As many readers will know, poor mental health is exceptionally common in prison. 45% of adults in prison have anxiety or depression, 8% have a diagnosis of psychosis, and 60% have experienced a traumatic brain injury. Being imprisoned can exacerbate mental health difficulties, and there are too many avoidable remands… Work with offenders looks at an important new report from the Centre for Mental Health...
The Domestic Abuse Commissioner, Nicole Jacobs, is calling for urgent long-term funding and more dedicated specialist court support after a new report “Understanding Court Support for Victims of Domestic Abuse” revealed that 89 per cent of domestic abuse survivors don’t get any support when they go through the family courts.… Work with offenders on a new report from the Domestic Abuse Commissioner...
Just two weeks after announcing its plans to build a new prison in Chorley, the Ministry of Justice has today published a public consultation document for another super-sized prison, this time in Market Harborough. The choice of Market Harborough is straightforward, the idea is to build the new prison on… Work with offenders on more evidence that the government is serious about expanding the prison estate...
This Saturday, 26 June 2021, the government’s experiment with probation privatisation, known as Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) will be officially over. The 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs), responsible for managing low and medium risk offenders for the last seven years, will cease trading and the public sector National Probation Service (NPS)… Work with Offenders reviews the structure of the new system for managing low and medium risk offenders which starts later this week ...
On Friday Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) published a new guide for family members of people serving indeterminate prison sentences. Indeterminate prison sentences, mainly life sentences or sentences of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPPs) are sentences where there is no definite release date. England and Wales has the… Work with offenders on a new guide for families of prisoners serving indeterminate sentences...
Last night Justice Secretary Robert Buckland announced that every child is being transferred from the privately-run Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre amid serious ongoing concerns about safety and performance. This is a drastic measure which is just the latest in a long line of problems at the STC. History Rainsbrook Secure… Work with offenders examines the decision to move all children out of Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre...
The Justice Secretary Robert Buckland wrote an article in the Times newspaper today sharing his views on the need for tailored prisoner education for the many thousands of people in the criminal justice system with learning needs. The article, which the Ministry of Justice later published as a press release,… Work with offenders on a drive to break down the barriers for prisoners with learning needs...
In following with its recent approach, the Government focuses on the economic benefits to the local area – jobs for building the prison and then employment for staffing it when complete, rather than the criminal justice rationale for building new prisons. The Chorley prison is part of the Government’s ‘New… The Ministry of Justice formally announced its plans to build a new prison in Chorley today when it published the public consultation notice – the deadline for responses is in 5 weeks (19 July 2021)....
The toolkit is aimed at staff in Youth Offending Teams for young people on court orders or prevention programmes, and at youth workers, Early Help and other social care officers, teachers and school staff and staff in secure settings. The Toolkit has been designed by BraveSpace, a youth justice consultancy… The Mayor of London’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) has just published a new Knife Crime Toolkit designed for professionals to use with children and young people who are at risk of carrying or using a knife. ...
Last Friday (28 May), the probation inspectorate published the most recent in its now extensive series of Academic Insights, in which it commissions leading academics to present their views on specific topics, in order to promote informed debate and aid the understanding of what helps and what hinders probation and… Work with offenders looks at the latest in HM Inspectorate of Probation’s Academic Insights series....