27. Memorandum submitted by
Securicor Justice Services
INTRODUCTION
1. Securicor Justice Services (SJS) welcomes
the Committee's inquiry into the rehabilitation of offenders,
a subject which we believe is of crucial importance in the fight
against crime. We believe that the Committee's inquiry provides
a useful complement to the work which the Government is undertaking
in this area and the wider subject of criminal justice and sentencing
reform and we welcome and thank you for the opportunity to contribute
a submission.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
2. Drawing on our experience in this arena,
our main conclusions, set out in full below, are that:
— A number of effective programmes
have been developed to rehabilitate offenders which could be applied
more widely.
— Motivating and inspiring offenders
is what lies at the start of the rehabilitation process.
— Fast-track systems need to be in
place to increase access to assistance for short-term offenders.
— The most successful rehabilitation
programmes are those which are simple, stick to normal routines,
and are underpinned by commitment from staff, high quality training
and support, and robust systems
— Rehabilitation programmes need to
be integrated, with continuity running from sentence to the period
post-release.
— The creation of an integrated Correctional
Services system is vital in achieving this.
SECURICOR JUSTICE
SERVICES'S
CURRENT OPERATIONS
3. Securicor Plc is one of the largest and
best-known UK providers of security solutions and our Justice
Services Division has been in operation for 11 years, providing
a variety of services to the criminal justice system in the UK.
4. Below we have listed some of the services
that we provide:
(a) Managing HMP Parc, a 1,028 bed PFI prison
in South Wales. Parc provides accommodation for adult sentenced
prisoners, remand and sentenced young offenders, remand and sentenced
sex offenders and juvenile trainees.
(b) Milton Keynes Secure Training Centre.
This facility, which will provide 80 places for young people aged
12-17 years, is currently under construction and will enter operations
in June 2004.
(c) Six juvenile facilities in Florida. The
six facilities have different programmes and one incorporates
a post-release transitional service called STREET Smart (further
information in paragraph 12).
(d) Electronic Monitoring (EM)—In the
UK, our electronic monitoring (or tagging) service covers the
North of England. In the USA, Securicor holds the national contract
(the largest EM contract in the world), monitoring probationers
across every American state. Securicor also designs and produces
tagging equipment and operates the world's most advanced real-time
web-enabled electronic monitoring software system.
(e) Case Management Support Services—Securicor
provides operational support to 11 Intensive Supervision and Surveillance
Programme (ISSP) teams in the North of England. This assists with
the compliance and enforcement elements of ISSPs.
(f) Custody and Escorting Services—Securicor
transports an average of 230,000 prisoners each year in the London
Metropolitan Police Area.
(g) The Welsh Assembly-funded Transitional
Support Service becomes operational in South Wales on 1 January
2004. It is a supervision or monitoring scheme for newly released
short-term prisoners with a history of substance or alcohol abuse.
SECURICOR'S
REHABILITATION PROGRAMMES
5. In so far as the institutions which Securicor
operates are concerned, we believe that there are an adequate
number of rehabilitative programmes being provided. Below is a
summary of our current initiatives, which includes measures to
assist vulnerable and difficult groups of prisoners.
6. Reasoning and Rehabilitation—Securicor
delivers a successful Reasoning and Rehabilitation (R&R) programme
to offenders at HMP and YOI Parc. This is a 38-session re-offending
behavioural programme which aims to change behavioural patterns
and solve problems that lead to offending. We also have a well-established
procedure for releasing appropriate prisoners on licence to undertake
R&R in the local Probation Office in Bridgend. We believe
we are one of only two prisons to have successfully established
this procedure.
7. FOR (Focus on Resettlement) a Change
Programme—Also available at HMP and YOI Parc, we believe
that this two phase behavioural and motivational programme is
the first full prison or probation integrated resettlement programme.
The first phase deals with prisoner thinking patterns, reviews
their previous obstacles or resistance to behavioural change and
sets achievable goals for learning and change. The second phase
is a period of supervision or support for prisoner, post-release.
The programme has received positive feedback from offenders who
have been on it.
8. In January 2004, we will begin to operate
a Transitional Support Services (TSS) programme for ex-offenders
with drug related offending histories in South Wales and Gwent.
This voluntary support scheme aims to ensure that participants
leave prison with a viable set of goals towards which they are
motivated, in order to reduce the likelihood of re-offending.
Both paid and voluntary mentors will be employed by Securicor
to support the offender's personal goals.
9. The TSS programme which we operate will
be modelled on the STREET Smart initiative, a public private partnership
which Securicor has been running successfully in conjunction with
the Florida Juvenile Justice Department for five years. The process
begins in custody with the formulation of a transitional plan
and is followed by a 12 month supervising and mentoring scheme
post release. The purpose of the programme is to provide assistance
in overcoming barriers to successful employment and community
living and over 500 juvenile offenders have now completed the
programme. Over the course of the year each offender completes
a community plan and has contact with his or her mentor or supervisor
over 130 times. The community plan contains objectives and milestones
for the supervisor to measure and monitor. The success of the
programme lies in the effective management of relationships both
with the offender and those people supporting him or her to complete
the community programme (such as family, teachers, employers and
the judicial system). The project recidivism rate has been approximately
14% after 1 year, compared to the State recidivism rate of 42%
(after 1 year). In addition, approximately 80% of participants
on the programme since February 2000 are now working, studying,
or actively seeking employment.
10. Securicor also has substantial experience
of working with substance misusers. Our own Drugs Strategy teams
work within the framework of the Prison Service's Drug Strategy,
which broadly focuses on reducing supply and demand through education,
training, needs assessment, effective treatment, support, random
drug testing and rehabilitation programmes.
11. For the vulnerable prisoners receiving
rehabilitation, Securicor has introduced the concept of a Short-Term
Prisoner Manager, This post has been created to look after the
interests of short-term offenders sentenced to less than 12 months
(ie those serving six months or less and often not subject to
statutory supervision on release) and facilitate their access
to "rehabilitation" services The post has a particular
focus on improving the numbers achieving interviews for training
and or employment upon release, as research has shown how significant
employment is in positively affecting rehabilitation or resettlement.
FINDINGS
12. We believe that our programmes are having
a positive effect in reducing re-offending. As noted above, the
STREET Smart initiative has resulted in a dramatic decline in
rates of recidivism. In the UK, as noted above, the feedback from
offenders participating in our programme has been positive. The
lessons which we have learnt and the factors which we believe
have underpinned the success of our programmes in the UK and the
US, are set out below.
13. Motivating and inspiring offenders is
crucial at the start of the rehabilitation process; once offenders
begin to see a different way of living they can begin the process
of helping themselves.
14. We all need incentives to change our
behaviour and positive personal and social influences can have
a significant impact on motivation. Likewise, behavioural "blocks"
are powerful in hindering an offenders' ability to engage with
assistance.
15. Improved, fast-track programmes need
to be in place to increase access to assistance for short-term
offenders to improve their chances of effective resettlement.
Some offenders need direct access to specific work or training
support such as job centres and careers advice services. Others,
however, need to access other types of support, such as family
and pastoral support for overcoming dependence on drugs or alcohol,
before being "ready" or able to maximise the benefits
to be gained from work or training services. All of the above
needs to be achieved within existing processes, such as prisons'
induction programmes and personal officer schemes, which should
be re-examined for their "motivational" quality.
16. We have noted that completion rates
on community programmes are higher [reconviction rates reduced
to 30% against an expected rate of 54% where community aftercare
is provided to those prisoners who have successfully completed
a prison-based drugs treatment programme] and that prisoners who
attend such community programmes have an improved chance of accessing
accredited rehabilitation processes.
17. Central to the effective development
of programmes such as TSS are contractors' ability to integrate
work within existing custodial structures and with statutory and
non-statutory agencies. We also believe that the TSS model which
is being put in place in Wales would be easily transferable to
other parts of the UK.
18. Programmes are best when they are simple.
The experience of STREET Smart in Florida and FOR in South Wales
has shown that relatively simple structures, which are clearly
articulated and underpinned by commitment from staff, high quality
training and support, and robust systems are likely to produce
effective outcomes.
19. The establishment of normal routines
is helpful for rehabilitation. It is our aim through good case
management to provide an all round service whereby we can help
the offender to establish a normal routine and to stick to that
routine.
20. We believe that the ability of ex-offenders
to engage in post-release voluntary support is significantly enhanced
by the extent to which they have access to behavioural or motivational
courses and programmes during their sentence. Hence the importance
of integrating all rehabilitative programmes from sentence to
post-release.
21. For this reason, we believe that the
proposed creation of an integrated Correctional Services system—that
is, integrating the Prisons and Probation Service—which
is being considered by the Government, would go some way to ensure
that a holistic approach is taken to the rehabilitation of offenders
and the reduction of recidivism.
CONCLUSION
22. Securicor is committed to creating and
delivering systems and services which aim to rehabilitate offenders
and prevent re-offending. In everything we do, we seek to make
a real difference to the quality of life of both offenders and
the victims.
23. We are keen to share best practice and
discuss the lessons which we have learnt with others in the correctional
services and we hope that the Committee's inquiry will provide
a forum for facilitating this. To this end, the Managing Director
of Securicor Justice Services and the Director of Custody and
Rehabilitation are happy to offer evidence to the Committee in
order to expand on the issues outlined in this paper.
19 December 2003
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