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In this month's edition...
Welcoming new staff to Clinks
We are delighted to welcome Rachel Tynan to Clinks, who has taken on the role of Influence and Policy Manager. Rachel joins us from Unlock, where she led on improving access to employment and higher education. Prior to that, she worked in higher education, including a prison-university partnership, and has carried out research in the criminal justice system. Meet the team here
Clinks’ response to the Prison Strategy White Paper
We have published our response to the Ministry of Justice consultation on the Prison Strategy White Paper. To inform our response, we spoke to 113 different voluntary sector organisations working in criminal justice through three specific consultation events, and further discussions with specialist organisations. The areas we focussed on included the lack of a convincing case for the expansion of the prison estate; the lack of attention the strategy gives to the contribution of voluntary organisations despite the high volume of organisations working in prisons across England and Wales; and calling for the strategy to be explicitly anti-racist and clearly set out how it will tackle racial discrimination and disproportionality in the prison system. Read our response here and our summary blog here
Clinks briefing about recovery in prisons
The UK Health Security Agency (formerly PHE) asked Clinks to produce this briefing, in order to gain insights from the voluntary sector working in criminal justice to feed into their Covid-19 recovery strategy for prisons. This briefing was shared with the UK Health Security Agency in November 2021, to highlight was the current impact and barriers on their services are due to Covid-19, and what support do they need to aid in their recovery. Read the briefing here
Drugs testing in approved premises
A new private member’s bill has been introduced that will create a statutory framework for drugs testing in approved premises, including testing for psychoactive substances and the abuse of prescription and pharmacy medicines. ‘Approved premises’ are premises approved by the secretary of state to provide accommodation for people on bail or for the supervision or rehabilitation of people in prison. The government has stated that they exist to “ensure that bailees and offenders with the highest risk and most complex needs receive additional residential supervision in the community and additional rehabilitative support following release from custody”. If passed, the bill will expand the list of drugs that can be tested for, which will aim to reduce the number of deaths caused by overdoses. Read more here
UK National Preventive Mechanism annual report
The 2020-21 annual report by the UK National Preventive Mechanism (NPM ) focusses on the impact of the pandemic on the approach to monitoring detention, and people in detention. The NPM is made up of 21 bodies that monitor and inspect places of detention in the UK to prevent torture and ill-treatment of those who are detained, including HM Inspectorate of Prisons, the Care Quality Commission, and Independent Monitoring Boards. The report finds that effective measures appeared to be put in place from the outset of the pandemic to protect people from the risk of Covid-19, but NPM members raised concerns about the severity of restrictions, which were widespread and used over considerable periods of time, often without adequate safeguards. Read more here
Poor safety in women’s prisons
Her Majesty's Young Offender Institution (HMYOI) Foston Hall has been assessed by HM Inspectorate of Prisons as poor for safety in a “rare and unexpected finding” in a recent inspection, which identified very high violence and self-harm and inadequate care for vulnerable women. The finding is the first score of poor – the lowest – for the safety of women prisoners since the Inspectorate developed its current framework more than a decade ago. It is accompanied by a paper identifying key findings in the inspection of five women’s prisons – Low Newton, Styal, Send, Downview and Foston Hall – in the last six months. While identifying good practice in some prisons, the paper also raises serious concerns about high rates of self-harm and vulnerability across the women’s prison estate. Read more here
Covid-19 update
Following the Prime Minister’s announcement that all Covid-19 measures would be removed in England from 24 February, Clinks is in contact with HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) about what this means for custodial settings, and the Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Board (RR3) Special Interest Group (SIG) on Covid-19 will look at the impact of this change on the criminal justice system at its next meeting. Minutes from previous meetings of the SIG can be found on the Clinks website. If you have queries or feedback on the impact of these changes on operational activity, you can contact Clinks’ Covid-19 mailbox, covid19@clinks.org.
Service user involvement
Clinks is running a service user involvement event [30th March, online, free] to equip participants to make meaningful service user involvement a reality in their organisations. There will be the opportunity to meet others committed to involving service users, discuss the challenges you face, and understand more about embedding service user involvement into your work. As experts by experience, service users play a vital role in helping to develop, deliver and oversee our members’ services and work to influence policies and practice in the criminal justice system. Please note that the service user involvement events are only open to Clinks’ members. If you are not a current member and wish to attend, join here. Book your place here
Working with trauma
One Small Thing is holding a workshop to help you understand the Working with Trauma Quality Mark [30 March, 26 April, online, free]. By the end of the workshop participants will have an understanding of: the key benefits of the Quality Mark; what the three levels mean (Bronze, Silver, Gold); what type of evidence you will need to gather; and how long the Quality Mark takes to do and the capacity that is needed. Book your place here
Training on gambling, care work, mental health, dementia and more
Society Matters CIC is also running multiple other workshops on topics such as gambling awareness, carers, mental health, dementia, Disability Living Allowance for children, and welfare benefits [23rd March - 26th April, online, £35 - £59.50]. These online training sessions will help you to build knowledge and understanding of these issues, offer the opportunity for reflection, discussion and practical implementation of learning and plans of action, in a safe environment. Find the training calendar and book your place here
Personal Independence Payments and Universal Credit training
Society Matters CIC is holding two events to help with Personal Independence Payments (PIP) [4th April, online, £59.50], and with Universal Credit [13th April, online, £59.50]. ‘Get to Grips with PIP’ is CPD Accredited, designed to help welfare professionals understand PIP and the key drivers for PIP assessments, and be capable of helping clients to navigate the application process to give them the highest possible chance of getting their full benefit entitlement first time round. ‘Get to Grips with Universal Credit’ is also CPD Accredited, and has been described as the most comprehensive Universal Credit course available. It's designed and delivered by experts to be highly accessible despite the complexity of the content. Register for the PIP event here, and the Universal Credit event here
Children and young people deprived of their liberty
The Nuffield Family Justice Observatory has published an evidence review summarising what is known about children and young people deprived of their liberty across welfare, youth justice, and mental health settings in England and Wales. The key findings include that the largest group of children deprived of their liberty are living in the youth justice estate. In addition, the limited number of secure settings means children are likely to be living a long way from home, with 74% of children in youth custody placed more than 24 miles from home in 2019/20. The report recommends greater alignment of the datasets that provide information about children deprived of their liberty in different settings to improve understanding. Read the report here
Childhood trauma and poverty linked to adult offending
New evidence from the longitudinal study, Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, finds that adult offending is intrinsically linked to trauma and poverty that individuals experience in their childhood. The study determines that early and intensive formal system contact (especially care experience) is strongly associated with later justice system contact and a range of other negative outcomes, and that people in contact with the criminal justice system are not necessarily more likely to desist from offending and, indeed, for some people it may act as a catalyst for continued offending into adulthood. The publication concludes that the answer to the problem of re-offending is not to punish more, but to create conditions which support opportunity structures and address poverty. Read the report here
Young women in prison at risk of violence, abuse and exploitation
Agenda and the Alliance for Youth Justice have come together to produce a brief exploring the experiences of young women in the criminal justice system. They found that many of the women in prison had experienced significant violence, abuse and exploitation that lead them to be in contact with the criminal justice system, but their experiences are too often overlooked by the agencies they may turn to for support. It was also determined that they have limited access to specialist support despite extreme levels of need and, rather than being met with care and support, they are met with punishment and stigma in a system which re-traumatises them, when it should be protecting them with racially minoritised women facing even harsher punishment. Read more here
NHS England and NHS Improvement national healthcare support worker
NHS England and NHS Improvement are looking to recruit individuals from diverse backgrounds to apply for Healthcare Support Worker (HCSW) roles within the system. HCSW roles are a great way to step into clinical care, which many people stay in for a fulfilling career, both because they are making a difference and because there are many learning and development opportunities on offer. In addition, HCSW roles offer routes into other positions in the NHS, such as a registered nurse, allied health professional, or other non-clinical roles. Most HCSW roles don’t require previous healthcare experience and the necessary training is provided. Read more here
RECONNECT information session
As part of the Health and Wellbeing Alliance core project work, Clinks held an information session with Kate Morissey, National Implementation Lead for RECONNECT and Enhanced RECONNECT, and Emma Sweet of the lived experience team, regarding the RECONNECT programme and the relaunch of the programme that is due to take place in May. The RECONNECT programme is focused on continuity of care for prison leavers and has been very successful since its inception in connecting prison leavers with health and wellbeing support in the community leading to improved outcomes for prison leavers with continuing health and wellbeing needs. The RECONNECT programme aims to have 100% national coverage in 2024/25. Watch the recording here, passcode: Gu7bkw@v
Rights and justice
Grants are available from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust - Rights and Justice Programme to support projects aimed at promoting equal treatment of all people. Priorities for this funding are: protection and promotion of human rights and their enforcement in the UK; promoting rights and justice for racially minoritised people who face the most severe forms of racism; and the promotion of rights and justice for refugees and other migrants by identifying and tackling structures and systems that may deny them their rights. Find out more and apply by 28 March here
Rough sleeping
The Voluntary and Community Frontline Sector grant competition is now open for bidders. The competition restructures the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ funding to voluntary and community organisations and sets an ambitious vision for how voluntary sector organisations can contribute to ending rough sleeping. The grant is divided into four lots and represents a potential investment of up to £8m commencing from 1 July 2022 to 31 March 2025. Find out more and apply by 1 April here
Identifying children impacted by parental imprisonment
In this guest blog by Children Heard and Seen, Cara Mohan-Carr, Policy and Campaigns Co-ordinator, explores the context for parental imprisonment and outlines a new pilot for Early Identification of Children Impacted by Parental Imprisonment in collaboration with Thames Valley Police and Thames Valley Violence Reduction Unit. According to Crest Advisory, an estimated 312,000 children experience parental imprisonment each year in England and Wales. Despite this figure, there is currently no statutory mechanism for identifying children with a parent in prison. Children with a parent in prison are 25% more likely to face poor mental health, and less likely to flourish in academic settings. This blog details more about the pilot project aiming to address this issue, identify children impacted by parental imprisonment, so they can receive appropriate support. Read the blog her
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About Clinks Health and justice bulletin
This regular bulletin provides Clinks members with the latest news for voluntary organisations involved in the health and care of people in the criminal justice system. It currently has 1,165 subscribers.
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