New resource for young men moving from YOI to prison

The Young Justice Advisors was created in 2016 with funding from the Barrow Cadbury Trust by Leaders Unlocked.

Through this project a unique group of young adults were formed with lived experience of the justice system and care system, to become policy advisors and advocates for lived experience voices and change at the national level. The group has published a range of resources created by teams of young adults based on their own experiences. The guides are intended to help make life easier for those currently in the criminal justice and care systems. Last week the Young Justice Advisors published “Your Guide to the Male Estate” targeted at young men moving from youth custody to adult custody. While most young people make a big celebration of their 18th birthday for boys in custody coming of age is marked by the daunting transfer into the adult prison system.

The resource

The guide, which was created with His Majesty’s Prisons and Probation Service Young Adults Team and the Youth Custody Service Transitions Central Management Team, provides an accessible guide to all the main differences between being a child and an adult in custody.

The guide covers a wide range of topics, including:

• The transition process, arrival at an adult prison and induction
• The adult prison regime
• Practical issues
• Parcels and post
• The category system
• Employment and education opportunities

This practical advice is supplemented throughout with some of the experiences of the Young Justice Advisors who put the guide together.

Need to knows

One important section of the guide is entitled “Need to Knows” and sets out details of the Incentive and Earned Privileges (IEP) system which, as many readers will know is divided into three levels:

• Basic: Poor behaviour/non-compliance will lead to basic IEP which gives you the lowest level of entitlements, regime, spends for canteen, and time out of cell.
• Standard: This is the entry level IEP and given to all people who follow prison rules. This means you are entitled to the full regime, spends for canteen and time out of cell.
• Enhanced: This level is for going above and beyond the standard behaviour required. You would be given more time out of cell, more spends for canteen, visits and in some prisons access to different regime and wings/houseblock’s offering more entitlements such as on unit gyms and kitchens.

Really useful information is provided on how the canteen system works, how to order meals and the adjudications system. Other practicalities such as visits, laundry, making an application and how to make a complaint are all covered. Importantly, information is also given on the Offender Management Unit, sentence plans and how young men can progress through the system to release.

The guide includes helpful guidance around difficult experiences such as searches and spells out people’s rights. Here is part of the section on searching:

A full search is where you will be asked to remove items of clothing, you will NEVER be fully naked, only your top half then bottom half and you are NOT touched. These searches are completed:

• At reception.
• Potentially after a social visit.
• Before exiting the establishment and after returning to the establishment from any external place.
• Prior to a cell search.
• When being located in the segregation unit.

In addition to this practical information, the sharing of other young men’s experiences is likely to be particularly helpful. Here is the experience shared by Rom, one of the young advisors:

“Getting caught up in the prison system was both unfortunate and a blessing. I was in an incident that involved me being racially attacked and in retaliation at the time it felt like the right thing to do. I wouldn’t say for me I found a particular thing that was helpful but rather some small different things that helped me get through. Things like going to the library to expand my knowledge and read and find new interests in philosophy. I also went to the gym when I could to help release any negative energy I was carrying and just found things that I looked forward to doing…Your days will be filled with a lot of repetition so expectations may be lowered and things that were once small may bring you pleasure.”

Readers who are interested in accessing the full guide can find it here.