APPENDIX 5
Memorandum submitted by Juliet Lyon, Director
of The Prison Reform Trust
As you, know, since the Home Affairs Committee
reported on Blantrye House, the Prison Service has issued an order
to governors on resettlement of prisoners and the Chief Inspectors
of Prisons and Probation have published their joint thematic review
of resettlement. If I may, I should like our submission to focus
in the main on context. Our concern essentially is that in the
current climate of rising prison numbers and severe overcrowding
it will be difficult for many prisons to comply with more than
the spirit of the Order much less implement the Inspectors' recommendations.
Closeness to Home
Over 11,000 prisoners are held more than 100
miles from their court of committal. Visits to prisons have dropped
by approximately one third over the last two years. Given research
evidence that shows that maintaining family contact is a vital
element in resettlement and preventing future offending, the Prison
Reform Trust would like to see a key performance indicator established
on closeness to home. How does the Service propose to hold people
closer to home and to increase opportunities for links with family
and friends?
Resettlement Prisons and Resettlement Units
Of the 68,000 people in prisons, fewer than
30 are serving whole life tariffs. Despite positive outcomes from
Blantyre House and Kirklevington Grange in particular, there are
still only three resettlement prisons as such. Resettlement units,
like the one at Send prison, have yet to be evaluated from the
perspective of the prisoners, the employers and the Service. What
plans does the Service have to extend and evaluate resettlement
prisons and units across England and Wales?
Housing Opportunities
NACRO estimates that 43 per cent of women will
be homeless on release from prison. For all prisoners having a
roof over their heads is key to successful resettlement. At a
local level housing departments appear to be making no financial
contribution to, and have little involvement with, youth offending
teams, much less with prisons. In what ways is the Service engaging
with Housing at government level to create the necessary support
networks for prisoners?
Active Citizenship by Prisoners
PRT has just completed a survey of volunteering
and active citizenship by prisoners. Our findings show a patchy
picture across the prison estate with some prisons enabling prisoners
to take significant responsibility for themselves and helping
others, whilst there is little or no such activity in other prisons
with similar security classifications. What steps can the Service
take to extend opportunities for volunteering and active citizenship
by prisoners as a counter to institutionalisation and dependency?
Resettlement Needs of Short Term Prisoners
Although short term prisoners are a minority,
under 20 per cent of the prison population at any one time, the
high turnover means that they make up the majority 65 per cent
of prisoners released each year. Overcrowding is at its highest
in large local prisons and little is done to respond to the resettlement
needs of short-termers. Wandsworth prison is working with PRT
and the St Giles Trust to try and address this issue locally.
What plans does the Service have to aid the resettlement of short
term prisoners? When will the Social Exclusion Unit publish its
recommendations on this subject?
Purposeful Activity
Despite considerable efforts by the Service
to increase purposeful activity and to develop constructive programmes
in prisons, Home Office figures for 2000-01 present a dismal picture.
Purposeful activity over the last 10 years has increased by just
10 minutes per prisoner per day. Of particular concern are the
figures which show that only 786 people completed sex offender
treatment programmes leaving a further 4,000 sex offenders without
treatment. In what ways does the Service propose to increase levels
of purposeful activity for prisoners and constructive preparation
for release?
Population Management
Transfers at short notice and the re-roling
of prisons on a hurried timescale make a nonsense of resettlement
planning. Would the Home Affairs Select Committee consider meeting
to discuss the overcrowding crisis facing the Prison Service and
examine measures which could be taken by Government to reduce
the size of the prison population?
November 2001
| 
