Archive for the ‘Prison officers’ Category

Former employee of secure training centre charged with violence towards teenage boy

A former member of staff at a child jail has been given a 40-week suspended prison sentence after he admitted to dragging a teenage boy across the floor.
Neil Hanna, aged 27, was employed as a team leader at Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre, near Daventry, in September 2008 when he was sent outside to bring a [...]

May 5, 2010   Posted in: Children and young people, Inside prisons, Prison officers, Prisons, Sentencing  One Comment

Inquiry into the role of the prison officer

The House of Commons Justice Select Committee has today published a report on its inquiry into the role of the prison officer, an inquiry triggered by a suggestion from the Howard League for Penal Reform last year. This thoughtful report is published with a press statement saying that there is:
“…a crisis in the prison system……..The [...]

November 3, 2009  Tags: ,   Posted in: Government policy, Prison officers, Uncategorized  No Comments

Conservative party conference

I am sitting on the train coming back from the Conservative party conference, where Andrew Neilson and I have spent a couple of days.  We met shadow ministers and went to fringe meetings.  Apparently, or so Dominic Grieve told me, there are 12,000 people registered to attend the conference, which is exceptionally high.  Although a [...]

October 6, 2009  Tags: ,   Posted in: Children and young people, Prison officers  No Comments

The future role for prison officers

Back from holiday and straight into the television and radio studios promoting our report on the future role for prison officers. There has been some misunderstanding about what we are suggesting. We would like to see a vocational degree level course developed over the coming years that would benefit all new entrant prison officers. The [...]

September 2, 2009  Tags: ,   Posted in: Inside prisons, Prison officers, Prisons  6 Comments

Future of prison staff investment

I am about to give evidence to the Justice Select Committee.  This is my third select committee in as many months, and gruelling it is too.  Today the committee is asking about the future of prison staff.
I was grilled for more than an hour by the Home Affairs Select Committee a couple of weeks ago, [...]

March 17, 2009   Posted in: Prison officers  No Comments

Don’t downgrade prison officers

I went to the NOMS conference in Birmingham last week. Two days in the NEC with governors and probation managers, and you pick up a lot of gossip and news.
Jack Straw seems to be quite obsessed with Harry Fletcher. It seemed like a third of his speech was a personal diatribe, really rather odd. He [...]

February 9, 2009   Posted in: Prison officers  No Comments

Prison officers need proper support

I gave a talk yesterday to students at Cambridge University about our work to help young people in custody.  I attach the notes of my speech, because I said I would.  One other thing, a student said he thought that there was a minimum entry qualification to become a prison officer and I have checked [...]

January 23, 2009   Posted in: Prison officers  One Comment

Prison Officers need support

I bumped into Colin Moses, Chair of the Prison Officers’ Association, last week outside the House of Lords. He had been in to a meeting to talk about trade union rights, which the Government is trying to curtail, and promptly harrangued me about this too.
We have not got involved in the furore about taking away [...]

January 23, 2008   Posted in: Prison officers  No Comments

NAPO parliamentary rally

I spoke at a Parliamentary rally organised by NAPO last week. The probation service is facing financial cuts over the next three years which will significantly affect service delivery. This at a time when there is huge investment promised in building more prison places and more prisons. The only people to gain from this policy [...]

December 17, 2007   Posted in: Government policy, Prison officers  No Comments