Written evidence from the Mayor for Policing and Crime (MOPAC)

I welcome the Justice Committee’s inquiry into prison reform to explore the Government’s programme of reforms to prisons.

As the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, my responsibilities include holding the Metropolitan Police Service to account alongside working with London’s criminal justice agencies we collectively to tackle crime and reduce reoffending.

The Mayor has published a draft Police and Crime Plan for consultation which includes a specific emphasis on making the criminal justice system work better for London and sets out the Mayor’s ambition for criminal justice devolution. It is therefore important that the Government’s prison reform discussions take place with London government in the context of how these reforms will improve outcomes for offenders and victims in the capital.

I welcome the focus on prison reform particularly at a time when communities in London are suffering from the inability of the current prison system to turn people’s lives around. More often than not, offenders leave prison after serving short sentences, having had little access to services to support rehabilitation, and it is not long before they find themselves back inside prison.

Re-offending drives 69% of criminal justice spend in London, costing £2.25 billion every year, and the proportion of re-offenders within the criminal justice system is increasing. Within the Prison Safety and Reform White Paper there is acknowledgement that services within prisons are often poorly coordinated; I therefore welcome the focus on the alignment of services at a local level.  It is critical we relook at how services are commissioned and how we better empower local delivery and strengthen partnerships. There is a lack of strategic coordination to ensure best value of provision both within prison and through the gate, with a need for clear strategic direction and joined up commissioning across agencies. It is my view that this is best placed to happen regionally.

More effective rehabilitation through stronger regional accountability

The emphasis on safety and order is also welcomed; it is vital that prisons are a place of rehabilitation; however this is currently hampered by the levels of violence and drugs within prisons and staff shortages making it impossible to effectively tackle these issues[1]. The most recent statistics show significant increases in prisoners who were murdered, killed themselves, self-harmed and were victims of assault[2]. This is in addition to the number of serious assaults doubling in the last three years and sexual assault doubling since 2011[3]. Whilst there are pockets of good practice, there also remain significant gaps in terms of real employment opportunities for offenders. It is essential that the Government’s plans for prison reform address safety concerns whilst delivering services that rehabilitate offenders and begin the journey to resettlement at the point of entry into prison.

Prison reform presents an opportunity to integrate prisons more effectively into a whole system approach to reduce reoffending. If London is to drive down reoffending rates then there needs to be a collective approach across partners that addresses the disproportionate impact on communities of the relatively small number of prolific offenders who continue to place heavy demand on services, including placing pressure on overpopulated prisons. Reform prisons could afford governors with the powers needed to move away from a one size fits all approach, ensuring that offenders presenting the highest risk of reoffending are appropriately targeted.

It is important that these new reform prisons work closely with MOPAC (Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime) and the London Community Rehabilitation Company to co-commission services and increase access to rehabilitation interventions in custody, with a focus on delivering services that follow an offender through the gate. This in turn will provide greater transparency at a regional level.

Radicalisation in prisons

I am pleased that the Government and the Acheson review have acknowledged and are looking at the specific issue of radicalisation within the prison estate, including changes in policies and practices to ensure that concerns are systematically reported, that appropriate oversight mechanisms exist and that there is greater coordination with the police. This is a particularly welcome area of focus and MOPAC is keen to engage further with criminal justice partners on this area of work.

Alignment of Transforming Rehabilitation and Prison Reform

Transforming Rehabilitation and Prison Reform are major transformation programmes that both aim to reduce the high recidivism rate and ensure best value from offender management and public protection services. However there currently appears to be very little alignment between the programmes, with CRCs struggling to deliver universal access to services that start in prison and follow an offender into the community. This is particularly true in London, as evidenced by the HMIP quality and impact assessment published in December.

Greater clarity is needed on how Through the Gate services will operate within the reform prisons now that governors will have ownership for programmes within their prisons. For these reform prisons to be successful they require extremely close working with the CRC and their supply chain providers. I am concerned that the prison reform programme has started before the Transforming Rehabilitation programme has been implemented successfully. There needs to be a continued focus on ensuring the changes implemented through Transforming Rehabilitation have a positive impact on reducing reoffending, and that prison reform doesn’t negatively impact this process.

Data Transparency

There is also a need for greater data transparency within prisons particularly with regard to prisoner population so services can understand where offenders from London are housed and so that data can be used to support more effective commissioning of services. I will be developing a performance framework for London that underpins the new Police and Crime Plan and prison data will be an important component of this. Transparency in performance data will allow partners to take collective responsibility for areas of concern and to take action to address elements of the system that are preventing the reduction of reoffending. It is critical that central government ensures that London partners have access to the necessary data that will better support regional and local commissioning.

Modernisation of the prison estate

The planned changes to modernise the prison estate, present specific challenges to London, due to the likelihood that new prisons will get built outside of the capital whilst prisons within London are closed down.  There is already a shortage of prison places in London there is a risk that this will be made worse.

For services to have the greatest impact, it is important that Londoners are as close to home as possible to ensure a seamless transfer from custody to the community. There are of course significant challenges in relation to the future of the estate in London, in the context of the value of land and the demand on housing but it is vital that central government involve the Mayor early in the planning for making changes to the prison estate

Placing more prisoners outside of London will place additional costs onto community based partners to provide effective through the gate services and will make resettlement of offenders back into communities an impossible task. This is contrary to the aims of Transforming Rehabilitation and the move towards resettlement prisons which keep sentenced prisoners close to home. We urge central government to have a conversation with regional government before prison closures take place to ensure that commissioned services are able to adjust to any changes in the prison estate and minimise impact on service delivery. 

It is my view that this did not happen in terms of the closure of HMP Holloway which took place without consultation with London partners. This has resulted in the loss of innovative provision for women, alongside presenting a significant barrier to effective resettlement of women now there is no female custodial provision within London.

I will be watching the prison reform programme with interest and would welcome an ongoing conversation on what this looks like for London and how it fits in with plans for criminal justice devolution.

Sophie Linden

Deputy Mayor for Policing And Crime

6 January 2017