techUK is hosting a roundtable for members to input into techUK’s response to the Prisons Strategy whitepaper consultation.

The Prisons Strategy White Paper, published on the 7 December 2021, sets out a new plan to deliver the biggest prison-building programme in more than 100 years – creating the right conditions to reform and rehabilitate offenders and ultimately cut crime, keeping streets safe.

You can read the whitepaper here.

The paper sets out for consultation a number of questions on the content and implementation of some of the Ministry of Justice’s proposals for prisons. The consultation is aimed at those with an interest and expertise in prisons in England and Wales.

techUK will be hosting a roundtable for members to contribute towards techUK’s response to the consultation. We are looking to answer the following questions at the roundtable. It is unlikely every question will be covered in techUK's response so please come prepared with your thoughts.

Chapter One – A Roadmap to Building the Future Prison Estate

1. Do you agree that these are the right long-term ambitions for the prison estate?

Chapter Two – Tackling Violence and Reducing Harm

2. Do you agree these are the guiding principles around which the future regime should be designed?

3. How should we develop outcomes frameworks to ensure our Future Regime Design ambition is realised?

4. Do you agree with our long-term priorities for making prisons safer?

5. Where can we go further?

Chapter Three- The Role of Prisons and Probation in Cutting Crime and Protecting the Public

6. Where can we go further to give prisoners the skills to secure stable employment on release? Specifically, we would like to hear from charities, employers and training providers working with prison leavers or who would like to support our mission of getting more prisoners into jobs. We would also be interested to hear about how schemes that delay the disclosure of convictions during job applications, such as ‘Ban the Box’, could be enhanced and embedded with employers.

7. What are the main issues and barriers that prison leavers face when they are making a claim for Universal Credit? What impact do they have on prison leavers?

8. Should we take a legislative approach, as described above, for those at risk of reoffending who would otherwise be released on a Friday? If so, how should we structure this approach?

9. Do you agree with the ‘guiding principles’ and priority outcomes and areas of focus we have identified for developing the Resettlement Passports?

10. How can we implement the Resettlement Passport approach in a way which is most effective for prison leavers and practitioners?

11. How should we encourage prisoners and prison leavers to comply with conditions and expectations in return for support provided, and what consequences should be in place if they do not?

12. Do you agree with our long-term vision?

13. Where can we go further in turning prisoners away from crime?

Chapter Four – A New Approach to Women’s Prisons

14. Do you agree with our long-term vision for women’s prisons?

15. What more could we do to support women in custody, with particular reference to meeting the needs of women prisoners with protected characteristics?

Chapter Five – Our People

16. Are there specific areas of training you think we should be offering prison officers which we do not already?

17. Do you agree that more bespoke recruitment training will enable prison officers to better support the needs of prisoners? What other cohorts should we be focusing on and how can we do this in a manner that advances equality of opportunity for offenders with protected characteristics?

Chapter Six- Delivering Better Outcomes in Prisons

18. Are there any areas where we should extend autonomy for all Governors to support the delivery of improved outcomes? 19. How can we further strengthen independent scrutiny of prisons in future?

Please come prepared with answers to some (or all!) of the above questions.

 

Georgie Morgan

Georgie Morgan

Head of Justice and Emergency Services, techUK