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REFORMING ZEAL
The Queen’s Speech saw the government announce a major
shake-up of the prison system. DDN hears from a former
governor about what sort of impact the measures might have
June 2016 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 7
The government’s sweeping prison reforms
announced last month include plans to
establish six new-style establishments that
will give governors unprecedented freedom
over finances, regimes, education and more
(see news, page 5).
One will be the huge HMP
Wandsworth in south west London, and the
government says that more than 5,000
prisoners will be housed in these ‘reform
prisons’ by the end of the year.
The degree of autonomy being talked about
is substantial, so is this genuinely radical? ‘I
think it is,’ says international criminal justice
consultant and former governor of Belmarsh
and Brixton jails, John Podmore (
DDN
, May
2012, page 8). ‘It’s the biggest reform since
Victorian times, which is a fairly low bar – but
there is a lot of negativity around.’
Much of this comes down to numbers, he
says – a sense that nothing can be done
unless the prison population is reduced. ‘I
don’t agree with that. It’s broken and we need
to fix it, and we need to fix it now.’ Prisoners
may get education, training or drug and
alcohol treatment, he says, or they may not.
‘People are getting to their first parole review
having not done much and had not much
asked of them, by staff who don’t really know
them. If we had a more efficient prison system
that would help get the population down, but
there are a lot of people saying nothing can
happen until we get the numbers down. I
think that’s entirely wrong.’
That leads to the obvious question of how
things could be done differently. ‘I would
applaud [Michael] Gove because he’s saying to
governors, “dare to be different”. There’s a lot
that a prison governor can do with the
shackles taken off.’ How many will be up for it
though? ‘I suspect that some will be, some
won’t be sure, and some might start looking at
early retirement. I can’t imagine everybody is
champing at the bit, but overall I’m optimistic.’
He’s currently involved in a major project
for RSA,
The future prison
, which looks at how
a model could be designed to ensure ‘lasting
social reintegration’ for ex-offenders. ‘So you
might have a not-for-profit prison, or a prison
run by a drug and alcohol services charity
rather than G4S,’ he says.
It’s a blueprint not just for what a prison
might look like, but how it relates to the local
community, he explains. ‘I think they should be
accountable. Many in the drug and alcohol
field have difficulties working in prisons
because people who aren’t prison officers are
potentially seen as outsiders, but anybody
working in prisons should have the same goal.’
There are skills in the drug and alcohol
field that are a perfect fit, he believes, with no
reason why well-qualified providers couldn’t
become more involved in the overall
responsibility and accountability of an
establishment. ‘Is there a real difference
between residential rehab and a lot of prison
environments? I’d love to see a much more
inclusive approach to the drug and alcohol
sector, rather than “bid for a contract, get a
contract, contract changes”. It’s very
commercial and mechanical at the moment,
and it should be much more subtle.’
When it comes to substances in prisons,
it’s rare that a week goes by without another
story about the devastating impact of NPS,
but the issue is more complex than many of
these would have you believe, he says. ‘It’s
been like watching a slow car crash, the
problems in the prison service – they go a long
way back, and then along come NPS.
In terms of how you stop drugs
getting into prison, my basic premise
has always been that you make
prisoners not want them. That’s the
only time they’ll stop.
‘Everyone talks about what to do,
and it’s more dogs – and they’re as
much use as a chocolate fireguard –
and searches and so on, but let’s look
at treatment,’ he continues. ‘I know
it’s difficult to treat for NPS, and I
know people take them in prison and
not on the outside – it’s complicated.
But if it’s a big problem in a
particular prison then talk to your
provider and look at your treatment
modalities – maybe you need to do
something different. What we don’t
do is try to assess prisoner needs. We
do all the testing and assessments, but we
don’t tailor the services to those assessments.’
The idea that problems are ‘all down to
NPS and overcrowding and that’s why we’re in
the mess we’re in’ is naïve, he states. ‘It’s
looking for a quick fix, and there is no quick fix
in this.’
What’s needed instead is to go back to
basic principles, he says. ‘A prison operates on
staff/prisoner relationships, whether you like
it or not. How do you foster those
relationships? You need staff who are
reasonably well motivated, well paid, well
trained, well led, and you need a prisoner
group that has some investment in what’s
going on. People in prison with drug and
alcohol problems, the vast majority want help,
and they also want work, education, training.
They don’t want to sit watching daytime TV
and taking NPS. It’s not that difficult to
motivate people in prison to get involved in
things. Prison reform isn’t just about
whinging from the sidelines about how bad it
is, we’ve got to crack on and do something.’
Future prison project at
-
projects/public-services-and-communities-
folder/future-prison
‘I would
applaud
[Michael]
Gove
because he’s
saying to
governors,
“dare to be
different”.
There’s a lot
that a prison
governor
can do with
the shackles
taken off.’
JOHNPODMORE
TSL Education/Neil Turner, neil@dg28.com
