We're outsourcing the future
Comments (257)
John Harris
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 28 July 2009
Remember the great public-private argument? The passions it aroused seem to have peaked around five years ago. Even if some unease about the hiving off of public services prevails, maybe all those acronyms and contractual complexities made it too arcane to compete with broad brush concerns like equality and climate change. Perhaps the toning down of the zealous pro-private talk that marked the later Blair years has convinced a lot of people that, under Gordon Brown, the great outsourcing drive – despite plenty of contrary evidence – is in retreat.
Despite the canning of mail privatisation and the demise of the London Underground consortium Metronet, another big push now looms. Austerity is the key. Even if health and education are protected from cuts, "efficiency savings" in those areas will surely be the aim of whichever party wins the next election – and outside those two sacred services, the 16% cuts forecast last week by the Institute for Fiscal Studies point towards much more contracting out. No one, after all, offers help with scything down budgets more enthusiastically than the private companies now jockeying to extend their reach.
In a recent news story in the Financial Times, the chief executive of the services giant Capita said he would be "deeply disappointed" if its take from government doesn't double over the next five years, while the boss of the outsourcing empire Serco predicted that dire public finances mean "boundaries will get pushed back further".
The most jaw-dropping changes will probably hit the penal system, where havoc can be wrought so long as politicians stick to the obligatory tough talk. If planned private prisons open on schedule and the tendering of jails in the public sector leads to their privatisation, by 2014, 25% of prisoners could be the responsibility of private firms – which offer prison officers basic pay about 40% less than their publicly employed counterparts, are well ahead of the public sector on staff turnover, and score an average of 10% less on the government's measure of prisons' performance. It apparently matters not.
Should – or when – the Conservatives win the next election, they will sustain this mood, and then some. Across all three main parties, too many politicians have yet to understand the nightmare thus created: supposed value-for-money being realised via the slashing of wages, corrosion of conditions, and a degraded quality of service; or the reverse of cash savings, as contracting out creates private monopolies, and companies hailed for their dynamism turn out to be subsidy junkies. Here is a dependency culture built around vast sums of money.
The mess of contractual intrigue surrounding the health service is a good place to start. The crazy economics of private finance initiative deals are well known. Not that it made many headlines, but in 2005 the government finally guaranteed that outsourced "ancillary" staff would be paid the same rates as in-house employees – by forcing NHS trusts to pay private contractors an additional £75m a year.
special prison unit set up for Bronson and two other violent prisoners from Woodhill
By Robert Verkaik, Home affairs editor
Saturday, 15 August 2009
Charles Bronson, real name Michael Peterson, was only 19 when he was sentenced to seven years in 1974 for a bungled armed robbery at a Post Office in Little Sutton, Merseyside.
He used a home-made sawn-off shotgun and stole just £26.18. His sentence has been repeatedly extended for crimes committed within prison, which include wounding with intent, grievous bodily harm, blackmail and threatening to kill. All but four of his years in prison have been spent in solitary confinement due to him taking hostage, staging rooftop protests, and mounting repeated attacks on prison staff and on other inmates.
In 2000, Bronson was given a life sentence for taking prisoner an art teacher whom he led around the cell on a lead. Bronson has spent a total of just four months and nine days out of custody since 1974. In 1999, a special prison unit was set up for Bronson and two other violent prisoners from Woodhill to reduce the risk they posed to staff and other prisoners. Bronson remained a Category A prisoner when he was moved to Wakefield High Security Prison. He was finally refused parole in March 2009 when it was decided that he had not proved he was a reformed character. He was moved to Long Lartin on 23 April.
From The Times July 7, 2009
Nineteen murderers and 12 rapists are among almost a thousand criminals who are missing and being hunted by police after they broke the terms of their release from jail.
Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, told MPs that senior police officers had ordered forces throughout England and Wales to take “priority action” to find, arrest and return to jail those convicted of sexual or violent offences.
He said that the Association of Chief Police Officers had also asked forces to review and renew their efforts to arrest the other offenders on the list.
Overall, 954 offenders released from prisons before March this year had not been found and returned to jail by the end of last month, the Ministry of Justice disclosed yesterday. One murderer has been at large for 25 years after being recalled to jail for violating his licence.
Yesterday’s statement to MPs came after the first official audit of those released prisoners who have never been returned to prison despite their licences being revoked.
Figures show that some offenders who were recalled up to 25 years ago are still on the run. Two murderers recalled between 1984 and 1999 are still at large. A total of 19 offenders recalled between 1984 and 1999 had not been returned to prison by last month. In addition to the two murderers, others at large from this period include a rapist, an arsonist and a kidnapper plus four robbers, two burglars and four drug offenders.
The figures show 142 offenders recalled between January 1999 and March 2004 were still at large; 40 between 2004-05; 96 between 2005-06; 90 between 2007-08.
Provisional figures for the year 2008-09 show that more than 400 criminals who should have been returned to jail are on the run.
Of the 612 criminals still missing by June last year but not yet in jail, 99 were convicted originally of violent crimes. That includes 32 convicted of causing grievous bodily harm, 19 murderers and 3 with offences for assaulting police officers.
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Sentences are TOO SHORT
1.6.2009 Daily Mail Letters Page
The rise in vigilante crimes goes deeper than slow police response times. The senior judge who warns of an increasing vigilante culture fails to recognise the judiciary's culpability.
The public are more angry about the derisory sentences that judges and magistrates are instructed to hand down to even the most recidivist offenders.
Sentencing guidance is formulated to deal with the prison overcrowding problem rather than the need to punish the offender or protect the public.
The case Judge Bray refers to is a prime example of sentences not being a deterrent to criminals or vigilantes alike. These men were charged with causing grievious bodily harm, an offence surpassed only by manslaughter and murder.
After receiving suspended prison sentences of less than a year and payment of compensation to their victim, they walked from court the same day to resume their lives.
Career criminals know they are unlikely to get caught for the majority of their crimes because of the Government's obsession with issuing meaningless targets that take front-line officers away from doing the job of preventing and detecting crime.
When the system fails to deliver justice and deterrence, is there any surprise that we get vigilantes?
Rather than criticising response times, the judiciary should tell politicians to build more prisons and restore the punitive element of sentences that fit the crimes.
Craig Thomson, Uckfield, E Sussex
Otis Ferry: 'They put me in jail for my beliefs'
In his first interview since his release, Otis Ferry - the 26-year-old son of Roxy Music star Bryan Ferry - says he was held in prison for four months merely because he supports fox hunting
By Andrew Alderson
Last Updated: 9:29AM BST 31 May 2009
OTIS Ferry is back where he is at his happiest: in the countryside surrounded by his five horses, his 60 hunting hounds and his three pet dogs. For the first time since the end of 2007, the man who says he prefers animals to people can relax in the knowledge that he does not have the threat of a lengthy prison sentence hanging over him.
Yet the eldest son of rock star Bryan Ferry and former model Lucy Helmore (now Birley) is in no mood for celebrating. "I don't feel like I have won the Olympic 100 metres title – more like I have survived a two-year marathon," he says.
Ferry, 26, who has inherited the good looks and quiet charm that led to his father being labelled the "coolest living Englishman", remains "sickened" that he was locked up for four months in a Category B prison with murderers, rapists and robbers, while awaiting trial on a charge of perverting the course of justice, which was later dropped.
The dismay of Prisoner RB7994 is not, however, directed at his fellow inmates, most of whom he says he liked, but at the police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) which he claims targeted him unfairly. "This has been politically motivated. I am a Tory-supporting master of foxhounds, and the current Government is anti everything that someone like me stands for. This is a socialist Government and I am the epitome of everything they detest.
"The police and Crown Prosecution Service were baying to screw me over as hard as they could. The Gloucestershire constabulary are notorious celebrity-hunters – not that I consider myself a 'celebrity'. I hate the word. The pressure from the Crown Prosecution was not normal. They put an enormous amount of effort and money into a bog-standard case."
It is not just Ferry and his supporters who think he was hard done by. Even the judge who had presided over his case after Ferry was accused of perverting the course of justice could not hide his anger at the defendant's treatment when the charge was dropped.
Ferry is no stranger to controversy, and has been arrested at least five times for his pro-countryside and hunting protests. In 2002, he was seized at 4am as he approached Tony Blair's constituency home "armed" with pro-hunting posters. Two years later, he led a famous assault on the House of Commons chamber when he and seven other pro-hunting protesters disrupted the parliamentary debate.
Prison data stick still not recovered
Lancashire Evening Post
01 June 2009
A memory stick containing details of almost 600 patients which was lost by a health worker at Preston Prison is still missing.
The security breach by NHS Central Lancashire took place at HMP Preston, on Ribbleton Lane, after an encrypted USB data stick – with the password attached to it on a Post-It note – went missing.
All information on the memory stick related to patients who are or had been prisoners at Preston Prison.
The encrypted memory stick has still not been found despite extensive searches. An investigation was carried out into the security breach and measures were taken to prevent such an incident happening again.
A Freedom of Information request by the Lancashire Evening Post has revealed that two members of staff were suspended on full pay in line with PCT policies and procedures.
The FOI request also revealed the memory stick contained details of 588 patients, 16 of who were still at Preston Prison.
A further 24 patients were in other prisons in the UK and the remaining 548 had been discharged from prison.
A special phone line was set up via NHS Direct for people affected by the data security breach.
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Jacqui smith's 'hokey-cokey' justice system
14/05/2009 DAILY MIRROR
Police have blasted Home Secretary Jacqui Smith for Britain's "hokey-cokey" justice system where the same offenders were seen again and again.
Ms Smith, at the Police Federation's annual conference, was accused of failing to tackle the problem of career criminals.
Paul McKeever, head of the Federation which represents rank-and-file officers, said they were "sick to death" of seeing the same offenders. He condemned the "hokey-cokey" system. He said: "It's in, out, in, out, let all the prisoners out. In, out, in, out, shake the system about." "The system isn't working," he added.
He told Ms Smith that many officers view her with "real suspicion and distrust" after rows over pay and pensions..
Broadcasting behind bars
By Torin Douglas
BBC media correspondent 12 May 2009
Most programmes on ERB are presented and produced by prisoners
At Electric Radio Brixton they're used to jokes about a captive audience.
But the prison radio station is no laughing matter. The station has won two Sony Radio Awards - the Oscars of the radio industry - including an audience participation award.
As I queued up to hand in my mobile phone, I reflected that the prison puts most radio stations' security into perspective.
I'd had my instructions - no laptops or other electronic equipment apart from my recorder and microphone.
And there were several more locked gates before I was shown into the education room and broadcasting studio that form the heart of the prison radio station.
Electric Radio Brixton (ERB), whose tag line is "making waves behind bars", is run by the Prison Radio Association (PRA), an award-winning educational charity which supports prison radio as a way of trying to rehabilitate offenders, and help reduce re-offending.
It is largely funded by grant-giving foundations and is now working with the Ministry of Justice to develop a national prison radio service.
The project has the full backing of Paul McDowell, governor of Brixton prison
The charity's chief executive, Phil Maguire, is a former producer on Radio 2's Jeremy Vine Show. He says prison radio can act as a "bulletin board" for the prison, providing information, educational content and advice for its listeners.
"If prisoners are nearing the end of their sentence, the station can prepare them for release, advising how to re-establish or maintain the relationship with the family, how to find accommodation, further training or employment, and how to address issues they may have while they're in here such a bullying or drug misuse," he says.
"All of these are issues which have been identified as key to reducing re-offending."
Other prisoners get a more hands-on benefit, learning how to be radio producers and presenters. Mr Maguire insists they're not training DJs or encouraging prisoners to expect a career in the media. It's more about instilling discipline and a work ethic and encouraging confidence and creativity, he says.
The PRA runs six-week production courses at Brixton in partnership with Kensington & Chelsea College.
You do something that the officers don't normally do, you let prisoners know what is going on as it happens
Ashley, prisoner at Brixton
I met Nash, a young prisoner who'd just completed the course and produced two programmes, one on re-offending, the other on religion in prison. I asked him what he thought he'd got out of it.
"I know within myself I can do certain things which I never really pushed myself to do when I was outside" he said.
"It's given me a lot of self-confidence and belief. It's re-opened my ideas and my ambitions, so it's done a lot for me."
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Private prison probe considered
MSPs have agreed to consider a call from workers at Scotland's first private jail for an independent inquiry into the prison.
The design, construction, financing and managing of Kilmarnock needs to be urgently looked into, according to a petition which came before MSPs.
Holyrood's petitions committee discussed the call by William Buntain "on behalf of staff at HMP Kilmarnock".
The prison is operated by Serco on behalf of the Scottish Prison Service.
Mr Buntain raised health and safety concerns, including that Kilmarnock Prison employees did not have the same level of access to Pava spray, which he described as "pepper spray", in the event of a major incident.
Convener Frank McAveety, Labour MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, pledged the committee would "explore in detail" the issues raised.
The prison, which opened in 1999, is being run by Serco under a 25-year contract.
Shortly after coming to power, the SNP scrapped plans for a private £100m prison to replace Low Moss near Bishopbriggs, instead saying it would be run by the Scottish Prison Service.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said at the time prisons should be owned and operated by the public sector.
The Scottish Prison Service has blamed the situation on the increased numbers held in Edinburgh.
A spokesman agreed it was unacceptable, but said the SPS was working hard to improve the position.
The report, which follows the final inspection by Dr Andrew McLellan before he demits office, is largely positive.
Edinburgh Prison, which has a capacity of 872, has been extensively modernised at a cost of £120m. Its oldest accommodation hall is just 11 years old.
Dr McLellan said the facilities were first-class, and expressed the hope the forthcoming months would see the promise offered by the new buildings being fulfilled.
But he said he was disappointed that workshops were often empty when the inspectors visited.
He said: "These workshops are an outstanding resource to train people for work when they return to society and to allow them to spend their prison sentences doing something useful.
Dr McLellan points out that prisoners who could be using the workshops were instead locked for long periods in their cells.
His report also highlighted difficulties in Edinburgh Prison at weekends and said: "There is very little provision indeed for anything good to happen at weekends.
"The food is less good, there are almost no out-of-cell activities, and most of the so-called recreation facilities available are very tedious."
At the time of the inspection, the numbers in the jail were below capacity - 795 prisoners, but late last year it had held as many as 913.
The Scottish Prison Service said the heightened prisoner population meant staff were fully occupied simply managing the numbers and the "churn" of new admissions.
