In this month's edition...
Clinks presented at an event hosted by Friends, Families and Travellers on the topic of supporting access to the Covid-19 vaccine, especially for people that are socially excluded. In our presentation, we outlined the entrenched health inequalities that people in contact with the criminal justice system experience that make them particularly vulnerable to Covid-19, and the current landscape regarding deaths and infections in prisons in England and Wales. Additionally, we spoke about reasons for vaccine hesitancy amongst some people in contact with the criminal justice system, and how voluntary sector organisations can work to address concerns and encourage uptake.
We have begun working with RECOOP to understand the needs and experiences of older people in prison. Through service user involvement forums and questionnaires, RECOOP will speak to people in prison about their experiences relating to health, social care, accommodation, purposeful activity, and release and resettlement.
In response to the recent report of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (known as the Sewell Report), Clinks has signed the Runnymede Trust’s joint letter to the Prime Minister, calling for a rejection of the report and an implementation of recommendations from the long-standing Macpherson, Lammy, Marmot and Williams reviews. Clinks is extremely concerned that the race report does not sufficiently explore race inequality in the criminal justice system or in health, particularly for people in prison and under probation supervision. We will continue to stand alongside organisations led by and working with racially minoritised people to tackle these injustices. Read the Runnymede Trust letter here
The Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group (RR3) Special Interest Group on Covid-19 met on the 24th March, where recovery in prisons and future reform was discussed. As of 24th March, Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) had approved approximately 11 prisons to start moving from stage 4 into stage 3, in line with the National Framework for Prison Regimes and Services. HMPPS recognised that it will take some time to get all prisons into stage 3 and even then, there will be limited regime provision. As prisons recover, HMPPS stated it will prioritise staff confidence, capability and wellbeing; prisoner and child wellbeing; sentence progression; and building the pathway to reform. Find the meeting notes here
Free Clinks membership for voluntary sector organisations
Clinks is pleased to announce that we’ll be continuing to offer all voluntary organisations free membership for another year. Smaller organisations with under £100,000 income won’t pay membership fees until April 2023 – thanks partly to funding from the Garfield Weston Foundation. Over the past year, we have seen like-minded organisations pulling together, supporting each other and continuing to support people in the criminal justice system and their families at this critical time. We've been delighted to see our membership grow to over 650 organisations, strengthening our collective voice. Read more here
Prison visits in England and Wales
From 29th March, prisons in England and Wales resumed social visits where safe to do so. This is in place when a prison moves to stage 3 of the National Framework for Prison Regime and Services. This decision is made by Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) in partnership with health partners. Certain restrictions apply because of Covid-19, therefore it is important to check local guidance regularly as the situation in individual prisons may change. To enable voluntary sector operating partners to inform their delivery plans during this time, HMPPS is providing us with regular updates on the status of adult prisons, and on which prisons have restarted social visits. Clinks can share these updates with voluntary sector organisations working alongside the prison service. To request these updates, please email covid19@clinks.org. Read the national framework here and find more information on prison visits here
Sobriety tags launch in England
On the 31st March 2021, the Ministry of Justice announced the launch of sobriety tags and drinking bans aimed at reducing alcohol-related crimes in England, following a roll-out in Wales. People who commit alcohol-related crimes could be ordered to wear a tag which takes a sample of their sweat every 30 minutes and alerts the probation service if alcohol is detected. They face further court sentences or fines if caught breaching a ban. More than 100 people have been tagged since the scheme launched in Wales in October, and the Ministry of Justice says that it has proven effective, with people staying sober on over 95% of days monitored. Read more here
Health and justice network meeting
To kick off this year’s health and justice network, Clinks is holding a meeting [20th May, online, free] where we’ll want to hear from you to understand what the most pertinent health needs of people in contact with the criminal justice system are, how the voluntary sector works to address these needs, and what the gaps are in service delivery and understanding service user needs. We will also be discussing key health programmes that are in motion for people in contact with the criminal justice system, with Clinks providing an overview of the current landscape. This will be an opportunity to map out key priority areas for Clinks’ health and justice policy work, and a chance to network with organisations delivering health and justice services all over the country. Register here
RECONNECT webinar
Clinks is hosting a webinar on the RECONNECT: Care after Custody service [9th June, online, free], following our guest blog from Kate Morrissey, National Implementation Lead for RECONNECT. RECONNECT starts working with people before they leave prison, where they will have access to a RECONNECT worker, and helps them to make the transition to community-based services that will provide the health and care support that they need. In this webinar, we will hear from Kate on the national programme, Revolving Doors Agency’s Lived Experience Team who were involved in the design and development of the service, and hear from the service providers themselves. Find out more and register here
Experiences of pregnant women and recent mothers
links and Birth Companions have come together to launch a report that explores the needs and experiences of pregnant women and recent mothers who are in contact with the criminal justice system, in the community [27th May, online, free]. Following two online surveys and several focus groups with voluntary sector professionals and women with lived experience, we will be launching our report with a webinar looking at the findings and themes of the report, and giving the voluntary sector as well as stakeholders in health and justice an opportunity to discuss the recommendations of the report. Find out more and register here
Dying behind bars: how can we better support people in prison at the end of life?
Hospice UK has written a report on end of life care for people in prison. The number of over-60s in the prison population has more than tripled in the past two decades, and in the past ten years deaths in prison due to natural causes have increased by 77%, with older people accounting for over half of all deaths in custody. This has led to a rise in need for end of life care, a need that is not being adequately met due to care not being equivalent to that received in the community, inappropriate restraint, and delayed or no decisions on compassionate release, amongst other reasons. Recommendations include Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service reviewing its policy on the use of restraints, and the compassionate release process should be comprehensively reviewed and amended. Read the full report here
Lockdown experiences of ethnic minority prisoners
The Zahid Mubarek Trust has published a report titled A Record of Our Own: Lockdown Experiences of Ethnic Minority Prisoners. The intention of this report is to give a snapshot of the experiences of ethnic minority prisoners and families with incarcerated loved ones, so that their views on how the pandemic was dealt with can be taken into account as policies are developed in the future. Themes of the report relating to the experiences of participants in the project included not enough time out of cells, inadequate communication from Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service to people in prison and their families, lack of provision to support prisoners’ mental health, inconsistent implementation of regulations and inadequate infrastructure and staffing. Read the report here
HMPPS monthly Covid-19 data
Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) publishes a monthly report on Covid-19 infection and deaths in the prison and probation service. This report covers the period from Monday 16th March 2020 at the start of the Covid-19 outbreak to 31th March 2021. 190 people in prison, children in custody and probation service users have died having tested positive within 28 days of death or where it was confirmed postmortem. Of these 190 people, 143 were people in prison and 47 were probation service users. Out of 16,472 people in prison who have tested positive for Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic, almost all were adults, few were children. All prisons have had at least one prisoner testing positive for Covid-19. 86 establishments had prisoners or children testing positive in March 2021, 25 less sites than in February 2021. Read more here
HMPPS weekly Covid-19 data
Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) publishes weekly data relating to Covid-19 infection and deaths in prison. In the week ending 12th April 2021, there was one death in the adult estate related to Covid-19, though this has not been confirmed or suspected as due to Covid-19. 23 people in the adult estate tested positive for Covid-19, compared to 58 positive cases in the previous week. These positive cases were spread across 11 sites. This data is updated weekly. Read more here
Race equality in probation
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) has published a report on race equality in probation, exploring the experiences of black, Asian and minority ethnic probation service users and staff. When looking into service users’ experience of probation, the report found that only around a quarter of the people spoken to by HMIP had received referrals or assistance in areas including accommodation, substance and alcohol misuse, and mental health, leaving a substantial three-quarters without key support. In particular, there appeared to be limited support to mental health services, which presented as a real area of need within this cohort. The majority of the men HMIP spoke to who were prepared to talk about their mental health felt that their needs were often overlooked. Read the report here
NESTA cultural impact development fund
NESTA is offering both loan and grant finance packages for arts and culture organisations in England working with the people and communities in greatest need, for up to £150,000. The objectives of the fund are to enable ambitious organisations in the arts and cultural sector to take on small-scale repayable finance to achieve social outcomes and financial resilience; and to increase the capability of arts and cultural organisations to achieve, monitor, evaluate, and articulate their intended social impact. To be eligible, applicants must work with people and communities who fall within the scope of people in contact with the criminal justice system, people with long-term health conditions, people with mental health needs, and people with learning disabilities – amongst other things. Find out more and apply here
Community sentence treatment requirements in action
First in a series of blogs on the Community Sentence Treatment Requirements (CSTR) programme, this blog by Clinks and Nacro focuses on the Essex CSTR site. It explains how they became a CSTR site, what they have learned so far, and how service users benefit from this change – especially those who have multiple and complex needs that, when addressed, can successfully divert them away from custody. The CSTR programme aims to reduce reoffending and divert people from short-term custodial sentences by addressing mental health and substance and alcohol misuse issues through treatment requirements that are undertaken in the community. Read the full blog here
Decoding the government’s funding for substance misuse
Clinks Health and Justice Policy and Development Officer Zahra Wynne and Clinks Senior Policy Officer Will Downs have written a blog on the government’s funding announcements relating to substance misuse. The blog breaks down £148million of new investment announced by the Home Office, the Department for Health and Social Care and the Prime Minister’s Office to fund substance misuse services and reduce reoffending, taking a ‘system-wide approach.’ The funding goes towards piloting a new approach to addressing substance misuse: Project ADDER, substance misuse services across England, and extra funding for law enforcement to address county lines operations. Clinks hopes that initiatives arising from this investment will work to engage the voluntary sector in their development and delivery. Read more here
Being, becoming, belonging
In this guest blog for Clinks, Executive Director for External Affairs at Changing Lives, Laura Seebohm, talks about the impact of deprivation, discrimination and trauma on people’s lives. Laura suggests there is a growing need - especially since Covid-19 - for a radical re-imagining of how to better support the mental health of people going through challenging times such as homelessness, substance and alcohol misuse, contact with the justice system and violence against women and girls. Changing Lives is one of many in the voluntary sector with a deep understanding of trauma, who believe that the way to recovery can also be found outside of the world of statutory services, where people are connected to others. Read more here
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This regular bulletin provides Clinks members with the latest news for voluntary organisations involved in the health and care of people in the criminal justice system. It currently has 2,428 subscribers.
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