3 Improving the cost effectiveness
of physical education
13. The cost of providing physical education per
prisoner varied by over 175% between prisons, from £392 a
year at Bullingdon Prison to £1,085 a year at Aylesbury Young
Offenders' Institution in 2004-05 (Figure 3). These variations
are partly due to differences in the types of prisoners held and
the facilities available. Young Offenders Institutions and prisons
where there were fewer opportunities to take part in other useful
activities tended to offer more physical education than prisons
with fewer facilities. There remained, however, large variations
between prisons of the same type, for example the cost of physical
education at the male local prisons visited by the National Audit
Office varied by 68%, from £392 at Bullingdon Prison to £657
at Leeds Prison. The Prison Service did not routinely carry out
benchmarking of the costs and provision of physical education
between prisons and investigate unexplained differences. Some
open prisons used civilian instructors in order to save money
on physical education and all privately run prisons used civilian
instructors.[15]Figure
3: The cost of physical education per prisoner varied considerably
between prisons
figure 3
Source: National Audit Office
14. On average, over 40% of prisoners took part in
physical education at least once a week. The proportion in each
prison varied, however, from 11% to 87%. The hours prisoners spent
in physical education were, on average, close to the weekly hours
of exercise recommended by the Chief Medical Officer. Prisons
could, however, have done more to increase participation levels
particularly by those prisoners in most need of physical exercise,
for example the least fit or those recovering from addictions.[16]
15. All prisoners are entitled to time in the open
air each day if the weather and requirements for good order permitted.
Traditionally prisons have referred to this statutory time in
the open air as exercise, but it was different from the physical
exercise that prisoners were able to access through taking part
in physical education.
16. Efforts made by Prison Governors to pack as much
activity as they could into the prison day, when staff were available,
meant that there was a risk that activities were managed around
the interests of staff rather than those of prisoners. Although
most prisons visited by the National Audit Office offered full
evening and weekend physical education programmes, staffing issues
limited the availability of exercise outside the core day at some
prisons. Prisoners who were in education or full time work during
the core day struggled, therefore at some prisons, to gain access
to physical education at the times that were suitable for them.[17]
17. Some 80% of the prisons visited by the National
Audit Office surveyed prisoners to establish which activities
they would prefer to take part in. These surveys were used in
the planning of activities, they were not however relied on in
their entirety as the prisons had to organise activities that
appealed to the less fit prisoners and those who were most in
need of physical exercise as well as the fittest prisoners who
exercised regularly.[18]
18. Some women entered prison with severe drug dependency
problems and therefore in a very poor physical state. These women
needed to rebuild their strength through regular meals and physical
exercise despite the fact they were often unwilling to take part
in the more usual gym activities. This situation was exacerbated
by the type of facilities and activities on offer. Female prisoners
told the National Audit Office that the facilities and activities
were often designed for male prisoners. Both women's prisons visited
by the National Audit Office had very similar facilities to the
men's prisons. Some women's prisons were starting to offer less
traditional activities that appealed to women who were not interested
in sports or weight training, such as yoga and aerobics classes.[19]
19. Traditional prison physical education activities,
such as weight training and football were popular with many prisoners,
and had an important role to play in getting prisoners exercising
and helping some prisoners to rehabilitate after using drugs outside
prison. Some prisoners could, however, be put off physical education
by a culture of weight training and football. Prisons tried to
provide a range of activities that would encourage those prisoners
who were most in need of exercise to take part.[20]
15 Qq 13, 99, 120, 122-127 Back
16
C&AG's Report, para 4.4; Qq 11, 52-57, 91 Back
17
C&AG's Report, para 4.18; Q 98 Back
18
C&AG's Report, para 4.15; Qq 89-90 Back
19
C&AG's Report, para 4.11; Qq 21, 96-97 Back
20
Q 121 Back
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