scholarly journals Prisoner-on-prisoner drug searches in prisons in England and Wales: ‘Business as usual’

Incarceration ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 263266632110158
Author(s):  
Joanne Wilkinson ◽  
Jenny Fleming
Keyword(s):  
Recording System ◽  
Management Service ◽  
Sexual Assaults ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Prison Life ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Probation Service ◽  
System Data ◽  
Weapon Use ◽  
Business As Usual

Prisoner reported drug and contraband searches in adult men’s prisons in England and Wales represented almost a quarter of reported and recorded ‘sexual assaults’ from 2004 to 2014. These searches are more likely to involve multiple perpetrators and weapon use than other types of sexual assaults and are most frequently carried out in the relative privacy of a cell. The research presented here is based on an analysis of Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (formerly the National Offender Management Service) Incident Recording System data, providing insights into the proportion of recorded sexual assaults which are related to drug searches. This analysis enables a distinction to be made between prisoner-on-prisoner drug and contraband searches and other sexual assaults. Analysis shows that prisoner-on-prisoner searches are frequent, often pre-meditated, brutal and appear to be an accepted aspect of everyday prison life.

scholarly journals The revolving door of reform

2018 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Tangen ◽  
Ravinderjit Kaur Briah
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Revolving Door ◽  
Management Service ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
Probation Service

Reform of probation services in England and Wales has been a frequent feature of its history, though the pace of review, restructuring and modification has increased exponentially in the last 30 years. This paper provides a brief history of changes to the National Probation Service since its inception in the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 to the recent announcements of the merger of prison and probation services into a new agency, Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service. Commonalities are identified between the various programmes of reform instigated throughout the last 17 years, drawing on insights from Pollitt. The paper addresses the implications for the future of a public probation service in England and Wales after the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) ceased to exist in April 2017 and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service was inaugurated.

Some Practical Implications for Policy and Practice

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph Henham
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Working Relationship ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Community Based ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
National Regulation ◽  
Probation Service ◽  
Practical Implications

This chapter explains the practical consequences of what has been proposed. It begins by evaluating current models and suggested approaches for incorporating public opinion into sentencing, explaining how the proposed changes would differ. It then sets out some practical reforms to sentencing in England and Wales, including greater coordination between the national regulation of sentencing discretion through the Sentencing Council and regional or community-based sentencing practices. Regional branches of the Sentencing Council are also advocated. In addition to further practical reforms, a greater role for the Sentencing Council in the ethical surveillance of sentencing, the development of new procedural rules, and enhanced training for judges and magistrates are proposed. Finally, a closer working relationship between the Sentencing Council, the courts, the CPS, defence lawyers, and the Probation Service is advocated to develop guidance clarifying their role within the new sentencing framework.

Surviving the revolution? The voluntary sector under Transforming Rehabilitation in England and Wales

2020 ◽  
pp. 221-238
Author(s):  
Kevin Wong ◽  
Rob Macmillan
Keyword(s):  
Turning Point ◽  
Voluntary Sector ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Future ◽  
Probation Service ◽  
Open Question ◽  
The Revolution

Regarded by commentators as an emollient to soothe critics of the part privatisation of the public probation service, the Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) reforms in England and Wales promised an enlarged role for the voluntary sector in the resettlement and rehabilitation of offenders. Whether such changes mark a decisive turning point or in the fullness of time represent just another twist in the long and messy narrative of voluntary sector provision of offender services remains an open question. This chapter will examine the role and fortunes of the sector during the tumultuous period between 2014 and 2019 and identify what lessons can be learnt for the future.

scholarly journals Transforming Rehabilitation: The micro-physics of (market) power

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-126
Author(s):  
Matt Tidmarsh
Keyword(s):  
Market Power ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Disciplinary Power ◽  
Market Mechanisms ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Probation Service ◽  
The Impact

This paper explores the impact of the introduction of competition and profit to the probation service in England and Wales following the implementation of the Transforming Rehabilitation reforms. The paper adapts the ideas advanced in Foucault’s Discipline and Punish to draw similarities between the characteristics of ‘disciplinary institutions’ and a micro-physics of (market) power in probation under Transforming Rehabilitation. It utilises Foucault’s ‘instruments’ of disciplinary power – hierarchical observation, normalising judgement, and the examination – as lenses through which to highlight the unintended consequences of the installation of market techniques within the service. The paper argues that the constraints peculiar to instilling decentralising market mechanisms that were presented as a means to liberate practitioners and reduce reoffending have entrenched further the centralising tendencies associated with managerialism.

scholarly journals When access is denied: Conducting an interview through letter writing

2020 ◽  
pp. 146879412093612
Author(s):  
Emma Burtt
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Qualitative Interview ◽  
Letter Writing ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Valuable Alternative ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Probation Service

Access to prisons in England and Wales is becoming ever more restricted to researchers and all projects must have sufficient links to Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) priorities to be considered. What are the alternatives when there is no such link or when access has otherwise been denied? This article focuses on one possible solution – conducting a qualitative interview via letter. Drawing on my own experience of conducting such interviews with prisoners maintaining innocence, I document how the method can work in practice. Although not without difficulty, written interviews are capable of producing rich, qualitative data and provide benefits to both the researcher and researched when compared to traditional face-to-face interviews. I ultimately demonstrate how interviews via letter offer a valuable alternative when interacting with people, not only in prison but across all secure estates.

scholarly journals The probation service in England and Wales: A decade of radical change or more of the same?

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-146
Author(s):  
Matt Tidmarsh
Keyword(s):  
Radical Change ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
The Public ◽  
Performance Targets ◽  
Conservative Government ◽  
General Decline ◽  
Medium Risk ◽  
Probation Service ◽  
Privately Owned

This article reviews developments in probation in England and Wales since 2010, a decade in which services were exposed to the logic of competition and profit. In 2014, the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition government’s Transforming Rehabilitation ( TR) reforms promised an end to a top-down, target-centric culture of state intervention by outsourcing services for low-to-medium risk offenders to 21 privately-owned Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs). And yet, just four years after the reforms were implemented, the Conservative government announced that CRCs’ contracts would be terminated, with all offender management services returned to the public sector. With a focus on the private sector, the article argues that radical change to the probation service’s structure has entrenched a focus on centrally-administered performance targets and audit. In other words, contrary to the decentralising rhetoric at the core of TR, the decade has in many ways produced more of the same managerialism that the reforms were presented as a means to displace. The result has been a general decline in the quality of probation services.

Preliminary insights and analysis into weapon enabled sexual offenders

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 174-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Dawson ◽  
Alasdair M. Goodwill ◽  
Louise Dixon
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Offenders ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Organised Crime ◽  
Crime Analysis ◽  
Sexual Assaults ◽  
Demographic Differences ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Serious Crime ◽  
Weapon Use ◽  
Attack Location

Purpose – Weapon use is recognised as a key crime concern in England and Wales but has received relatively little focused research. The purpose of this paper is to examine weapon use by sexual offenders to develop new insights relevant for a police audience. Specifically, to examine the prevalence of weapons within sexual offenders and explore the differences between weapon and non-weapon enabled offenders on a range of characteristics. Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 1,618 single, stranger, solved, serious sexual assaults were provided by the Serious Crime Analysis Section of the Serious Organised Crime Agency. In all, 20 per cent of offenders were weapon enabled. Findings – There were almost no demographic differences between weapon enabled and non-weapon enabled offenders. In terms of the offence itself, there were many significant differences between the groups in terms of precautions used, victim involvement, injury, attack behaviours, victim approach and attack location. Further multivariate analysis revealed aspects of the offence that were associated with weapon use; these are broadly discussed within themes of violence and evidence of planning. Originality/value – The authors argue that an examination of weapon use is valuable in illustrating how offenders differ in their offence and provide insights for the investigation of such crime.

The Assessment of Risk in the National Probation Service of England and Wales

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Lancaster ◽  
Jeannie Lumb
Keyword(s):  
England And Wales ◽  
Probation Service

The Death of Offenders in England and Wales

Crisis ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ghazala Sattar
Keyword(s):  
Policy Implications ◽  
Death Certificates ◽  
Accidental Death ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Drugs And Alcohol ◽  
Probation Service ◽  
Mode Of Death

Summary: The death of offenders in the community has received considerably less attention than the death of prisoners, although limited research suggests that community offenders may be even more vulnerable to death than prisoners. This study compared the nature and extent of death among prisoners (n = 236) and offenders serving community sentences or ex-prisoners receiving postcustodial supervision by the Probation Service (n = 1,267) in England and Wales in 1996 and 1997. Information contained in death certificates was used to code for mode of death. Prisoners and community offenders were found to be reasonably similar in vulnerability to suicide/self-inflicted death; however, the risk of accidental death and homicide was greater for community offenders, and drugs and alcohol played a bigger part in their deaths. The policy implications of the findings are discussed.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document