Memorandum submitted by the Howard League
for Penal Reform
INTRODUCTION
The Howard League for Penal Reform welcomes
the opportunity to make this submission on prison education to
the House of Commons Education and Skills Committee.
The Howard League for Penal Reform believes
that, if imprisonment is necessary, then plans for a prisoner's
rehabilitation should be set into motion from their very first
day in custody, if not before. Encouraging prisoners into education
and training can be pivotal to a crime-free future but should
be part of a broader package, including help with finding work,
maintaining family ties, addiction and behavioural counselling
(if necessary) and securing suitable housing.
The Howard League for Penal Reform believes
that the work experience prisoners receive while in custody should
be an integral part of their prison education and should help
prepare them for law-abiding self-sufficiency. Released prisoners
are less than half as likely to re-offend if they are helped to
find and keep a job. With employment at its lowest for 30 years
and the prison population at its highest in living memory, education,
training and work have to be the key to solving the revolving
prison door problem.
The Howard League for Penal Reform's general
comments are derived from its work to develop a social enterprise
within a prison in its Real Work project and later, in relation
to education for juveniles, work directly with girls in prison
and with children contacting our legal department.
THE ASSESSMENT
OF PRISONERS'
NEEDS ON
CONVICTION
1. Prisoner-focused sentence planning has
been notoriously patchy in the past, but new developments in prison
management mean that it may be possible to meet prisoners' education,
training and work needs more effectively. A recent review of prison
enterprise and supply services (ESS) (1) details how the new OASys
information technology system is designed to better record prisoners'
specific work skills, accredited qualifications, abilities and
attitudes. The review suggests that, following a prisoner's initial
assessment, OASys will be able to help staff identify those with
the least work experience or the lowest work commitment, so they
can be given priority when allocated work. While the ability to
identify these needs will be invaluable, this course of action
may prove to be a double-edged sword because, if those with greatest
need or poorest commitment are given priority, it may demoralise
the more skilled and motivated.
2. Importantly, with OASys, prisoners' employment
records should be easily transferable if they move establishment.
This could ease frustration, as they would not have to repeat
the assessment process or "prove their worth" every
time. It also means that it should be possible for prisoners to
seamlessly keep up with their education and training.
3. It is the objective of the new National
Offender Management Service (NOMS) to provide an end-to-end service
during custody and post release. Although the Howard League for
Penal Reform has documented its reservations about the new structure
(2), it hopes that a positive outcome will be the opportunity
for prisoners to continue their training after release. This would
be of particular advantage to short-term prisoners who do not
necessarily get the chance to start a vocational qualification.
THE PROVISION
OF APPROPRIATE
TRAINING FACILITIES
IN PRISON
4. Prisoners are often offered the choice
of doing education or work. The Howard League for Penal Reform
believes that the two should not be mutually exclusive, and encourages
the opportunity for prisoners to learn and train while working.
This reflects life on the outside where employees study part-time
to further their careers or pursue an outside interest. Some prisons
are taking steps towards this, particularly in improving basic
skills. The Offenders' Learning and Skills Unit (OLSU) said in
its New delivery service for learning and skills that the
number of prisons providing classrooms adjacent to workshops has
been increased over 2003-04, and the Howard League for Penal Reform
looks forward to seeing these developing.
5. As prisoners are often unlocked for only
short periods it is often difficult for them to study and work.
Part time studying could be made possible if more prisoners had
computers in their cells, where they could at least undertake
CD rom based learning if the Prison Service cannot find a way
of providing safe online access. The Howard League for Penal Reform
would, however, like to add a note of caution, as computers in
cells should not be used as an opportunity to lock prisoners up
for longer periods instead of providing broader regimes. This
has been the case with in-cell televisions.
6. If work is to be linked with training
and education, it has to be meaningful, but most of the work prisoners
undertake is low skilled and repetitive. This is demonstrated
in responses to a recent survey conducted by the Howard League
for Penal Reform (3), where prisoners were asked to describe the
work they do day-to-day: "I glue plastic bubbly in punnets",
"I place rubber seals and clips on guttering" and "I
do measuring and re-packaging of screws and nuts". A look
through 10 randomly selected inspectorate reports published over
the last six months reveals a similar picture. A common theme
in seven of the 10 reports was that work was "mundane and
repetitive", along with the need to "improve the prospects
of prisoners obtaining employment on release".
7. The Howard League for Penal Reform's
survey also asked prisoners what they wanted from prison workshops.
Twenty four per cent ranked learning a new skill highest and 19%
said it was important to earn a work related qualification such
as an NVQ or City and Guilds. The Social Exclusion Unit report
(4), however, reveals that prisoners' experiences rarely match
their aspirations; nearly half of all working prisoners are engaged
in purely low skilled work and only 5% of all prisoners gain an
NVQ.
8. The inflexibility of the prison routine
can sometimes impinge on education and training. One teenager
told staff from the Howard League for Penal Reform that she had
been unable to telephone a college and ask for a prospectus as
the number was not "listed". She had asked the prison
education department to order it for her but, because of a delay,
wanted to chase the college herself. The Howard League staff member
eventually obtained the prospectus for her. Other case studies
brought to the attention of the Howard League for Penal Reform
include prisoners unable to telephone their tutors because they
were locked in their cells for long periods of time.
9. The Howard League for Penal Reform is
concerned that the training and work opportunities in prison do
not reflect those on the outside and that the skills and knowledge
prisoners gain are outdated. A prisoner at Littlehey prison, for
example, said that he was learning computer studies on a machine
still using Windows 95.
10. ESS has been making efforts to tie the
work in prison with what is happening in the outside working world.
The ESS review suggests, for example, that more prisoners should
be employed making clothing, and some investment is being made
to buy additional machinery. Making clothing does involve marketable
skills which could lead to job opportunities on the outside, especially
as ESS has been working closely with Skillfast UK, the textiles
federation. After nine months of negotiation, Skillfast has written
into its own business strategy that it will now work with ex-offenders,
helping to link ESS with companies that have vacancies. The Howard
League for Penal Reform would like to see more identification
of areas of skills shortage, and similar partnerships developed.
11. The Howard League for Penal Reform urges
that a broader variety of vocational and work opportunities are
offered, this is particularly important for women prisoners, for
whom many courses centre on hairdressing or health and beauty.
These courses push them into stereotypical women's work and fail
to engender aspirations.
12. Prisoners often do training or work
that doesn't support their future plans. One prisoner told the
Howard League for Penal Reform that he was doing gym management
course not because it interested him or because he wanted a career
in it when he left, but because it was all that was on offer.
The Howard League for Penal Reform would like to see more training
and work opportunities made available; some of the work, in particular,
has remained unchanged over many years including catering and
making furniture.
13. Most vocational training across the
prison estate focuses on industrial cleaning, catering and decorating,
most of which lead to low status, low paid employment. This could
embed prisoners into a life of "making ends meet" and
may return to crime to supplement their income.
14. A prisoner's work experience, even if
it doesn't result in a formal vocational qualification, should
be recorded so they can present it as evidence to potential employers.
Diligence, initiative and the ability to work as a member of a
team, for example, are all marketable skills. The Mount prison
has been developing a "portfolio" to log such attributes
and the Howard League for Penal Reform would like to see this
adopted more widely. This could be particularly useful for short-term
prisoners.
LINKS WITH
EMPLOYERS AND
EMPLOYER-LED
INITIATIVES
15. The Howard League for Penal Reform would
like to see much more involvement of employers in prisoners' training
and work. The well-documented Transco initiative (5), for example,
demonstrates how prisoners can be trained to fill predicted vacancies,
often outperforming their counterparts in the community. The government
is urged to foster more of these partnerships, encouraging employers
to invest in prisoners' education and training as part of their
corporate social responsibility policies, not purely for philanthropic
reasons but because there is a strong business case too.
16. The Howard League for Penal Reform is
planning a social enterprise in prison with the aim of demonstrating
that it is possible to provide meaningful work and training in
prison. The proposed print firm, to be established in The Mount
prison, will operate like any outside business, offering prisoners
the chance of a full day's reward for a full day's work. They
will be employed under the same terms and conditions as their
outside counterparts, from which they will be expected to support
their families, save for their futures, donate to Victim Support
(if they wish) and contribute towards prison upkeep. They will
also have to pay tax and national insurance. Further details of
the Real Work enterprise can be downloaded from www.howardleague.org/work/hlsubmission.doc
17. More businesses might be encouraged
to consider employing prisoners if the government brought them
into its current apprenticeships drive, announced in May this
year, where apprentices learn through a combination of on- and
off-the-job education and training. On the job they work alongside
existing staff and the rest they learn from a local learning provider
(which can be on a day release basis). There are over 80 apprenticeship
schemes, many of which prisoners could already undertake including
health and beauty therapy, production horticulture, call handling,
bakery and construction.
18. The Howard League for Penal Reform would
like to see companies involved in prison workshops, as well as
their own training programmes. Prisoners are a huge untapped labour
resource and examples from Swaleside prison show that they can
achieve high output levels with the right incentives. However,
the Howard League for Penal Reform considers it unethical that
prisoners should be paid between £8-£12 a week by a
private company which is effectively making a profit from prisoners'
labour.
19. The Howard League for Penal Reform commends
prisons such as Reading, which have held open days for potential
employers, ranging from local businesses to those with international
coverage. By bringing in outside companies, who should be encouraged
to second trainers or managers, prisoners could be better exposed
to the expectations and ethos of real workplaces.
PRISON EDUCATION
FOR JUVENILES
20. In 2001, The Howard League for Penal
Reform conducted research into the education of children in prison.
Our report, Missing the Grade, highlighted the fact that prison
education was not meeting the needs of school aged boys.
21. We recognise that there have been improvements
in the provision of education in juvenile units. For example,
the Youth Justice Board has ensured funding is available to appoint
support staff to work alongside tutors and offer additional support
to children with learning difficulties or special educational
needs. There has been an increase in the minimum number of hours
per week children should receive in education.
22. However, the Howard League for Penal
Reform continues to have concerns about education for children
in prison:
— Prison education is still failing
to meet the needs of more able students: The Howard League
for Penal Reform legal department recently took a case on behalf
of a young man who had been studying for eight GCSEs prior to
receiving a six month DTO. Despite the fact that his secondary
school was supportive and had registered him for his GCSEs, the
boy was not able to continue studying for his GCSE subjects during
education lessons at the prison. The prison was not able to provide
the range of subjects that he was studying and generally only
provided him with "in-cell" education with a tutor "popping
into the cell" on an irregular basis. In light of our representations,
a considerable amount of effort was put in to provide education
but not sufficient to meet his needs in the spirit of Prison Service
Order (PSO) 4950 and the Young Offender Rules.
Our project working with girls in prison found
that girls were not able to continue with some college courses
whilst in prison. Some girls told us they felt the work they were
given was not challenging enough. Others complained that it was
based on the needs of young men and focused on topics such as
cars and scooters, in which they had no interest.
— Children are missing education:
The Howard League for Penal Reform has found that children are
missing out on education and do not always receive 15 hours education
per week as specified in PSO 4950. Children placed on segregation
have been denied education. In the case of BP, taken by the Howard
League for Penal Reform, the Prison Service admitted that BP did
not participate in education, training, PE or work whilst on segregation.
The judge found that this lack of regime was a breach of prison
rules, PSO 4950 and international obligations to children in custody.
— Support and guidance on release:
Our work with girls in prison found that some did not feel they
were given adequate support in preparing for education on release.
Girls in prison are often placed a long way from home which has
caused problems when liaising with colleges or setting up placements
for release.
IN ADDITION
23. The Howard League for Penal Reform would
like to raise with the Committee the following issues that need
to be addressed if education and training in prison are to reduce
re-offending:
24. Training in prisons is often treated
as education, rather than work, and paid accordingly. Many prisoners
choose to work because the pay is higher. Most prisoners learn
very little from their prison labour, except that crime is more
exciting and pays better, yet are not benefiting from what learning
opportunities may be available.
25. Prisoners, like anyone else, benefit
from incentives to learn. Many of us undertake further study to
improve our status, earn more money or change career, yet the
structure of prison workshops means that there is little "career
progression" or recognition for new skills.
26. Overcrowding in some prisons means that
staff are often unable to provide constructive regimes to the
majority of prisoners. Governors report being able to do little
more than ensure that those in their care receive food and the
chance to shower. Governors have a key performance target of 24
hours a week for purposeful activity (which includes everything
from work and education to visits), yet the Prison Service annual
report shows that prisoners are only receiving an average of 22.5.
This is far from a working or study week.
27. Sentencers should not be led to believe
that they are sending people to prison to receive an education
or training. Offenders should only be sent to prison if they pose
a threat to society.
The Howard League for Penal Reform:
— wants a safe society where fewer
people are victims of crime.
— believes that offenders must make
amends for what they have done and change their lives.
— believes that community sentences
make a person take responsibility and live a law-abiding life
in the community.
References:
(1) The ESS review has not been formally published,
but received ratification from the Prison Service's management
board.
(2) See the Howard League for Penal Reform's
response to the Carter Report on www.howardleague.org
(3) Prison work isn't working, 23 February
2004, Howard League for Penal Reform.
(4) Reducing re-offending by ex-prisoners,
Social Exclusion Unit, 2002.
(5) A fantastic opportunity, Nick Leader,
HLM, Vol 21, No 3 July 2003 pp 7-8.
June 2004
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