In this month's edition...
In recent months, Clinks’ Chief Executive, Anne Fox, and Head of Influence & Communications, Sam Julius, have been engaging with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) ministerial team on the pressures on probation and the voluntary sector. Following the measures announced as part of the 'Probation Reset', we will continue to gather evidence of impact and liaise with officials. Contact policy@clinks.org if you would like to share any impact on your organisation.
We have now published the second report as part of the work of the RR3’s Special Interest Group (SIG) on Accommodation. The report focuses on the barriers faced by people leaving prison, specifically accessing the private rented sector and setting out a range of practical recommendations designed to mitigate these barriers. The findings will be presented at the Cross-Whitehall Accommodation Board and the HMPPS Accommodation Board in May.
This month, Clinks also published a report from the RR3 SIG on Employment which explores the barriers to employment faced by people both in prison and on their release into the community. Clinks, alongside Alasdair Jackson, CEO of Recycling Lives and the RR3 seat holder for employment, are engaging MoJ and the HMPPS New Futures Network on the recommendations. Further work is ongoing to reinforce the evidence base regarding the need for additional post-release employment support in the community, alongside engaging with the Department for Work and Pensions on proposed reforms to Universal Credit.
The Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Board (RR3) is recruiting for three newly created seats on the group: the older people in the criminal justice system seat, the long sentences seat, and the lived experience seat. The deadline for applications to these seats is [Tuesday 28 May 2024, 10am]. More information about each of these roles can be found on the Clinks website.
Female offender strategy delivery plan: 'One Year on' progress report | Following the publication of the Female Offender Strategy Delivery Plan in 2023, the Ministry of Justice published a progress report. This notes that 20 out of the 51 commitments in the Delivery Plan have been completed. The report also says "good progress" is being made on "most of the remaining commitments". It expects these to be delivered by the end of the Delivery Plan. The report also gives some examples of progress against the four aims of the Delivery Plan and sets out focusses for the year ahead. These focusses include demand and capacity in prisons, remand, residential accommodation in the community, health, and the evidence base for what works for women to improve outcomes at all points in the justice system.
Latest criminal justice statistics published | The Ministry of Justice published statistics covering people in the criminal justice system, safety in custody, the children and young people’s secure estate (CYPSE), and proven reoffending. There were 87,869 people in prison on 31 March 2024. There were 291 deaths in custody in the year to March 2024, a 10% decrease from last year. The number of self-harm incidents in prison rose 28% in the year to December 2023, with the rate of self-harm incidents per 1,000 people increasing 11% in female establishments and increasing 24% in male establishments. The annualised rate of self-harm per 100 children in the CYPSE decreased by 41% in the quarter to September 2023 compared to the same quarter last year, standing at 345.8 incidents per 100 children and young people per year. The proven reoffending rate for the April to June 2022 cohort was 25.8%.
Latest electronic monitoring statistics | The Ministry of Justice published the latest statistics on electronic monitoring (EM), covering the use of tags. These found the total number of people fitted with an EM device rose 16% as of 31 March 2024, compared to 31 March 2023. Court bail orders remained the largest cohort of people fitted with EM devices, accounting for 36% of all people with a device. The proportion of people with an EM devices under a court bail order also rose 14% between 31 March 2023 and 31 March 2024. People fitted with a GPS location monitoring device accounted for 50% of people being monitored. The number of people fitted with an alcohol monitoring device rose 27% between 31 March 2023 and the same date in 2024.
Justice Data Lab report on HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) Creating Future Opportunities (CFO) programme | As part of the April 2024 Justice Data Lab publications, there was a report on the HMPPS CFO programme. This is a programme based on one-to-one case management, aiming to increase the employability of participants. It operates in the community, in custody, and through the gate. The report looked at the reoffending behaviour of men and women who participated in the CFO programme sometime between 2015 and 2021 and concluded in or after August 2018. The overall results show men who took part in the programme in the community were less likely to reoffend, reoffend less frequently, and took longer to reoffend than those who did not take part in the programme. These results were also found to be statistically significant.
Mental health funding to reduce reoffending in Wales | The government announced that it has awarded a £1.1 million contract to G4S with Forensic Psychology Consultancy to support the delivery of Mental Health Treatment Requirements in Wales. The government said this new service followed a successful pilot in Swansea which has been running since August 2021. The pilot found that 80% of people who took part in this kind of community order experienced a significant benefit to their mental health.
New measures to bolster Victims and Prisoners Bill | The government announced several further amendments it will table to the Victims and Prisoners Bill. This includes provisions to enable victims of serious crimes committed by people with mental health disorders to give a Victim Impact Statement during the Mental Health Tribunal Process. This takes place before someone is released and allows release conditions to be requested. Other amendments will introduce a new statutory duty on the police and other criminal justice agencies. This duty would mean they have to deliver services in accordance with the Victims' Code, as well as informing victims of their rights under it. Compliance with this duty will be overseen by the Victims Commissioner.
New laws to stop disruptive protesters come into force | The Home Office announced new Serious Disruption Prevention Orders have now come into force. These orders empower police to intervene before someone causes serious disruption, for people who have previously committed protest related offences or not followed court-imposed restrictions. These orders can be imposed on someone who has, on at least two occasions, committed protest related offences, or breached the conditions of an injunction. Restrictions can include preventing someone from being in a particular place or area, participating in disruptive activities, being with protest groups at given times, and from using the internet to encourage protest-related offences. Specific restrictions will be decided by the court, can last up to two years, and can be renewed. Breaching an order is a criminal offence with a maximum penalty of six months in prison and/or an unlimited fine.
Prisons
Improving behaviour in prisons: A thematic review | HM Inspectorate of Prisons completed a thematic review around improving positive behaviour in prisons. The report identifies the features of eight prisons which were creating cultures that encouraged men and women to engage constructively with staff and make better use of their time in custody. During the review, inspectors identified five key elements leaders used to encourage positive behaviour in prisons. These included leaders setting and reinforcing clear boundaries with an expectation of high standards of behaviour from both people in prison and staff, a focus on reward rather than formal disciplinary procedures motiving people in prison to change their behaviour, and clear and effective communication and good promotion of the incentives on offer contributing to a shared understanding of the vision, aims, and objectives of the prison.
Probation
The interventions landscape for probation services | HM Inspectorate of Probation published the latest academic insight report, looking at the delivery, challenges, and opportunities in the landscape of probation services, as elements of this are being recommissioned in 2024-25. The report is based on probation inspections, interviews with senior probation leaders, representatives from voluntary sector organisations, and current and former members of the Correctional Services Advice and Accreditation Panel, and a survey of probation professionals. Key findings include around half of the cases in recent inspections did not receive sufficient, or sufficient quality, interventions or services, and gaps were highlighted around specific needs, particularly suitable housing, and specific sub-groups, especially services for racially minoritised people. In developing the intervention landscape, there should be an overriding principle to support delivery aligned with evidence, that is personalised, holistic, engaging, responsive, and inclusive.
Youth justice
Keeping children and young people out of the justice system | The Alliance for Youth Justice and Leaders Unlocked published the second report from the Young Advocates project. This presents findings from engagement with 90 children and young people, on three priority topics: criminalisation, policing, and intervention and diversion. The report's findings include that young people are put under suspicion due to their age, associations, and "the group", and most are targeted due to race and nationality, with intersectionality significantly impacting targeting and treatment. Moreover, it found police accountability is disproportionate to the increasing powers forces have, and that young people do not feel safe from police officers, even at home. Recommendations included government investment in non-criminal education related to emotional management, healthy relationships, consent, survivorship, and loss, and prohibiting the use of tasers on children and the strip searching of children by police officers.
Youth Justice Board for England and Wales Strategic Plan 2024-27 | The Youth Justice Board (YJB) published its strategic plan for the next three years. As part of this plan, the YJB sets out three objectives: to support the improvement of youth justice services in local communities; to focus on addressing persistent racial disparities across the youth justice system; and to influence the development of policy and practice to advance the adoption of Child First throughout the youth justice system. The YJB goes on to set out 10 success measures. These include, improvement in the outcomes of independent assessments conducted by HM Inspectorate of Probation, and ongoing evidence from the Government Internal Audit Agency and National Audit Office identifies the YJB is effective in managing resources allocated and it is continuing to meet the outcomes set in this strategy.
Wales
Criminal Justice Board for Wales Annual Report 2023-24 | The Criminal Justice Board for Wales published its third annual report, updating on its activities over the previous year. The Board aims, alongside the Local Criminal Justice Boards, to work together to ensure the system is fair, efficient, and effective for victims, witnesses, people who have offended, and employees. On meeting the needs of people who have committed offences, the report highlights work delivered against several recommendations from the review into the landscape of offending across Wales. This included work to understand and address crime and offending behaviour locally, with evidence-led, local offending profiles being completed to inform each Local Criminal Justice Board, and on a joined-up commissioning approach, with the Integrated Offender Management Cymru website holding and sharing information about the interventions and services available across Wales.
Criminal Justice Anti-Racist Action Plan for Wales Annual Report 2023-24 | Following the publication of the Criminal Justice Anti-Racist Action Plan for Wales in September 2022, the first report on the plan’s progress was published. Further reports will be published each spring of the Plan's duration. In terms of the first year of progress, the report notes the Criminal Justice Board for Wales worked to set up structures to ensure the plan can be delivered, and a "One Public Service Anti-Racism Summit" was held in Cardiff in May 2023. The summer brought together leaders of all public bodies, including criminal justice partners, to discuss the urgency of action needed for an Anti-Racist Wales. The report goes on to provide updates against each of the seven key commitments in the plan.
Multiple disadvantage
Changing Futures programme evaluation: Second interim report | The Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities published the second interim report of its evaluation of the Changing Futures programme. This programme seeks to test innovative approaches to improving outcomes for people experiencing multiple disadvantages, including contact with the criminal justice system. It is running in 15 areas across England from 2021 to 2025. This report gives early indications of progress towards individual-level and service-level outcomes, more information on the characteristics of the people engaged with the programme and explores how funded areas are seeking to address systems change around commissioning. Findings include that there are differences between the experiences of people who have and have not spent time in prison, and people who have been to prison were also more likely to report experience of homelessness, and alcohol or drug use.
Courts
Doubt Dismissed: Race, Juries and Wrongful Conviction | APPEAL published a report exploring the introduction of majority jury verdicts in England and Wales in 1967 and recent case studies about majority verdicts. The report notes at least some ministerial support for the introduction of majority verdicts was based on concerns about unanimity being incompatible with the diversification of Britain, and documents found suggested the change was, at least in some part, introduced to “dilute the influence” of racially minoritised migrants and the new “labouring class”. It also argues restrictions in the Contempt of Court Act 1981 are an “enormous impediment” to studying majority verdicts in real cases. With the research finding over 1,100 Crown Court convictions are on majority verdicts each year, the report makes four recommendations, including returning to unanimity for criminal convictions, and improved data collection.
Health
Drug and alcohol treatments for victims and suspects of homicide | The Office for Health Improvements and Disparities and the Home Office published a Better Outcomes through Linked Data report looking at the use of substance misuse treatment services by victims and suspects of homicide in England. It links records from the Homicide Index database (HI) between April 2019 and March 2021 with records from the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS). It found that 3% of victims and 11% of suspects of homicide had a treatment record in the NDTMS, with 10% of all homicide incidents including a victim or suspect with at least one treatment record for either drugs or alcohol. Most suspects (68% of those with a treatment record) had a treatment record only after the homicide, most of which were for treatment in prison. Almost two-thirds (62% of those with a treatment record) of all suspects in the HI were involved with a homicide that was recorded as drug-related.
People in prison with cancer in England more likely to die of it than other patients | The Guardian have written about research recently published in The Lancet Oncology, that found cancer patients in English prisons have a 9% increased risk of death compared with cancer patients in the general population.
Stephen Lawrence Day: we need to recognise the drivers for disparity |The Youth Justice Board's Business Intelligence and Insights Directorate published a blog highlighting racial disparities in the youth justice system and the work being done to tackle it.
Suffolk Youth Justice Service: Prevention and Diversion | The Youth Justice Board (YJB) published an article sharing the experiences of Amy Bruce, Operations Manager at Suffolk Youth Justice Service, of being an early adopter of the YJB's new Prevention and Diversion Assessment Tool.
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This month's edition was written by...
Clinks Specialist Policy Officer, Franklin Barrington
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