The transcript was published of a conference (held in October 2011) that examined the coalition government's policy of encouraging the development of an outcomes-based market in the provision of prison and probation services.
Source: Administering Justice by Results, Reform
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Dec
A report said that 82 out of the 130 prisons in England and Wales had been overcrowded as at the end of October 2011, with almost 20,000 inmates 'doubling up' in cells designed for one person.
Source: Bromley Briefings Prison Factfile: December 2011, Prison Reform Trust
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Dec
The mental health watchdog in Scotland said that the Scottish Prison Service needed to review its health centre facilities to consider the needs of prisoners with mental health problems.
Source: Mental Health of Prisoners: Themed visit report into prison mental health services in Scotland, Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Dec
The probation inspectorate said that the development of multi-agency public protection arrangements had improved the assessment and management of offenders deemed to present a risk of harm to others. Despite the significant challenges in dealing with such individuals, the level of co-operation among criminal justice and other agencies had been 'impressive'. A culture of trust and openness in the agencies involved had encouraged the thoughtful exchange of information between staff.
Source: Putting the Pieces Together: An inspection of multi-agency public protection arrangements, HM Chief Inspector of Probation/HM Inspectorate of Constabulary
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Nov
A report welcomed the coalition government's policy of providing paid work in custody: but it warned that the policy risked being undermined by a 23 per cent cut to the Ministry of Justice budget. Prisons were not constructed, managed, or staffed to support the work ethic; and significant changes would be needed in all these areas in order for them to do so. The report set out an alternative model of a not-for-profit community prison that would provide custody and rehabilitation services on a single site, working with between 500 and 700 people at any one time.
Source: Rachel O Brien, A Social Enterprise Approach to Prison and Rehabilitation, Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce
Links: Report | RSA press release | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Nov
A statistical analysis was published of all recorded deaths of individuals detained in state custody between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2010 – the first time that the figures had been broken down by ethnicity, gender, age, and cause of death, and presented together in a single format. In total, there were 5,998 deaths recorded for the period – an average of 545 deaths per year. 512 deaths were reported in 2010, compared with 607 in 2000 – a 16 per cent reduction.
Source: Statistical Analysis of All Recorded Deaths of Individuals Detained in State Custody Between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2010, Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody
Links: Report | IAP press release
Date: 2011-Oct
The coalition government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the role of the probation service. It said that there was 'no consensus' on how outcomes following community sentences and those following custody should be compared. It also disputed the suggestion that all sentences, whether to be served in custody or in the community, should be decided at local level.
Source: Government Response to the Justice Committee s Report: The Role of the Probation Service, Cm 8176, Ministry of Justice, TSO
Links: Response
Notes: MPs report (July 2011)
Date: 2011-Oct
The coalition government announced (following consultation) that it would introduce a new 'pathway' approach designed to address the complex needs of high-risk offenders with personality disorder. As a result, it would start to decommission the 'dangerous and severe personality disorder pilot sites' in the National Health Service. Interventions and treatment would be provided earlier and in the most suitable locations; additional support would be given to those who had completed programmes; and ongoing supervision would be enhanced.
Source: Response to the Offender Personality Disorder Consultation, Department of Health/Ministry of Justice
Links: Response to consultation | Hansard
Notes: Consultation document (May 2011)
Date: 2011-Oct
An ombudsman report examined the impact of intimidation, violence, and bullying on those who took their own lives in prison. Prison staff needed to record and share more information about violence and intimidation in order to improve prisoner safety.
Source: Learning from PPO Investigations: Violence Reduction, Bullying and Safety, Prisons and Probation Ombudsman for England and Wales
Links: Report | PPO press release
Date: 2011-Oct
An article examined the prevalence of traumatization and mental distress in a sample of male long-term prisoners in European countries. In each national sample (including that for England), more than 50 per cent of the participants were in need of treatment because of psychological symptoms and nearly one-third had attempted suicide.
Source: Kirstin Drenkhahn, Carsten Spitzer, Sven Barnow, Daniel Kopp, Philipp Kuwert, Harald Freyberger, and Frieder Dunkel, ' Traumatization and mental distress in long-term prisoners in Europe', Punishment and Society, Volume 13 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Oct
The final report was published of an official review of prisons in Northern Ireland. It made 40 recommendations aimed at improving prison conditions and management.
Source: Prison Review Team, Review of the Northern Ireland Prison Service: Conditions, management and oversight of all prisons, Northern Ireland Executive
Links: Report | CJINI press release | BBC report
Date: 2011-Oct
An article examined the changing relationships between the probation service in England and Wales and the police and prison services. Despite both structural and cultural transformations, there remained 'cultural continuities' that created significant tensions.
Source: Rob Mawby and Anne Worrall, '"They were very threatening about do-gooding bastards": probation's changing relationships with the police and prison services in England and Wales', European Journal of Probation, Volume 3 Number 3
Date: 2011-Sep
An article examined the rise of 'managerialism' in the probation service in England and Wales. It considered how national standards affected practice; how audits affected accountability; and how the use of risk-assessment tools was perceived and resisted in two probation teams.
Source: Jake Phillips, 'Target, audit and risk assessment cultures in the probation service', European Journal of Probation, Volume 3 Number 3
Date: 2011-Sep
The prisons inspectorate for England and Wales published its annual report for 2010-11.
Source: Annual Report 2010-11, HC 1454, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales, TSO
Links: Report | Out of Trouble press release
Date: 2011-Sep
A new book examined the origins and development of the probation service in England and Wales.
Source: George Mair and Lol Burke, Redemption, Rehabilitation and Risk Management: A history of probation, Willan Publishing
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Aug
A study found that rates of mental ill-health among the probation caseload were very similar to those in the prison population. Much of this poor health was unrecognized and untreated, making rehabilitation more difficult.
Source: Charlie Brooker, Coral Sirdifield, Robert Blizard, Dean Maxwell-Harrison, Diane Tetley, Paul Moran, Graham Pluck, Anne Chafer, David Denney, and Michael Turner, An Investigation into the Prevalence of Mental Health Disorder and Patterns of Health Service Access in a Probation Population, Criminal Justice and Health Research Group (University of Lincoln)
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Aug
A new textbook examined the work of the probation service.
Source: Rob Canton, Probation: Working with offenders, Willan Publishing
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Jul
Researchers highlighted the need to make prisoners more aware of voluntary organizations that could help them towards resettlement. Despite the relatively high number of third sector organizations working within prisons, many were not known by prisoners.
Source: Dina Gojkovic, Rosie Meek, and Alice Mills, Offender Engagement with Third Sector Organisations: A national prison-based survey, Working Paper 61, Third Sector Research Centre
Links: Paper | Abstract | Southampton University press release
Date: 2011-Jul
A report by a committee of MPs called on the government to commission an externally led review of the National Offender Management Service. The organization, which effectively merged prison and probation services, had not led to an appreciable improvement in the 'joined up' treatment of offenders; its handling of the community payback tendering exercise 'had not inspired confidence'; and it had not proved itself proficient at running effective national contracts.
Source: The Role of the Probation Service, Eighth Report (Session 2010-12), HC 519, House of Commons Justice Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | Oral and written evidence | Additional written evidence | BASW press release | HLPR press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2011-Jul
An article examined conditions of confinement for both Dutch prisoners held in English prisons and English prisoners held in the Netherlands, in order to determine whether and how these carceral environments had changed over the previous 20 years.
Source: Candace Kruttschnitt and Anja Dirkzwager, 'Are there still contrasts in tolerance? Imprisonment in the Netherlands and England 20 years later', Punishment and Society, Volume 13 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jul
Researchers found that risk and problem gambling rates among prisoners were significantly higher than among the general population Prisoners who took part in gambling were more likely than gamblers in the general population to run into difficulties. Offending could be reduced by 5 per cent if gambling problems were effectively addressed.
Source: Corinne May-Chahal, Alison Wilson, Jill Anderson, and Les Humphries, OffGam: An evidence informed approach to addressing problem gambling in prison populations, Responsible Gambling Fund
Links: Summary | RGF press release
Date: 2011-Jul
An article examined the links between the use of imprisonment in European countries and a range of potentially explanatory factors. Moderate penal policies had their roots in a consensual and corporatist political culture, in high levels of social trust and political legitimacy, and in a strong welfare state: policies that made more use of imprisonment were to be found in countries where these characteristics were less in evidence.
Source: Tapio Lappi-Seppala, 'Explaining imprisonment in Europe', European Journal of Criminology, Volume 8 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jul
A new book examined the contexts and challenges of working with people convicted of criminal offences.
Source: Anne Robinson, Foundations for Offender Management: Theory, law and policy for contemporary practice, Policy Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Jul
The coalition government published a strategy designed to open up offender services to competition, and to apply more widely the principles of payment by results to services that reduced reoffending. Bids would be invited for the management of 8 more prisons, on top of those already privatized.
Source: Competition Strategy for Offender Services, Ministry of Justice
Links: Strategy | Hansard | CBI press release | PCS press release | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Jul
A report said that the government should encourage and support private sector demand for working in prisons. There should be minimal eligibility criteria for prisoners to participate in real work in prison. The prison service should devolve greater powers to prison governors in prisons where real work was to take place, to ensure their prisons were 'fit for business'.
Source: Business Behind Bars: Making real work in prison work, Howard League for Penal Reform
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Jun
The European Commission began consultation on ways to strengthen mutual trust in the field of detention, and to ensure that people had confidence that they would be treated to similar standards of protection throughout the European Union.
Source: Strengthening Mutual Trust in the European Judicial Area: A Green Paper on the application of EU criminal justice legislation in the field of detention, European Commission
Links: Consultation document | European Commission press release | EP Social Democrats press release
Date: 2011-Jun
A study examined the daily lives of people serving short prison sentences and those working with them. Many prisoners preferred a short-term prison sentence over a community sentence because it was easier to complete: others considered community sentences to be more of a punishment.
Source: Julie Trebilcock, No Winners: The reality of short term prison sentences, Howard League for Penal Reform
Links: HLPR press release | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Jun
A think-tank report set out a series of recommendations designed to promote profitable, paid work as a core activity in the prison system. A new model for 'real work' in prison should focus on creating new incentives, removing the barriers to enterprise, and devolving authority to governors to cultivate the market – rather than imposing a new policy programme from the centre.
Source: Rory Geoghegan and Edward Boyd, Inside Job: Creating a market for real work in prison, Policy Exchange
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Jun
A literature review examined the social care needs of prisoners sentenced to less than 12 months in prison.
Source: Sarah Anderson with Claire Cairns, The Social Care Needs of Short-Sentence Prisoners, Revolving Doors Agency
Links: Report | RDA press release
Date: 2011-May
Researchers found that offenders who received a home detention curfew (HDC) were no more likely to engage in criminal behaviour when released from prison than offenders with similar characteristics who were not eligible for HDC.
Source: Olivier Marie, Karen Moreton, and Miguel Goncalves, The Effect of Early Release of Prisoners on Home Detention Curfew (HDC) on Recidivism, Research Summary 1/11, Ministry of Justice
Links: Report
Date: 2011-May
The coalition government announced plans to reduce reoffending in England by developing a stronger link between learning in prisons and the vocational and employability skills that employers demanded.
Source: Making Prisons Work: Skills for Rehabilitation, Ministry of Justice/Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Plan | Hansard | MOJ press release | Speech | Evidence
Date: 2011-May
An article examined how the shift towards 'business risk' management in prison governance had occurred alongside increased recognition of the potential for human rights considerations to raise significant organizational risks (for example, legal or reputational).
Source: Noel Whitty, 'Human rights as risk: UK prisons and the management of risk and rights', Punishment and Society, Volume 13 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Apr
A report sought to measure the effectiveness of work done by charities aimed at helping prisoners to maintain their family relationships.
Source: Lucy de Las Casas, Adrian Fradd, Lucy Heady, and Esther Paterson, Measuring Together: Improving prisoners' family ties – Piloting a shared measurement approach, New Philanthropy Capital
Date: 2011-Apr
An article examined the difficulties that arose for probation agencies, or those that delivered community sanctions, in developing and maintaining their credibility. It considered the emergence of an alternative strategy in Scotland – based principally on reparation and 'payback'. Probation agencies and services needed to engage much more deeply and urgently with their roles as justice services, rather than as 'mere' crime-reduction agencies.
Source: Fergus McNeill, 'Probation, credibility and justice', Probation Journal, Volume 58 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Apr
A new book examined the extent to which practitioners within the National Probation Service for England and Wales and the National Offender Management Service ascribed to the values, attitudes, and beliefs associated with recent policy changes in the probation system, and how much their practice had changed accordingly.
Source: John Deering, Probation Practice and the New Penology: Practitioner reflections, Ashgate Publications
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Apr
A study examined self-inflicted deaths in prisons in England and Wales between 1997 and 2007. There had been a significant downward trend in the number of self-inflicted deaths overall: but there had been a significant upward trend among black and minority-ethnic males, and among those who had been unemployed or receiving long-term sickness benefit prior to their entry to prison.
Source: A National Study of Self-Inflicted Deaths in Prison Custody in England and Wales from 1999 to 2007, National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness (University of Manchester)
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Apr
A briefing paper set out the existing position regarding prisoners and the franchise.
Source: Isobel White and Vaughne Miller, Prisoners? Voting Rights, Standard Note SN/PC/01764, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Date: 2011-Mar
The first report was published from a joint prison/offender management inspection programme in England and Wales. Offender supervisors were often expected to take on the role of assessing prisoners and driving their case management: but some lacked the appropriate training, and little guidance was available. The quality of assessments varied, and sentence planning was often driven more by the availability of activities than by the assessment.
Source: A Joined-Up Sentence? Offender management in prisons in 2009/2010, HM Chief Inspector of Probation/HM Inspectorate of Prisons
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Mar
The first annual report was published by the 'national preventive mechanism' (NPM) for the United Kingdom, designated under the United Nations optional protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT). The NPM was made up of 18 inspectorates and watchdog bodies. The report said that the government should explore gaps in the coverage of the NPM, identifying places of detention that were not monitored for the purpose of preventing ill-treatment.
Source: Monitoring Places of Detention: First annual report of the United Kingdom's National Preventive Mechanism 1 April 2009-31 March 2010, Cm 8010, Ministry of Justice, TSO
Links: Report | Telegraph report
Date: 2011-Feb
A briefing paper examined the issue of prisoners' voting rights, in the light of a judgment by the European Court of Human Rights (in 2005) that the United Kingdom's existing ban on all serving prisoners from voting contravened the European Convention on Human Rights.
Source: Isobel White and Vaughne Miller, Prisoners' Voting Rights, Standard Note SN/PC/01764, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Date: 2011-Feb
MPs voted to support a motion upholding a general ban on voting rights for prisoners (contrary to a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights).
Source: Debate 10 February 2011, columns 493-586, House of Commons Hansard, TSO
Links: Hansard | Council of Europe press release | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Feb
A report said that, despite high levels of spending, the Northern Ireland prison service was not effectively contributing towards a safer society; and there were serious problems of governance, accountability, performance, and culture.
Source: Review of the Northern Ireland Prison Service: Conditions, management and oversight of all prisons – Interim Report, Northern Ireland Executive
Links: Report | NIPS press release | NIHRC press release
Date: 2011-Feb
An employers' organization said that in order for community sentences to work, probation services needed to be reformed. Community sentences should be commissioned and assessed on the basis of reducing reoffending. 'Independent' providers, who already had extensive experience working with offenders, could play an important role alongside the public sector in delivering community sentences.
Source: Action in the Community: Reforming probation services to reduce reoffending, Confederation of British Industry
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Feb
The social work inspectorate for Scotland said that social work services in prisons were not always well integrated with other services or with those in the community. The 'vast majority' of prisoners were not accessing social work support in prison.
Source: Social Work Services in Scotland's Prisons: A national inspection, Social Work Inspection Agency
Links: Report | BBC report
Date: 2011-Jan
An article examined the dilemmas caused by the involvement of the voluntary sector in providing penal services, such as the operation of private prisons.
Source: Mary Corcoran, 'Dilemmas of institutionalization in the penal voluntary sector', Critical Social Policy, Volume 31 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jan