Better Prisons: Less Crime

The House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee does not pull its punches in its recent report into leadership, governance and staffing of prisons and the need for reform to reduce reoffending. It is highly critical of leadership from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the Prison Service (HMPPS) in particular and concludes:

“The present poor system is a consequence of many leadership failures over years by both Ministers and officials in the Ministry of Justice and in HMPPS. The Secretary of State and the new Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice need to recognise this and that HMPPS owns the need for radical reform and has the will and new capabilities to engage with it; external support will be essential for this.”

“Reviewed in totality, HMPPS is inflexible, and overly bureaucratic. Whether it

is fit for purpose remains to be proven.”

“The stark conclusion of our inquiry is that MoJ and HMPPS have failed to improve the prison service to reduce reoffending.”

WPIC wrote to the Committee, and the report quotes from our submission several times. It makes recommendations on many of the areas that we have looked at in relation to HMP Wandsworth and we will press for these to be fully considered by Ministers and the Prison Service. There should be a full response from the Prison Service, but when is anyone’s guess. 

You can download the whole report by clicking on this link: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5901/ldselect/ldjusthom/153/153.pdf

Why there is a crisis in our prisons - facts behind the recommendations

• We have the highest imprisonment rate in Western Europe, and it is only increasing.

• There are over 87,000 people in prison in England and Wales

• This is almost double the prison population in 1993

• The prison population is expected to exceed 100,000 by 2029

• 80 per cent of offending is reoffending.

• The economic and social cost of reoffending is estimated to be around £18 billion a year and is a major contributor to the size of the prison population.

Main findings and recommendations

 

Make clear the purpose of prison

There is a lack of clarity about the purpose of prisons and public understanding about prisons. The report quotes with approval WPIC’s view that “People are sent to prison as a punishment, not for further punishment”. The Committee concludes that the MoJ should set out a clear and consistent statement of the purpose of prison, with reducing reoffending as central. It says that this should be communicated within the prison system, across government and to the wider public to build greater support for evidence-based approaches to reducing reoffending.

Prison Governors should have more autonomy

Again, this is another area we focussed on, especially in relation to recruitment as currently the governor has no say in the process. We said “HMPPS’s recruitment process is highly centralised, so perhaps consideration should be given to providing more autonomy to Governing Governors in the selection process.” The Lords fundamentally disagreed with HMPPS’s claim that their recruitment process “is robust” and concluded that “a senior member of staff from the prison should hold a face-to-face interview with prospective candidates before the governor confirms a formal offer of employment”.

Staff appraisals also came in for some trenchant remarks “We are astounded by the confusion surrounding the current appraisal system. An appraisal system which does not make provision for a formal appraisal record and regular reviews is not a system at all.”

As well as recruitment, governors should have more decision-making power on key operational matters like staffing, budgeting, and regime design, allowing governors to create clear, tailored visions for their prisons. The Report also recommends that Governors are more visible in the community and WPIC will certainly be picking up this point!

Inadequate training

Training was also heavily criticised “The current training provided to prison officers is woefully inadequate and lacks reference to the purpose of prisons."

The Future Prisons Leaders programme “is long overdue and HMPPS has been negligent in not developing such a system earlier. It is naive to expect that enough talented governors will emerge from the ranks of prison officers who are recruited with minimum qualifications, limited life experience and a lack of training and support.”

“We note that the current training program does not address key areas such as managing high risk prisoners and dealing with mental health issues. Current training programmes undoubtedly contribute to a lack of clarity about the purpose of prison officers’ role and what is expected of them on a day-to-day basis.”

At the same time, the Report puts forward the idea of a Prison Service medal for those officers who go above and beyond in a very challenging role – similar to awards in the Police and Fire Services, and WPIC would support this. 

More purposeful activity and improving mental health

While purposeful and productive activities make prisons safer and reduce reoffending on release, “there is currently only limited access to these services in most prisons.  The MoJ needs to improve access to a more diverse range of educational opportunities in prisons expanding access to higher level education and vocational training, as well as providing governors with greater autonomy to tailor educational provisions to the needs of the local population. Investing in quality libraries within prisons and guaranteeing prisoners frequent access to them is essential for any serious effort to promote education and reduce reoffending.”

 “Addressing mental health and addiction is essential to delivering purposeful activity and reducing reoffending. Unless these needs are met, many prisoners will be unable to engage in meaningful education, work or other constructive activities. Prisons that fail to provide adequate support in these areas will be unable to meet their core purpose of breaking the cycle of reoffending.” 

A targeted strategy to reduce absence rates is critical as staff absences mean that purposeful activity is the first casualty. “This should include measures to improve staff wellbeing, enhance occupational health support, and to identify the root causes of long-term and frequent sickness.” At present prison staffing models do not reflect the operational impact of consistently high absence rates and this should be changed.

Giving the Chief Inspector more teeth

The Committee laments the lack of impact of the Prison Inspectorate’s reports and quotes Andrew Nielsen, Howard League, that “Increasingly it has felt like the Chief Inspector has been reduced to ringing an alarm bell that has no clapper in it and does not make any sound.”

The report argues that the Chief Inspector should be given enhanced powers to comment more widely on the approach of HMPPS and have the ability to place prisons in special measures and require reports from prisons and HMPPS on actions taken in relation to its recommendations.