – neuroscience research has proven that brain development continues well into the mid-20s. Reaching adulthood is a process, not an event, and the key markers of adulthood, such as independent living, employment and establishing relationships, happen at different times for different young people.

Young adults are more likely to be caught up in the criminal justice system than older adults. They face significant difficulties coping in prison, where both the suicide rate and violence rates are higher among their age group than among the prison population as a whole, and they have higher reconviction rates following release than older adults. Between 2006 and 2016, 164 people aged 18 to 24 died in custody, including 136 who died by suicide.

While there is a wealth of guidance and case law concerning the sentencing of children, there is no set of principles to ensure that judges take a tailored approach to sentencing young adults.

Tens of thousands of young adults who appear before the courts for sentencing each year would benefit from a distinct approach.

Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “The evidence that young adults require a distinct approach is now overwhelming.

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“This important research shows that the courts are well placed to tailor their approach to meet the needs of young adults but currently have insufficient guidance in order to apply the evidence on developmental maturity in a consistent way.

“Clear, principled guidance could make a real difference to the outcomes for young adults facing sentence.”

The number of assaults and incidents of selfinjury in prisons in England and Wales have risen to record highs Figures seen by the Howard League for Penal Reform reveal that the number of assaults and incidents of self-injury have reached record highs.

Official statistics, published by the Ministry of Justice, show that 26,643 assault incidents were recorded in the 12 months to the end of March 2017 – a 20 per cent increase on the previous year. Assaults on staff rose by 32 per cent.

Serious assaults, including those requiring medical attention at hospital, have almost trebled in four years. There were 3,606 such incidents recorded during the 12 months to the end of March 2017 – a 22 per cent increase on the previous year.

Prisons recorded 40,414 self-injury incidents during the 12 months to the end of March 2017 – a 17 per cent rise from the previous year. This is the fifth successive quarter when incidents of self-injury have reached their highest-ever level.

The figures show that 316 people died in prisons during the 12 months to the end of June 2017, slightly down from 322 during the previous year.

They included 97 people who lost their lives through suicide – 91 in men’s prisons and six in women’s prisons. This is a slight fall from the previous year, when 107 people lost their lives through suicide.

Annual performance rankings show that the number of prisons with the lowest possible rating has risen from six to 10.

The lowest-ranked prisons – Bedford, Birmingham, Bristol, Brixton, Guys Marsh, Hindley, Liverpool, Pentonville,Wandsworth and Wormwood Scrubs – are all rated as performing at a level that causes “serious concern”.

The statistics come a week after Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons reported that the state was failing in its duty to people in prison.

Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “The rising tide of violence and human misery gets higher and higher as chronic overcrowding and staff shortages continue to drive the prison system

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into chaos. How many people have to die before action is taken?

“The new Secretary of State for Justice must act now to stop the death toll. The first step to recovery is to recognise that there is a problem. The second step is to do something about the problem.

“By taking bold but sensible steps to reduce the prison population, we can save lives and prevent more people being swept away into deeper currents of crime and despair.”

The Howard League for Penal Reform has responded to Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons’ Annual Report (Published on Tuesday 18 July) Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “Prisons are out of control.

A prisoner dies by suicide every three days. Children are locked up with nothing to do for 23 hours a day. Record levels of violence mean that men are too scared to leave their cells. Women are injuring themselves more and more. Staff fear for their lives. Conditions are filthy. Enough is enough.

“On the day of the Queen’s Speech, the new Secretary of State for Justice sought to assure us that the government would respond positively to criticism from Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons. Today, that criticism could not be clearer – the state is failing in its duty to people in prison and staff. Now, I expect to see action.

“Prisons for children should be closed forthwith. For decades, children have been subjected to abuse and neglect by the state.

Now the official watchdog has confirmed what the Howard League has been saying for years – there is not a single prison in the country where a child is safe. The Chief Inspector’s conclusion that a tragedy is inevitable unless action is taken is one of the starkest warnings we have heard about children in prison.

“Chronic overcrowding in adult prisons, together with deep cuts to staffing, has created a toxic mix of death, violence and human misery. But we cannot build our way out of this mess.

“Building more prisons only causes problems to grow; it does not solve them. Bold but sensible action to reduce the prison population would prevent more people being swept into deeper currents of crime, violence and despair.”

the Custodial Review

PRisoN learning together:The story so far Prisoners at HMP Full Sutton, who studied alongside Leeds Beckett University Criminology students, have now graduated after completing a degree-level programme taught within the prison.

Twelve prisoners at the High Security prison, near Pocklington in East Yorkshire, enrolled as students at Leeds Beckett University, taking part in the Learning Together criminology module at the prison with 11 final-year Leeds Beckett University students.

Following on from the feature, Prisoners at High Security Prison enrol at Leeds Beckett University, published in the June edition of The Custodial Review, the module leaders, Dr Helen Nichols and Dr Bill Davies, have reflected on the experience of the course from the perspective of both the Prison Research Network’s (PRisoN) Learning Together students and teaching staff.

Dr Helen Nichols is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Leeds Beckett University and has spent the past ten years researching prison education. Helen’s PhD thesis, An Enquiry into Adult Male Prisoners’ Experiences of Education, explored motivtions to engage with education in the prison environment (or indeed not) and considered the processes of change that occurred as a result of educational engagement, as well as thinking about the relationships between prisoners and different types of prison staff, including teachers and officers. At Leeds Beckett University, Helen leads the Punishment and Exploring Men’s Imprisonment module, alongside the PRisoN Learning Together module.

Dr Bill Davies, also a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Leeds Beckett University, leads the Prisons and Penology and Criminology of Tattooing modules alongside PRisoN Learning Together. Bill’s research interests draw on his own experience of imprisonment and his PhD focused in particular on the pains of short term imprisonment. Within this work, Bill considered the deprivation of opportunity experienced by those serving short term prison sentences, including opportunities for educational engagement.

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Together, Helen and Bill co-lead the Prison Research Network (PRisoN), which brings together researchers, practitioners, prison staff and charities from across the country to provide opportunities for networking, research dissemination and the planning of collaborative work.

“Part of our own collaborative work has involved developing the PRisoN Learning Together module with the support of Dr Ruth Armstrong and Dr Amy Ludlow at the University of Cambridge, who pioneered this approach to student-prisoner collaborative learning at HMP Grendon.

“Outside of the ‘Learning Together’ approach, other programmes exist both in the United States and the UK which involve prisoners and university students studying alongside each other. These include ‘Inside Out’ and the ‘Prison-to-College Pipeline’. Ultimately, despite the nuanced differences between the programmes, the goal remains the same – to bring together students from universities and prisons to break down social barriers, challenge preconceptions and learn from, and alongside one another, in a collaborative learning environment.

“PRisoN Learning Together is an accredited module delivered at HMP Full Sutton. The total cohort of students for 2016/17 was 23, each gaining 20 final year university credits, having successfully completed and passed the course assessments: a 2500-word reflective learning log and a group poster presentation.

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The results have shown a very high standard of academic skill and ability across the group with all students achieving a 2:1 standard grade or above.

“Leeds Beckett University is a modern, professional, university serving both the local and national community. Implementing the PRisoN Learning Together programme has been an opportunity to act on our commitment to the local community and to providing our students with unique learning experiences.

“The University as a whole is committed to providing support and opportunity through the powerful tool of education; and this programme has provided a way to channel and realise this. On a more personal level, through our own research and partnership work, we are dedicated to having impact in our teaching and learning. In the same way that researchers have been told in the past to get stuck into the field and ‘get the seat of their pants dirty’, this is perhaps the same way that we envision the delivery of this kind of educational experience.

Developing an accredited final year degree module to run at a High Security prison for students from the prison and from the community was our way of getting stuck in.

“There is perhaps no better way to report back on an experience other than to speak to those involved. During the process of the module, students and guest lecturers were invited to write blogs (see prisonlearningtogetherblog.wordpress.com) to record their experiences and share them with a wider audience. The following excerpts have been taken from the blog to provide some insight into the experience at ‘ground level’:

One prisoner on the course wrote, “Having now been a life sentenced prisoner for almost 11 years I can confidently say that the prison and criminal justice system is not fit for purpose. It has been a great achievement for HMP Full Sutton, being part of the High Secure estate, to have been able to set up the first accredited Learning Together module that is being delivered to 12 Leeds-based students and 11 students within HMP Full Sutton. I am lucky enough to have been selected to be a student on the course and I can say that to date the course has made me feel like a human again.”

(HMP Full Sutton-based PRisoN Learning Together Student) “I was struck by the commitment with which the Full Sutton based students seemed to engage with my talk: a willingness and ability to keep their experiences ‘in the picture’, without allowing the conversation to be dominated by personal stories alone. It is testament to the Learning Together course, and its participants, that a group of men for whom our research is more than just a scholarly exercise were still able to adopt a scholarly disposition, noting some of the limitations of the research design and speculating smartly on some of the key

findings. It also takes courage to be willing to dwell on these matters, which must sometimes bring home the deep tribulations of serving a long sentence, but also – I hope – provide some sense that such sentences are survivable.”

wholly by their crime without consideration as to who they are. No matter what a person has done, they are still a person. The Full Sutton students have taught me more than they realise so from the bottom of my heart, thank you.”

(PRisoN Learning Together Guest Lecturer)

(Leeds-based PRisoN Learning Together student)

“While we were in awe of our students as they confidently stood in the somewhat daunting presence of their peers and a host of prison governors, there was something specific about the presentations that caught our attention (not to mention our emotions).

Seeing our students visibly supporting each other, congratulating each other in their good work and coming together in a way that only a connected group of peers can, was formidable.

Yesterday we saw the result of broken barriers, the power of collaborative learning and the genuine trust, respect and friendship that exists within our cohort.”

“The blogs provided by staff and students have given us a view of the module in practice in real time while at the same time experiencing it ourselves. With the module having recently finished, we now look to the future and have already eastablished a plan going forward to continue to deliver PRisoN Learning Together.

At the same time, we are working to introduce colleagues in other subject areas within Leeds Beckett University to this approach to teaching and learning with the intenition of broadening the range of subject provision at HMP Full Sutton to enhance opportunities for engagement with higher education. Our vision for this project is long term and we hope to begin working with other universities and prisons across the high security estate to work collaboraboratively, share good practice and continue what has so far been an overwhelmingly incredible experience.”

(PRisoN Learning Together Module Leader) “What I found within this module were intelligent, funny and caring people and it saddens me to think that some view prisoners

Transforming visit halls with style and safety 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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Prison reform impossible until jails become safer, warns Chief Inspector

Prison reform will not succeed unless the violence and prevalence of drugs in jail are addressed and prisoners are unlocked for more of the working day, said Peter Clarke, Chief Inspector of Prisons when he published his second annual report, for 2016-17.

Ministry of Justice (MoJ) data showed that:

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In the 12 months to December 2016, there were more than 26,000 assaults, an increase of 27%;

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During the same period, assaults on staff rose by 38% to 6,844 incidents;

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Of these assaults on staff, 789 were serious, an increase of 26%; and

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the number of self-inflicted deaths has more than doubled since 2013 and in the 12 months to March 2017, 113 prisoners took their own lives.

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Of the 29 local and training prisons inspected during the year, inspectors judged 21 of them to be ‘poor’ or ‘not sufficiently good’ in the area of safety.

Peter Clarke said: “Why have so many of our jails become unsafe? Many of the reasons have been well documented. The prevalence of drugs inside prisons and the seeming inability to keep them out has been a major factor. Debt, bullying and self-segregation by prisoners looking to escape the violence generated by the drugs trade are commonplace. This has all been compounded by staffing levels in many jails that are simply too low to keep order and run a decent regime that allows prisoners to be let out of their cells to get to training and education and have access to basic facilities.”

“What is it like for prisoners on a day-today basis? I have often been appalled by the conditions in which we hold many prisoners.

Far too often I have seen men sharing a cell in which they are locked up for as much as 23 hours a day, in which they are required to eat all their meals, and in which there is an unscreened lavatory. On several occasions prisoners have pointed out insect and vermin the Custodial Review

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infestations to me. In many prisons I have seen shower and lavatory facilities that are filthy and dilapidated but with no credible or affordable plans for refurbishment. I have seen many prisoners who are obviously under the influence of drugs.”

“I am frequently shown evidence of repeated self-harm, and in every prison I find far too many prisoners suffering from varying degrees of learning disability or mental impairment. I have personally witnessed violence between prisoners, and seen both the physical and psychologically traumatic impact that serious violence has had on staff. My experience is no substitute for the broader evidence-based findings, but if I have experienced this, what must be the impact on the prisoners and staff who endure these things every day of their lives?”

Some of the most concerning findings during the year came from inspections of the custodial estate for children and young people.

In the light of revelations last year about apparent mistreatment of children at Medway Secure Training Centre (STC), the Inspectorate maintained the momentum of inspections at STCs and young offender institutions (YOIs).

At that time there were around 609 children held in YOIs and 155 in STCs. Youth Justice Board Annual Statistics for 201516 showed self-harm rates at 8.9 incidents per 100 children compared with 4.1 in 2011;

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Assault rates were 18.9 per 100 children compared with 9.7 in 2011;

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HMI Prisons’ own surveys showed that 46% of boys felt unsafe at their establishment; and

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The proportion of boys engaged in a job (16%), vocational training (11%) and offending behaviour programmes (16%) across the YOIs was lower in 2015-16 than at any point since 2010-11.

Peter Clarke said: “In early 2017 I felt compelled to bring to the attention of ministers my serious concern about our findings in the youth estate. By February 2017, we concluded that there was not a single establishment that we inspected in England and Wales in which it was safe to hold children and young people.”

“The speed of decline has been staggering.

In 2013-14 we found that nine out of 12 institutions were graded as good or reasonably good for safety. The reasons for this slump in standards are no doubt complex, but need to Page 22

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be understood and addressed as a matter of urgency.”

“There seems to be something of a vicious circle.Violence leads to a restrictive regime and security measures which in turn frustrate those being held there. We have seen regimes were boys take every meal alone in their cell, where they are locked up for excessive amounts of time, where they do not get enough exercise, education or training, and where there do not appear to be any credible plans to break the cycle of violence.”

Other findings include:

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Outcomes for prisoners in the five women’s prisons inspected in 2016-17 were better, with strong outcomes for safety, respect and resettlement, although the incidence of self-inflicted death and self-harm among women has risen dramatically;

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Inspectors went to three immigration removal centres (IRCs), the Cedars predeparture accommodation for families with children, 18 short-term holding facilities and one escorted overseas removal;

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New psychoactive substances were beginning to have an impact within immigration detention;

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There had been some improvements in the Rule 35 process, designed to protect those with serious health problems or who had been victims of torture;

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Despite police custody being considerably professionalised in recent years, there needs to be a continuing focus on safety, with still too many deficiencies in the governance of the use of force.

From 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017, the Inspectorate published 86 individual inspection reports on prisons, police custody suites, immigration removal centres and other custodial establishments. Various thematic reports were published during the year, including Finding a way forward for prisoners serving sentences of imprisonment for public protection. This report was the second HMI Prisons has produced highlighting the injustice suffered by many prisoners who, through no fault of their own, are unable to demonstrate whether the risk they pose has reduced, and therefore be in a position to make an application for release. While Ministry of Justice figures show that there are still 3,528 prisoners with such sentences at the end of March 2017, a decrease of 15% on the last 12 months, the proportion of those prisoners who have already served their tariff continues to increase, from 81% to 85%.

The Inspectorate continued as the coordinating body for the National Preventive Mechanism, the UK response to continues overleaf u

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Families of prisoners want “In”

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A survey before and after the vote shows drastic shift in opinions towards Brexit Unilink – a world leader in prisoners self-service and offender management asked the users about their view on Brexit before and after the vote.

• 42% of the surveyed declared that they want UK to Remain in the EU a year after the vote, as opposed to 25% before 23rd June 2016 • Only 37% of the people want UK to Leave now, while in 2016 before the referendum 44% wanted out of EU • Before 30% were uncertain but today only 20% say that they do not know

Friends and family of offenders serving time in British prisons want UK to remain part of the European Union. This shows a survey on pre and post Brexit vote opinions carried out among people who are in a regular contact with inmates.

helps inmates stay in touch with their loved ones, proven to lower the chances of re-offending. The service operates in 98% of all UK prisons for over nine years and delivers over a million messages per year.

Unilink, which is the world leader in prisoner self-service and offender management, carried out the survey. One of the Unilink’s services is Email-a-Prisoner which

Unilink asked its users – the friends and family of prisoners, on their view on Brexit just before the Referendum and now a year after the official results are known.

BEFORE

AFTER

42% want UK to remain part of the European Union, only 37% want the country to leave the union and 20% are uncertain. A year earlier the situation was much different – only 25% wanted Britain to stay in EU, 44% supported Brexit and 30% said they do not know. This shows a drastic shift in opinions among the surveyed.

80% of the interviewed participants are female. The majority of them – 40% are in the age group between 25 and 39 years, followed by 40 to 60 years old with average earnings of less than £20,000 per annum. Unilink’s secure email service allows messages to be sent to and from prisons rapidly, while ensuring About Unilink: The Unilink Group comprises four operating companies and has also offices in Australia, South Africa and the Netherlands in addition to the UK. The company is privately owned and focussed upon developing innovative technology for the justice sector including Police and prisons.

Unilink is a world leader in prisoner self-service and offender management software. This has been demonstrated through independent evidence from York University which shows that the software contributes significantly towards rehabilitation in the prisons in the UK where it is operating today.

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, in-cell devices and tablets.

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. In 2016 Unilink won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation. For more information and press enquiries, please visit: www.unilink.com

What Unilink’s customers say about Queen’s Award Winning Email a Prisoner:

longer serving prisoners an insight into modern technology!” (LM, Ayrshire)

“I find both email-a-prisoner and the secure payment service fantastic. I mainly use the email system and at HMP Kilmarnock my partner was able to reply which was a great way of keeping in contact. More Scottish prisons should have the reply service as it promotes family contact and also gives

“I found this service fantastic as we could correspond with each other very easily and quickly and Kilmarnock had the reply service which helped me hugely as I suffer from depression and we could email each other back and forward and it was more private that speaking on a phone.

For more information visit www.unilink.com enquiries@unilink.com or call +44 (0)207 036 3810

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its international obligations arising from the United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture. In 2016, the NPM appointed a fully independent chair.

Peter Clarke said: “This year has been marked by an unprecedented political and public focus on the need to improve conditions in our prisons. In February 2017 the Prisons and Courts Bill was introduced into Parliament, but lost when the General Election was called.

“I am concerned by the fact that this year we found – for the first time – that the number of recommendations that had been fully achieved was lower than the number not achieved.

In many cases the response to previous recommendations has been unforgivably poor. We found across the entirety of our inspections that 42% of recommendations on safety from previous inspections had not been achieved. Safety is the basis upon which any other constructive activity in a prison is dependent. Reform is overdue.”

HMP Bristol – further decline, but early signs of progress Staff shortages and a lack of investment at HMP Bristol had led to further decline, but there were signs that it was now starting to move in the right direction, said Peter Clarke, Chief Inspector of Prisons when he published the report of an unannounced inspection of the local jail.

HMP Bristol, a mixture of Victorian and 20th century buildings, was holding 543 men at the time of the inspection. The previous inspection in 2014 found that some progress had been made after serious concerns were raised by an inspection in 2013, but that further improvement was required. This latest inspection found that standards had declined and the prison was now less safe than two years before, and the assessment for work, training and education had sunk to the lowest possible. Despite these findings, and the fact that many aspects of the treatment of and conditions for prisoners were totally unacceptable, there were some grounds for cautious optimism.

When surveyed, more than half the prisoners reported having problems with emotional well-being or mental health. Although 70% of the population were aged under 40, 62% of them were on some form of medication. Over 30% entered with a drug problem. A third of prisoners surveyed said that they felt unsafe at the time of the inspection, which was double the figure in 2014 and much higher than at similar prisons.

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Inspectors were concerned to find that:

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Violence towards staff and between prisoners was very high, although levels had recently begun to fall; There had been seven self-inflicted deaths since the 2014 inspection, with five in the past 12 months; Over half (53%) of prisoners said it was easy to get illicit drugs in the jail; Most residential wings were dirty and dilapidated and the infestation of cockroaches noted in the 2014 inspection was still present; The regime for prisoners had been heavily restricted for much of the past two years, mainly due to the prison being understaffed; The importance of work, training and education was not given a high enough priority across the prison and few prisoners attended; At least 50% of prisoners were locked in their cells during the day; and Staff shortages had affected work to prepare prisoners for release, and offender supervisor contact with prisoners was limited because staff were drawn away to other duties.

Inspectors were, however, pleased to find that: Relationships between staff and prisoners were reasonably good and over two-thirds of prisoners said that staff treated them respectfully; and much good work was done to support prisoners being released, but even with creditable efforts being made, a third were released homeless or to temporary accommodation.

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“However, if these and other improvements are to take hold, we believe it is essential that the energetic and committed leadership of HMP Bristol is allowed to build on the foundations it has laid. All too often, we see that changes in leadership have contributed to a lack of direction and a decline in performance. There is no reason why, with increases in staff, welldirected investment and consistent leadership, Bristol should not deliver better outcomes for prisoners in the future.”

HMYOI Werrington – improvements in safety evident HMYOI Werrington had made progress, reduced levels of violence, and was doing some innovative work with the boys it held, said Peter Clarke, Chief Inspector of Prisons. Today he published the report of an unannounced inspection of the young offender institution near Stoke-on-Trent.

HMYOI Werrington holds just under 130 boys aged 15 to 18. At its last inspection in 2015, inspectors reported concerns about safety, but in all other respects, outcomes for boys held there were reasonably good or better.

Inspectors also indicated confidence that the management team would improve safety. This more recent inspection found that inspectors’ optimism was justified and the institution was now a safer place.

Inspectors were pleased to find that:

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Reception arrangements remained reasonably good and most boys felt safe on arrival;

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Safeguarding and child protection arrangements remained sound, based on strong links with the local authority;

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Managers and staff were working hard to reduce violence, with evidence of some success;

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Force and segregation were being used less;

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Behaviour management initiatives were focused on motivating individual boys to behave well, rather than being based solely on sanctions;

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The quality of the accommodation was adequate, although access to showers and telephones was limited;

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Relationships between staff and boys were improving and most engagement was good, although some poor behaviour went unchallenged;

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Time out of cell for boys was reasonable and most had access to a well-planned curriculum in learning and skills;

Peter Clarke said: “At HMP Bristol, it became very clear to us that many of the poor outcomes were directly related to chronic staff shortages and a history of underinvestment in the prison. This had coincided with a deluge of illicit drugs, fuelling violence, debt, self-harm and physical and mental illness among prisoners. The lack of staff and the poor physical environment on the wings had merely added to the problems. Despite these enormous challenges, there were grounds for thinking that improvement would soon be seen. More staff were due to arrive at Bristol, and there were plans to improve conditions in some of the units. In fact, there were credible plans for improvement in many areas of prison life and early indications that these plans were having an impact. Violence had reduced in the past few months and there were signs that new psychoactive substances were becoming less prevalent.”

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Ofsted assessed learning, skills and work provision as good overall;

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Resettlement services remained solid and boys were positive about the help they received from case workers; and

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Release planning was generally satisfactory.

Inspectors were concerned that although levels of violence had decreased at Werrington, they still remained too high and further work was necessary. Work to promote equality and diversity needed further improvement.

HMP Coldingley – a generally safe jail providing good training opportunities for prisoners HMP Coldingley offered good work, training, education and resettlement opportunities for the men it held, said Peter Clarke, Chief Inspector of Prisons. Some of the older wings, however, were in urgent need of refurbishment, he added. Today he published the report of an unannounced inspection of the training and resettlement prison in Surrey.

HMP Coldingley held just over 500 men, nearly all of whom were serving long sentences. The prison aimed to provide opportunities for men to develop workbased and educational skills and had a well-founded reputation for delivering a full regime of work, training and education. At its last inspection in April 2013, inspectors found that the prison was safe and delivering reasonably good work, training, education and resettlement provision, though there were concerns about other aspects. At this more recent inspection, more men said they felt unsafe, which inspectors considered reflected an increase in the use of illegal drugs.

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Inspectors were pleased to find that:

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and function. At its last inspection in 2014, inspectors found that the prison was doing some good work to reform and resettle those it held but that some aspects of safety needed to improve. This more recent inspection found that the prison continued to do reasonably well, and had become safer.

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Staff-prisoner relationships were reasonably strong and health care provision was good;

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Time out of cell was better than inspectors usually see;

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There had been no self-inflicted deaths since the last inspection, levels of selfharm were low and care for vulnerable men was generally good;

Inspectors were pleased to find that:

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Ofsted rated learning and skills provision as good overall, all men could be purposefully engaged in work, training or education and the outcomes were generally good;

•

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The quality of work to resettle prisoners back into the community was generally good, particularly for higher risk men; and

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There was a good range of offending behaviour courses, as well as generally good contact with offender supervisors and a high number of men moved to open prisons each month.

Peter Clarke said: “Werrington, like other young offender institutions, faces some tough challenges and works with boys who can be very difficult. The institution, however, continues to do well. It was well led, with coherent, innovative plans and initiatives helping to create a much more positive ethos in the institution than we see elsewhere.

The priorities for Werrington include further reductions in violence and work to sustain the resilience of the staff group so that they can build upon the progress they have made.”

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However, inspectors were concerned to find that:

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In a survey, over half of men reported that it was easy to get drugs in the jail and the need for a comprehensive drug strategy should be a priority;

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While levels of violence overall were not high, some incidents had been serious, including a homicide, and prison managers had been slow to respond to some of the challenges;

•

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Night sanitation arrangements were fundamentally disrespectful and the fabric of the older wings (A to D) was decrepit; and Work around equality and diversity was under-developed and in particular there was a need to analyse and understand negative perceptions of black, Asian and minority ethnic prisoners.

HMP Preston – a reasonably good prison that could improve still further HMP Preston was better than many other local jails and could make further progress, said Peter Clarke, Chief Inspector of Prisons. Today he published the report of an unannounced inspection of the local jail in Lancashire.

Parts of HMP Preston date from the 18th century. It holds just over 800 adult male prisoners, drawn mainly from the North West. The prison’s location embedded in the local community and its role serving that community gave clarity to its purpose

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•

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•

• • • •

• •

Generally prisoners received a positive induction when they arrived, despite the poor environment of the reception area; Violence was not increasing, unlike in many similar prisons, but there was the potential for more effective work in this area; A confident staff group ensured a generally calm prison and vulnerable prisoners were now receiving better support; Although case management of those at risk of self-harm was mixed, prisoners in crisis said they felt supported by staff and mental health input was good; The management of security was generally sound, with an improving approach to reducing the supply of illegal drugs; Prisoners were very positive about the value of the incentives and privileges scheme to promote good behaviour; Arrangements in the segregation unit were adequate and prisoners were not held there for long; Although the amount of time prisoners spent out of their cells had deteriorated, 85% of prisoners were still engaged in either work, training or education; Ofsted judged the effectiveness of learning, skills and work to be ‘good’ overall; and Offender management work was efficient, public protection arrangements were robust and the community rehabilitation company and resettlement work in general gave prisoners being released significant support.

Inspectors were, however, concerned to find that:

•

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There had been four self-inflicted deaths since the last inspection, although levels of self-harm were lower than inspectors usually see at similar prisoners; Living conditions were variable and access to basic amenities needed to be better; Not enough in the prison was being done to promote equality; Although staff were generally experienced and treated prisoners decently, there was some poor practice and culture that needed to be challenged; and Health care provision had deteriorated.

RSQM –special offers for new criminal justice sector applicants The Restorative Justice Council (RJC) is offering a limited number of organisations the chance to apply for the Restorative Service Quality Mark (RSQM) at a reduced price. As an independent quality mark, the RSQM allows organisations to demonstrate to commissioners, partners and the public they are delivering safe, quality restorative practice.

This year, with the support of the Ministry of Justice, the RJC is offering a reduced rate to 20 organisations working in the criminal justice sector of £3,000 plus VAT – a saving of £1,000 on the standard fee.

Cambridgeshire Constabulary’s restorative justice delivery manager, the RSQM and the support provided by the RJC’s assessors allowed her team to “develop a clear case supervision policy” that helped them to ensure the “best quality restorative justice to all victims in Cambridgeshire.”

offenders. Achieving the RSQM represented the next important step we needed in our journey to broaden the use of restorative approaches throughout the whole prison, as well as promoting its use throughout the wider HMPS estate”, he said.

In the fast-changing rehabilitation landscape, the RSQM can offer

Team members from RSQM accredited Northumbria Community Rehabilitation Company

Team members from RSQM accredited St Helens Youth Justice Service

Below, a few awardees from the criminal justice sector including the police, the prison estate, community rehabilitation companies and youth justice services - explain how the RSQM has helped them.

With Avon and North Somerset and North Wales Police also holding the award, the RSQM is a valuable addition to police forces using restorative justice. For Lynsey Brown,

The benefits of the RSQM are also already being felt in prisons.

Michael Hogg, supervising prison officer, safer custody – violence reduction & restorative justice team at HMP Durham, believes that completing the RSQM earlier this year pushed HMP Durham, who have been delivering restorative approaches since 2012, to the next level.

“We greatly value the powerful impact restorative justice can have on both victims and

CRCs structure and focus in their victim-awareness work, and the ability to provide better results for all. For example, Gary Connor, Northumbria CRC’s operational lead for restorative justice, says that the RSQM has enabled his organisation to embed victim awareness work throughout their processes.

“There is a definite sense amongst all those involved that we are now providing improved services for victims and offenders

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as a result,” he told the RJC after his organisation completed the award earlier in the year.

A number of youth offending services are already enjoying the benefits of holding the RSQM. For instance, Mayhew Haynes, Coventry Youth Offending Service’s operations manager, called the RSQM “a great achievement for the whole service and a valued reward for all of the good work undertaken in developing and delivering restorative justice intervention”.

Similarly, Janine Saleh, St Helens Youth Justice Service’s Safer Communities and Youth Justice Service Manager, told the RJC that she greatly valued the “reassurance” that the RSQM provided around the quality of her organisation’s restorative justice work and that the process enabled them to “think more broadly about restorative practices, such as how it could support victims in complex and sensitive cases”. Elsewhere, Deirdre Leask, an advanced practitioner at Southwark YOS, explained that her organisation first applied for the RSQM to “set themselves a target of achieving best practice in their restorative work with victims and young offenders.” Furthermore, for Lindsay Leech, Stoke Youth Offending Service’s Innovation and Policy Coordinator, argues that the extra support offered to staff and volunteer teams across the board has enabled them to improve their restorative justice delivery.

If you would be interested in learning about the potential benefits the RSQM could offer your organisation, more information can be found on the RJC’s website here.

Demand is high, so please contact the RJC as soon as possible if you would like to register your interest for this limited offer by emailing standards@restorativejustice. org.uk, or calling the RJC on 020 7831 5700.

the Custodial Review

News from the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody The Chair of the Panel, Juliet Lyon CBE said: “We welcome some small improvement in the bleak figures for self-inflicted deaths. Although too soon to represent a trend and subject to revision as those deaths awaiting further information are clarified and classified, the figures reflect considerable efforts to try and make custody safer.Very high self-harm and assault levels are testimony to just how much still needs to be done. Now, as the painstaking work of repair and reform continues, we cannot stress enough the importance of establishing safeguards and mechanisms for government accountability and effective means to ensure that obligations to protect life are met.”

The IAP news bulletin was published on Thursday 27th July 2017 to coincide with, and help to disseminate, the July 2017 quarterly figures on deaths in custody, released by the Ministry of Justice. The bulletin also gives an update on the work of the IAP as well as some of the work going on in wider circles on deaths in custody.

“In the ten months since I took up my appointment as chair of the panel, I have met prisoners and prison staff, patients and clinical staff and those in police custody suites, Ministers, operational leads, regulatory and investigatory bodies and wider stakeholders.

While any deaths in health, immigration and police custody remain areas of concern, the Panel is particularly disturbed by the sharp increase in deaths in the prison estate over the last four years. We are working closely with colleagues in HM Prisons and Probation Service in their efforts to reverse the trend.

The announcements in the White Paper of improved staff:prisoner ratios and a greater emphasis on meaningful interaction were encouraging as was strengthening independent oversight and the inclusion of a number of other recommendations from the Harris review, but continued focus is required given the disappointing absence of any prison-related legislation in this Parliamentary session.”

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

All articles will appear on the Custodial website and will appear in the magazine subject to the Publishers discretion.

Approx length 1500 to 2000 words. We are also pleased to accept news and information.

Please contact the Publisher, Steve Mitchell at, stevem@custodialreview.co.uk or on

01234 348878 for more details.

the Custodial Review

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“The level of change in departments, and the wider political environment, makes the primary role of the IAP – providing advice to Ministers on reducing deaths in state custody – both challenging and important. I am determined to make sure the IAP makes a significant contribution to the substantive efforts everyone is making in this area, and this means acting strategically and being selective about where we can help and advise. We are grateful to the 60 women in custody and the 45 expert board members and stakeholders who responded with detailed submissions to our call for advice on how best to prevent suicide and self-harm following the deaths of 12 women in 2016, the highest toll since 2004. More information on this and other areas of the IAP’s work can be found later in the bulletin.”

“I am clear that the IAP must listen directly to families and those in the criminal justice, immigration and health systems. We will engage more closely with bereaved families in the coming year. Open conversations with people in custody will continue to inform all the work we undertake. I hope that you find this bulletin informative, and I look forward to working with you as we seek to reduce the number and rate of deaths in all forms of state custody. As always, if you have any questions, please contact me or the Secretariat.”

Juliet Lyon CBE. Chair of the IAP The bulletin can be read in full at http://iapdeathsincustody.independent. gov.uk/news

Stopping drones, the logical way

by Andy Loakes of PDA Electronics

Drones are increasingly being used to get contraband into prisons. Adept drone pilots can deliver the contraband to designated cell windows or pre-designated drop off points with ease. Until now the solutions to stop these aerial deliveries have proved difficult and labour intensive.

PDA Electronics Ltd however have just introduced a new system called REPULSE® This system produces unique interference signals on both 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz. This creates a bubble that extends over 1km in front of the unit. In effect it creates an electronic ‘no fly zone’ which will defeat all commercially available drones’ attempts to penetrate it. Any drone entering this field will be immediately “repulsed” and the drone is forced to return to its take off point.

This enables areas, such as prisons, to be fully protected against the wide range of commercially available drones. Unlike many other solutions the Repulse system is designed for continuous operation and therefore offers a 24/7 protection.

Until now authorities have tried to protect areas of concern by using geofencing which involves identifying areas as no fly zones on the electronic mapping the drones use. However it only took a matter of hours to find a software method of removing all these geo-fenced areas from the mapping the drones use. To prove this PDA has (with permission) flown over these protected areas using this ‘hacked’ mapping and videoed the trips to prove that flying into geo-fenced areas is possible. Interestingly these no fly zones only apply to the mapping used by most drones and do not appear on

the Civil Aviation Authority mapping. All UK prisons have now been geo-fenced by drone manufacturers in their flight mapping.

An alternative to the software map hack method is to place aluminium foil over the top of the drone body to prevent the reception of GPS signals. This method makes the drone more difficult to control as there is no automatic correction due to wind issues.

Given the number of prison establishments still being targeted by drones it would seem that the criminals have already discovered these techniques.

The PDA Repulse system fully protects an area from both these methods that enable drone incursions.

In some countries the emphasis has been on detecting drones but what use is that?

Knowing that a threat is coming still doesn’t deal with the problem. It’s like having a camera in your house and you watch a criminal enter your property and ransack it. The only real solution is area denial protection. This applies even more so if it’s a terrorists attack when the drone could be carrying either explosives or chemical weapons.

The basic Repulse unit is housed in a compact and rugged Peli-case which only weighs just over 2kg (including the battery) This makes it ideal for quick deployment . The internal battery provides up to six hours of operation.

For longer or more permanent deployment, the unit can be powered by a larger battery or a 12VDC mains powered supply. Its low powered transmissions are designed so that there is virtually no interference to anyone using a WIFI system nearby so allowing the system to be deployed in areas close to housing and offices.

The Repulse system is now being considered for the protection of aircraft and airfields in many countries outside the UK. “Why not the UK?” you may ask. Well, the CAA have deemed it illegal to interfere with any aircraft in flight and then went on to designate a drone as an aircraft thereby creating a dilemma. In the UK if the drone is less than 7kg in weight (which covers most commercially available drones) it can fly where it likes as far as the CAA is concerned. It is time to bring legislation up to date to allow the use of defence systems such as Repulse for this new form of threat to both security and safety.

For more information contact PDA Electronics Ltd,Tel: 01494 -257911, email: sales@pdaelectronics.com or visit www.pdaelectronics.com

the Custodial Review

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