An inspectorate report in Northern Ireland examined corporate governance within the Northern Ireland Prison Service, and highlighted areas where further improvements were needed.
Source: Northern Ireland Prison Service Corporate Governance Arrangements, Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland
Links: Report | CJINI press release
Date: 2010-Dec
The government announced how it intended to implement the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (made in 2005) in relation to prisoner voting rights. The government would bring forward legislation providing that the blanket ban in the existing law would be replaced. Offenders sentenced to a custodial sentence of four years or more would continue to be deprived of the right to vote in all circumstances. Offenders sentenced to a custodial sentence of less than four years would be given the right to vote: but the sentencing judge would have powers to remove that right if they considered it appropriate. The right to vote would be restricted to United Kingdom parliamentary and European parliamentary elections, and not other elections or referendums.
Source: Written Ministerial Statement 20 December 2010, columns 150-151WS, House of Commons Hansard/TSO
Links: Hansard | Cabinet Office press release | Labour Party press release | PRT press release | Telegraph report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Dec
A report said that Northern Ireland's prison system was 'broken' and called for new approach to prison reform.
Source: Prisons and Prisoners in Northern Ireland: Putting human rights at the heart of prison reform, Committee on the Administration of Justice
Links: Report | Summary | CAJ press release | BBC report
Date: 2010-Nov
A new official publication examined a range of questions that were not covered in existing statistical publications on reoffending. It looked at the relationship between reconviction rates in England and Wales and prisoners' backgrounds – including early years, family life, schooling, accommodation, employment, drugs and alcohol misuse, and mental health.
Source: Compendium of Reoffending Statistics and Analysis, Statistical Bulletin, Ministry of Justice
Date: 2010-Nov
A briefing paper examined the existing position regarding prisoners' voting rights.
Source: Isobel White and Vaughne Miller, Prisoners' Voting Rights, Standard Note SN/PC/01764, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Date: 2010-Nov
A research report examined the impact of the 'enhanced thinking skills' (ETS) programme on the one-year reconviction outcomes of 257 prison-based participants between 2006 and 2008. ETS was found to significantly reduce both the reconviction rate and the frequency of general reoffending of participants.
Source: Greg Sadlier, Evaluation of the Impact of the HM Prison Service Enhanced Thinking Skills Programme on Reoffending Outcomes of the Surveying Prisoner Crime Reduction (SPCR) Sample, Research Report 19/10, Ministry of Justice
Date: 2010-Nov
The coalition government announced plans to introduce a 'work culture' in the penal justice system in England and Wales, with prisoners offered training and the prospect of a job on release. Prison inmates would be expected to work a full 40-hour working week, with private firms inside prisons employing prisoners to produce goods that could be sold outside.
Source: Speech by Ken Clarke MP (Lord Chancellor/Secretary of State for Justice), 5 October 2010
Links: Text of speech | Conservative Party press release | HLPR press release | Liberal Democrats press release | BBC report | Children & Young People Now report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Oct
A new book described and analyzed internationally significant theoretical and empirical work on offender supervision, and addressed the policy and practice implications of this work within and across jurisdictions.
Source: Fergus McNeill, Peter Raynor and Chris Trotter (eds.), Offender Supervision: New directions in theory, research and practice, Willan Publishing
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Oct
A think-tank report said that radical changes were needed if the coalition government's policy of expanding prison training schemes were to work. The sum allocated for training and preventing reoffending should be fixed and set aside, to be distributed to suppliers on a per capita basis. The system should be open to contest and subject to the principle of competitive neutrality. Payment would be linked to success and take account of reduced conviction rates.
Source: Jon Trigg, Mark Lovell and Carolyn Altounyan, Jailbreak: How to transform prisoners' training, Politeia
Links: Report | Politeia press release
Date: 2010-Oct
An article examined the 'massively increased' reliance on the use of custody under the Labour governments of 1997-2010. It highlighted the considerable social and economic costs of such an approach, while also drawing attention to a number of positive developments.
Source: Geoff Dobson, 'New Labour's prison legacy', Probation Journal, Volume 57 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Sep
An article examined the record of the recent Labour governments (1997-2010) in relation to the probation service. Despite the negative impact on probation of an 'unrelenting reductionist focus on managerialist and technical policy fixes', there might nonetheless be some grounds for optimism.
Source: Lol Burke and Steve Collett, 'People are not things: what New Labour has done to probation', Probation Journal, Volume 57 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Sep
A new textbook examined the most controversial aspects of imprisonment in England and Wales. It looked at controversies surrounding the imprisonment of people with mental health problems, women, children, minority-ethnic people and foreign nationals, offenders with suicidal ideation, sex offenders, and drug takers – as well as looking at the consequences of imprisonment for prisoners' families.
Source: David Scott and Helen Codd, Controversial Issues in Prisons, Open University Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Sep
The report of an independent expert group examined drug treatment for adults in prisons in England, and made recommendations for reform.
Source: Kamlesh Patel, Reducing Drug-Related Crime and Rehabilitating Offenders, Department of Health
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Sep
A report examined what had been achieved in prison mental health in England over recent years from a number of different personal perspectives. It looked at the specific achievements of 'inreach' teams and of efforts to divert offenders from custody. It also looked at the treatment of offenders with mental health problems outside as well as inside prison.
Source: Louis Appleby, Paula May, Calum Meiklejohn, Kimmett Edgar and Ian Cummins, Prison Mental Health: Vision and Reality, Centre for Mental Health/Nacro/Royal College of Nursing
Links: Report | RCN press release
Date: 2010-Sep
An article (by a long-term prisoner) said that the prisoner's 'voice' had been subjugated through the dominance of risk- and control-based polices and practice, and accused the probation service of being complicit in this process.
Source: Jon Keeler, 'Probation: "a deceptive substitute for real contact"?', Probation Journal, Volume 57 Number 3 Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Sep
An article examined the role of economic analysis in criminal justice policy. The economic situation made it 'increasingly untenable' for the government to continue increasing prison capacity without consideration of more efficient alternatives.
Source: Chris Fox and Kevin Albertson, 'Could economics solve the prison crisis?', Probation Journal, Volume 57 Number 3 Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Sep
A report said that spending on the prison and probation system in England and Wales had grown by 36 percent in real terms since 2004. Despite this significant increase in expenditure, frontline resources had been increasingly overstretched.
Source: Helen Mills, Arianna Silvestri and Roger Grimshaw with Felicia Silberhorn-Armantrading, Prison and Probation Expenditure, 1999-2009, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies/King's College London
Links: Report | CCJS press release
Date: 2010-Jul
An article examined the challenges that would have to be met if prisons were to be transformed into places of work and learning. Policy-makers needed to significantly reduce the prison population; implement a major programme of 'justice reinvestment' to staunch the flow of offenders from the most deprived communities; and introduce small community-based prisons to better facilitate the resettlement of inmates.
Source: Del Fletcher, 'How do we make prisons places of work and learning?', People, Place & Policy, Volume 4 Issue 2
Links: Article
Date: 2010-Jul
The probation inspectorate summarized the findings of its inspections of offender management in England and Wales in the period 2006-2009. Overall, there was a 'reasonably good' level of performance in work with adult offenders: but there was considerable scope for improvement in specific aspects.
Source: Offender Management Inspection 2006-2009: Aggregate findings across all 42 criminal justice areas, including findings by diversity, HM Chief Inspector of Probation
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Jul
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on Welsh prisoners in the prison estate. It acknowledged that there was a need for additional prison places in Wales.
Source: Welsh Prisoners in the Prison Estate: Follow-Up – Government Response to the Committee's Ninth Report, First Special Report (Session 2010-11), HC 398, House of Commons Welsh Affairs Select Committee/TSO
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2010-Jul
A new book examined the modernization of the probation service from a social theory perspective.
Source: Philip Whitehead, Exploring Modern Probation: Social theory and organisational complexity, Policy Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Jun
The prisons inspectorate said that prisons had come a 'considerable distance' in meeting the religious needs of Muslims: but that they were not yet effectively managing a complex and multi-dimensional population.
Source: Muslim Prisoners' Experiences: A thematic review, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales
Links: Report | HCI Prisons press release | BHA press release | IRR press release | Guardian report | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2010-Jun
A paper discussed improvements to the output measure for the prison service.
Source: Allan Baird and Andrew Rowlinson, Measuring the Output of the Prison Service, UK Centre for the Measurement of Government Activity/Office for National Statistics
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Jun
A think-tank report said that official approaches to the problem of drugs in prisons had clearly failed. It highlighted the 'mismanagement' of the integrated drug treatment system, and said that it had became the easy option for prisoners' habits to simply be maintained by the state, with little effort made to properly address their addictions.
Source: Max Chambers, Coming Clean: Combating drug misuse in prisons, Policy Exchange
Links: Report | Policy Exchange press release | Christian Institute report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Jun
A joint inspectorate report called for improvements in healthcare for adults in the prison system. It said that primary care trusts needed to improve efforts to centre care on patients' needs; arrangements for healthcare around transfer and release; and the provision of drug treatment systems.
Source: Commissioning Health Care In Prisons 2008/09: Key findings from our analysis of primary care trusts as commissioners of prison health care, Care Quality Commission/HM Prisons Inspectorate
Links: Report | CQC press release
Date: 2010-May
An audit report said that more could be done to rehabilitate prisoners serving short sentences, and to reduce their risk of reoffending. The National Offender Management Service had little information on the quality, cost, or effectiveness of its rehabilitation activities.
Source: Managing Offenders on Short Custodial Sentences, HC 431 (Session 2009-10), National Audit Office/TSO
Links: Report | NAO press release | Guardian report | BBC report | New Start report | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2010-Mar
A report by a committee of MPs said that there was a 'pressing need' for more prison places in Wales. There were only four prisons in Wales, all of which were in south Wales. There was little provision for juvenile and young offenders, and there were no prisons at all for women.
Source: Welsh Prisoners in the Prison Estate: Follow-Up, Ninth Report (Session 2009-10), HC 143, House of Commons Welsh Affairs Select Committee/TSO
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Mar
The prisons inspectorate for England and Wales published its annual report for 2008-09. It said that prisons in general had improved over recent years, despite struggling with an increasing population and decreasing resources. But it warned that this progress was at risk: overcrowding and budget cuts risked instability in a fragile environment, and could compromise the successful rehabilitation of prisoners.
Source: Annual Report 2008-09, HC 323, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales/TSO
Links: Report | HCI Prisons press release | Action for Prisoners Families press release | Guardian report | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2010-Feb
A report said that more needed to be done to provide expert care to prisoners with severe mental illnesses. Treating prisoners in secure hospitals could help cut reoffending costs: but not enough were getting help.
Source: Judy Renshaw, Waiting on the Wings: A review of the costs and benefits of secure psychiatric hospital care for people in the criminal justice system with severe mental health problems, Laing & Buisson
Links: BBC report | Community Care report | Turning Point press release
Date: 2010-Feb
An article said that, despite new policy initiatives, the prison discharge grant was still providing inadequate financial support for prisoners. (The prison discharge grant is intended to meet prisoners' immediate needs on release and assist with living costs prior to their receiving their first benefit payment.)
Source: Yvette Hartfree, Chris Dearden and Elspeth Pound, 'Plugging the prisoner finance gap: a critical analysis of financial support for newly-released prisoners', Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, Volume 49 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Feb
The government announced that the prison service's early release scheme – under which more than 80,000 prisoners had been released from prison 18 days early – would be ended by 10 April 2010, in the light of the availability of newly built prison accommodation.
Source: Debate 22 February 2010, columns 27-35, House of Commons Hansard/TSO
Links: Hansard | Conservative Party press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2010-Feb
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the role of prison officers. It rejected the suggestion that the prison system was constantly at crisis point.
Source: Government Response to the Justice Select Committee's Report: 'Role of the Prison Officer', Cm 7783, Ministry of Justice/TSO
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2010-Jan
A study examined the role of ethnic identities in assisting prisoners to cope with the 'pains of imprisonment' and in configuring social relations in two male prisons. Ethnic difference was found to be a 'banal and unremarkable' aspect of prisoners' lives in home communities and in prison. Living with diversity was largely accepted as the norm for both white and minority-ethnic prisoners.
Source: Coretta Phillips and Rod Earle, Ethnicity, Identity and Social Relations in Prison, Economic and Social Research Council
Links: Report | Summary | ESRC press release
Date: 2010-Jan