Conclusions and recommendations
1. The Prison Service accommodated a rise
of some 17% in the prison population between 2002 and 2004 without
significant prisoner unrest, reflecting the professionalism of
those working in the Service.
Rising prisoner numbers are nevertheless a major operational challenge
for the National Offender Management Service (the Service).
2. Predicting future prisoner numbers is difficult
because factors such as the level of crime, securing of convictions
and court sentencing practice are outside the Prison Service's
control. Flexibility in accommodation
plans is therefore critical to absorbing successfully new prisoners
arriving from the courts, and the Prison Service should put in
place contingency plans which respond to the range of outcomes
from its ten forecast scenarios, only two of which suggest the
prison population will remain below 80,000.
3. Of approximately 77,000 prisoners at September
2005, just over 10,000 were foreign nationals. The Home Office
has failed to consider deportation of these foreign national prisoners
prior to their release from prison. As
a result, 1,019 of such prisoners have been released without being
considered for deportation. The Government now proposes to strengthen
the legal regime for such deportations. If there is to be any
lasting improvement, however, the Home Office will need to maintain
accurate records of foreign prisoners throughout their sentences,
and establish effective communication between its Immigration
and Nationality Directorate and HM Prison Service on each individual
prisoner.
4. Another 13,000 of these 77,000 prisoners
were on remand. The Service estimated
that up to 30% of remand places could be freed, based
on the numbers remanded into custody who, when convicted, do not
receive a custodial sentence. The National Offender Management
Service could reduce the prison population by encouraging greater
use of alternatives to remand such as electronic tagging in appropriate
cases.
5. Overcrowding at local prisons in particular
can limit the Prison Service's ability to provide suitable levels
of care, particularly to those starting sentences who may be at
a greater risk of committing suicide.
Around 700 prisoners are transferred to hospital each year as
restricted patients under the Mental Health Act 1983. The Prison
Service should evaluate quickly its new anti-suicide monitoring
measures, and (with the Department of Health) mental health in-reach
in prisons, to determine their effectiveness, and to make sure
best practice is adopted across the Prison Estate.
6. The Service responded rapidly to rising
prisoner numbers by building modular temporary units and brick
clad steel framed units within the sites of existing prisons,
but there were weaknesses in project planning and management,
and contractors were used for work beyond their skill base.
A failure to pilot test the accommodation led to problems such
as leaks, condensation and security issues being identified only
once the accommodation was in use. The Prison Service should build
into its current contingency planning the lessons learned from
having to respond quickly to rising prisoner numbers in 2002,
including pilot testing of contingency accommodation options well
before a peak arises.
7. Modular temporary units are expensive,
having a short useful life, and costing nearly three times as
much per prisoner place per year than the longer life brick clad
steel units. The Service should meet future
requirements through brick clad steel framed units rather than
modular units, but should also evaluate whether cheaper and equally
robust alternative pre fabricated construction models exist which
can be installed more quickly than current solutions.
8. Modular temporary units are expected to
last for only five years and will soon begin to reach the end
of their life. The Service should draw
up plans to replace them which allow sufficient time to
provide contractors with adequate tender information; proper evaluation
of potential contractors' ability to provide the full range of
work needed and identification of other sources of expertise where
necessary; early appointment of project managers; and pilot testing
of new accommodation before roll-out.
9. Delays were caused to the temporary accommodation
construction programme by each prison governor separately vetting
contractors, and by daily entry and exit requirements which in
one case reduced a seven hour working day to four. Such
problems could be overcome by national vetting procedures for
construction programmes of this kind, and by having sufficient
civilian staff in place at the start and end of each day to carry
out security checks on contractors' staff and equipment.
10. Overcrowding results in prisoners being
moved around the prison estate at short notice, disrupting education
programmes intended to reduce the likelihood of re-offending.
Our predecessors recommended in an earlier report[2]
that the Prison Service should take account of prisoner moves
in planning and delivering its education programme. The Prison
Service should now seek to avoid moving prisoners participating
actively in educational programmes, and look to develop modular
training programmes to facilitate continuance of education when
a move is unavoidable.
11. The failure to transfer education and
training records when a prisoner is moved leads to unnecessary
re-assessment of training needs. Electronic
transfer of records or a central electronic data access system
should overcome this problem, but until such a system is in place
the Prison Service should transfer all records when a prisoner
is moved.
12. Prisoners on short term sentences often
receive little or no educational training even though such training
would assist the offender in gaining employment on release, and
hence reduce the likelihood of re-offending.
The formation of the National Offender Management Service provides
an opportunity to develop short courses targeted at such prisoners,
linked to training available in the community, access to which
could be facilitated by the Service when the offender leaves prison.
2 53rd Report from the Committee of Public
Accounts, Reducing Prisoner Reoffending (HC 619, Session
2001-02) Back
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