And May still goes on

 It has been a while – but to give some detail. The trees in front of the castle (yes they do look like a face) are yew trees that are some centuries old. They started off small sculptured pyramids of yew which have been clipped and formed into what I think were called ‘tumps’. They then got away from their formal shape and have gradually been brought back to the nice close cropped shapes they form now. Some are huge (like the one to the right looking like a face) and some are just being formed and should be good in about 50 to 100 years time.

What is with me?

The government has announced a ‘revolution’ in the way offenders are treated and managed especially for those on short less than 12 month prison sentences and those considered low to medium risk of  serious harm.

Let me be clear I do not per se have an objection to the private sector or the third sector (charities and similar) being involved in the provision of appropriate links and resources for the rehabilitation of offenders.

The issue I do have is that the move is based on a presumption that an untried and untested form of payment – payment by results – is being applied to this area of justice. The 2 government schemes that were started to assess the theory were stopped before they even got significantly going – they were not being effective I understand. While those trialled in prison were cut short and were ineffective. On this basis alone payment by results is not an effective management system.

The government has also based its premis that probation is failing by referring to the re-offending rate of the under 12 month prisoner – those that probation do not work with. [In statistical terms those worked with by probation have a lower rate of re-offending by around 5.4% those on short-custody a higher rate by 6.8%] What does this mean? It means probation works. Probation works well yet this is exactly the group that benefit that is not being included within the changes. They go to this new entity.

What is worse is that the current probation trusts will not be able to ‘bid’ to work with this category of offender.

All those who are low to medium risk – the group that the re-offending rate has dropped – will move out to somewhere else. The assessment though remains with the current service providers. No-one has decided what will happen should the offender move from one category of risk to another. The system and process is unclear…for that read does not exist.

The whole timescale? As from end of next year. I would say expect strikes, lobbying, complaints and so on. The government though is not listening. All I would say is that re-offending rates will go up as the one thing that may be beneficial is not being worked on…the offenders thought processes and understanding of the effect of their behaviours.

Oh, and the prison population, at least in the short-term, will go up…yep, the system will be the better for those nonsensical change – not