'DETAINED FOR TRAINING' IS KEY TO NIPPING A LIFE OF CRIME IN THE BUD

Some readers of Gatelodge may find it odd that a Tory hereditary peer is writing an article for this magazine and is a strong supporter of the POA. There are good reasons for this, which I will try to explain.

In late 2017, we had a debate in the House of Lords about prison overcrowding. It became clear to me that many things were going badly wrong. My general awareness had already informed me that the situation was far from perfect. I decided to take a very close look at our penal system. I will not weary readers by reporting all that I found, because the problems are well understood by you.

In 2018, Rory Stewart was the Prisons Minister and he set up an embryonic Prison Service Parliamentary Scheme, which was designed to allow MPs and Lords to take a detailed look at the prison system from the inside. With the similar Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme, participants held an honorary rank and wore the uniform of a major, or equivalent. It was decided not to do this for the Prison Service scheme, and I can understand the decision. The scheme did allow me to make numerous visits to Brixton Prison, however. I soon realised that Ministry of Justice (MoJ) officials had cleverly sent me to Brixton because it was a well-run prison with all the indicators pointing the right way! It is important to understand that it is not the parliamentarian’s task to inspect prisons. We are illequipped to do so, and this is properly the work of the Chief Inspector of Prisons. What I found useful, however, were the long and honest discussions I had with junior governors.

Among all the issues I detected, one was easily resolved, while another was pressing. The first was ‘Friday Release’ and I am pleased to say the government has supported a private member's bill that will avoid having to release a prisoner on a Friday when they are unlikely to be able to access the necessary social support to avoid re-offending over the weekend. The more difficult issue was ‘potting’. I ran an amendment to a suitable bill to make it a specific offence, which would also catch any preparatory acts. The amendment was not agreed, but ministers undertook to encourage the police and Crown Prosecution Service to take this more seriously. It would be helpful if readers could feed to me, through the POA, any current potting incidents that they feel are not being properly dealt with.

DETAINED FOR TRAINING

It was clear to me that even dealing with just one problem with the prison system was going be ‘challenging’ and I certainly could not help with all the problems – although Charley Allan does his best to present new ones to me! Where I thought I could make a difference, however, was with young, prolific, minor offenders. Again, readers will understand this cohort of prisoners. I shall outline my proposals I put forward to the POA Conference in 2022 that are designed to address many of the problems I saw during my investigations.

I have proposed that we have a new sentence that is 'To be detained for training at His Majesty’s pleasure' or DFT for short. Instead of release occurring at a set point, as in a determinate sentence, release will occur when the required level of improvement – in terms of education, training and conduct – has been reached. The level of improvement would be determined by the court and offenders could only be sentenced to DFT if the court was satisfied that the offender would benefit from it and there was a fully funded place available. Provided that the trainee puts in the required level of effort, the much more intense course would be significantly shorter than would be served under a determinate sentence.

The first phase would be Basic Compliance Training (BCT), to instil hope, pride and discipline in order that more interesting training can be undertaken safely later. There would be a BCT passing-out event, as it is unlikely that the trainees will have succeeded in anything before.

Most of the training would be undertaken in remote rural locations in order to isolate the trainees from mobile phone signals, and eliminate the availability of drugs and the interference of organised crime. The remoteness, rather than the prison walls, would provide the security. There might be a fence, but its purpose might be more to stop wild animals getting in than preventing trainees getting out!

QUALIFICATIONS FOR EMPLOYMENT

The training teams, consisting of about eight members, would be composed on a multi-regional basis, so being a leading light in the Peckham Warriors will not help much when the camp is in deepest Northumberland. The training teams will be competing against each other, with a range of incentives for good performance, the most important being numerous incremental improvements in living conditions.

The training would have elements of fun, but it would also be demanding, with careful attention to dress and bearing. At the end of each day, the trainees will be fulfilled but tired, and it is unlikely that they would want to resort to drugs even if they were available. The training would involve long marches/ treasure hunts/outward bound training, first-aid training, team working, and anger management practical exercises.

After passing out on BCT, the training would concentrate on acquiring qualifications to make the trainees more employable. Examples are the Basic Construction Skills certificate, which confirms the holder can legally be on a construction site without being a danger to themselves or others, a First Aid at Work certificate, and, most importantly, a forklift truck training certificate (or something similar). The last item would almost guarantee employment.

LITERACY AND NUMERACY

A particular weakness with young prolific minor offenders is often literacy and numeracy. There can be cultural reasons for this, and trainees will need strong incentives to meet the required improvements set by the court. The training teams will find it hard to prevail on the outdoor exercises if any members of the team are not making enough progress in this area. This is because the weaker team members will not be able to read the simple clue or perform the basic arithmetic calculations necessary to complete the task set. It is likely that the better educated members of the team would ‘help’ the weaker ones improve their literacy and numeracy.

I have no doubt that the DFT instructors would need to be prison officers employed by the state, and preferably POA members. But fear not! There will always be plenty of work for prison officers in running the existing secure estate. It may well be possible to recruit young, qualified outward-bound instructors to be prison officers. I am not a fan of using the private sector, because the only variable is how little the prison officers can be rewarded.

I am grateful for the support of the POA membership and leadership for my proposals.

Finally, I am still on the case of the pension age being set at 68 for newly recruited prison officers. I have another oral question on Monday 18 March, but have drafted it to be a Treasury question because it, not the MoJ, sets the policy. 

The Earl Attlee