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In this month's edition...
The Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group (RR3) convened a recent meeting of its special interest group on Covid-19 with officials from HMPPS, to discuss the progress of regime recovery in prisons and the programme of prison regime reform. Notes are available here.
We received 269 responses to our survey that explored the voluntary sector’s experience of the new probation model. Thank you to all those that responded. Our final report, which will reflect the voluntary sector's experiences and detail lessons learnt that can be used to inform the government on future commissioning processes, will be published in the coming months.
Clinks recently submitted written evidence to the Justice Select Committee inquiry into women in prison, and will be giving oral evidence on the 20th July. In addition, Clinks submitted written evidence to the Department for Health and Social Care’s Women’s Health Strategy. Within both, Clinks has advocated for the Ministry of Justice to provide leadership in driving a cross-departmental strategy for the long-term financial sustainability of existing holistic services provided by women’s centres, and to support the creation of centres in areas where there is no, or inadequate, provision.
Jess Mullen, Director of Influence and Communications, attended roundtable meetings with HMPPS on the future prison strategy and ambitions for the female estate. At these meetings we raised the importance, highlighted by Covid-19, of information flow between prisons and the voluntary sector, and the barriers that accessibility to the estate and commissioning process have had to voluntary organisations working in and alongside prisons. We also highlighted our ongoing concern that plans to build 500 new prison places for women undermine the ambitions of the female offender strategy and requested detail on the modelling behind this decision. We have since been invited to provide further written feedback on the future of the prison estate, including on the women’s estate, HMPPS workforce and initiatives to cut crime and we will publish this in due course.
The thoughts of the Clinks team are with Anne Fox, Clinks’ Chief Executive Officer who is currently on compassionate leave after a family bereavement. In line with our Acting in Absence policy and following discussion between the Senior Management Team, Chair and trustees it has been agreed that Directors Chris Stacey, Director of Support and Development; Jess Mullen, Director of Influence and Communications; and Victoria Sadler, Director of Corporate Services – will act-up in their respective roles to continue to lead the organisation towards our strategic objectives during this time. Chris and Jess will take on the additional positions of acting Co-Chief Executives and work with our members, funders and stakeholders in the government to ensure that we continue to support a vibrant, independent and resilient voluntary sector into Covid-19 recovery and the new criminal justice landscape brought about by the imminent probation reforms. If you wish to send condolences to Anne she can be reached on Twitter @AnneFoxThoughts or we invite you to add a message to an online condolence book we have set up here
Indeterminate sentences The MoJ and HMPPS have published a guide for the families and significant others of those serving indeterminate sentences. This builds on the joint Prison Reform Trust and University of Southampton report A Helping Hand: Supporting Families in the Resettlement of People Serving IPPs. The aims set out by this guide include: to give families and significant others a better understanding of some of the key processes that affect indeterminate sentenced prisoners, signpost to where they can find more information about certain processes and topics, and suggestions for how they can get involved to support their relative/significant other’s progression and gain support or advice where needed.
Digital, Data and Technology Strategy HMPPS has published its Digital, Data and Technology Strategy, setting out what to expect in 2021/22. The strategy notes internal system changes enabling efficient communication and collaboration with colleagues across the MoJ. They will also be introducing easy to access and use video conferencing software for interactions with people in prison. Other measures include continuing to put phones in cells in closed prisons, and starting to work towards prisoners in closed prisons having access to digital devices such as laptops and tablets. On probation, the strategy notes that it is prioritising key services ahead of probation reunification.
Clinks Publications
RR3 special interest group on probation reform - final report To mark the launch of the reformed probation model in June 2021, the Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group (RR3) special interest group on probation – a voluntary sector advisory group to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) – has published its final report. The paper says commissioning guidance issued to Regional Probation Directors (RPDs) should clearly set out why and how grant funding is beneficial to voluntary organisations, and encourages RPDs to establish voluntary sector forums to better learn how voluntary sector services beyond their supply chains can help them reach their ambitions. The group also held a meeting in June with RPDs to discuss the challenges faced by the voluntary sector and regional partnership working under the reformed probation model with the voluntary sector. The meeting notes are available here.
Response to the Cabinet Office Green Paper: Transforming public procurement Clinks submitted a response to the Cabinet Office’s consultation on its Green Paper: Transforming public procurement. Our response focuses on the needs and experiences of the voluntary sector working in the criminal justice system, and the potential impacts of these proposals on them. Our response welcomes the Green Paper’s intentions to simplify the current procurement processes, and for there to be greater transparency and accountability in procurement practices. However, we believe the proposals do not do enough to take into account the needs of the voluntary sector which provides essential services to people in contact with the criminal justice system.
Racially minoritised people
Prisoner’s experiences of respect An article has been published in The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice exploring the experiences of racially minoritised people in prison, based on responses to HM Inspectorate of Prisons’ survey questions around respect. Survey responses from 62,664 prisoners support the conclusion that racially minoritised prisoners are less likely than white prisoners to report that they are treated with respect, and younger prisoners are less likely than older prisoners to do so too. Only 62% of black or black British prisoners state that most staff treat them with respect within the under 21 and 21–29 years age cohorts. The researchers acknowledge the limitations of this study, but, it is evident that there is a need for much more exploration of the critical issues of prisoner-prison officer relationships.
Racism in the criminal justice system and its effects on employment Working Chance has launched its latest research, Worst-Case Scenario: How racism in the criminal justice system harms women’s chances of finding work. Based on analysis and the lived experiences of women in the criminal justice system, this research paper highlights the barriers faced by racially minoritised women with criminal convictions when they look for jobs, who face multiple intersecting disadvantages. The report details that racially minoritised women are more likely to have poorer mental health due to discrimination, be criminalised when they are victims of crime and receive lower quality support in the criminal justice system. It also provides recommendations for the government and employers to combat employment discrimination on the basis of gender, race, and criminal record.
Ethnicity and custodial sentencing The Sentencing Academy has published a new report examining disparities in custodial sentencing for indictable offences between 2009 and 2019. Due to the differencing in sentencing outcomes amongst official reports, the Sentencing Academy had combined data on custody rates and average custodial sentence lengths, to form a new measure for indictable offences: the ‘Expected Custodial Sentence’. This measure provides a more comprehensive measure of the use of imprisonment. Whilst the Expected Custodial Sentence increased for all ethnic groups throughout the period 2009-2019, the figure for white people is consistently lower than for other ethnic groups. Despite the accumulated research presented, further research to understand the magnitude and nature of differential sentencing across all courts is vital to devising appropriate remedies.
Mental Health
The future of prison mental health care in England The Centre for Mental Health has published its review of the future of prison mental health care in England. NHS England and NHS Improvement commissioned the review. The Centre for Mental Health reviewed evidence including more than 100 written submissions and undertook a series of consultation events and interviews, including from Clinks. The review found examples of good and innovative practice from the NHS and independent and voluntary sector providers, and that the voluntary sector is a significant provider of mental wellbeing. The lived experience contributors found such services to be engaging and have less stigma attached than attending a ‘conventional’ mental health service.
Probation
Social capital to support desistance HM Inspectorate of Probation’s latest Academic Insights paper looks at Social capital building supporting the desistance process. The term social capital describes relationships, social connections and networks as assets that can either enhance or hold back an individual’s life chances. The paper summarises the concept of social capital and how increases in the strength, range, and quality of bonding, bridging and linking opportunities can be beneficial in supporting the desistance process.
Prisons
Bromley briefings The Prison Reform Trust (PRT) has published its latest edition of the Bromley Briefing, a bulletin that gives a detailed statistical overview of the current state of prisons and how people in prison are faring. The Summer 2021 briefing shows that the prison population is projected to further rise by 20,000 to 98,700 by 2026. In 2020, 63% of people sentenced to prison had committed a non-violent offence and 44% were sentenced to serve six months or less. It also sets out the challenges people in prison face, including poor mental health and the isolation and confinement faced in the context of Covid-19 measures. Bromley Briefings are produced in memory of Keith Bromley, a valued friend of PRT and allied groups concerned with prisons and human rights.
Clinks’ Stronger Voice project Clinks’ Stronger Voice project is a three-year project which aims to help the voluntary sector working in criminal justice develop a unified and influential voice, at both a national and regional level. Earlier this year, we started our series of expert seminars. In this blog, Clinks links to the recordings from each session, alongside a written case study. These are: Influencing policy: An introduction and Clinks’ approach, Unlock’s landmark challenge to the government’s criminal records disclosure regime and The role of influencing in Prison Reform Trust’s work. We have also been developing a new policy influencing training programme for voluntary organisations that will launch in a few months.
Tackling serious youth violence in London This blog from Mark Blake, Councillor, Woodside Ward, Haringey, and trustee of the Centre for Justice Innovation, asks what can be done to re-establish trust between communities and police service areas in London, and stop the increasing incidents of serious youth violence. He argues that rates of violence (although they have decreased during Covid-19) are still too high and have become ingrained into the landscape of boroughs such as Haringey. He states that any national direction or strategy has clearly been missing. He expresses the need for the government and opposition politicians to build a vision for a credible alternative that can inspire a different vision for our society, placing a fairer more humane criminal justice system at its heart.
Childhood convictions are a red flag for life This blog, written by the Director of Young People and Families at Catch22, Kate Wareham, argues that by giving children and young people a criminal record, we are creating additional barriers to a stable adult lifestyle beyond the barriers they almost certainly already face. She states that children are over-represented in statistics on crime and violence, both as victims and as perpetrators. To be able to charge them with criminal offences at 10 years is failing them before they have a chance. Therefore, she explains that as most young people do not reoffend after their first offence, diversion and community-based measures are the best responses, during a particularly vulnerable and often turbulent period of a person’s life.
Short prison sentences Helen Mills, Head of Programmes at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, has written a blog on short prison sentences in England and Wales. She states that sentencing reform intending to divert from custody is no longer an active part of the government’s policy agenda. But, she argues that reforming arrangements for persistent lawbreaking would go some way to challenging the current use of short prison sentences, as a backstop for the perceived failure of community-based sentences.
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Clinks' Policy Officers Franklin Barrington and Noorjehan Piperdy
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