An article said that a preoccupation with the technicalities of risk assessment had encouraged an erosion of the rights of risky offenders. A rights-based, rather than a risk-based, emphasis in criminal justice innovations might redress the balance. An approach which explored protective factors, rather than risk factors, was worthy of consideration.
Source: Elizabeth Lancaster and Jeannie Lumb, 'The assessment of risk in the National Probation Service of England and Wales', Journal of Social Work, Volume 6 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Dec
The Court of Appeal ruled that prisoners jailed before 1998 (and subject to the 1991 Criminal Justice Act) were entitled to unconditional release after three-quarters of their sentence - with the possibility of being able to claim damages where they were held after their sentence should have ended. The government said that it would appeal.
Source: Paul Christian Stellato v Secretary of State for the Home Department, Court of Appeal 1 December 2006
Links: Text of judgement | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Dec
An article called for a renewed political commitment to probation. There was a need for a constructive, evidence-based approach to community sentences based on the principle of consent, community participation, and self-sentencing.
Source: Philip Priestley and Maurice Vanstone, 'Abolishing probation a political crime?', Probation Journal, Volume 53 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Dec
The Offender Management Bill was given a second reading. The Bill was designed to enable the government to commission probation services from the best available provider - whether in the public, private, or voluntary sector.
Source: Offender Management Bill, Home Office, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 11 December 2006, columns 583-690, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Hansard
Date: 2006-Dec
An article said that rehabilitation needed to extend beyond narrow correctionalism to a more socially inclusive and relational model. It outlined some of the strategies which might enable the probation service to contribute to such a development.
Source: Gwen Robinson and Peter Raynor, 'The future of rehabilitation: what role for the probation service?', Probation Journal, Volume 53 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Dec
There were 60 murders by offenders released on licence in 2004-05 and 38 in the following 12 months. In comparison, there were 24 such murders in 2000, and 29 in 2003.
Source: Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2005, Statistical Bulletin 18/06, Home Office (020 7273 2084)
Links: Bulletin | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Dec
The government published the Offender Management Bill. The Bill was designed to enable the government to commission probation services from the best available provider - whether in the public, private, or voluntary sector.
Source: Offender Management Bill, Home Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Bill | Downing Street Briefing | Home Office press release | YJB press release | LGA press release | Nacro press release | YMCA press release | CBI press release | Times report | FT report | BBC report (1) | BBC report (2) | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Community Care report
Date: 2006-Nov
The Parole Board for England and Wales published its annual report for 2005-06, reporting on its performance against business plan targets, and statistics for determinate-sentence and life-sentence prisoners. The report also gave details of the work carried out to improve public confidence during the year.
Source: Annual Report & Accounts of the Parole Board for England and Wales 2005-06, Parole Board for England and Wales (0870 420 3505)
Links: Report | Statistical annex | Parole Board press release
Date: 2006-Nov
Scotland's Chief Inspector of Prisons reported that the prison population had yet again reached record levels. He identified 'nine evils' of overcrowding, and complained about lack of action to remedy the situation.
Source: HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland: Annual Report 2005-2006, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Report | SE press release | BBC report
Date: 2006-Nov
A report by a cross-party group of MPs called for a 'fundamental shift in thinking' on the treatment of mental health problems in prisons. There was a shortage of psychiatrists working in the prison medical service, and problems transferring inmates to psychiatric hospitals. There was a need to boost community services to support people at risk of offending; and for improvements to court diversion schemes and to the links between mental health services inside and outside prison.
Source: The Mental Health Problem in UK HM Prisons, All-Party Parliamentary Group on Prison Health, c/o Dari Taylor MP (020 7219 3000)
Links: Report | SCMH press release | Community Care report
Date: 2006-Nov
The government announced that the probation service was in need of 'fundamental reform'. Re-offending rates remained high, and there had been cases where dangerous offenders had not been supervised properly. Legislation would be introduced to make it compulsory for local probation services to put work out to contract, with the aim of allowing voluntary organizations and the private sector to bid for £250 million of probation service work each year - nearly a third of the total - from April 2008.
Source: Speech by John Reid MP (Home Secretary), 7 November 2006
Links: Home Office press release | Crime Concern press release | Community Care report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Nov
A new book examined the government of prisoners with mental health problems in England and Wales, and how this group of prisoners had come to be viewed increasingly as sources of 'risk' requiring 'management' or containment - rather than as people suitable for therapeutic responses.
Source: Toby Seddon, Punishment and Madness: Governing prisoners with mental health problems, Routledge (01264 343071)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Nov
The Scottish Executive published a Bill to end the existing system of automatic - and often unconditional - early release of offenders, and to ensure that offenders were subject to restrictions for their entire sentence.
Source: Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Bill, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Policy memorandum | SE press release
Date: 2006-Oct
A report by a committee of MPs said that there was insufficient evidence available to determine whether electronic monitoring helped to reduce re-offending or promote rehabilitation. The government reportedly disclosed that more than 1,000 serious crimes had been committed by offenders released early from jail on electronic tags monitored by private companies.
Source: The Electronic Monitoring of Adult Offenders, Sixty-second Report (Session 2005-06), HC 997, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522) | The Guardian, 12 October 2006
Links: Report | Nacro press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Oct
The government announced a series of urgent measures designed to cope with a crisis in prison capacity. Police cells would be used to accommodate up to 500 prisoners on remand; a former army barracks and a former secure hospital would be converted in order to boost capacity; and there would be a range of incentives to persuade foreign prisoners to return to their home country.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Debate 9 October 2006, columns 32-46, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | ACPO press release | NACRO press release | YMCA press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2)
Date: 2006-Oct
An article highlighted the strengths of ethnographic research methods for exploring prison drug-dealing.
Source: Ben Crewe, 'Prison drug dealing and the ethnographic lens', Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, Volume 45 Issue 4
Links: Abstract | Blackwells press release
Date: 2006-Sep
The government published its response to the recommendations of an official inquiry report into the murder of a young Asian prisoner (Zahid Mubarek) by a racist cellmate.
Source: Zahid Mubarek Inquiry: The Government s Full Response to the Report, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Response | Report part 1 | Report part 2 | Personnel Today report
Date: 2006-Sep
A new book examined the damaging short-term and long-term effects of imprisonment, and possible ways of mitigating them.
Source: Alison Liebling and Shadd Maruna (eds.), The Effects of Imprisonment, Willan Publishing (01884 840337)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Sep
A think-tank report examined ways in which the voluntary sector might be able to play a role in the probation service.
Source: Natalie Tarry (ed.), Returning to its Roots? A new role for the third sector in probation, Social Market Foundation (020 7222 7060)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Sep
A briefing paper said that two-thirds of black and ethnic minority prison staff felt that institutional racism was a problem in their workplace.
Source: Experiences of Minority Ethnic Employees in Prisons, Prison Reform Trust (020 7251 5070)
Links: Briefing | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Sep
A joint inspectorate report said that 4 out of 10 serious sexual and violent offenders were released from prison before the completion of assessments to determine whether they were a risk to the public.
Source: Putting Risk of Harm in Context, HM Chief Inspector of Probation (020 7035 2203) and three other inspectorates
Links: Report | Times report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Sep
A report said that work for prisoners - where it existed - was often mundane, repetitive, and boring. Employers who might want to go into partnership with prisons found the culture of jails and some prison staff inward-looking.
Source: David Wilson and Azrini Wahidin, Real Work in Prisons: Absences, obstacles and opportunities, Centre for Criminal Justice Policy and Research/University of Central England (0121 331 5000)
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Sep
A report said that probation services in England and Wales should face greater competition from the private and voluntary sectors.
Source: Improving Prison and Probation Services: Public Value Partnerships, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Aug
The prison service published its annual report for 2005-06.
Source: Annual Report and Accounts: April 2005-March 2006, HC 1291, Prison Service/Home Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jul
A report said that the government could do more to reduce re-offending and crime by making greater user of private and voluntary sector providers in offender management.
Source: Protecting the Public: Partnership in offender management, Confederation of British Industry (020 7395 8247)
Links: Report | CBI press release
Date: 2006-Jul
A bulletin presented the latest projections of the prison population in England and Wales for the period from July 2006 to June 2013. Projections for 2013 ranged between 90,250 and 106,550 (compared to around 78,000 in June 2006).
Source: Nisha de Silva, Paul Cowell, Terence Chow and Paul Worthington, Prison Population Projections 2006 2013, England And Wales, Statistical Bulletin 11/06, Home Office (020 7273 2084)
Links: Bulletin | Howard League press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jul
The probation inspectorate said that there had been a substantial improvement in the availability of treatment for drug misusing offenders: but there was a continuing scarcity of treatment for alcohol misusers.
Source: Half Full and Half Empty?' An inspection of the National Probation Service's substance misuse work with offenders, HM Chief Inspector of Probation (020 7035 2203)
Links: Report | HCI Probation press release
Date: 2006-Jul
The Home Office admitted that an internal report (leaked to the press) had found evidence of corruption among more than 1,000 prison officers (out of a total of approximately 19,000 in England and Wales). Most of the illicit activity involved smuggling drugs and mobile phones to prisoners.
Source: Press release 31 July 2006, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Home Office press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jul
An article examined the increase in the number of people in England and Wales recalled to prison during the licence period of their sentence. It said that sentencing law and practice put inappropriate emphasis on front door sentencing practices, rather than the equally important back door practices of release, supervision and recall.
Source: Nicola Padfield and Shadd Maruna, 'The revolving door at the prison gate: exploring the dramatic increase in recalls to prison', Criminology and Criminal Justice, Volume 6 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Jul
The probation service for England and Wales published its annual report for 2005-06. It said that it had exceeded 7 out of 11 service delivery targets for 2005-06. It was close to meeting the remaining four targets, missing some by a "tiny margin", and was showing "consistent improvement".
Source: Annual Report 2005-2006, National Probation Service for England and Wales/Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Report | Community Care report | BBC report
Date: 2006-Jul
The probation inspectorate published its annual report for 2005-06. It said that there was a continuing need for improvement in the assessment and management of offenders risk of harm to others, both by probation areas and youth offending teams. In fewer than two-thirds of cases inspected was an adequate risk-of-harm assessment carried out at the start of supervision.
Source: 2005/2006 Annual Report, HM Chief Inspector of Probation (020 7035 2203)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jul
An official inquiry report said that the murder of Asian prisoner Zahid Mubarek by a racist cellmate at Feltham Young Offenders' Institution could have been prevented. It criticized the prison service for "a bewildering catalogue" of failings; and it called on the Home Office to consider whether it should recognize a new concept of "institutional religious intolerance".
Source: Report of the Zahid Mubarek Inquiry, HC 1082, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report part 1 | Report part 2 | Statement by Inquiry Chairman | Hansard | HLPR press release | INQUEST press release | MHF press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Times report
Date: 2006-Jun
A new book advocated the further expansion of restorative justice schemes in prisons - such as reaching out to victims of crime; providing prisoners with a range of opportunities to make amends; and experimenting with mediation in response to conflicts within prisons.
Source: Kimmett Edgar and Tim Newell, Restorative Justice in Prisons: A guide to making it happen, Waterside Press (01962 855567)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Jun
The Scottish Executive announced that the system for automatically releasing short-term offenders from prison without restrictions was to be scrapped. It would be replaced with a new regime under which all offenders would be under restrictions for their entire sentence.
Source: Release and Post Custody Management of Offenders, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Report | SE press release | BBC report
Date: 2006-Jun
The Northern Ireland prison service published proposals aimed at increasing rehabilitation rates for life-sentence prisoners and reducing the risk of re-offending. In the longer term it was likely that new purpose-built accommodation would provide the best outcome: but the report set out proposals for the short and medium term to improve the conditions, opportunities, and regime for all life-sentence prisoners and the staff working with them.
Source: A Review of Life Sentenced Prisoners, Northern Ireland Prison Service (028 9052 5065)
Links: Report | NIPS press release
Date: 2006-Jun
A report by a committee of MPs said that the unprecedentedly high prison population of 77,000 was due to rise even higher, and would lead to higher suicide rates and a fertile environment for unrest among prisoners. Thousands of remand prisoners, inmates with mental health problems, and children should urgently be released from prisons to relieve the growing overcrowding crisis.
Source: National Offender Management Service: Dealing with increased numbers in custody, Forty-fourth Report (Session 2005-06), HC 788, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jun
The probation inspectorate examined the extent to which the service had contributed to a reduction in crime through the management of unpaid work schemes in the community. There were wide variations in the quality of case management. Most areas had little difficulty in exceeding the national target for order completions: but in some areas this masked the routine need to stand offenders down due to a lack of supervisors.
Source: Working to Make Amends: An inspection of the delivery of Enhanced Community Punishment and Unpaid Work by the National Probation Service, HM Chief Inspector of Probation (020 7035 2203)
Date: 2006-May
The head of the judiciary in England and Wales said that prison overcrowding was proving "absolutely fatal" for efforts to tackle the treatment of inmates, and that the "sensible place for rehabilitation was in the community". He also said that it was pointless to send people to prison for two-week sentences; and that there should be many more beds for prisoners with mental health problems so that they could be taken out of the prison system.
Source: Interview with Lord Phillips (Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales), The Guardian, 30 May 2006
Links: Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2006-May
A report said that young men aged 18-20 had high offending and re-offending rates, but were largely ignored by initiatives to cut crime. Sending young men to prison did virtually nothing to ensure that they would live crime-free lives on release.
Source: Finola Farrant, Out For Good: The resettlement needs of young men in prison, Howard League for Penal Reform (020 7249 7373)
Links: HLPR press release | Womans Aid press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-May
The government admitted that between February 1999 and March 2006, 1,023 foreign national criminals, who should have been considered for deportation or removal, completed their prison sentences and were released without any consideration of deportation or removal action. It said that it was taking steps to remedy "shocking" administrative failings in the prison and immigration services.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 25 April 2006, columns 37-38WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Apr
Campaigners said that prisons in England and Wales were almost at full capacity, and that urgent action was needed to address the situation. It said the previous record prison population of 77,774 in England and Wales could be passed within a matter of months.
Source: Bromley Briefings Prison Factfile: April 2006, Prison Reform Trust (020 7251 5070)
Links: Report | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2006-Apr
An article examined the main findings of a survey of black, Asian and mixed-heritage men supervised by the probation service in 2001-2003. Minority ethnic offenders in the sample had received the same community sentences as white offenders guilty of more serious offences.
Source: Adam Calverley et al., 'Black and Asian probationers: implications of the Home Office study', Probation Journal, Volume 53 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Mar
A report said that the recommendations of a review of prison education by a committee of MPs had been largely ignored.
Source: House of Commons Education & Skills Committee Prison Education Report: Progress Report - One Year On, Forum on Prisoner Education (0870 756 5795)
Links: BBC report
Date: 2006-Mar
The government published a summary of responses to a consultation on restructuring the probation service. It also set out the next steps, including the introduction as a matter of urgency of an enhanced performance regime. It postponed plans to invite private companies and voluntary organizations to run probation services.
Source: Press release 30 March 2006, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Home Office press release | Hansard | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Mar
The prisons inspectorate published its annual report for 2004-05. It said that prisons were providing grossly inflated figures for the time inmates spent involved in activities out of their cells, in order to meet performance targets.
Source: Annual Report of HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales 2004-2005, HC 883, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Home Office press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Mar
A new book examined the history and development of prisons, contemporary theories and issues relating to prison populations, sociological and psychological literature on the 'effects' of imprisonment, and debates about the management and privatization of the prison estate and emerging trends.
Source: Yvonne Jewkes and Helen Johnston (eds.), Prison Readings, Willan Publishing (01884 840337)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Mar
An independent report examined the arrangements for early release of prisoners in Scotland. It proposed a new regime for those sentenced to terms of more than 12 months, involving the offender serving the whole of a minimum period, fixed by the court, in jail. A separate regime would apply to those sentenced to custodial terms of 12 months or less, involving discretionary release from prison on electronically-monitored home detention curfew after not less than half the term had been served.
Source: Early Release from Prison and Supervision of Prisoners on their Release, Sentencing Commission for Scotland (0131 244 3228)
Links: Report | SE press release
Date: 2006-Jan
A new book provided a critical assessment of the setting up of the National Offender Management Service, combining the probation and prison services.
Source: Mike Hough, Rob Allen and Una Padel (eds.), Reshaping Probation and Prisons: The new offender management framework, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Jan
A study examined the National Probation Service's work with alcohol-misusing offenders.
Source: Tim McSweeney, Russell Webster, Paul Turnbull and Martin Duffy, Evidence-Based Practice? The National Probation Service's Work with Alcohol-Misusing Offenders, Research Report 13/09, Ministry of Justice (020 7210 8500)
Date: 2006-Jan
The prisons inspectorate said that the National Offender Management Service urgently needed to improve the systems for managing recalled prisoners. There had been a 350 per cent increase over the previous five years in the number of offenders recalled to prison for apparent breach of their conditions, and recalled prisoners made up nearly 11 per cent of the population of local prisons. Prisons had been struggling to keep up with this rise, and those recalled did not always receive appropriate information, care and advice.
Source: Monica Lloyd, with Gary Deighton, Eileen Bye and Geoff Dobson, Recalled Prisoners: A short review of recalled adult male determinate sentenced prisoners, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales (020 7035 2103)
Links: Report | Home Office press release
Date: 2006-Jan
A study found that 85 per cent of people on probation or parole supervision had either low educational attainment, learning difficulties, problems expressing themselves, or problems understanding what was being said to them.
Source: Literacy, Language and Speech Problems Amongst Individuals on Probation or Parole, National Association of Probation Officers (020 7223 4887)
Links: Report | NAPO press release
Date: 2006-Jan