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   Probation chief calls for 'grown-up debate' on early release of prisoners
The public was asked today whether it was worth the risk of freeing some serious criminals early in order to help keep a lid on the huge cost of the prison population.
Andrew Bridges, the chief inspector of probation, called for "grown-up choices" to be made over the cost and benefit of keeping offenders in prison compared with managing them outside. Unveiling his annual report, he said: "It would be timely to reflect on the public's expectations of this work, and the price we're all collectively prepared to pay for it. "Do we want to keep around 60 people in custody to prevent just one from reoffending? "Or is the public prepared to accept the 'cost' of having more prisoners managed in the community to achieve what could be substantial financial savings?" Mr Bridges revealed about 2,500 such prisoners were currently in jail beyond their minimum term, costing the taxpayer £80 million a year. He said this group could commit up to 40 serious crimes a year - arguing it effectively cost £2 million per year to prevent each crime. Mr Bridge's comments came as union leaders called on the Government to scrap the wasteful and bureaucratic "forced marriage" between probation and prison services, saying it undermined work to supervise criminals and prevent reoffending. A report compiled by the National Association of Probation Officers (Napo) said the National Offender Management Service (Noms) service had failed to deliver its main objectives. The union said prison staff with little experience of working with offenders in the community dominated the relationship. This had created a dysfunctional situation in which those with limited knowledge and experience outside of prisons dictated policy and strategy. Napo claimed the Government could save up to £300 million by reducing bureaucracy, avoiding duplication and ending the requests for information by Whitehall. Harry Fletcher of Napo said prison and probation staff were pulling in different directions and the approach was "flawed from the beginning". He said: "The last two years in the merged organisation has been disastrous for probation and its role and presence has been further eroded as each week has passed. "The case for the creation of a separate operational arm for both prisons and probation each with its own director is now overwhelming. "Such a change would have two beneficial results, it would cost less and it would improve outcomes in terms of less reoffending and fewer victims." The call will be studied with interest by the coalition Government which has announced plans to shake up the criminal justice system, focusing on rehabilitating criminals and reducing the number of prisoners. The prison population reached 85,074 last month, and it now costs around £45,000 to keep a prisoner locked up for a year. Noms was created in 2004 bringing the Prison Service and National Probation Service under one umbrella following a review to provide "end to end" management of criminals across England and Wales. Frances Crook, of the Howard League for Penal Reform said Noms has become a byword for "waste, centralisation, bureaucracy and managerial gobbledegook". She said: "This top-heavy, opaque agency was meant to bring together prison and probation in 'end-to-end offender management'. "But as the Napo briefing published today shows, in reality the prison and probation services have fundamentally different approaches to reducing reoffending as they work in completely separate environments. "Prison is not the community and the community is not prison. Prisons are closed institutions which are managed in a top-down, rigid manner. "By contrast, working in the community requires a localised and flexible approach which the probation service has long specialised in." A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "The Noms agency brought together staff at national and regional level to support the delivery of prison and probation services at a local level. This has streamlined management structures and reduced overhead costs by £34m so that more resources are focused on frontline delivery. "As part of the wider spending review, the Government will take a root and branch look at the Noms organisational structure. This will ensure that the Noms headquarters is as lean and focused as it can possibly be to deliver the savings that are needed, while providing appropriate support for effective local delivery." Source: 24dash.com Due to problems with spam only SalfordOnline members can now leave comments. Becoming a member of SalfordOnline only takes a minute, just hit the red Join Us button at the top right hand side of the page to create your Personal account. Got a news story? Need help with publicity for an event in Salford? Send it to newsdesk@salfordonline.com or call the SalfordOnline newsdesk on 0161 789 5377. |
