Probation still failing on high risk SFO cases says inspectorate

The Probation Inspectorate has today published its second annual report of Serious Further Offence (SFO) reviews, with the headline conclusion being that assessments of the risk of harm people on probation pose remain inaccurate and incomplete. The report also says that not enough is being done to stop people on… Chief Probation Inspector Justin Russell has attributed the declining performance around risk assessment to low staffing levels....

New employers' guide to hiring people with criminal convictions

Hiring with conviction Working Chance, the employment charity for women with convictions, has just  published a new guide to recruiting and supporting people with a criminal record. The guide is split into four main sections: Why recruit people with convictions How to recruit people with convictions Dealing with disclosure of a criminal… In England and Wales, there are around 12.3 million people with a criminal record....

Concerns around Government’s changes to the parole system

A new briefing paper from the Prison Reform Trust sets out the concerns of many criminal justice commentators and lawyers around the proposed changes to the parole system put forward in the Victims and Prisoners Bill currently under consideration by parliament. The penal reform charity argues that Part Three of… The Prison Reform Trust says the Bill undermines the independence of the Parole Board and its function as a court like body....

Concerns for prisoner safety at HMP Lowdham Grange

Safety is a serious concern at HMP Lowdham Grange, for the second year running, with three apparently self-inflicted deaths in three weeks, says the independent monitoring board (IMB) in a report published last week. The IMB took the unusual step of publishing an annex to its 2022-3 report, alerting ministers… Drugs were a continuing problem, both affecting prisoner behaviour and encouraging illicit activity and debt...

Proposals for generic Intervention Units 'direct risk to public safety'

The National Association for Probation Officers is “vehemently opposed” to MoJ proposals to absorb specialist sex offender teams into generic Intervention hubs. The Ministry of Justice is currently in a formal consultation period with trade unions on changes which could see the creation of single Interventions Units within each of… The MoJ is looking to create single Interventions Units across the 12 probation regions....

Red Snapper Recruitment launches campaign to support offender rehabilitation

Many of us will remember fondly Norman Stanley Fletcher, Ronnie Barker’s role in the BBC comedy Porridge. His cheeky, stereotypical, older prisoner character enjoyed notoriety, kudos and the ability to make life inside far more manageable. Many members of the public still visualise prison life to be just the same… The RECOOP charity was set up over 8 years ago to specifically support the older prisoner population and meet their differing needs...

Prison spaces only in lower category open establishments

Andrea Albutt, President of the Prison Governors’ Association, made it clear in her speech to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Penal Affairs (APPGPA) yesterday that our prisons are rapidly running out of space. As you can see from our graphic below, the prison population has been on an upward… The projected rise to 94,000 is primarily due to an increase in receptions of determinate sentenced offenders....

Restricted status rules for women offenders are counter-productive

A new thematic inspection into restricted status children and prisoners held in women’s establishments published today concludes that prison service rules for managing those women and child prisoners who pose the greatest risk of harm to the public are, far from supporting their rehabilitation and reduction of risk, in many… The policy provided instructions on how to manage prisoners whose escape would present a risk of serious harm to the public....

More prison leavers finding jobs

The Ministry of Justice has today published what it calls a “Ad-hoc Statistics Bulletin” on the number of people released from prison who find jobs. The bulletin shows the rate of employment of prison leavers at two points: shortly (6 weeks) after release and after a longer period of resettlement… The numbers of prison leavers finding jobs has increased markedly over the last two years according to the MoJ...

Justice system still struggling to recover from the pandemic

The Ministry of Justice and the Office for National Statistics today published its quarterly criminal justice bulletin covering the main activities in the justice system up to the end of 2022. The figures show rises in the number of people dealt with by the criminal justice system but activity levels… The number of prosecutions for indictable offences fell by 3% compared to last year, which may be attributable to the industrial action taken by barristers last summer....