In this month's edition...
The Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group (RR3) - a voluntary sector advisory group to the government – has a special interest group focused on Covid-19 which holds regular meetings with Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). Notes from past meetings are available here. The latest meeting focused on adapting services to reach people in-cells whilst prison regimes remain heavily restricted, and plans for vaccinations in prisons. Clinks continues to seek clarification with HMPPS and Public Health England on the prioritisation of vaccinations for people in prison and will keep you updated.
Clinks is also recruiting for the RR3. We are currently looking for three senior individuals from the voluntary sector to join this influential advisory group with expertise and experience in supporting people in contact with the criminal justice system into employment; delivering substance misuse services to people in prison or in the community; and leading a mid-sized criminal justice voluntary organisation (income £1m – £10). The deadline is Sunday 28th February. More information here.
We recently held two further seminars on policy influencing. Chris Stacey, former Co-director at Unlock presented on how Unlock used the law to create change by taking a closer look at their legal challenge of the criminal records disclosure regime. Mark Day, Head of Policy and Communications at the Prison Reform Trust, also gave a seminar on the Prison Reform Trust’s strategy for policy influence and external affairs. Keep an eye on our weekly Light Lunch e-bulletin for future seminars.
Clinks also continues to prioritise work on the probation reform programme, the female offender strategy and racial inequality. Jess Mullen, Clinks Director of Influence and Communications, recently attended a meeting of the Advisory Board for Female Offenders and a workshop on improving the women’s prison estate where she highlighted Clinks’ and the women specialist organisations' concerns that the intention to create 500 new women’s prison places undermines efforts towards the female offender strategy. Jess also attended a meeting of the HMPPS External Advice and Scrutiny Panel where she provided further feedback on the development of HMPPS’ Race Action Programme (which will be replacing the Lammy Review implementation programme).
New prison places to be built in the women’s estate The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has announced that 500 new prison places will be built in existing women’s prisons. The MoJ also announced the recipients of almost £2 million grant funding that was committed to support the core costs of community services working with women in, or at risk of contact with, the criminal justice system. Clinks highly welcomes investment in core costs to sustain vital services provided by women-centred charities and we’re delighted to see many of our members among the 38 organisations to receive the funding. However, we are concerned that 500 new prison places undermines the intentions of the government’s female offender strategy to reduce the women’s prison population and support women to remain in the community and move on from the criminal justice system. Read our blog on these announcements here
New government funding to prevent rough sleeping amongst prison leavers The MoJ has announced £70 million funding to support prison leavers into temporary accommodation and prevent rough sleeping. More than £20 million of this will be invested in supporting prison leavers at into basic hostels for up to 12 weeks whilst they are supported to find secure accommodation. This will be launched in five of the 12 National Probation Service regions and aims to support around 3,000 people in its first year. At least £23 million of funding will go towards the government’s plans to build 200 new spaces in Approved Premises. This follows the announcement of £148 million to combat illegal drug supply and treat addictions, including £80 million to increase the number of substance misuse treatment places for prison leavers and those diverted into community sentences. Read our blog on these announcements here
Video calls in prison Secure video calls are now running in all public and private prisons and young offender institutions (YOIs) across England and Wales. The video calls are intended to help maintain vital family ties during the pandemic, with the final installation of the technology having taken place last month. Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) has reiterated that video calls are a complementary resource to help maintain family contact not a replacement for social visits. In the future where they can safely be delivered, face-to-face visits will remain the preference and no prisoner will be asked to substitute that for a video call.
Women in contact with the criminal justice system
The Concordat on women in or at risk of contact with the Criminal Justice System (PDF) The Ministry of Justice has published its concordat on women in contact with the criminal justice system (CJS), first committed to in the 2018 Female Offender Strategy. The concordat sets out how government departments and other partners including the voluntary sector should work together at national and local levels to identify and respond more effectively to the needs of women who are in, or may come into contact with, the CJS. The concordat promotes the wider adoption of whole system approaches across England and Wales to address the needs of women and improve their outcomes. The concordat commits to publishing a report one year on to detail the progress that has been made and the impact of the concordat on women in contact with the CJS.
Residential women’s centres Clinks has published a briefing from our recent event, held on behalf of the Ministry of Justice, to update voluntary organisations on plans for Residential Women’s Centres (RWCs) and to consult organisations on their views. The briefing highlights the feedback from delegates which focused on four key areas: integrating the RWCs with local services; ensuring a trauma-informed environment; supporting transition to accommodation; and meeting the diverse needs of women. Concern was raised by delegates about the impact of enforcing women to reside at a RWC on: creating a trauma-informed environment; duplicating existing provision; and the impact on tenancies. There were also concerns about the lack clarity over the locations, funding, and timescales for the RWCs. The briefing includes written responses from officials to the delegates’ questions about the RWC model.
Covid-19
Impact of the pandemic on the criminal justice system All four of Her Majesty’s Justice Chief Inspectors have united to express grave concerns about the potential long-term impact of Covid-19-related court backlogs on the criminal justice system across England and Wales. The joint report highlights how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the work of the police, prosecutors, prisons, probation and youth offending teams, with inspectors raising concern about the lack of education provision in custody and in the community for young people. The report also highlights the impact of highly restrictive regimes that for a majority of prisoners have continued for many months without respite, impacting negatively on their physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing and also more generally on prospects for effective rehabilitation.
Young justice and young adults
Literature Review: Young Women’s Justice Project Agenda and the Standing Committee for Youth Justice (SCYJ) published a review of the evidence around the needs and experiences of young women aged 17–25 years old in contact with the criminal justice system (CJS). The literature review finds young adult women in contact with the CJS tend to have a greater number of support needs than young men. Agenda and SCYJ make a series of recommendations including for the Ministry of Justice to integrate an age-informed response to young adult women within the Female Offender Strategy; for long-term, sustainable funding be allocated to the development of age-specific, gender-sensitive services for young adult women in the new probation system; and the development of good practice guidance for practitioners supporting girls transitioning from the youth to adult secure estate.
Outcomes for young adults in custody Following a thematic review of their outcomes, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) has raised concern that outcomes for young adults (aged 18-25) in custody are worse than for older prisoners. HMIP found that young adults were placed haphazardly across the estate without consideration of their needs, that many disengaged with provision designed for older prisoners and many spent longer locked in their cells. HMIP recommends that Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) develop and resource a national strategy for meeting the needs of young adult prisoners which ensures that young adults are placed in establishments with good access to appropriate education, skills and work provision; and that outcomes for young adults from black and minority ethnic backgrounds are monitored with action taken to prevent discrimination.
Probation
Delivering a Smarter Approach: Probation Professionalisation The Centre for Justice Innovation has published the final briefing in its series looking at the implementation of the reforms outlined in the government’s recent sentencing white paper. This briefing looks at the intention to empower probation in a post-privatisation world. The briefing argues that a vital step on this journey would be to professionalise probation and create an independent, external regulator to be the upholder of professional standards and effective practice across probation and offender management in England and Wales.
Prisons
Digital Technology in Prisons: Unlocking relationships, learning and skills in UK prisons The Centre for Social Justice has published a report calling for improved internet access in prisons to support the mental health of people and access to education in prison during the pandemic as well as employment prospects long-term. The report highlights the importance of digital literacy skills for employment and education as wider society becomes increasingly digitised. The report raises concern that the digital divide between prisons and wider society has been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. It recommends installation of hardware and software to support broadband throughout the prison estate, rolling out of in-cell devices with online connectivity, and the implementation of digital platforms for the delivery of mental health services, addiction support and mentoring programmes.
January update on prison regime delivery during national lockdown: what voluntary organisations need to know In this blog, Clinks’ Policy Officer Will Downs provides an update on what the prison regime now looks like after the implementation of national restrictions in England on Tuesday 5th January and Wales moving to alert level 4 from 19th December 2020. This information is drawn from an update issued by Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), as well as information gathered at a recent meeting of the Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group special interest group on Covid-19. All adult prisons in England and Wales have moved to regime stage four of the National Framework for Prison Regimes and Services which means all social visits are suspended. To request weekly updates on the situation across the prison estate, please email covid19@clinks.org.
Influencing criminal justice policy in a pandemic - an update from our policy team In this blog, Lauren Nickolls, Clinks’ Policy Officer, outlines what the policy team have been doing to influence criminal justice policy and practice in the run up to the new year and reflect on priorities for 2021. This includes work on probation reform, health and justice, and racism in the criminal justice system. The blog also looks at our work to strengthen the voluntary sector’s collective voice in policy influencing. With the pandemic still ongoing and a number of major changes set to take place in the criminal justice system in 2021, the team will continue to work hard to ensure the voluntary sector’s voice is heard and reflected in policy decisions and to keep you informed on changes and opportunities to get involved.
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Written monthly by...
Clinks' policy officers, Will Downs and Lauren Nickolls
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