Clinks Light Lunch | Issue 670 | 5th February 2021

Light Lunch

In this week's edition...

CLINKS BLOG: the latest on the Female Offender Strategy

Clinks is highly disappointed in the plans to expand the women’s prison estate with an additional 500 places to be built into existing prisons. The decision contradicts the intentions of the government’s female offender strategy. In this blog, Policy Officer Lauren Nickolls details why this investment would be more effective at improving outcomes for women and reducing reoffending if it were directed towards community provision and diversionary schemes delivered by women-centred, trauma-informed services. She also gives an update on the progress made towards other commitments in the female offender strategy including piloting residential women’s centres and the development of a national concordat. Read more here

CLINKS RESPONSE: prison education

Clinks submitted written evidence to the Education Select Committee’s inquiry into prison education. Our response focuses on the vital role the voluntary sector plays in delivering education, training and learning support in prison. We recommend increasing access to digital technology in prisons and increasing time out of cells once ‘normal regimes’ are resumed, in order to support education and learning. In addition, our response raises the importance of ensuring there is wide ranging and varied curriculum in prisons. In particular we highlight the need to ensure arts interventions are made available. Increased access to the arts offers engagement opportunities for people from diverse backgrounds and those who may have previously had negative experiences of mainstream classroom based education. Read more here

CLINKS NEWS: Residential Women’s Centres

Clinks facilitated an event on behalf of the Ministry of Justice to update the voluntary sector working in criminal justice about the plans for the Residential Women’s Centre (RWC) pilots announced in the Female Offender Strategy. The notes from this event are now available to read. At the event, the Ministry of Justice presented the draft specification for the RWCs and consulted delegates on four key areas – integrating the RWCs with local services, ensuring a trauma-informed environment, supporting transition into independent accommodation, and meeting the diverse needs of women. The event also provided an opportunity for delegates to ask officials further questions. These questions can be found in Annex A along with their written responses from the Ministry of Justice. Read more here

CLINKS NEWS: Harpreet Kaur joins the team

Hapreet has joined Clinks as a Development Officer, working to strengthen the National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance (NCJAA) network in all regions of the UK and promote the role of arts in criminal justice settings. Prior to joining the NCJAA in 2021, Harpreet has developed a 20-year portfolio career as a researcher, consultant, facilitator, and arts manager, focusing on embedding cultural practice into key areas including equality, diversity and climate justice. Her work has taken her around the globe with funding from Arts Council England, British Council and Creative Europe. Harpreet is a former Powerbrokers International Leadership Programme Fellow. She has lived and worked in Europe, Asia and Australia as an arts manager on projects, events and festivals specialising in community and audience engagement. Meet the team here

CLINKS MEMBER’S NEWS: humane justice

The latest in the Monument Fellowship book series - Humane Justice - published by Khulisa answers the question What role do kindness, hope and compassion play in the criminal justice system? with featured essays, stories, poetry and art from contributors across the criminal justice system. A range of authors including prison residents, people with lived experience, academics, legal experts and practitioners explore enduring debates about the very principles that underpin the system nationally and internationally. The is the fourth in a series of books curated by the Monument Fellowship whose members are: the Centre for Justice Innovation, Clinks, the Diagrama Foundation UK, Khulisa UK, the Koestler Trust, Lemos and Crane: The Good Prison, the National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance and Restorative Solutions CIC. Read the book here

CLINKS MEMBER’S NEWS: racism in prisons

The prison service has “regressed” in its efforts to tackle racial inequality, writes Beverley Thompson OBE in the latest edition of the Prison Reform Trust’s Bromley Briefing Prison Factfile. In a specially commissioned piece for the Factfile, Ms Thompson charts the complex history of race relations in the prison service over the past two decades, from the murder of Zahid Mubarek at Feltham prison in 2000, which prompted a significant review of prison policy on race relations, through to the publication in 2017 of David Lammy’s seminal review into the treatment of, and outcomes for, black, Asian and minority ethnic individuals in the criminal justice system. Read it here

CLINKS MEMBER’S NEWS: new women’s prison places

Many Clinks members including Women in Prison, Brighton Women’s Centre, Anawim, Nelson Trust, Hibiscus and Birth Companions have signed a joint statement condemning the government’s plans to build 500 new women's prison places. The statement highlights how building new prison places goes against the intentions of the government’s own female offender strategy and will harm women, their children, families and communities. It calls for a return to focus on reducing both the women's prison population and reoffending rates. Read it here

CLINKS MEMBER’S NEWS: biggest ever UK survey of peer mentors

Revolving Doors Agency and Russell Webster have launched what they hope will be the biggest ever UK survey of peer mentors to inform a best practice guide on working with service user volunteers. Most criminal justice organisations harness the skills and experience of their service users to work as peer mentors or supporters but the quality of support they receive varies considerably. Revolving Doors Agency and Russell Webster are co-producing the best practice guide to assist organisations in providing better support to service users working as volunteers. Please encourage your service user volunteers to take part here

CLINKS MEMBER’S NEWS: radio show

Liberty Choir’s radio show ‘The Six Building Blocks of Modern Music’ has been playing across the prison estate on National Prison Radio, and the first episode is now available to listen to on YouTube. Hosted by MJ Paranzino and Richie Simms, the show lets you discover the history of modern music with a new episode released every Sunday until March. In the first episode, MJ and Richie discuss the music sung by African slaves in 19th century America and how it helped bond their community and communicate the means to escape their enslavement. Listen to the show and subscribe to Liberty Choir’s channel to hear the whole series here

CLINKS MEMBER'S NEWS: research into crime and gambling

The Howard League for Penal Reform Commission on Crime and Problem Gambling has commissioned research into people who have experienced problem gambling and committed crime as a result. Dr Lauren Smith from the University of Lincoln is running this project and is looking for participants with this specific lived experience to take part in a research interview. The aim of the research is to map issues such as how people first engage with gambling, what types of gambling they partake in, how it escalates and how it results in the committing of crime. The goal is to gain a greater understanding about whether treatments for problem gambling are sought or utilised. Find out more about the Commission on Crime and Problem Gambling here. To take part contact laurensmith@lincoln.ac.uk and find out more about the research here

CLINKS MEMBER’S NEWS: start a network

The St Martin-in-the-Fields Frontline Network has opened a tender opportunity for two new organisations in England and one partner organisation in Northern Ireland to join its Partner Community. The network is interested to hear from organisations working in the voluntary, statutory and public sectors with people experiencing homelessness, who would be interested to run a local network to bring together frontline staff to network, share experience and expertise and link to decision makers. Networks can be geographical in their approach - bringing together staff in their areas, or have a thematic focus. Expressions of interest must be made by 5pm Thursday 11th March 2021. Full details here

CLINKS MEMBER’S NEWS: new website  

The national helpline for prisoners’ families, funded by Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) and run by the Prison Advice and Care Trust (Pact), has launched a new website. The helpline offers information, emotional support and signposting to thousands of family members of prisoners, people with convictions, and defendants. Over the past months, Pact has worked closely with HMPPS, and in consultation with prisoners’ families, prison family services providers and criminal justice professionals, to improve the helpline website. This has created a more user-friendly, visually appealing site where information is easily accessible, accurate and up to date. Visit the website here

CLINKS MEMBER’S NEWS: rebalancing the relationship

NCVO, ACEVO and the Lloyds Bank Foundation have published a report urging charity leaders to build on collaboration that has enabled charities to support communities during the Covid-19 pandemic. The report identifies the key behaviours of collaborative organisations across five different areas: compete in an ethical and responsible way; demonstrate openness to collaborating with various organisations; explore different ways to support other charities; develop fair and equal partnerships; and nurture a collaborative organisational culture and leadership behaviours. Read the report in full here

CLINKS MEMBER’S NEWS: relaunch

The Standing Committee for Youth Justice (SCYJ) has relaunched as the Alliance for Youth Justice (AYJ). AYJ is delighted to make this change to enable its work in youth justice to be more impactful and engaging, for the benefit of its members, the youth justice sector, and most importantly the children it works for and with. AYJ appreciates the continued support of its members and the wider youth justice sector, and the team very much looks forward to embarking on this new chapter to drive positive change in youth justice. Find out more about the relaunch here

FUNDING: community projects in Hull

Grants up to £10,000 are available from the Hull Community Safety Partnership to support local groups and community projects whose aims are to enhance community engagement, reduce crime and improve the lives of those living in Hull. Voluntary organisations, community or faith groups can apply. Projects must address at least one of the following priorities: support victims, vulnerable communities and people by creating community resilience; addressing anti-social behaviour and domestic abuse through challenging violent behaviour; reducing offending and reoffending; or tackling substance misuse. Preventative services that are open to a variety of people are encouraged. Find out more and apply before 28th February here

FUNDING: improving outcomes for prison leavers

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is delighted to announce that the first round of the Local Leadership and Integration Fund will open on Monday 8th February 2021. The MoJ is asking local organisations to come together in partnership to submit proposals for new and innovative approaches which will improve outcomes for prison leavers in their local area. The competition will be open for applications for six weeks until Monday 22nd March 2021. Successful pilots will run for a period of 18 months, and the maximum amount of grant funding available for a single bid will be capped at £1 million. From 8th February, please register via the Ministry of Justice portal where you will be able to access further information, guidance and the documents required to submit a bid here

CLINKS MEMBER’S EVENT: poverty, trauma and multiple disadvantage

Revolving Doors Agency is hosting a webinar to launch its essay collection on the interconnectedness of poverty, trauma and multiple disadvantage [25th February, online, free]. With the support of Lankelly Chase, Revolving Doors Agency has compiled a collection of eight essays written by contributors both across and beyond academia. Its aim is to support conversation and debate about how service providers, policymakers, researchers and people with lived experience, can better respond to the knots of poverty, trauma and multiple disadvantage. The event will include plenty of opportunity for discussion with the collection’s contributors and people with lived experience through break-out sessions. To attend the launch, register your interest here

BLOG: access to learning in prisons

In this blog, Diana Sutton, Director of The Bell Foundation demonstrates why it is important to maintain access to learning for prisoners during lockdown and provides some practical solutions on how to do this. Education is an important part of rehabilitation and can provide people with the skills needed to find employment on release. This is particularly important for prisoners with ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) needs. The Bell Foundation has developed ESOL worksheets which are designed to help prisoners make sense of life in prison. These resources are free to download and can be printed and circulated to cells. The Bell Foundation has also developed an ESOL screening tool enabling ESOL needs to be identified on entry to the prison. Read the blog here

PODCAST: IPP sentences

In episode four of The Justice Gap podcast, Jon Robins explores the devastating impact of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentences by speaking to Donna Mooney, whose brother died by suicide whilst serving one of these ‘indefensible’ sentences, and Deborah Coles of Inquest. Listen to this episode and more here

PODCAST: emotional resilience in lockdown

How are you managing your team’s emotional resilience during lockdown? Tammy Banks of Taye Training spoke recently to Clinks’ CEO Anne Fox about her experience of leading a team during the pandemic for her podcast ‘Training 4 Influence’. They spoke about the changes Anne has made to ensure her team’s needs are being met, the importance of maintaining your capacity for empathy and kindness (for employees and service users) and Anne’s perspective on the challenges the voluntary sector faces. Listen here

CLINKS MEMBERS’ VACANCIES

Young Person’s Case Worker with Humankind [Staffordshire], Deputy Manager – Men’s Offender Personality Disorder with Social Interest Group [Lewisham and Redbridge], Director of Fundraising and Operations with Khulisa [London], Community and Recovery Development Worker with Changing Lives [Northumberland], Housing Advice and Support Worker with Shelter [HMP Northumberland], Criminal Justice Housing Worker with Emerging Futures CIC [Bognor Regis], Clinical Mental Health Lead with Phoenix Futures [Glasgow], Board Member with POPS [Manchester], Communications and Campaigns Manager with Switchback [London], Trustee with Women in Prison [London], Communications Officer with Working Chance. For more information about these vacancies, and many more, click here

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EXTRA INFORMATION

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