Quakers in Criminal Justice

Justice Updates

Updates on criminal justice matters for February 2024:

Our clerk has had a useful meeting with Ruth Cadbury, the Shadow Minister for Prisons, Probation and Parole, Melanie has written it up here (PDF).
Our aim was to open a dialogue with Labour and share our principal concerns, while learning what we can about Labour's intentions.
Meanwhile, Meeting for Sufferings has had a reply from the Ministry of Justice on IPP prisoners, outlining their ambitious Revised Action Plan, which seems unlikely to be effective in our crisis-ridden prisons.

The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies' new report How to resolve the IPP crisis for good is now available to view and download.
At the heart of the report is the following five-point plan:
1) Release the most distressed prisoners on compassionate grounds
2) Launch a recovery and reparations programme for IPP prisoners
3) Ease restrictions for over-tariff IPP prisoners still in custody
4) Commit to review all forms of preventive detention
5) Complete a resentencing exercise for all those under an IPP as soon as possible

The latest Bromley Briefings begins with a useful guide to different types of sentence.
Thereafter, the detailed research and clear diagrams in the fact file sections paint a sorry picture of five prisons issued with urgent notifications, and prisons running out of space, leading to the use of police cells, and postponed maintenance. Delayed court hearings contribute to high numbers of remands.
Staff retention continues to be a major problem, along with burn out leading to frequent absences.
Women are receiving fewer community and suspended sentences and still frequently locked up for non-violent offences.
The Prison Reform Trust notes that the draft Mental Health Bill seems to have disappeared, despite much work having already been done.


Previous updates:

The recent changes to IPP comprise a reduction from a ten to a five year stint in the community without recall before termination of the sentence. With a positive parole decision this will later drop to three. This is a small step in the right direction. The necessary legislation still needs to work through, gov.uk quotes March 2025. Our concern is that this does nothing to help the people still inside, many irreparably damaged by their appalling experience and becoming mentally ill which is framed as increasing their perceived risk at parole. Moreover, their situation in the community is very fragile with the constant threat of recall.
The QICJ Justice Interest Group has sent a letter on our behalf to Ruth Cadbury (PDF), Shadow Minister for Prisons, Parole and Probation. Primarily about IPP prisoners, this also aims to open a dialogue. Meanwhile, Meeting for Sufferings has written to the Secretary of State (PDF) about IPP and we are all urged to write to MPs (DOCX).

An overview of 13 years in post is presented by Andrea Albutt, the retiring President of Prison Governor's Association, talking to the Howard League. She characterised the situation in prisons as a “Perfect Storm” (PDF).

A detailed examination of the growth in prison numbers (PDF) by the Centre for Crime & Justice Studies, submitted to a Justice Committee Inquiry. CCJS quotes some worrying statistics to back up the main factors: the growing length of prison sentences (risen annually since 2010), the increase in recalls (unique in Europe), large numbers on remand due to court backlogs. “There is no long term vision to address the systemic problems behind the current crisis” only projected further increases in the prison population. New prison places cannot keep up with demand.

As we enter Prisons Week (8th–14th of October) we have two articles to share with you, and a resource for Prisons Week and beyond.
This series of questions and answers, entitled Shining a Light on Our Prisons (PDF), are designed for QICJ members to bring an awareness of prison issues to their local Meetings during worship or/and through their newsletters.
Hugh McMichael has written about Imprisonment, child abuse and poverty (PDF) linking to our 2022 Conference on “Adverse Childhood Experiences”.
Whereas Voz Faragher picks up the subject of Decriminalisation of Drugs (PDF) from our 2019 Conference.

The prison newspaper, Inside Time, raises two important issues (PDF) for our consideration. The first of these relates to Parole Board changes, whereby the Government is trying to get its controversial measures incorporated into the Victims and Prisoners Bill. Secondly, we read of obstacles in the way of the ambitious programme of prison expansion – including badgers!

This has been a busy time for us. We have responded to the Labour Policy Forum on Safe & Secure Communities (PDF), laying out a Quaker viewpoint which includes investment in welfare, a medical response to addiction, prevention as the key way of cutting crime and full implementation of ground-breaking reviews such as Corston (women offenders) and Lammy (minority ethnic offenders).

The latest development in our concern for prisoners with a sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) is this briefing (PDF), which has been widely circulated, for a parliamentary debate on April 27th. Despite hopes being raised by the appointment of a new Secretary of State, Alex Chalk, the government remains intransigent and rejected concerns that were raised.

Tim Newell's slide show (PPTX) for BYM presents both issues and possibilities.

Finally, Prison Isn't Working (PDF), is the start of a conversation within QICJ and beyond. We hope this will evolve into a series which encapsulates our Quaker vision, continuing with Part 2: There Is Another Way.

QICJ member Ben Jarman writes for the Prison Reform Trust's ‘Building Futures’ programme on the struggle of long-term prisoners to demonstrate that they are doing all they can to prepare for release and evidence their readiness. Read the report here.

Tim Newell draws on his long experience of work with prisoners and victims to outline his thoughts on the failures of our criminal justice system, concluding by outlining a better way forward. The issues (PDF) Tim identifies feed into a wider conversation, sparked by the ‘Quakers Considering Penal Abolition’ course, currently running via Woodbrooke.

We have produced a ‘prison patchwork’ (PDF) to mark National Prisons Week. Please use this resource to promote awareness.

Quakers welcome the Justice Committee report on Imprisonment for Public Protection. The long-awaited report on Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences was published by the Justice Committee on the 28th of September. Members of the Quakers in Criminal Justice network welcome the conclusion that the IPP scheme is “irredeemably flawed” leading to “profound psychological harm” and “mental torture”. This distress continues on release, says the report, where ex-prisoners suffer a “never-ending cycle of anxiety” due to the indefinite nature of licence conditions, leaving them “traumatised and disconnected from society”. Read the full response (PDF). The new CCJS report IPP: Psychic Pain Redoubled picks up this issue.

The Prison Reform Trust's Bromley Briefings provide a comprehensive data set. Pages 8–10 (PDF) highlight Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups, who are disproportionally incarcerated. But this applies most of all to the Gypsy/Roma/Traveller community. An update follows on older people in prison and IPP prisoners (Imprisonment for Public Protection). We await the Justice Committee's wide-ranging inquiry into IPP due this month and shall respond. Here is the entire PRT briefing (PDF).

Meanwhile staff shortages continue to undermine police, probation and especially, prison services. Recruitment targets are announced but there is no publicity about the high numbers leaving these services.

Check out the following course at Woodbrooke: Quakers Considering Penal Abolition. Monthly via Zoom, from October 18, cost £54.

The Independent Commission into the Experience of Victims and Long-term Prisoners by former Bishop of Liverpool has now reported. See item in QUAKE with comment by Tim Newell, followed by a link to the report (PDF) itself. This is an important initiative with which we should familiarise ourselves – the executive summary is a good way of doing so.

The state of prisons as exemplified by HMP Nottingham, in Guardian Long Read, followed by thought-provoking article by Mike Nellis prompted by this coverage: Thinking About Prison Abolition (PDF).

Compare prison systems in the UK with 46 other countries through the Council of Europe's SPACE I Report, also Prisons of the World by Andrew Coyle, review by Tim Newell in The Friend 7th of April.
Youth Justice services are performing better, according to this briefing (PDF), which flags up the use of ‘diversion’.

Read the first Statement from the Justice Interim Group Time to end Imprisonment for Public Protection (PDF), along with collated IPP experiences (PDF).

The Human Rights Act needs to be protected, article in Jewish Voice.

Probation Quarterly. Articles include: recognising maternal trauma in probation supervision; whether changes to the perception, treatment and approaches to work with women and girls affected by the criminal justice system have occurred, to what extent and to what effect.