Partnership Work :HMP Risley & Thorn Cross

Transforming Rehabilitation: Strategy for Reform

Partnership Work WVA secured funding to run an 18-month pilot at both HMP Risley and HMP Thorn Cross, to help meet some of the aims of the strategy.

Thorn cross project involved the recruitment of a Volunteer Coordinator to recruit, train and support a team of Volunteer Mentor’s, to offer 1:1 support to prisoners during custody and upon release.

HMP Risley involved working in partnership to identify and respond to increased resettlement needs against pathway themes to reducing reoffending. Creating additionality to current pathways to enhance existing services and create new opportunities, engaging with the voluntary sector.

• Transforming Rehabilitation is the name given to the government's programme for how offenders are managed in England and Wales from February 2015.

.• The reforms have replaced the previous 35 individual Probation

Trusts with a single National Probation Service, responsible for the management of high-risk offenders;

• 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) responsible for the management of low to medium risk offenders in 21 areas across England and Wales, these are referred to as Contract Package Areas (CPAs).

• The CRCs will also have a new responsibility for supervising short-sentence prisoners (those sentenced to less than 12 months in prison) after release.

Transforming Rehabilitation – Key Facts:

At the heart of these changes is a strategy to accommodate prisoners with very short sentences (under twelve months), or with five months of sentence left to serve, in establishments situated close to their release areas.

These establishments have been designated ‘Resettlement Prisons’.

Overview:

Why change to resettlement prisons?

• Aimed at reducing re-offending• Working towards rehabilitation• Right direction• Community links

Resettlement is where prisoners and their families receive assistance and support from the Prisons and Probation services, and voluntary agencies to help them prepare for life after prison. This includes advice about their benefits, training, education, work experience and preparation for release.

The objective is to help prisoners return to normal life, get a job and

home, and cope with life without re-offending.

By reducing reoffending we can ensure that there are fewer victims of crime, that our communities are safer and that less money is spent on repeat offenders passing through the system again and again….

The National Audit Office has estimated the cost of reoffending by recent

ex-prisoners as being somewhere between £9.5 and 13 billion

Impact of reducing reoffending….

Resettlement prisons:

Explore ways to foster links with voluntary and community groups as a means of increasing diversity and helping to meet the needs of minority groups and specialist needs of prisoners.

Show commitment to engaging with the voluntary and community sector to enhance and develop the services it delivers across the establishment.

Recognising the value of the voluntary and community sector – the way in which we can bring knowledge, skills and

expertise to the prison, which are invaluable and may not otherwise be provided or easily gained

• People facing multiple needs are in every community in Britain and it is estimated that 58,000 people face problems of homelessness, substance misuse and offending in any one year.

• People experiencing multiple needs are likely to live in poverty and experience stigma, discrimination, isolation, social exclusion and loneliness.

• The voluntary sector brings something unique to public services in the Criminal Justice System, as they have a different relationship with service users: often voluntarily engaged, within the heart of their community at a neighbourhood level

Impact for the sector

Voluntary sector organisations are increasingly required to advocate for and support some of the most marginalised groups in our society.

‘Volunteering should be open to all, no matter what their background, race, colour, nationality, religion, ethnic or national origins, age, gender,

marital status, sexual orientation or disability.’

This is one of the principles which underpin the work of Warrington’s Volunteering Strategy 2013-2016; the aim of this to identify activities that support this principle in practice.

Improving opportunities:

• Some organisations may use criminal convictions to discriminate against applicants unfairly.

• Organisations can miss out on a large and diverse talent pool, as a result of exaggerated fear or misconceptions.

• 88,000 people in prison, 61% reoffend within 2 years. However, this figure drops to 19% if engaged in meaningful activity

Employment or volunteering can dramatically reduce re-offending rates

Policy and proceduresIt is good practice for volunteer-involving organisations to have a policy and agreed procedures about recruitment. These policies and procedures should seek to exclude the minority who might cause harm, but not exclude those whose offences are irrelevant.

Are we allowed to take up a DBS check?DBS checks can only be justified by the nature of the role in question. You have to be consistent to all applicants: you can’t take up a DBS check just because you know or suspect someone is an ex-offender.

Useful tips for organisations

Making a decisionA DBS check is not an effective tool on its own. Interviews, references, trial periods and ongoing supervision all help to determine whether someone is suitable for a role.

Warrington Voluntary Action: www.warringtonva.org.uk

Disclosure and Barring Service:

National information:https://www.gov.uk/disclosure-barring-service-check/overview

Local information:http://warringtonva.org.uk/support/dbs-disclosure-barring-service

CRC Community Rehabilitation Company - Purple Futureshttp://purplefutures.sites.interserve.com/

Useful contacts and further information