In this month's edition...
Clinks held a launch event for our new report on the impact of Covid-19 on the voluntary sector working in criminal justice. At the event we heard directly from organisations about their experience of the pandemic and hosted a panel discussion with members of the #NeverMoreNeeded Campaign on the sustainability of the voluntary sector.
Our other work includes:
Women
- Clinks hosted an event – attended by over 100 people - on behalf of the Ministry of Justice to update voluntary organisations working with women in the criminal justice system about the plans for Residential Women’s Centres and to consult organisations on their views.
- The Clinks and Birth Companions survey on the support available for pregnant women and new mothers under probation supervision is still live. It takes just 10 minutes and will help build the evidence base on what support is available.
Service user involvement
- We are also holding an event on 10th December 2020 focused on the importance of diversity in service user involvement and how to meaningfully embed diversity into your work. Sign up here.
The Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group (RR3)
- The RR3 held its latest quarterly meeting where the group received an update on the how the government are taking forward commitments on community sentences made in its recent white paper on sentencing. The group also discussed how to ensure voluntary sector input into the Reducing Reoffending Strategy being developed. Notes will be published shortly.
Spending Review 2020 HM Treasury has announced its 2020 Spending Review which determines how much money will be spent on public services. It announced funding for a number of initiatives that will impact the criminal justice system and people in contact with it, including funding to support prison leavers at risk of homelessness into private rental tenancies and £87 million of capital funding for long-term accommodation for rough sleepers. There will also be funding to support cross-departmental working including a £46 million joint outcomes fund to establish multi-agency partnerships for testing interventions for people affected by multiple disadvantage and a further £20 million for various departments to work together and test ways to improve social inclusion for prison leavers. In addition, there is funding for 18,000 new prison places and £500k to for the ‘grand avenues’ pilot which is aimed at addressing intergenerational offending.
Clinks publications
The impact of Covid-19 on the voluntary sector in criminal justice Voluntary organisations provide vital support to people in the criminal justice system, but they are facing significant pressure as a result of the pandemic. Our report shows the difficult choices they are having to make. It is the result of information collected during the pandemic from hundreds of voluntary organisations working in the criminal justice system. A full and equal partnership between these organisations and prisons, probation services and central government is critical to creating a fairer and more effective post-pandemic criminal justice system, significantly improving the outcomes of people in the system and the communities they are a part of.
Feedback to HMPPS on its management of Covid-19 The Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group (RR3) special interest group on Covid-19 has submitted feedback to HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) on its management of the pandemic. The paper particularly highlights how the voluntary sector has struggled with the quality of information it has received from government during the pandemic. This has led to voluntary organisations, working under extraordinary pressure, to continually push for basic operational information they need to deliver their essential services. The paper makes recommendations aimed at improving how the sector and the government work together towards common goals. The paper recommends that HMPPS share with voluntary organisations information it issues to its own staff, at the same time and in the same format.
Clinks Thinks Survey Clinks thinks the voluntary sector’s role as a campaigner should be protected, allowing it to speak freely on behalf of service users and communities. In our work to influence government policy, should this be a priority? We want our advocacy work to accurately reflect the experiences of voluntary organisations working in criminal justice. Take just eight minutes to share your thoughts on our current policy priorities, and tell us what else you would like to see Clinks advocate for on behalf of the voluntary sector working in criminal justice. You will help inform our future influencing activity and a new edition of Clinks Thinks which we aim to publish in 2021. The survey is open until 20th December. Read more about this work here.
Racism and the criminal justice system
Entry into the youth justice system (PDF) The Justice Committee has published a report from its inquiry into children and young people in custody. Clinks submitted written evidence with EQUAL and Barrow Cadbury Trust and gave oral evidence. We are pleased the report has cited concerns we raised about children from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities being excluded from diversionary opportunities. We also highlighted concern that the ‘explain or reform’ principle for identifying and addressing areas of racial disproportionality in the criminal justice system (as recommended by the Lammy review) has not been sufficiently implemented. The report asks the Ministry of Justice to conduct detailed research into why BAME communities are so disproportionately represented throughout the justice system, what action is being taken and what resources have been allocated to address this.
Black people, racism and human rights The Joint Committee on Human Rights has published the report from its inquiry, ‘Black people, racism and human rights’. It finds that the human rights of black people are not equally protected. Clinks submitted evidence to the inquiry which focused on the treatment of black people in the criminal justice system. The Committee’s report highlights our call for bolder action and leadership to address the systemic racism within the criminal justice system which leads to racial disparities. The report criticises the lack of progress in taking forward the Lammy review recommendations and calls for them be implemented as a matter of priority. We welcome the Committee’s recommendation for the Office of Civil Society to do more to support black-led voluntary sector organisations.
Women
Stories of Injustice (PDF) Becky Clarke and Dr Kathryn Chadwick from Manchester Metropolitan University have published a research report on women convicted under joint enterprise laws. There are at least 109 women convicted in England and Wales under joint enterprise. Most are serving long or indeterminate prison sentences with an average prison sentence of 15 years. The overwhelming majority (90%) engaged in no violence in the events related to their joint enterprise conviction. Almost half were not even present at the scene of the offence. Furthermore almost half of the women disclosed that their daily lives had had been marked by domestic violence. The report found that the decisions at the charging and prosecutions stages that led up to their convictions were underpinned by class stigma, racism and gendered narratives.
Statistics on Women and the Criminal Justice System 2019 The Ministry of Justice has published its latest two-yearly statistics on women in the criminal justice system. The publications shows that - compared to men - women continue to be underrepresented throughout the criminal justice system and typically come into contact with the system for more minor offences. TV licence evasion continues to be the most common conviction for women and theft from shops the most common indictable conviction. The report also shows that women were more likely to be recorded as having a number of complex needs compared to men. For example higher proportions of women in contact with liaison and diversion services had suspected alcohol addictions, financial needs, were abuse victims and had mental health needs when compared to men in contact with those services.
Safety in custody
The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman annual report 2019/20: Deaths in custody and Approved Premises (PDF) The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) has published its annual report. The PPO investigated 311 deaths in custody and approved premises during 2019/20. Amongst these, there were a number of cases where people struggled to have access to appropriate primary or mental healthcare. The report also raises concerns over drug-related deaths in approved premises, highlighting insufficient focus by staff on the risk of relapse and overdose for people recently released from prison. The PPO also dealt with 4,686 complaints from people in the criminal justice system. They received their first complaint regarding the inappropriate use of PAVA incapacitant spray, finding in favour of the complainant and expressing concerns over the management of the wider roll-out of PAVA in prisons by Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service.
Safety in custody: quarterly update to June 2020 HM Prison and Probation Service has published Safety in custody statistics on deaths in prison custody to September 2020, and assaults and self-harm to June 2020. Self-harm trends in prisons differ considerably by gender. The number of incidents in male establishments decreased slightly, from 49,440 to 49,223 in the 12 months to June 2020. The number of incidents in the female estate increased by 6% in the previous 12 months. From March 2020 to the end of September 2020, 26 prisoners have died having tested positive for Covid-19 or where there was a clinical assessment that Covid-19 was a contributory factor in their deaths. These deaths occurred before July 2020. There were no additional such deaths between July 2020 and September 2020.
Exploring substance use in prisons Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) has published a paper exploring substance use in prisons, drawing on interviews with staff and residents across five male prisons. The report finds that people take drugs to escape from the monotony of prison life and a lack of hope over their future. It describes the sense of hopelessness amongst prison staff in managing the impact of drugs, especially psychoactive substances. The report is critical of approaches that focus on limiting supply of drugs and punishing people for substance use. It instead calls for a much greater emphasis on understanding why people take drugs and recommends that HMPPS provides leadership to develop a rehabilitative culture in prison, with greater provision of purposeful activity and access to psychosocial treatment.
Probation services
A thematic review of the Exceptional Delivery Model arrangements in probation services in response to the Covid-19 pandemic Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) published a thematic review on the response of probation services to Covid-19. The report finds probation services responded well with good multi-agency work particularly with local authorities to ensure emergency accommodation during the national lockdown. Staff adapted relatively well but the nature of their work made home-working especially difficult. Increased use of technology was beneficial for some people under probation supervision. However others felt short phone calls did not give them adequate support especially as lockdown led to a reduction in services such as mental health and drug and alcohol provision. HMIP highlighted the need to turn attention now to tackling backlogs and longer-term problems.
Public services and procurement
A critical juncture for public services: lessons from Covid-19 (PDF) The Public Services Committee published a report outlining key principles for public service reform based on its inquiry into lessons from Covid-19. Clinks submitted evidence to the inquiry which highlighted how historic underfunding and siloed working in the criminal justice system had affected its ability to respond to this crisis. We welcome the Committee’s recommendations for procurement guidance that ensures public service commissioners prioritise social value when contracting services from charities; for the Ministry of Justice to develop guidance on how prisons and probation should work with homelessness, mental health and addiction services to support people with complex needs and for people with lived experience to be more involved in the design and delivery of public services.
Investigation into government procurement during the COVID-19 pandemic The National Audit Office (NAO) conducted an investigation into procurement by government departments and arm’s-length bodies during the pandemic. By 31st July 2020, over 8,600 contracts (worth £18 billion) related to the pandemic response had been awarded. 86% of those contracts were awarded by the Department of Health and Social Care and its national bodies and most were for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). NAO found that documentation of how the risks of procuring suppliers without competition and how those risks had been mitigated was inadequate. It was also found that some contracts were awarded retrospectively after work had already been carried out, that there was a lack of a clear audit trail to support key procurement decisions, and that many contracts had not been published in a timely manner.
The sentencing white paper: alternatives to custody and ‘tougher’ community sentences Will Downs, Policy Officer, looks at the provision for community sentences set out in A Smarter Approach to Sentencing, the government’s recent proposals for sentencing reform. The paper proposes changes to the availability and delivery of community sentences, giving more people the opportunity to address the underlying causes of their convictions in the community, rather than in prison. However, there is a real risk that the potential positive impacts of measures such as problem-solving courts will be far outweighed by measures to make community sentences ‘tougher’. Without appropriate support in the community, stricter curfews and increased tagging are likely to lead to more people breaching the terms of their licence and returning to a prison system that is underfunded and overcrowded.
A window of opportunity: Pregnancy and maternity in the community Zahra Wynne, Health and Justice Policy and Development Officer outlines the collaborative project between Clinks and Birth Companions to understand the needs of pregnant women, new mothers and babies in the community affected by the criminal justice system. With approximately 600 pregnancies and 100 births occurring annually in prison, there have recently been positive policy developments addressing the needs of pregnant women and recent mothers in prison. However, little is known about the needs of pregnant women and recent mothers who are serving community sentences or under probation supervision. This blog includes details of how to get involved with the work that Clinks and Birth Companions are doing, as part of the Health and Wellbeing Alliance, and how this work will be used to influence decision-makers in both health and justice policy.
Accommodation funding available as part of Covid-19 response In this blog Nicola Drinkwater, Policy Manager, looks at a government scheme to support people at risk of homelessness during the Covid-19 pandemic that has been re-launched. As part of this scheme the Ministry of Justice is seeking suppliers with access to immediately available accommodation stock to accommodate individuals released from prison and at risk of being homeless. The temporary accommodation scheme has been available to eligible prison leavers from 22nd October, closing to new entrants on 21st January 2021. Individuals will receive accommodation support for up to 56 nights at a nightly rate of up to £65. The last individuals aided through the scheme can be supported until 18th March 2021. The scheme’s objective is to support an individual to move from temporary accommodation to long-term settled accommodation.
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Written monthly by...
Clinks' policy officers, Will Downs and Lauren Nickolls
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