In this month's edition...
Clinks’ CEO Anne Fox has responded to the recent announcements from the government on additional prison places and a sentencing review. “Behind the headlines we hope there’ll be real time and thought given to the impact and implications of these announcements. We think the Ministry of Justice should develop a clear strategy for reducing the number of people in prison by increasing investment in preventative services, diverting people away from the criminal justice system and expanding the use of alternatives to custody. Voluntary organisations and the people with lived experience they support should be part of this process. We'll continue to take this message to the government alongside the voluntary sector which has real expertise around these issues.”
Clinks, in partnership with the Prisoner Education Trust, coordinated a roundtable with voluntary sector organisations, prison governors and senior officials from Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service to share experiences of the recently rolled-out Prison Education Dynamic Purchasing System in order to inform the design of the dynamic framework under the new probation model.
Jess Mullen, Head of Policy and Communications at Clinks, was interviewed about the probation review for the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. Click here to listen to the programme from 2:35:15, and catch Jess talking about the importance of ensuring grants are available in the new commissioning model, particularly for small and specialist voluntary sector organisations.
Clinks has also written a briefing on commissioning principles for the future probation model which we have submitted to Ministry of Justice officials who are responsible for the design of the new probation system. The briefing will be published on our website in due course.
HM Inspectorate of Prisons is consulting on its expectations (criteria used to inspect) for the adult women’s prison estate. Clinks is holding a consultation event in London and one in Manchester to enable our members to inform our response. For more information and to book your place, please visit our events page here.
New cabinet announced Prime Minister Boris Johnson has appointed new ministers to the cabinet. The Rt Hon Robert Buckland QC MP, previously Minister of State for Justice, succeeds Rt Hon David Gauke MP as the new Secretary of State for Justice. Lucy Frazer QC MP is now Minister of State for Justice, her responsibilities include prison operations, probation services, women and health. Edward Argar MP remains Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice but his portfolio has changed substantially and his responsibilities now include court reform and sentencing. Responsibility for youth justice and race disparity now sits with Wendy Morton MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State. We are writing to relevant Ministers to welcome them and advocate on behalf of Clinks and our members. We have also written a blog with more details of the changes, read it here.
Criminal record reform Rt Hon. David Guake MP, former Secretary of State for Justice, has announced plans to reform criminal record disclosures to improve employability for people with convictions. Currently, a sentence of more than four years - even if the offence was committed as a child - must be disclosed to employers for the rest of a person’s life. Under the new proposals, individuals will no longer have to disclose past convictions to employers after a specified time period. This time period will be shorter for those who served community sentences and short custodial sentences. Following consultation with stakeholders, a further announcement will be made on the exact length of these periods. It was announced that these changes were intended to be backed up by new legislation, however following a reshuffle of ministers it is unclear whether this is still the intention.
Smarter sentences, safer streets In a recent speech, Rt Hon. David Gauke MP, former Secretary of State for Justice, reiterated his support for moving away from short custodial sentences and exploring a presumption against their use. He cited evidence published by the Ministry of Justice in July this year, which found that sentencing individuals to short term custody was associated with higher proven reoffending rates – and a higher average number of reoffences - than if they had instead received community orders. This adds to the body of evidence which shows community orders to be more effective than short custodial sentences. Following the recent reshuffle, Ministerial responsibility for sentencing reform now falls under the portfolio of Edward Aragar MP, Under Secretary of State for Justice, and we hope it continues to be a key priority for the department.
Clinks publications
RR3 Special Interest Group on employment support for people in contact with the criminal justice system A special interest group convened by the Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group (RR3) has published recommendations for the government on employment support for people in contact with the criminal justice system. The recommendations include: a cross-government approach to address multiple disadvantage; a strategy to address the employment needs of people in the community with convictions; and commissioning of ongoing, wraparound support from the voluntary sector. The RR3 is a group of senior experts from the voluntary sector that exists to provide a key interface between the Ministry of Justice and the sector. It can convene special interest groups on specific areas of policy to provide advice to the government.
Arts
Consultation on Arts Council England's strategy Arts Council England is calling for responses to the final draft of its 10-year strategy, which sets out its vision for 2020–2030, along with new guiding principles for investment in arts and culture. We are delighted that the final draft strategy places outcomes for people and communities centre stage, embraces the impact of creativity on health and wellbeing, and prioritises inclusivity and relevance. We are particularly pleased that it identifies the criminal justice system as a key partner in achieving its ambitious goals. Clinks and the National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance submitted a response to the last round of the consultation, and will be responding again. The deadline for responses is 23rd September 2019.
Prisons
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons: Annual Report 2018–19 The annual report of HM Chief Inspector of Prisons highlights continued concerns about safety in men’s prisons. High levels of violence and staff shortages have left prisoners spending increasing amounts of time locked in cells, unable to access education and training opportunities. People from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds continue to report more negatively about their experience in prisons and treatment by staff. Despite this, equality and diversity work was found to have lapsed or been underdeveloped in many prisons. The inspectorate found examples of good practice in several men’s prisons to promote family contact but recommended more innovative work in this area for women who are often held further away from their homes.
What do you need to make the best use of your time in prison? (PDF) The Prisoner Policy Network, run by the Prison Reform Trust, has published its second report. The network engaged with over 1,250 prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families on their thoughts about what is needed to make best use of time served. The responses highlight the need for prisons to promote personal growth as an end in itself not just a means to reduce reoffending, and to increase the breadth of education, employment and training on offer. The report makes a series of recommendations, including a review of prison wages to bring them in line with the rising costs of canteen items and phone calls, and for more prisoner-led initiatives including greater involvement of prisoners in decision making and scrutiny functions.
New incentives policy framework A new incentives policy framework has been issued for prisons which is designed to provide a system of privileges that incentivise prisoners to follow the prison rules and engage in rehabilitation. It can be taken away for poor behaviour. The new framework is intended to give Governors greater freedom to tailor the system to their prison, but for consistency requires a core set of incentives including higher rates of pay, additional time out of cell, and extra and improved visits. Clinks submitted a response to a stakeholder consultation on the framework and we are disappointed to see visit lengths and improved visit surroundings being used as incentives, especially given the growing recognition of the importance of family ties for people in prison and their families.
Independent, Effective, Humane: The case for funding charities in the prison system NPC’s latest report, produced in partnership with Clinks, details the challenges charities are facing in prisons and makes the case for independent funding of their work. The report outlines that some independent funders are moving away from funding work in prisons because of the challenges getting access to, and delivering services in a system that is in crisis. However, this kind of funding is essential, as the services charities deliver and the changes they create are hugely important to individuals and society, and are often only possible because of their independence from the system itself. NPC go on to set out some overarching principles for being a ‘good funder’ in the criminal justice system, including providing core funding for organisations; supporting work that is collaborative with prisoners; and having quality-focused measures.
Blueprints for the Treatment and Throughcare of Prisoners with Histories of Drug Dependence The Ex-Prisoners Recovering From Addiction (EPRA) working group has produced blueprints for a model of abstinence-focused prison treatment underpinned by psychosocial support from counsellors and recovery workers with lived experience. The blueprints recommend dedicated units within prisons that provide secure environments for initiating recovery journeys. It also highlights the importance of support networks on release and the need for specialist community accommodation that can offer residential drug misuse treatment to enable individuals to continue their recovery journey. Reflecting the greater levels of more complex needs and experiences of trauma for women in prison, the blueprints also recommend that programmes be required to take these needs into account, that prison staff be trauma aware and that residential treatment services be women-only.
Experiencing long term imprisonment from young adulthood: identity, adaptation and penal legitimacy (PDF) Recent research has been published by Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service on the experience of serving 15 years or longer in prison, for those who were under the age of 25 at the time of conviction. Both men and women in these circumstances reported missing someone and worrying about people outside of prison as a severe problem. Women also reported not feeling able to completely trust anyone in prison and men felt as though the best years of their lives had been lost. Those in the early stages felt these more severely. The report recommends more care for prisoners in the early stages of a sentence such as enhanced visits and additional support managing feelings of shame, remorse and grief.
Employment and welfare
National Partnership Agreement for employment and welfare support in custody and the community 2019 to 2022 The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) have published a national partnership agreement which sets out the overarching obligations and responsibilities of both departments in providing employment and welfare support to those in the criminal justice system. Some of the commitments include for DWP to ensure that trained Prison Work Coaches are in place to support prisoners with Universal Credit claims prior to release; for MoJ to ensure that probation providers support prisoners to get identification and open a bank account; and for MoJ to ensure that plans for release are, where appropriate, shared with DWP.
Youth justice
International Human Rights Standards and Youth Justice The latest Academic Insight by the HM Inspectorate of Probation reviews the key international human rights standards which apply to youth justice. The paper found a strong correspondence between the core provisions of the international human rights standards and what are known to be vital ingredients of effective practice. It argues that observing human rights standards does not conflict with effective youth justice practice and doing so would be entirely consistent with the principles of ‘what works’ and evidence-based approaches. However, as the report outlines, consistent concerns have been raised about the incompatibility between current youth justice policy and practice and the standards.
Evaluation of homelessness services to young people in the secure estate The Welsh government commissioned research to evaluate the Welsh National Pathway for Homelessness Services to Children and Young People in the Secure Estate. The research found limited awareness about the Pathway and where the responsibilities of various agencies lie. Short sentences posed challenges for stakeholders to ensure appropriate accommodation was in place for release. The greatest barrier found to the delivery of the Pathway was the lack of supported accommodation and keeping supported accommodation placements open while awaiting release. The report recommends awareness training for the Pathway; co-locating agencies or basing individual caseworkers in partner agencies; a dedicated officer to oversee the Pathway from start to finish; and to increase the provision of supported accommodation.
Sentencing
Identified needs of offenders in custody and the community from the Offender Assessment System (PDF) The Ministry of Justice has published a paper on the needs of those serving short and long custodial sentences, and community orders based on information recorded in the Offender Assessment System (OASys). Analysis of the OASys database showed those serving sentences of 12 months or less had a higher proportion of needs – including accommodation and employability needs - than those serving longer sentences and those on community orders. Those on recall had the highest prevalence of accommodation (72%), employability (78%), lifestyle (93%) and attitudes needs (93%), compared with all other custodial and community sentence types. Women in custody were also found to have a higher prevalence of accommodation, drugs, alcohol and employability needs than men.
Criminal records
Double Discrimination? Unlock has published a report on the impact of criminal records on people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds. Over three-quarters of those surveyed felt their ethnic background had made the problems they face as a result of their criminal record harder and the overwhelming majority cited employment as one of the problems they faced. The report makes a number of recommendations including for the Home Office to collect data on ethnicity from those undergoing criminal record checks; to create a mechanism where individuals can check which cautions and convictions will appear on criminal record checks; and for the government to introduce ‘fair chance hiring’ practices, including a statutory requirement for all employers to delay any questions about criminal records until the pre-employment stage.
Community models
Sisters in desistance This report by the Khidmat Centre provides a model, based on learning from its resettlement hub in Bradford, for community-based and led solutions to the challenges that Muslim women face on release from prison. The report calls for a concerted, community-led effort to raise awareness of the drivers of women’s offending and factors which can support Muslim women’s desistance journey. The report recommends that providers engage with Muslim women with lived experience of the justice system to build their understanding of the challenges they face and to develop culturally informed services. The report also encourages voluntary sector organisations to pro-actively reach out and involve black, Asian and minority ethnic communities in their work and for commissioners to invest in small community-based interventions.
What is Clinks doing on probation reform? Jess Mullen, Head of Policy and Communications at Clinks, has written a blog outlining what Clinks is doing to respond to the development of the new probation system and ensure the voluntary sector’s role, knowledge and expertise is reflected in its design. Clinks is attending a number of market engagement events, meeting regularly with officials and is a member of the probation programme’s design assurance panel. We also coordinated a round table with officials and the voluntary sector to share experiences of Prison Education Dynamic Purchasing System which is informing the dynamic framework for probation model. We continue to make the case for principles of good commissioning processes that support voluntary organisations to remain resilient, flexible and innovative.
What we learnt from our regional criminal justice forums Natalie Maidment, Clinks’ Area Development Officer for the North East discusses what Clinks has learnt from our regional criminal justice forums. Each Area Development Officer at Clinks hosts three criminal justice forums across the year for voluntary sector organisations in their area. Each forum has a national policy update alongside a variety of insightful guest speakers and opportunities for organisations to showcase their work. It also enables participants to discuss the challenges and opportunities they are currently facing. Participants across all forums are consistently reporting challenges with funding, the changes to probation, and difficulty navigating prisons.
How the voluntary sector are advising government on reducing reoffending This blog by Anne Fox, Chief Executive Officer of Clinks and Chair of the Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group (RR3) explains how the RR3 works with the government to ensure the expertise of the voluntary sector is reflected in policy making and gives an update on the group’s latest work. The group meet quarterly to provide advice and challenge to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) on its policy programmes. The RR3 also set up time-limited special interest groups on particular areas where a need is identified. Anne discusses the latest of these groups, which was set up to provide advice to the government on improving employment support for people in the criminal justice system.
Get involved Become a Member | Follow Clinks | Join Mailing List
Contact Us www.clinks.org | info@clinks.org | 020 7383 0966
Written monthly by...
Clinks' policy officers, Will Downs and Lauren Nickolls
Click here to manage your subscriptions. For assistance, email info@clinks.org
Registered charity: 1074546 | Company limited by guarantee in England & Wales: 3562176
Registered office: Tavis House, 1-6 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9NA
© Clinks, 2019