A Preliminary Investigation of Resettlement Policy an Provision Provided in HMP Sudbury PDF

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Summary

Examination of the report commissioned to investigate the resettlement policy and provision provided at HMP Sudbury....

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Psychology & Criminology – Penology – Lecture 20: A Preliminary Investigation of Resettlement Policy and Provision Provided at HMP Sudbury

The Project: -

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Report commissioned to investigate the ‘Resettlement Policy and Provision’ provided at HMP Sudbury (Cat D Open prison). Evaluation of the existing service delivery (from both a staff and ‘service user’ perspective). Incl. revisions and recommendation for further policy design, application and monitoring. Working closely with HMP Sudbury’s ‘Resettlement Unit’: o eight prison staff (including staff not directly employed by HMPS) o twenty-three prisoners  …were interviewed about their experiences of ‘resettlement’ provision at HMP Sudbury (and beyond) Triangulated with several internal prison documents detailing the scale, scope and implementation of HMP Sudbury’s resettlement policy.

Life After Prison: - Some Reflections on Resettlement: -

Persistently high reconviction rates = OM changes (MOJ, 2010).

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Pioneering SEU report (SEU, 2002) & NOMS/NOMM = renaissance of resettlement (House of Commons, 2004; Maguire and Raynor, 2006; Ministry of Justice, 2010a).

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Growing concern with evaluating ‘resource utilisation’; more recently wholesale commitment to ‘marketisation’ (i.e. PbR).

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Ideological disputes about ‘best way’ to reduce reoffending, but…broad consensus about multiple barriers to post-imprisonment social reintegration (Corston, 2007; Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons, 2005; HMIPP, 2001; SEU, 2002).

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Thus: HMPS identified seven obstacles (now nine).

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Separate & interconnected.

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RNR model.

Resettlement:

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‘The word “resettlement” is not a wholly accurate description in every case because many prisoners have never had a “settled” existence even before imprisonment.

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If “settlement” is to have any hope of success, the ways of living law-abiding and useful lives must be inculcated into prisoners from the moment they are received into prison.

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This requires the Prison Service not only to determine how each prisoner can be motivated and equipped to enable them to do this, but also to design every activity around the resettlement, or settlement, process.’

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(Ramsbotham, 2003: 146)

Social Exclusion Unit, 2002: -

Report by the Social Exclusion Unit (2002) identified nine key factors that have ‘a huge impact on the likelihood of a prisoner re-offending’: o Education o Employment o Drug and alcohol misuse o Mental and physical health o Attitudes and self-control o Institutionalisation and life-skills o Housing o Financial support and debt o Family networks

Resettlement Provision @ HMP Sudbury -

RE: 7 pathways reasonably extensive. Incl: o ETE: day/evening classes; work in prison: i) industrial cleaning; ii) farms and gardens; iii) kitchen; iv) metalworking; v) gym; vi) furniture workshops; vii) recycling; viii) maintenance department; work o/s prison (see later) o Attitudes, thinking: accredited programmes ltd. CSB (no ETS); CALM; IDAP; Victim Awareness. o Drugs & alcohol: CARATs; Derbys Alcohol Awareness; Progress to Work. o Children & families: ADFAM; Visitors Centre; ‘Storybook Dads’. o Accommodation: Housing Advice Centre o Health: CRUSE counselling; prisoner listening scheme; On-site health care department (including dental surgery and one qualified mental health nurse); Twice-monthly visits from Optician; ROTL for hospital appointments

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Key Pathway Findings: ETE -

Headline: Considered Key Critical Pathway by Staff and Volunteers o Staff 1:  this scheme is making them realise that they can hold down a job and be useful members of society. It also gives them the chance to deal with different kinds of people that perhaps they’re not used to […]. It seems to give them that a lot more self-confidence and belief in themselves and they tend not to come back into prison. o Prisoner 6:  it [working] gives you a little lift to getting back into life […] you start feeling good about yourself, like you want to get out, you want to do good. Plus, it eases you back into it, so in that sense it’s useful.

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But, issue of resourcing & low expectations: o Staff 3:  Three staff look after 200 prisoners and we simply haven’t got the resources. Yes, in an ideal world, we would bring the prisoners in much earlier. I don’t think it’s right that they should have to wait so long, and I know it frustrates the prisoners

ETE (ii): o Staff 1:  There seems to be very little emphasis on education in the past 12 months […] The range of provision has been cut back tremendously […] particularly if they want to go beyond the basics. o [Ex]Prisoner 3:  …the education department [is] all geared towards pre-entry Levels one and two but they don’t go any further and I found that was disappointing. So the aspirations were quite low, it wasn’t like striving for something. -

Does ETE ‘work’? o Prisoner 10:  I think if you want to work you’ve come to the right place, these will find you a job and will sort you out but it takes two to tango…you’ve got to want to work and some of the people in there don’t wanna work; if you send them out here they’re gonna be doing something dumb within half an hour

ETE (iii)

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o Staff 3:  the people who have always worked, who have fucked up, will go back and work on release. They don’t need our help in all honesty. What we’re looking at is the small percentage of people that we might be able to change - ‘cos in truth I don’t think we change a massive amount of people; they have no interest in changing…but for years […] we changed nobody. o Staff 5:  yes, some of lads will fall off the wagon, it’s like alcoholics. It’s like bringing kids up that you hope that the seeds you’ve implanted, rightly or wrongly, eventually overturn the group pressure. o Prisoner 7:  I think that’s [FINDING PAID EMPLOYMENT] where Sudbury falls down really. Even, for people like me who are willing to work, they still expect you to do it all on your own. The closer it gets to the release date, the more anxious I get -

Plus, external barriers to ‘moving on’ [Rehab of Offenders Act] o Prisoner 11:  …if you don’t know someone who knows someone, the chances are you’re not gonna get a job. I wouldn’t employ me, why would I employ someone in prison when I can employ someone out of the prison?

Prison Education: What is prison education for? A Theory of Change -

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Prison Culture: o Wellbeing o Knowledge, Skills & Employability o Social Capital:  Belonging and Community  Active Engagement o Human Capital:  Motivation to Change  Moving Forward

Prison Education: Policy Discourse Prison Education: Policy Context -

Reducing Re-Offending Through Skills and Employment: Next Steps’ (HM Gov, 2006).

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Making Prisons Work: Skills for Rehabilitation (DBIS, 2011),

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The treasure in the heart of man - making prisons work (Gove, 2015).

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Prison reform: Prime Minister's speech (Cameron, 2016).

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Inspecting the Prison (Hardwick, 2016).

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Unlocking Potential - A review of education in prison (Coates, 2016).

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Prison Safety and Reform (HM Gov, 2016).

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Education and Employment Strategy (MoJ, 2018).

The Current State of Prison Education: -

Education is provided in all prisons (legal requirement)

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Incorporates academic and vocational training.

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Generally provided by an external training provider – FE college.

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Workforce are generally not members of prison staff.

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Level of curriculum: generally: o Entry, Level 1 and 2, o (Some Level 3, undergraduate – very limited) Delivery – generally workshop based. Generally part-time. Prisoners get paid to attend education.

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Coates Review – Unlocking Potential: “Let there be no doubt. Education should be at the heart of the prison system. My career has been about offering excellent education to the most disadvantaged in society to give them a decent chance in life. Prisoners are in prison because they have done wrong. But once they have served their time, it is just to them and in the interests of their communities that they have the same decent chance. The chance to re-enter society successfully, to find work, to

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live fulfilling lives. If education is the engine of social mobility, it is also the engine of prisoner rehabilitation.” (Coates, 2016:1) Coates - Key Questions Asked: -

How do we measure the success of prison education? What are the current levels of prisoners’ educational attainment? What happens when education is assessed as not good enough? Who is responsible for the quality of prison education?

Outcomes:

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Governor responsible and accountable for education o Governors should be free to design a framework of incentives that encourage attendance and progression in education. o Governors/providers free to design curriculum that meets individual needs. o Ofsted to carry out inspections on same framework as adult skills sector.

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Embedded learning, with opportunities for creativity o Governors and providers should use a range of methods to deliver education, including embedded learning and blended learning o There should be no restriction on the use of education funding to support creative arts, personal and social development opportunities, and family or relationship courses

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Improving teaching o Threefold strategy to develop the teaching workforce: attracting and training new teachers; attracting experienced teachers; and providing high quality professional development for the existing workforce. o More use of prisoners as peer mentors and as teachers.

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Focus on individual learning & progress o Every prisoner assessed at gate and given a Personal Learning Plan. o Governors/providers should adopt a “whole-prison approach” identifying, supporting and working with prisoners with learning difficulties or disabilities (LDD). o Governors should be able to use budgets to fund learning at Level 3 and above.

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More through-the-gate support o Data should be collected and reviewed to evaluate the success of the CRCs and other agencies in supporting ex-offenders to obtain and sustain employment, training and/or education on release. o There should be an increase in employment links and opportunities alongside education to reflect a more integrated vision of progress ‘through the gate’

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More use of technology

o There should be a prompt and rigorous strategic review of the Virtual Campus (VC) to assess if and how it can be made fit for purpose. o Governors should be allowed to develop an approach that allows suitably risk-assessed prison learners to have controlled access to the internet. MoJ (2018) Education and Employment Strategy; Prison Education – The Problems: -

Ofsted criticises governors for not doing enough to ensure that education and training (and work) reduces re-offending and supports prisoner rehabilitation, with particular criticism of a failure to provide enough activity places or to allocate prisoners quickly to them.

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Prisoner attendance and punctuality is often poor and goes unchallenged by prison staff. The impact on prisoners’ personal development and behaviour is poor, with the majority of prison regimes failing to promote a good work ethic in prisoners.

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The proportion of low level qualifications has increased continuously (Ofsted query those qualifications’ effectiveness in helping prisoners get back into work once they leave prison).

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The development of maths and English skills remains poor and too many prisoners fail to make the progress they should.

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Ofsted say that many prisons, governors and education providers failed to work sufficiently closely with the National Careers Service and local employers to ensure that learning (and work) articulated with resettlement plans on release.

MoJ (2018) Education and Employment Strategy Prison Education – The Ambition: -

The purpose of education in prisons is to give individuals the skills they need to unlock their potential, gain employment and become assets to their communities. It should also build social capital and improve the well-being of prisoners during their sentences and once released.

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At the heart of the prison education reform agenda is a belief that governors should have greater control over and responsibility for delivering quality education in prisons, with a particular focus upon the basic skills necessary to succeed in life.

MoJ (2018) Education and Employment Strategy Prison Education – The Framework

Summary – The Analysis: -

Policy Strengths: o Education is valuable within the prison structure o Education has a role to play in supporting the transformation agenda

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Policy Challenges: o Structural:  Student body – diversity  Reasons for engaging in learning; payment for attendance, linked to sentencing plan  Accessibility  Rehabilitation  Staff  Funding o Provision:  Initial assessments  Personalisation – Individual learning Plans  Range – Level; Progression  Curricula – Breadth  Quality – Qualifications available  Models of delivery  Employment – vocational; what kinds?  Technology  Transfer – de-categorisation, exit from prison

Bringing Education & Design together (Gleeds, 2016)

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Key Pathway Findings – Accommodation: -

‘Accommodation needs create obstacles to (re)integration into society’ (Grimshaw and Fraser, 2004: 18).

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Allender et al, (2005: 20) claim that: ‘appropriate housing is the single most important factor in preventing re-offending’ – important for general day-day-day living.

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Nuanced: some return to the family home, others to family/friends – reduced role for prison (ibid: 147).

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If above absent, prison more important: needs to facilitate access to social housing, supported accommodation, private rented housing and/or ‘crisis’ facilities (ibid: 149156).

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For staff, this pathway unproblematic: o Staff 6: we’ve trained up a couple of the guys to run the housing link and 99% leave here with somewhere to go. So yes, it’s very successful However: o Prisoner23: I dunno why I can’t just go to my sister’s rather than a hostel which is full of people smoking drugs. And they wonder why prisoners reoffend. The first thing that cons are gonna do is get back to it [crime]. They need to look at the long term effects and not the short term stats which make them look good.

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Key Pathway Findings - Drugs and Alcohol:

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Est. half of crimes are drug related (HMIP, 2001).

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Drugs and alcohol, both associated with reoffending rates (Social Exclusion Unit, 2002).

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MOJ, 2010: 81% of prisoners reported drug use directly prior to their offence; and 22% reported consuming alcohol everyday in the four week period leading up to their offence.

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On release, 62% of the prisoners who reported using drugs were reconvicted within 3 years of release, along with 22% of those who drank alcohol everyday.

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Although few respondents admitted to drug misuse, CARATs widely regarded:

o Prisoner 1: The CARATs workers…superb; different gravy and you can tell them that! -

BUT, recognition that drugs was endemic in prison & that drug testing was responsible for ‘spike’ in Class A drugs: o Prisoner 5: You ain’t gonna solve the problem whilst there’s so much drugs in prison, let alone on the outside. And only 4% of positive tests at Sudbury, you’re having a laugh. The guys aren’t stupid; they know which drugs stay in the system and when they were last tested…that’s why so many are taking the new drugs which don’t show up or some of the Class As that are straight in and out.

Key Pathway Findings - Attitudes, Thinking and Behaviour: -

Cognitions’ (Cann et al, 2005)) focuses on preventing reoffending through tackling the offenders’ judgements, views and their understanding of people.

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Why do different people respond differently to the same situation? o Prisoner 12: I’ve done ETS, I’ve done victim awareness, drug trafficking, drug awareness, anger management, stress management; I’ve done all the courses. They’re pretty much telling you what you know already, but if you’re that way inclined, I suppose some people would take something out of it. o Prisoner 15: I suppose they do try, but if you don’t wanna change you’re not gonna change. It’s like all the courses they can tell you what to do; they don’t mean anything really unless you want them to. o Prisoner 8: I had to do ETS as part of my sentence plan anyway. For me it was more of a box ticking exercise.

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Prison Officers also recognised that the prison system itself (and society more generally) could undo any good work associated with CBPs: o Staff 4: I know plenty of officers who think they [prisoners] can’t do anything any better than what they’re doing, they haven’t been told that they’re good enough to do something else. They’ve been told that’s their limitation and not to get ideas above their station.

Children and Families: -

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Prisoner 6: When I talk to my kids and they say ‘oh we love you dad’, you know, it means a lot to you and it’s something to look forward to and it’s the one thing that keeps you strong mentally.

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Prisoner 9: If they didn't [sic] be supportive I think I would have gone on a wild one, you know what I mean, they kept on coming up and visiting me and I thought you know what, I can't let them down man, I can't let them down.

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Prisoner 17: You don't realise until you've had a child, until you’re holding it, how much it changes you. I was there throughout the birth; I came out at 2.30am thanks to Sudbury. I phoned them and they said: 'listen as soon as she's born and your baby's alright could you return back'. Now I'd say I'm born again because now I've got my daughter I won't risk nothing, you know what I mean. I'm just trying to be the daddy and I want her to be a daddy's girl all the way, you know what I mean, so I'm on the straight and narrow.

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Prisoner 10: I came in young, naive thinking ‘yeah, I've got to represent my postcode’ and acted the big I am. Now I'm older, now my partner, my kids, my partner's parents, my parents, it's like the joke's over now, time to grow up and be a real man.

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BUT:

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Prisoner 11: I’m not going back to [ANON LOCATION], no chance. My family and that are there so I’ll visit them, but there’s nothing there for me anymore. So it’s almost like clean start, let’s go somewhere different and let’s just move on from there.

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Prisoner 5: The biggest thing you learn from being in prison is who your real friends are; you know who your real friends are if they turn up to see you; I’ve dropped most of my old associates. When you come out they will try to come back to you, but I was thinking in my head I dare ‘em to try and even ask me ...