O/T Privatisation of Criminal Justice

I have been on strike for 24 hours in the interests of public protection. Please hear me out.

Most people know that the Police catch criminals and the Prisons lock them up. However, most people are less clear about the Probation Service's role in monitoring; rehabilitating and protecting the public from those criminals whilst they are in the community.

The Government have correctly identified that too many convicted criminals in the UK go on to commit further offences. This is arguably because a massive group of offenders, those that get less than 12 months in prison get no support from probation and reoffend at a rate of about 60%. The groups that probation do supervise (those that get community orders and those that get long or indefinite prison sentences) reoffend at much less than 40%. This is amongst the best in Europe and far better than US.

The Government intend to privatise the Probation Service, selling 70% of the role to the cheapest private company that applies. They'll use this to fund supervision of all prisoners after release.

I think it is important that support and monitoring is given to all convicted criminals leaving prison, but I have massive concerns about jeopardising the public protection arrangements in place for people serving long sentences to fund it. Prisoners convicted of murder will all be monitored by a public sector probation service, however most of those convicted of 'lesser' offences (including some that have committed sexual assault or grevious bodily harm) could be the responsibility of Serco or G4S come Oct 2014.

I would like to tell you more if you are interested, as I do think there would be a public outcry if people understood the role that is being sold to the lowest bidder.

 

I can fully understand your concerns. I'd be interested in hearing more about this.

 

What sort of support and monitoring is given at present? Lets say, for arguments sake somebody that has been in for a few years for sexual assault?

 

I'm disgusted with privatisation, when has it ever brought real benefits except to THOSE wealthy enough to invest?

Look at our energy bills!

Sent from my Sony Xperia Z1

 

If someone got eight years custody, they would spend the first four years in custody. They would complete a Sexual Offences Treatment Programme (which lasts 4 months to three years, depending on their risk). They might also then have time to complete some education or training to prepare for work on release.

Monitoring- They spend the last four years of their sentence under probation supervision. Probation staff assess their risk and will put restrictions in place. They might have to stay at a probation hostel, with curfew and drugs testing and breathalysing. They might be banned from entering the city where their victim lives or from having any unsupervised contact with children. If they are allowed any contact with children, the probation officer works closely with social services to consider what needs to be in place to protect those children. They work closely with police, checking Police records or getting regular updates about police intelligence, to confirm they are complying with the risk management plan.

Support- Once released, their progress is assessed. They might need to repeat a treatment programme. They might need to do the relapse prevention course, to think about how to apply the skills from the programme. They might be unemployed, in which case they would be directed to work with a voluntary agency to help get them back into employment (it all depends on what the barriers have been to them acting as a normal member of society previously).

I don't want to misrepresent the government. The above case will still be under probation supervision under their new plans. The difference will be for an offender that gets a two year Community Order for sexual assault. (Agree with it or not, this does happen) OR say eight years custody for a violent offence...

 

A sex offender with a two year community order will complete the sex offender treatment programme in the community, run by trained probation staff (this will be unchanged). Currently it is a trained member of staff that monitors them in the community, meeting with them; liaising with police; social services etc.

They will be assessed a a Medium Risk of Serious Harm (they are capable of committing a very serious offence, but unlikely to do so unless their circumstances change). This might be because their wife and child have left them so he has no contact with children. The probation officers most important job is to monitor whether the circumstances change. For example, he might form a relationship with a woman with a child, in which case quick communication and decisive action with social services might be vital.

Under the government plans this monitoring will be done by a private company. They will be given a risk assessment by the probation service and told to inform them if circumstances change. I am deeply worried that the private companies won't have such thorough communication with other agencies so might be oblivious to very important changes. If they do identify a change, the key thing is quick decisive action. However, under the new plans there is an extra layer of bureaucracy. The private company will tell probation. The probation service will need to review the records, assess them and decide how to act on the info. A decision that currently takes 2-3 minutes will now take hours or possibly days (at the very moment when risk is at its highest)

 

For an offender that gets a long custodial sentence for a violent offence, the opposite issue will arise. Say they have committed grevious bodily harm against their female partner. The monitoring and supervision will continue to be be done by the probation service directly. currently would complete a group work programme that has evidence to show it works. If it is Domestic Abuse this will be the Building Better Relationahips course or Integrated Domestic Abuse Programme. These have been shown to dramatically reduce reoffending.

Under the new plans, private companies will deliver whatever group work programme they chose. They will get a 10% bonus if they successfully keep reoffending at their current levels, but I am worried that they might well chose instead to cut the costs by 15%, to guarantee an increase in profits. I have no doubt that the current nine month, intense courses which include staff employed specifically to support their victim and/or partner will be replaced with shorter less effective programmes.

 

My main concern is to look at the 'dog's dinner' they made of security at the London Olympics and I woouldn't trust them with my granddaughters' piggy banks. It's ALL about profit in teh end and the directors getting wealthier by any means they can!!!!

 

The whole criminal justice system is a complete mess just like nearly everything else in this once Great nation. Bit O/T but why is it someone who is given say, a five year sentence, is released after just 2 or 3 years ? Early release for good behaviour should be scrapped, sentences should be INCREASED for bad behaviour.

 

Says it all really - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24847388!!!!

 

RT, i work for one of the private companies you mention. i'm not going to say who it is, but it's not G4S. i'm not involved in any of the bids going on, including probation.
understand some of your concerns about costs and your own position.
what i would say though is that our sector sometimes get a lot of grief in the press, however in the main does a good job that the customer is happy with

 

I have dealings with Serco on the medical and PCT side of things, more to do with the finances side of thing granted, I can safely say without a shadow of a doubt they make things so hard and complicate a simple thing like providing a service to a PCT and getting paid a nightmare!

In the old days it was a case of, Raise an invoice put a contact name on there and bang invoice paid.

Now it is, Raise an invoice, send to contact name so they can raise a P/O, redo the invoice with P/O now attached, wait for the invoice to be paid, after 30 days chase invoice, they say they haven't received it, re-send invoice, wait another 15 days, chase again, get told to resend the invoice again, say we have already sent it twice by email they check through the records, oh yes there it is, it will be with you in 14 days!


And P/O's are supposedly making things easier!

 

sounds a faff guru

 

Yeah it is! I can understand why they doing it, but the rigidity is so frustrating and i know of some companies in our field that have put them on stop until bills have been paid, which at the end of the day the only people that suffer is the poor sods that need medical help.

and don't even get me started on the PCT's changing to CCG's and that complete cock-up.

 

A sentence is split into two equal halves. The first half is in custody the second is in the community subject to strict conditions on license while they are safely settled back into the community. Breach the conditions and you spend the rest of the sentence in custody. I disagree the system should be scrapped. I'm seconded to the prison service, and I generally sleep pretty easy when a dangerous offender is released on license. I know where they are going, the curfews they will be under, whether they will be permitted to use alcohol and (most importantly) that if they contact their victims or anyone else known to be at risk they will be recalled straight to custody. It also means that by the time their sentence expires they have set up links (housing, employment, friends) in a place away from their victims and/or co defendents so may well choose to stay there forever. For dangerous prisoners that have already been recalled, they will leave on the date their sentence expires. That means I have no control over where they go, who they harass, what they drink or inject etc. For some offenders that is pretty terrifying and it costs the Police A LOT in surveillance if it is essential that they know where they end up.

 

Just out of interest, is your role one that generates a traditional profit and has a clear 'customer'. Where the industry naturally generates a profit (e.g. Selling Transport services, selling energy, selling communications) I can see the argument that a private business will increase efficiency without jeopardising quality of service- they need to keep the customer happy.

However, in the Criminal Justice sector who is the customer?! The offender? The victim? Neither of them will pay A4E or the like. The 'customer' is not thousands of people, that need to be convinced to pay £20 for a small service. It is one Government paying tens of millions of pounds for a seven year contract. In that scenario, there is no incentive for a quality service but a massive incentive for cutting costs.

I would love it if you can give a specific example that proves me wrong, but I only know of examples that have led to compensation payments (No Olympic security); investigations by the Serious Fraud Office (billing the government for tagging offenders who have long sice died and been buried) or exploiting loop holes in contracts to get paid despite failing to deliver (repeatedly transporting prisoners to court AT the time of their hearing, leading to expensive adjournments because the prisoner has no chance to seek legal advice).

I do find it reassuring that you are content with your employers. My role will stay in the public sector, but as you can imagine there is a lot of fear amongst my colleagues about working for a company who want to make profit
out of offenders and victims.

 

I moved to sleepy, picture postcard Cromer 6 years ago to run an off licence. A few months later, I was attacked, beaten, stamped on and could easily have lost the sight of my left eye - or even worse. For the sake of circa £250. Shared between two "men"

I now have titanium (I think) plates holding my face and head together, at immense cost to the already (even then) under pressure NHS - not to mention the police with all their enquiries to bring them to "justice", myself and my family emotionally.

The two scumbags responsible got 5 and 6 years, reduced, as you mention Rubik, by half, as long as they didn't smash up the pool table in whatever prison they were in. (That's me being sarcastic, and very ****ing annoyed, if the truth be told - apologies)

The old cliché of 'let the punishment fit the crime', I'm afraid, has been diluted to let the punishment fit the current governments budget. And for me and millions of other victims and families thereof, that ain't anywhere near good enough.

 

Good question rubik, I don't really know the exact answer.
I have spoken to some people who work on contracts as I dont; their focus seems to be operational delivery not profit making; obviously there will be some pressure from management to cut costs, but it's about finding that balance in more sensitive areas / markets

 

Let's be perfectly honest about this.Privatisation has always been about the sequestering of publicly owned assets and distributing them amongst the friends and families of the political elite.Tory governments since 1979 have always worked that way.
I say that not as some union official or left wing politician.My views are fairly to the right on some issues and I have run my own business since 1977.The utilities should be publicly run for the benefit of everyone not handed over to private companies.We only have to look at the current phone hacking trial to see what happens when the pursuit of profit eclipses all other considerations.

 

Cromer Canary-
I'm sorry to hear how dissatisfied the whole system has left you feeling. I'm part of that.

You might have heard of Restorative Justice. This is about giving victims a chance to tell the perpetrators about the impact their crime has had. It has been shown to help some victims reach some kind of closure (and some offenders develop the motivation to change). I think most victims are quite surprised by how pathetic the person that has caused them so much trauma is. You can either do it face to face or by recording or writing a testimony (and/or receiving one back).

Some people really welcome the chance, others find it an absolutely repulsive idea.

Norfolk and Suffolk Probation Trust are running it as a pilot. If the 'scumbags' are at any stage within their 5-6 years and you think it might be helpful to you, you could contact Norwich Probation Office (Centenary House, Palace St) to enquire (or pm me if you want some more specific details).