Offender management programme is putting public at risk, report says

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/dec/17/offender-management-programme-prison-rehabilitation

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Thousands of offenders are leaving prison without their offending behaviour being tackled, putting public safety at risk and undermining the government's "transforming rehabilitation" programme, according to leading watchdogs.

The chief inspectors of prisons and probation say in a joint report published on Tuesday that a fundamental rethink of the 10-year-old offender management programme is urgently needed.

They say it is too complicated, not understood by staff, and too costly to run for most prisons. Prisoners who "get their heads down" can get through their sentences without their criminal behaviour being challenged, they add.

"We have come to the reluctant conclusion that the offender management model, however laudable its aspirations, is not working in prisons," say the chief inspector of prisons, Nick Hardwick, and the chief inspector of probation, Liz Calderbank. "We therefore believe that the current position is no longer sustainable and should be subject to fundamental review. [It] is dysfunctional.

"It does not work and we don't see any sign in the future that it will work and it undermines the whole thrust of the government's rehabilitation plan," they say.

"It needs a fundamental rethink if transforming rehabilitation is going to stay on track and the public is to get the protection to which they are entitled."

The report from the two chief inspectors reflects their findings at 21 different prisons across England and Wales in 2012 and 2013. Among the common themes the inspectors found were:

• too few structured programmes within prisons to challenge offending behaviour and promote rehabilitation;

• some prisons offered no programmes at all while others were running down their provision, although some jails did have a reasonable range;

• provision was particularly poor at two jails holding foreign national prisoners;

• probation officers or community offender managers were insufficiently involved and their expertise was not being used to drive sentence planning.

The joint report also highlights the fact that bad behaviour by inmates on the prison wings is seen as a security issue rather than something that needs to be addressed by the offender management unit. The report cited the example of a domestic violence perpetrator who behaved in an aggressive way with a female prison officer, but whose underlying attitudes were left unchallenged.

The "end to end" offender management model was introduced by the national offender management service a decade ago with the intention that a single community-based manager or probation officer would be responsible for planning the sentences of all adult offenders, both in prison and during their eventual release under supervision in the community.

The joint inspectors say their third report shows such a disappointing lack of progress that "it casts doubt on the prison service's capacity to implement the changes required" under the justice secretary's flagship transforming rehabilitation programme, which is designed to reduce reoffending rates, especially for short-term prisoners.

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