Prison Service - Offender Management
The Regular Use of Imprisonment in the UK
British criminal justice uses the sentences of imprisonment more often and for longer periods than do its Council of Europe partners. That the prison population has risen sharply over the past decade and, in England and Wales it has increased from 45,000 in 1993 to over 80,000 today. In fact the prison population stood at 82,003 on 11 April 2008. This was an all time high for the number of offenders held in prisons in England and Wales and came after a significant weekly rise of 279.
At the time of the April announcement of the population rise the Director General of the National Offender Managment Service wrote, "We know that short custodial sentences are less effective than community sentences in reducing reoffending. It's obviously a matter for sentencers to decide who goes to prison, but with places in custody in very short supply it's really important that probation staff continue to ensure that the option of non-custodial punishments are offered where it’s appropriate to do so and otherwise custody is the likely option."
The increase in numbers is partly due to an increase in severity of sentences - both in terms of length and increase in the use of short term sentences of imprisonment for lesser offences. It is also due to the changing nature of the sentences themselves with long term prisoners being housed for indeterminate sentences and more people serving life sentences.
Prison As An Alternative to Psychiatric Services
A large proportion of all prisoners had several mental disorders. Only one in ten or fewer showed no evidence of any of the five disorders considered in the survey (personality disorder, psychosis, neurosis, alcohol misuse and drug dependence) and no more than two out of ten in any sample group had only one disorder. Rates for multiple disorders were higher among remand than sentenced prisoners. Those assessed as probably having functional psychoses were particularly likely to have three or four of the other disorders.
Those with personality disorder of types other than antisocial were more likely to show evidence of functional psychosis or to have significant neurotic symptoms than those with no personality disorder or antisocial personality disorder only. In contrast, those with antisocial personality disorder were slightly more likely to report hazardous drinking in the year before coming to prison than others and were more than six times more likely to report drug dependence.
Prison, Discrimination and the Impact on Community Safety
There are many more prisoners of ethnic minority origin than would be suggested by their proportion in the population. There has been considerable research seeking to demonstrate the causes of this discrimination but it has proved difficult to assess. At all levels of the criminal justice system there are institutional responses (reactions) which will capture ethnic minorities, young people and women who deviate from specific norms. Each of those groups will tend to get a higher tariff sentence (a greater punishment) than their white UK male born equivalent. Additionally there are higher levels of ethnic minorities with psychiatric illnesses in prison.
The overall impact on community safety is complex. As an example, if the community safety area is an inner city area with a high level of ethnic minority residents, the local populations experience and expectations of the criminal justice process and their conceptions of crime and normal behaviour will be 'distinct'. Customary 'stop and searches' by the police, knowledge of courts, prisons, criminal activities etc will be considerable and will directly effect the types of community safety intervention that can be used to any effect. Additionally, a much greater emphasis will need to be placed on tackling the aftermath of serious crime and challenging adopted norms/delinquent sub cultures etc which have been reinforced by the daily experience of crime and discrimination on the streets.
Disability Discrimination in UK Prisons
The latest report from Ann Owers Inspectorate of Prisons - Disabled prisoners: A short thematic review on the care and support of prisoners with a disability – again provides us with a skillful and challenging assessment of the realities of our treatment of prisoners. The National Offender Management Service, like all public authorities, is now subject to the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). ‘Disability’, covers a range of impairments, both physical and mental, including learning disability. This thematic report draws together information from surveys, inspection reports and responses from prison disability liaison officers. It clearly illustrates the significant failures by the Prison Service to carry out its DDA duties.
There is under-reporting of the extent of disabilities; prisons own recording systems are recording that only 5% of prisoners have a disability but 15% of prisoners self-reported a disability. As the report identifies, in one prison where a committed officer conducted a survey to identify hidden disabilities and devised a reception questionnaire, the number of prisoners with an identified disability rose nearly tenfold. But even where disabilities are identified, the actual services available to prisoners are limited, often unsuitable and rarely systematically available.
We comment elsewhere about the importance of mental and physical illness in the makeup of offenders and we also comment on the prevalence of those conditions in the prisoner population. These problems have been exacerbated by the reluctance of sentencers to insist that appropriate health care is provided for offenders (are sentencers exempt from the DDA?) as part of any sentence where an individual offender has a health care need.
It also continues to be a wholesale failure on the part of the criminal justice system to deal with the realities of offending and reoffending, through challenging all the causes of crime. Its much easier to ignore these things and rely on the prison service to remain a dumping ground.
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Prison Service Practioner Links
NOMS Mental Health Unit Bulletin: Prison Linked Practical Guidance and Proformas
The March 2008 issue of the National Offender Management Service's bulletin on the Ministry of Justice’s Mental Health Unit; focusing on the unit's role in the transfer of prisoners to hospital and their remission to prison and includes guidance for supervisors of conditionally discharged patients on completing the pro forma for reports.
National Standards for Management of Offenders
The UK National Standards for the Management of Offenders (published October 2007) are intended to ensure that all providers of offender management are clear about what NOMS expects, and that offender management is delivered in an integrated, consistent way.
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, for England and Wales
Home page of the independent ombudsman who investigates the complaints of prisoners and probationers.
Prison Service Management Links
HM Prison Service for England and Wales
Prison Service for England and Wales. Corporate information, news and statistics.
Northern Ireland Prison Service
Responsible for providing prison services in three Northern Ireland establishments. Information on the service's activities, responsibilities and services to the public.
Home page for the Scottish Prisons Service (SPS).
Prisons Inspectorate: Home Office
Home page of the Inspector of Prisons providing prison inspection reports, schedules of inspection and background information.
Link to web page list of UK prison inspection reports.
Penal & Prison Reform Links and Background Issues
The Howard League for Penal Reform
The Howard League works for humane and rational reform of the penal system. We research and comment on criminal justice policy and practice, holding conferences and debates
Adescriptive list of government sites, support groups, and charities related to prison and penal reform, mainly within the United Kingdom
Penal Reform International
PRI promotes penal reform in partnership with organisations and individuals.
Poverty and disadvantage among prisoners families
A study looking at the financial impact of imprisonnment on prisoner families.
Mental Disorder Research Links
Psychiatric Morbidity Among Prisoners in England and Wales
The report presents the results of the primary analysis (baseline statistics) by the UK Office of National Statistics (ONS) on the mental health of male and female, remand and sentenced prisoners in order to inform general policy decisions. It also aimed to examine the use of services and the receipt of care in relation to mental disorders and to establish key, current and lifetime factors associated with mental disorders of prisoners. The survey covered all prisons in England and Wales
Psychiatric Morbidity Among Young Offenders in England and Wales
The report brings together the baseline data on prevalence of mental disorders among young offenders from the main report of the survey together with the results of additional analysis of service use, risk factors and social functioning which were previously only available for the prison population as a whole.
Substance Misuse Among Prisoners in England and Wales
The report presents the results from secondary analysis of the data on substance abuse from the ONS survey of psychiatric morbidity among prisoners in England and Wales carried out at the end of 1997. In this report, data are presented on the prevalence of drug and alcohol misuse prior to and within prison from the main report.
Non-fatal Suicidal Behaviour Among Prisoners
The report presents the results from secondary analysis of the data on suicide attempts from the ONS survey of psychiatric morbidity among prisoners in England and Wales carried out at the end of 1997. In this report, data are presented on the relationship between non-fatal suicidal behaviour and socio-demographic factors; penal, custodial and criminal characteristics; the presence of psychiatric disorders, life events and social support, and places them in the context of the existing literature
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