Prison performance tracker highlights staff retention issues

Ahead of the government's medium-term fiscal plan, the Institute for Government (IFG)/Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) has published its annual public services stocktake. The report is determinedly downbeat,  revealing that public services won’t have returned to pre-pandemic performance by the next election, which in most cases was… It is increasingly hard to retain prison staff due to better pay and conditions elsewhere, including other parts of the public sector, particularly the police, a new report has warned. ...

The experience of immigration detainees in prisons

The review finds that many immigration detainees get stuck in custody for long periods with little or no progress in their cases being made by the Home Office. An indication of the scale of the problem was the story of one detainee who told inspectors she had agreed to return… A review of the experience of immigration detainees held in prisons published today by the prison inspectorate has found that they were markedly disadvantaged compared with those held in immigration removal centres (IRCs)...

Justice Secretary signals policy reforms on transgender prisoners

The reforms on policies as to where to house inmates will also apply to transgender women who have been convicted of a sex offence. It follows Justice Secretary Brandon Lewis telling the Conservative Party conference last week :  “It cannot be right that transgender prisoners, when convicted of serious sexual… Brandon Lewis has said that transgender prisoners with male genitalia should no longer be held in women’s prisons. ...

Women's centres: a cost-benefit analysis

We have known for many years that a disproportionate number of women are in prison for (very) short sentences and that their, often complex, needs would be much more appropriately met in the community by our network of women’s centres. A new report published last Friday by the charity Women… The charity Women in Prison who run women's centres say there is a funding gap in provision of alternatives to custody ...

Prisons a major challenge to new Justice team

Prisons in England and Wales are struggling to provide safe, humane and rehabilitative regimes, due to the aftermath of the severe Covid restrictions, current staffing problems and other pressures, say the independent monitoring boards (IMBs) in their national annual report, published today. What are Independent Monitoring Boards? Independent Monitoring Boards… The national annual report from Independent Monitoring Boards records an ‘exceptionally challenging year’ in prisons....

Tagging to be expanded to include those on short sentences

Over recent months we have covered the issue of the electronic tagging of offenders on a number of occasions as the Ministry of Justice has followed through with its commitment to expand the use of tags. There are now a number of different tags in place: the basic tag used… The number of offenders being monitored with tags is growing driven by extensions to new offender cohorts, such as those subject to immigration bail, as well as the roll-out of alcohol monitoring tags....

Offenders in probation hostels to face compulsory drug testing

While probation requirements can include certain drug testing requirements – the MoJ has now said that anyone staying in probation hostels will be randomly tested for 14 different types of drugs twice during their stay. Meanwhile, those who do already have drug testing requirements will be tested more frequently –… Offenders who stay in probation hostels or Approved Premises will now be subject to mandatory drug testing regardless of the offence(s) they committed or their previous drug history. ...

Sentencing historic offenders

The principal reason for the rapid growth in the number of sex offenders in our prisons over the last 10 to 15 years has been the prosecution of large numbers of perpetrators arrested for historic offences. Probably the best known example is Operation Yewtree, the police investigation into historic sexual… Sentencing historic offenders is notoriously difficult because it involves an interplay between old and new sentencing regimes. A new report sheds light on the issue. ...

Probation not learning from serious further offences

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation has just published its first annual report looking at the quality of Serious Further Offence (SFO) reviews undertaken by the Probation Service after people on probation commit a serious violent or sexual offence while under supervision. These reviews, conducted by the Probation Service, aim to… Too many Serious Further Offence reviews are falling below par, with services not sufficiently identifying the necessary learning according to a new report ...

MPs call for the end of the IPP sentence

IPP sentences were introduced to prevent serious offenders being released when still a danger to the public. Despite being scrapped in 2012, nearly 3,000 people remain in prison having been given an IPP sentence. In some cases, individuals have been imprisoned a decade beyond the tariff for their original sentence… In a strongly worded report published today, the Justice Committee has called on the Government to re-sentence all prisoners subject to IPP sentences. ...