In this month's edition...
Following the General Election, Clinks will be focussing on our priorities for the next government. These 'five big asks' from the voluntary sector were set out by Clinks Chief Executive, Anne Fox, when she appeared on the Secret Life of Prisons podcast, shortly before the election. These asks were:
- Lean on the sector's expertise – and pay for it
- Invest in prevention and alternatives to prison
- Enable the sector to support people on release
- Be bold on long sentences to tackle systemic racism and enable better outcomes for people serving them
- Understand the impact of imprisonment on families and provide effective support to children
Over the coming weeks, Clinks will be looking at the areas that underpin these asks: sentencing, probation, and resettlement. As always, we will represent and promote the expertise of the voluntary sector with the government. If you would like to get in touch to discuss these policy areas or asks, please contact Clinks Head of Influence and Communications, Sam Julius.
In addition, Clinks has also published a blog that looks at the steps a new government could take to support the voluntary sector working with people in contact with the criminal justice system. This draws on Clinks' State of the Sector research and Clinks Thinks.
Clinks is continuing to engage with organisations across the sector to understand the potential impacts of the Probation Reset programme, announced earlier this year. Please get in touch with Sam, to share any information about this programme, or if you would like to set up a meeting to discuss it further.
In addition, Clinks is also continuing to collate feedback from the sector, and particularly with organisations working with people leaving prison, regarding the End of Custody Supervised Licence Scheme. Please contact the Policy team if you would like to discuss anything regarding this scheme, or complete this form to share any information.
We are exploring how we can refresh our newsletter offerings to our members, and so are looking forward to presenting an updated approach to the Policy Briefing to you very soon. Consequently, this edition of the Policy Briefing focusses on providing a round-up of election news and information from Clinks and across the sector.
New ministerial appointments | Following the General Election, the new Labour Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, has appointed his cabinet. This sees Shabana Mahmood appointed as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. It has also been announced that James Timpson will be appointed as the Minister of State with responsibility for prisons, probation, and parole, and Heidi Alexander has been appointed as a Minister of State within the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). Clinks will be contacting the new ministers in the MoJ to highlight the sector's knowledge and expertise, and the power of utilising this to help people transform their lives.
A round up of the week's criminal justice manifesto commitments | Following the publication of the manifestos of the main parties in England and Wales, Clinks Influence and Communications Manager, Rachel Tynan, published a blog summarising the key commitments made around criminal justice, and related areas. This includes the commitments made by Labour, as they are now forming the new government, as well as the positions taken by others who will now be holding that Labour government to account. Labour's manifesto included a focus on knife crime and anti-social behaviour, continuing to build new prisons, a review of sentencing, a strategic review of probation governance, and reducing violence against women and girls.
What do the party manifestos say about youth justice? | The Alliance for Youth Justice (AYJ) published an article analysing the Conservative, Labour, and Liberal Democrat manifesto commitments around youth justice, based on the AYJ's own priorities for a new government (see more in publications below). This includes details of the proposals set out by Labour in its manifesto, indicating some of the youth justice policies it might seek to implement over the next Parliament.
Youth justice
AYJ priorities for the next government | The AYJ published an article setting out its key priorities for the new government. These included a focus on prevention, a plan to tackle racial injustice and cumulative discrimination experienced by racially minoritised children, a strategic vision and ambition to ensure custody is a last resort, and the creation of a Secretary of State for Children.
Unlocking the potential for change: Reforming custody for children | Hannah Smithson, Professor of Youth Justice in the Department of Sociology and Criminology, and Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Young Lives, published an article looking at reforms to the children's custodial estate. Raising concerns that the number of children in custody are forecast to rise, and that the current conditions in the children's custodial estate are very poor, she calls for discussion of the closure of Young Offender Institutions (YOIs). With the Chief Inspector of Prisons in 2017 concluding that YOIs are not fit for purpose, and the more recent Independent Review of Children's Social Care saying YOIs are 'wholly unsuitable' and calling for them to be phased out, Smithson argues responsibility for YOIs should be passed from the Ministry of Justice to the Department for Education to support a more child-friendly approach.
The voluntary sector
The Voluntary Sector Manifesto | The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) published a manifesto setting out range of ways the next government can work with the sector to make a positive difference, shared by NCVO and ACEVO's members. This sets out a vision of the next government taking significant steps to address deep-rooted societal challenges, from inequality and poverty to climate change and the erosion of rights. It argues a strong relationship between government and the voluntary sector is essential in achieving this, built on a foundation of partnership, accountability, and honesty. Its asks of the government include embedding processes for engaging charities in policy making, and the government working with charities as true partners in public service design and delivery.
What the general election manifestos mean for the voluntary sector | NCVO published an article exploring the manifestos of the Conservatives, Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party, and Reform UK. In this, NCVO share their thoughts on what the main parties had to say on involving civil society in government, charities and public services, democracy and civic participation, valuing volunteering, plans for our communities, and supporting the charity sector.
Families of people in prison
Children Heard and Seen 2024 General Election Manifesto | Children Heard and Seen published its manifesto for the 2024 General Election. This makes three key asks of incoming MPs and the government. First, it calls for the establishment of a statutory requirement to identify children with a parent in prison. Second, it calls for appropriate support to be provided to those identified children, rooted in the child's school. Finally, it proposes making children with a parent in prison eligible for Pupil Premium, an extra amount of money given to the child's school to provide extra support.
How can we make prison spaces more child-friendly for children visiting a parent? | Children of Prisoners Europe published a report summarising the responses received to an online survey that asked children how they thought prison spaces could become more child-friendly during visits to see their parents. The report is based on responses from 48 children across 10 countries. One of the recommendations was to change the configuration of visits rooms to include more vibrant colours, a variety of toys, and materials for drawing and other creative activities to make the environment more welcoming and visits more pleasant and engaging. In addition, recommendations included that staff were more empathetic towards children and their parents, treating them with greater respect and kindness, that what was happening was clearly explained to children in an age-appropriate way, and that forbidding physical touch between a child and their imprisoned parent was reviewed.
Manifestos and missing the point | Shona Minson published an article raising concerns about the Labour manifesto labelling children who experience parental imprisonment as 'people who need to be identified so measures can be put in place to prevent them reaching their criminal potential'. She also explores the source of the claim that 65% of boys with a parent in prison will go on to commit an offence, highlighting the original researchers' caution due to the small sample size. Minson goes on to argue against compulsory identification of children with a parent in prison, instead advocating for anonymised data collection to prevent surveilling and stigmatising children. She calls for more support for children experiencing imprisonment of a parent, but moving beyond one-dimensional approaches focussed on future criminality.
Prisons
The crisis in prisons | The Institute for Government (IfG) published a report setting out possible options for a new government to address the acute prison capacity crisis. After setting out how this crisis point was reached, the IfG suggest some 'most effective options' for a new government, including lowering the automatic point of release for standard determinate sentences from 50% to between 40% and 45%, introducing a 'queuing system' for immediate custodial sentences, with people who are considered low risk beginning their sentence under Home Detention Curfew, and allowing sentences of up to three years to be suspended, up from the current limit of two years. They also analyse options 'to be avoided', including expanding the current early release scheme or further delaying hearings.
Race to the top: A PPN report on race and ethnicity in prisons | The Prison Reform Trust (PRT) published the latest report from their Prisoner Policy Network (PPN) that looks at race and ethnicity in prisons. Based on the consultation question 'how does my race/ethnicity impact on my experience of prison?', the data gathered from the PPN covered a range of topics, including staff diversity, a lack of cultural awareness, stereotypes, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in prison being 'viewed with suspicion', the experience of Muslims in prison, inequitable experiences, accountability, and division. The report notes concerns about the extent to which issues of racial justice had fallen down the prison service agenda, and that many staff leading on equalities issues felt unsupported. It concludes by making a series of recommendations for change.
Reforming the prison system | Pact published an article setting out a series of practical proposals to help see the sector through the immediate prison population crisis and towards a criminal justice system that delivers for everyone. Whilst they acknowledge the measure the government already introduced to relieve overcrowding, they note too many people have been released at too short notice with too little preparation. Pact urge an incoming government to consult the voluntary sector urgently about how this scheme can be made to work more effectively. In the medium term, they call for more investment in family services, a rebalancing of the prison estate, prioritising the creation of category D places, and having social workers for women's prisons. In the long term, their recommendations include reform of the Mental Health Act and tackling intergenerational crime and harm to children.
Sentencing
What the parties said about sentencing, and what impact their plans could have on the voluntary sector | Following the publication of the main parties' manifestos, Clinks Specialist Policy Officer, Franklin Barrington, published an article exploring what these manifestos said about sentencing, and the impact those policies could have on prisons and the voluntary sector working with people in contact with the criminal justice system. Noting the sharp rise in the prison population, and the very limited current capacity, the article notes the largest parties are not really looking further than the status quo on sentencing, and at least in their manifestos, offer little to reduce sentence inflation, prison overcrowding, or to improve reoffending rates. However, the smaller parties, including the Liberal Democrats, the Greens, and Plaid Cymru did propose some innovations that could positively impact these areas.
Criminal justice system
Systems shift: A ten-point plan to reform our criminal justice system | The Centre for Justice Innovation (CJI) set out its plan to reform the criminal justice system. It first calls for the government to protect the system from being overloaded, and then looks at how to fundamentally shift how the system operates and put it on the path to recovery. Proposals from the CJI include emergency measures to reduce the prison population, such as considering changing the automatic release point for most people serving sentences of four years or less to 40% of the sentence length; slowing the revolving door of prolific offending, such as by diverting women away from short prison sentences; and strengthening community justice by commissioning the voluntary sector to deliver rapid, standalone unpaid work for 'quality of life' offences, expanding and professionalising the probation workforce, and once the probation service is stable, working towards its devolution.
Accommodation
Election manifestos - homelessness, housing and supporting people leaving prison | Clinks Head of Influence and Communications, Sam Julius, published an article examining the contents of the main parties' manifestos around housing and access to stable accommodation, particularly for people leaving prison. Noting success in tackling homelessness more broadly will require ending homelessness amongst people leaving prison, and that access to stable accommodation can reduce the likelihood of reoffending by about 50%, this is an area that should be a priority for the next government. In addition to summarising the key pledges from each of the main parties, the article also highlights the recent work of the Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group's Special Interest Group on Accommodation, which brought the voluntary sector together to explore how barriers could be removed to accommodation for people leaving prison.
Critical Reviews | Rob Allen published a blog looking at the two reviews that the Labour party committed to in its manifesto around criminal justice: a review of sentencing and a review of probation governance.
Get involved Become a Member | Follow Clinks | Join Mailing List
Contact Us www.clinks.org | info@clinks.org | 020 4502 6774
This month's edition was written by...
Clinks Specialist Policy Officer, Franklin Barrington
Click here to manage your subscriptions. For assistance, email info@clinks.org
Registered charity: 1074546 | Company limited by guarantee in England & Wales: 3562176
Registered office: 82A James Carter Road, Mildenhall, Suffolk, IP28 7DE
© Clinks, 2024