Caroline Morrison, Head of Unpaid Work Policy, Projects and People highlights the importance of Community Payback and how you can get involved via Insights23.
It’s a big year for Community Payback (CP) – we’re celebrating our 50th anniversary - but how much do you know about the work we do and the positive impact it has on lives and communities?
I’d like to share a few things that might surprise you and hopefully persuade you to spend some time with us as part of the Insights 23 Festival.
Community Payback, sometimes called Unpaid Work, can be added to community orders and suspended sentence orders made by courts in England and Wales for between 40 and 300 hours to be completed within a year.
People subject to Community Payback work on projects which benefit the community while learning skills to improve their knowledge, confidence, and employability.
Yes, we collect litter, but we do so much more.
Community Payback teams are growing saplings, planting trees, making toys, building birdboxes and benches, decorating community centres, serving roast dinners, cleaning rivers and beaches, and building playparks.
Our workload is more varied than many think thanks to the skills shared by our partner organisations and our supervisors. Jumbo, in South London, has spent the past 40 years passing on his skills, including building playparks and making toys, to help people in the capital into work. While Colin and Ade in Warwickshire teach people to build steps and ramps, pathways and playparks. We work closely with Forestry England, the Marine Conservation Society and Canal and River Trust among others to ensure offenders learn a variety of skills and knowledge while they repay their communities.
The first Community Service order, as it was then known, was made in Nottinghamshire in 1973. To commemorate the half century, we’re holding events in our regions as part of a series of activities across England and Wales and we’d love you to be involved.
Get Involved
We have numerous opportunities via the Insights Festival where you can be part of a Community Payback team, or spend a day with supervisors, managers and coordinators to understand the demands of their roles and the difference they make. Events are on offer across the North West and Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire, East Midlands and the South West.
Community Payback also provides opportunities to improve education and skills via Community Campus -the Probation Service’s commissioned e-learning platform that enables people who have an Unpaid Work order issued by the court to access electronic educational and vocational learning.
These are just a few examples but please visit the Insights website for many more on CP and lots more,
These events provide a great insight into the work we do, the challenges we face, and the important role Community Payback plays in the lives of offenders and the wider community.
Did you know you can also submit a local project idea for consideration? We’re always keen to hear ideas and see if our teams can help. Submit your ideas to CP_@justice.gov.uk
We look forward to seeing you!
Ed Cornmell, YCS Executive Director, highlights the events on offer from the Youth Custody Service as part of Insights23.
I’m really proud to lead the Youth Custody Service and to see our staff supporting Insights23 this year. It’s a great opportunity for colleagues in HMPPS and the wider criminal justice sector to hear, learn and understand more about the important work we do.
What is YCS?
The Youth Custody Service is made up of five Young Offender Institutions (YOIs), one Secure Training Centre (STC) and eight Secure Children’s Homes (SCHs).
We provide child-centred services and provide safe, secure and decent care for our children and young people.
Opportunities to learn about YCS
This year, we are offering several events where you can hear from staff working with some of society’s most complex and vulnerable children. This will be an opportunity to find out what makes the children and young people’s estate unique and to hear first-hand from our frontline staff supporting children towards positive change.
In-person events include:
Online events include:
Already in the YCS?
Insights23 is an excellent chance to learn more from colleagues in the adult prison and probation environments, and from partners working in the community, including some of our youth justice partners. I’d encourage you all to get involved and support your teams to attend.
For more information on the Youth Custody Service, visit the GOV.UK website.
A central theme of the Insights Festival is the importance of evidence and research in informing decision-making and operational practice. In this guest blog, Martin Jones CBE, Chief Executive of the Parole Board for England and Wales, explains why research is important at the Parole Board and points to some recent publications.
The Parole Board is an independent body that considers whether a prisoner’s continued imprisonment is necessary for the protection of the public. We make thousands of decisions a year for those who have committed some of the most serious offences.
As Chief Executive, I am committed to the Board using evidence to inform policy and practice related to parole. Using outcomes and recommendations from good quality research and thematic studies can help the continuous improvement of the parole system. That’s why we support research by providing access to our staff and members, case management and other data and information.
Our Research Framework ensures that research involving the Parole Board is conducted ethically and benefits the Parole Board, victims, and prisoners with whom we work. Research related to parole and accessing Parole Board data or people, requires approval from the Parole Board Research Governance Group (RGG), which I chair. The RGG reviews the feasibility of all research proposals and their relevance to the work of the Board and wider parole system.
Our current research priority areas, approved by the Board’s Management Committee, are:
We also consider other areas that may contribute to improving understanding of the parole process. Since the RGG was established in 2018, it has approved 14 research studies by academics, Parole Board members, and HMPPS practitioners. Highlights include:
The research looked at the potential benefits of remote oral hearings, drawbacks of using remote technology, and practice implications for parole hearings. Following the COVID pandemic, 95% of parole oral hearings are now held remotely. Therefore, I was particularly keen to review how research in this area could shape our business model for the future. The findings from the research were presented as part of Insights22. You can watch the recording here.
This research has provided the Board with recommendations to ensure that those prisoners who have communication needs are supported to engage in their parole hearing fairly and effectively. We are working with colleagues in HMPPS Public Protection Casework Section (PPCS), to identify implications for practice and how we can work collaboratively to ensure that the findings are fed into practice.
HMPPS have told us: “The findings were insightful and will continue to develop our understanding and shape our response(s) including where appropriate, to policy and practice. Early identification remains a priority as we continue to raise awareness and improve our ability to support all Prisoners with communication and other neurodivergent needs accessing the parole process”.
This research demonstrated the significance of a probation practitioner’s contribution to the parole decision, and how parole panels take account of the risk management plans provided by professionals. An article was published in Probation Quarterly PQ27.
I have been impressed by the interest and quality of applications that the RGG has reviewed and would encourage anyone wishing to undertake research related to parole to get in touch.
Want to learn more? Our website research page has more information on research at the Parole Board and lists more completed research.
Improving Probation by listening to those with Lived Experience Hosted by HMPPS Lived Experience Team and the St Giles Trust.
Probation Service ambition and strategy for listening to the voices of those with lived experience is an integral part of our success in improving the service we offer. Increasing the number of employed, paid staff with lived experience of prison and/or probation is a key target for us.
This event hears the journey's of some of our staff with Lived Experience and how we can be most effective in using this knowledge for the benefit of all we care for.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required.
The HMPPS National Court Team discuss the important role the Probation Service plays in Court, how to maximise influence through improving judicial confidence and effective targeting of interventions in pre-sentence reports.
They also talk about the important role of data science in defining cohorts and supporting effective decision making.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required.
A number of providers around England and Wales work with people on probation to deliver Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA), holding those convicted of sexual offences to account whilst supporting their reintegration into the community.
This session provides an overview of:
• the role of Circles UK which oversees providers and standards
• the evidence for CoSA, • how probation works with CoSA providers, and
• reflections and feedback from CoSA volunteers and from a core member (the person on probation) about being involved with a circle.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required.
Jenni Pearson, Quality Assurance Specialist for HMPPS Interventions Services, introduces the emerging and fascinating field of Implementation Science.
This session explores the evidence base, strategies, and approaches to planning that can maximise the successful implementation of any intervention. Using lessons learned from the field, Jenni explores what factors successfully support and embed interventions in a way that bridges the gap between evidence-based design and the outcomes they achieve.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required.
Hosted by Sunpreet Kandola and Laura Shepherd, National Specialist Leads for Learning Disability and Challenges from HMPPS Interventions Services.
This event will help you to understand some of the strategies used to support the needs of individuals in the delivery of Accredited Programmes. The experience of prison and community life can be challenging for some individuals with Learning Disability and Challenges.
This workshop looks at some of these challenges and provides practical skills for working with individuals with Learning Disability and Challenges.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required.
Hosted by Georgia Barnett, a psychologist and researcher in the HMPPS Evidence Based Practice Team, Insights Group.
Human beings have evolved to make quick, efficient decisions. We have to take mental short cuts or fill in the gaps left by missing or incomplete information. Most of the time this works well, helping us to make sense of our complex environment and decide on a course of action quickly.
However, despite our intentions to be fair and consistent, sometimes this can lead to disproportionately bad outcomes for people in social groups that differ to our own.
This session:
-introduces some of the biases that are most likely to affect the decisions we make in our work in HMPPS -explores how we make decisions, factors that affect our vulnerability to bias, and what we can do about this, and
-highlights evidence-based strategies that reduce the impact of bias on our judgements.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required.
Have you ever wondered what exactly goes in to designing a new Policy Framework?
TJ Abrahams, Senior Policy Advisor, National MAPPA Team, talks about how the new Child Safeguarding Policy Framework came to life and why child safeguarding is such a huge passion for the team involved.
Listen to why engagement and consultation was so important to the design and how the team have ambitions to celebrate our good practice in such a vital area of our work.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required.
In a word, extremely!
For those who don't know, HMPPS Insights brings people together from across the Criminal Justice System to learn, share, connect and celebrate the excellent and innovative work done. With over 500 events and over 14,000 tickets shared, here's a whistle-stop tour of my 2 week experience in May 2022.
I'll start with my favourite and that's saying something as they were ALL highly informative and captivating in both detail and social importance.
How have city drugs found their way into small rural communities?
An extraordinary man called Luke Peters (aka Still Shadey who is now a spokesman for St Giles Trust charity and a musician) spoke with passion about 'County Lines'. This is the widespread operational procedure set up by drug dealers in highly organised crime networks to groom, recruit and exploit children as young as 13 to pass drugs from big cities into market towns and rural communities. His personal story and knowledge of young people was impressive, having lived experience of being exploited himself.
He is part of the SOS+ award-winning Central London project delivering early intervention and de-glamorising gangs in the community. There is also an excellent film 'County Lines' that shows one boy's journey on BBC iPlayer.
How many men at HMP Leeds reported a brain injury?
Another enlightening talk was given by the Disabilities Trust about the high prevalence of Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) in the prison population.
As many as 47% of men at HMP Leeds reported a TBI.
The most common causes are assaults (including childhood abuse), falls, sporting or car accidents.
62% of TBIs in women are caused by domestic violence.
Symptoms of TBIs are memory loss, disorientation, impulsive and inappropriate behaviour, frustration, irritability, anxiety, confusion, depression. The charity is pushing for more understanding on this, often overlooked, serious issue.
What is The Corston Report?
'Working with Women who Offend' looked at how most women are in prison for short sentences which research has shown to be more harmful in every way than a long, settled one. Also that 60-80% of women in custody have experienced domestic violence and so have complex needs, "often the product of a life of abuse and trauma".
The reason one prisoner gave for self-harm was: "What I can do to my own body is the only thing I have left to control."
It's clear from research that custody for women needs to be gender responsive. Prisons have been traditionally developed by men, for men. Research shown in The Corston Report, also an astonishingly obvious piece of work, suggests they are unlikely to work for women. Why not take a look?
Can prisoners teach themselves to read?
The Shannon Trust showed us that rates of both reoffending and losing touch with family are higher if those in custody can't read. As a charity known for its outstanding work teaching people in prison to read, and being peer tutors for others. The charity has now created a motivational app that can be utilised by themselves to assist in reading offline. It's called 'Turning Pages' and could be a game-changer for people with literacy issues inside.
So much more…
To summarise the rest, without diminishing from their importance in any way, I learnt about lack of trust in residential care-experienced women; about the Mulberry Bush School trying to keep children in education and out of custody; how teaching philosophy to 'lifers' creates more meaningful relationships; and how psychological safety within teams is vital for any team to create good work.
There was also the history of the polygraph test (lie-detector - did you know the ability of the average person to catch a liar is only 60%!) and how it's being used to review risk assessments of UK sex offenders; a talk asking if we're really listening to the voices of pregnant women in prison; how the disproportionate exclusion from school of the Gypsy Roma Traveller (GRT) Community and existing daily racism (staff and prisoners) in prisons has forced the Traveller Movement charity to use creative ways to address these issues.
A talk about children in the justice system revealed them to be some of the most damaged and vulnerable in our society (under their multi-layered, bulletproof survival suits); a presentation about the time, effort and precision that's put into designing a new policy framework for safeguarding children was fascinating; and the chicken and egg problem of mental health problems and drugs - which comes first?
How I used my new knowledge
I took actions away from each talk and thought about how they could benefit the Content Hub. So much of this information has the potential to stop first offences and to understand the underlying illnesses behind why people offend, which when treated, can slow and stop re-offending. It has given me hope for the future of society.
And finally…
Last but not least, I also 'won' a coffee and a chat with Clare Wilson, a Senior Policy Manager (Sentence Management) in the Probation Reform Programme. She talked about her work with Young Adults, I talked about the Content Hub, and we've been talking about HMPPS possibilities ever since. I have happily added Clare to my list of new 'insightful' colleagues.
We're all busy, but it's important to stop and look around at all this incredible work happening in the wider community. Also, to meet new people who are working for the same thing in different ways.
Thank you to the team and speakers who put on this festival - it's the most educational 2 weeks of my year.
Now I'm off to find a money-tree…
Evidence informed delivery of accredited programmes to women in custody or on probation.
HMPPS Intervention Services National Specialist Leads Cara Cunningham and Aubrey Van Zyl present the approach taken to developing effective interventions with women in the care of HMPPS.
This session:
Demonstrates the evidence of effective programme design and delivery of accredited programmes responsive to the needs of women.
Explores how a responsive and inclusive approach to rehabilitation can support women (and others!) and promote desistance from re-offending.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required.
Beatrice Finch, HMPPS Sustainability Lead, explains what is happening across HMPPS and invites you to join a conservation day at a prison!
The HMPPS estate is one of the largest and most diverse in government, with a wealth of different priority species and habitats. As part of being an environmentally sustainable organisation, we are making sure that we protect and maintain the species we share our land with.
We understand why we should try to reduce our carbon footprint or conserve our water consumption – these feel like direct threats to our way of life. But apart from our moral duty to future generations, why should we care about biodiversity?
Everything we need to survive relies on biodiversity: without plants there would be no oxygen and without bees and other pollinators there would be no fruit or nuts. But did you know that coral reefs and mangrove swamps protect the coast from cyclones and tsunamis, while trees absorb air pollution, actually cleaning the air in urban areas?
Our biodiversity has been honed through millions of years of evolution. Nothing exists in isolation. If you remove one piece, just one species, it destroys the finely tuned balance which impacts us all. For example, if tropical tortoises and spider monkeys become extinct, you would think the impact on us would be minimal. But the tropical dense hardwood trees that are most effective in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, rely on them for seed dispersal: if they go, then it directly impacts climate change, which we know affects us all.
MoJ has committed to putting environmental sustainability at the heart of our operations and decision-making. We recognise that as the second largest estate in government, we have a responsibility to reduce our impacts on the environment and increase biodiversity – and we want to lead by example.
Across HMPPS staff, people in prison or on supervision and local communities, are working hard to create and enhance spaces for nature including ponds, orchards, wildlife gardens, meditative outdoor areas, installing bat and bird boxes and much more. Re-connecting with nature through making our sites more environmentally sustainable can also help improve mental health and well-being and provide rewarding education and rehabilitation opportunities.
One example is the Children’s Butterfly Garden created at HMP Berwyn where a grassland area has been developed as a ‘Pollinator Garden’. It now provides a welcoming and positive entrance and a relaxing environment for visitors, whilst significantly enhancing the current grassland area for wildlife and pollinators which are in serious decline. The Wildlife Trust funded the butterfly path and worked to build it.
While most of us are not actively trying to harm biodiversity, modern daily life is rife with unintended consequences. However, with a few simple changes you can reduce your adverse impact on the environment and encourage biodiversity to flourish.
23rd August – A day for wildlife @ HMP Thorn Cross. We will be working with staff and prisoners to mow conservation paths, build wildlife habitats, do some pond dipping, and maybe even extract honey from their beehives! Book your ticket here: Get your ticket – A day for Wildlife: HMP / YOI Thorn Cross – HMP / YOI Thorn Cross, Tue 23 Aug 2022 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM (tickettailor.com) Tickets close 16th August.
31st August - A day for wildlife @ HMP Send. We will be working with staff and prisoners to restore their pond. Work will involve taking out the old liner, re-contouring the hole so it is more wildlife friendly, installing a new liner and native plants. Amphibian and Reptile Groups UK (ARGUK) will also be there to assist with the more technical side of establishing a new pond. Book your ticket here: Get your ticket – A day for Wildlife: HMP Send – HMP Send, Wed 31 Aug 2022 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM (tickettailor.com) Tickets close 16th August.
8th September – A day for wildlife @ HMP Whitemoor. We will be working with staff on their wildlife reserve outside the prison. A real treat for the wildlife enthusiast – they have a bird hide where you can see kingfishers and maybe even a marsh harrier. We will be clearing the main pond at HMP Whitemoor. There is a boat and the tools to complete the tasks, you will need to bring spare clothes and wellies! Graham and Ben (the onsite team) would like to take you around the nature reserve in the afternoon. Book your ticket here: Get your ticket – A day for Wildlife: HMP Whitemoor – HMP Whitemoor, Thu 8 Sep 2022 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM (tickettailor.com) Tickets close 1st September.
14th September - A day for wildlife @ HMP Channings Wood. We will be working with staff and prisoners to prepare an area for wildflower seeding, creating wildlife habitats, and helping to restore their pond. Book your ticket here: Get your ticket – A day for Wildlife: HMP Channings Wood – HMP Channings Wood, Wed 14 Sep 2022 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM (tickettailor.com) Tickets close 4th September.
Join Richard Vince (Executive Director of Security, HMPPS) and distinguished panel of academics: Professor Ben Crewe (University of Cambridge); Dr Susie Hulley (University of Cambridge); and Dr Serena Wright (Royal Holloway, University of London) in a discussion about life imprisonment.
The discussion draws on Richard’s operational and management experience, and the panel’s research involving interviews with almost 150 men and women serving long life sentences from an early age.
You will gain an advanced understanding of the experiences of life sentence prisoners including:
• the main problems that they encounter • the ways they seek to build a life in prison
• their sources of hope and meaning, and
• their feelings about the prison system and the legitimacy of their circumstances The discussion reflects on how we can best manage this growing cohort of men and women humanely and effectively.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required.
The joint Europris and Confederation of European Probation Domestic Violence Expert Group host a fascinating series of presentations and a discussion about domestic violence approaches across Europe.
The workshop features presentations and a Q&A session with panellists:
An introduction to the expert group- Sarah Henfrey (Insights Lead for behaviour change projects and open, learning culture, HMPPS) Investing in prevention and early intervention.
Domestic Abuse approaches with alleged perpetrators- Geraldine O’Hare (Director of Rehabilitation, Probation Board for Northern Ireland).
The added value of a multi-agency approach in Domestic Violence cases- Sabrina Reggers (Coordinator at the Family Justice Centre, Limburg: Belgium)
What we have learned so far about programmes for violent offenders- Vaclav Jiricka (Head Psychologist, Prison Service of the Czech Republic).
Working with Domestic Abuse: Victim considerations- Carmel Donnelly (Regional Manager, Probation Service in Ireland).
Please be aware of the sensitive nature of some of the content.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required.
Listen to insights shared from around the world. Hosted by Dr Rob Watson on behalf of International Network for Criminal ‘In-CJ’, join Australia, India, Japan, Spain, Nigeria, Estonia, Bermuda and Trinidad & Tobago share professional practice, research and their own personal experiences of working in the criminal justice field.
Governor Paul Baker Governor of Parklea Prison, a MTC-Broadspectrum managed correction centre in Sydney Australia, will be discussing with Sarah Mallender Deputy Governor, and Ferry Lee Senior Psychologist, the differences between governing prisons in the UK and Australia, and the complexity of trying to start and develop a rehabilitative culture.
Mitali Nikore: discussing domestic violence and the shadow pandemic (during covid) in India.
Post-Prison Follow-Up Service. This session is being run by INTRESS, an NGO that carries out social reintegration projects with different vulnerable groups amongst which, imprisoned people, in collaboration with the Secretariat of Criminal Sanctions, Rehabilitation and Victim Support, Ministry of Justice, Government of Catalonia. More information in Spanish here.
Dr Uju Agomoh: discussing how prisoner’s rehabilitation and welfare is developed and put into practice.
Laidi Surva Ministry of Justice in the Republic of Estonia: discussing how young people’s experience of criminal justice is understood and developed.
Keeva Joell-Benjamin Commissioner of Corrections – how probation and rehabilitation services are adjusting to the post-covid needs of criminal justice practice.
Blended Approaches to E-justice
What does criminal exploitation linked to county lines look like within HMPPS?
Hosted by HMPPS Effective Practice and Service Improvement Group (EPSIG) cross cutting team and Dr Kate Gooch.
County Lines is not just ‘drug dealing’, it has a significant impact on safety, security and reducing re-offending. County Lines as a “business model” will often involve the exploitation of children and vulnerable adults (both male and female), their wider family members, as well as attempts to exploit HMPPS staff to transfer and/or store drugs, weapons and money. Individuals often use coercion, intimidation, modern slavery, violence and sexual exploitation to secure compliance and the recovery of money and transported illicit items.
The event introduces collaborative work done between Dr Kate Gooch (University of Bath) and Mick McNally (EPSIG - HMPPS). Focusing on the academic research aimed at establishing a prison-based approach and methodology to identifying and tackling prison-formed networks linked to the County Line business model being used to facilitate the illicit economy within the prison estate.
Topics include:
Understanding the business model and networking
Who are the victims?
Organised crime groups versus gangs
What can be done.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required.
Helen Wakeling and Kate Netten, HMPPS Evidence Based Practice Team discuss: what current evidence tells us about people who sexually re-offend whilst subject to supervision. some of the evidence gaps, and what good practice might look like for managing risk.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required.
This seminar draws on Sheffield Hallam’s research including recordings of 60 oral hearings (remote and in-person; pre-Covid and post-Covid), and interviews with 15 Parole Board panel members.
It discusses the: potential benefits of remote oral hearings drawbacks of using remote technology, and practice implications for working with prisoners and/or within the parole system Parole Board panel members contribute and, sharing their thoughts on the research findings.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required
The HMPPS Drugs Strategy Team discuss the impact of psychoactive substances (PS) on prisons.
The session includes: myth-busting around this ever-changing drug how testing is improving, and how intelligence and security practices can influence the presence and impact of PS in our prisons.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required
Victoria Knight and Steven Van De Steene at De Montfort University draw on De Montfort’s international research on digital maturity and suggested ethical principles.
They review and reflect on the unfolding digitisation programme within our prisons, and invite practitioners to understand how they can help develop a pathway of rehabilitation and desistance.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required.
This event:
• identifies the principles of effective assessment in the youth offending service, and
• explores examples of effective assessment practice from the 'Black and mixed heritage boys in the youth justice system' thematic inspection: out-of-court disposal assessments in Hackney and trauma informed, anti racist pre-sentence reports in Lewisham. Attendees will be able to
• identify HM Inspectorate of Probation’s expectations underpinning the assessment standards in youth justice services, and
• use real life examples to understand their application in pre-sentence reports and out-of-court-disposals.
Guest speakers include:
Hackney: Brendan Finegan, Service Manager, Youth Justice Shelli Green, Team Leader - Young Hackney Prevention & Diversion Team Francesca Fadda-Archibald, Practice Development Manager
Lewisham: Keith Cohen, Head of Youth Offending Service Jennifer Butler- Lewisham Operational Manager
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required.
Can a machine read the Delius contact log better than a human? Hosted by MoJ Data Science Hub.
Andrew Craik, Lead Data Scientist explains how this proof of concept automatically extracts ‘events’ from the Delius contact log using ‘natural language processing’ (NLP) and demonstrate how the MoJ can benefit from novel statistical (or machine learning) techniques to improve services.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required.
Hosted by the Legal Aid Agency this session will help you to understand your own personality and preferences, how and why you like to do things the way you do.
This can help identify career roles that will appeal to you and highlight areas for development.
MBTI can also help you understand the preferences of others, enabling you to be better at engaging and involving others, improve teamwork and collaboration and reduce conflict.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required.
MoJ’s Female Offender Minority Ethnic Working Group (FOME) showcase work led by specialist voluntary sector organisations and explores the perspectives of women from diverse ethnic communities with lived experience of the criminal justice system.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required.
Dr Claire Fitzpatrick, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Lancaster University presents new findings from interviews with care-experienced women from across three prisons in England and interviews with professionals, including prison service staff, to explore the challenges and possibilities in supporting care-experienced women in prison and beyond.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required.
Hear first hand from HMPPS staff who have completed projects in UK overseas territories explain what it was like:
Their expectations; the conditions they experienced; and how they supported services to help make effective and sustainable changes.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required.
This event provides an opportunity to hear from real life people currently involved in the delivery of services.
Find out about the range of interesting careers available, and and identify career development pathways following a user journey through the criminal Justice system, from Court, through to sentencing and delivery of the sentence.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required.
Hazel provides an overview of the key issues involved in making risk decisions, including: the challenges of bias and error best practice tips to improve decision making, and a brief introduction to the role of risk management in desistance.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required.
How Virtual Reality and 360 immersive technology can improve risk judgements in probation training Hosted by Michelle McDermott, Senior Lecturer Community Justice and colleagues Laura Haggar and Amy Meenaghan from The University of Portsmouth.
This webinar provides indicative findings and insights from University of Portsmouth research on using different immersive technologies in Probation training. See how immersive technology can support online learning with a specific focus on risk assessment practice.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required.
Age is just a number? How can probation support and work with people in an ageing caseload? Hosted by Nichola Cadet at The Department of Law and Criminology, Sheffield Hallam University.
This event explores how the increase of older people on probation caseloads across community orders, suspended sentences and supervision on license, will affect probation practice, alongside an ageing staff population. ‘Older’ service users are defined by HMPPS as those aged 50 and over.
The increase in the ageing probation caseload is set against a backdrop of an ageing society which also includes probation staff. The increase is partly exacerbated increasing numbers of over 50s in the prison population, and changes to legislation under the Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014.
Drawing on research, policy and practice from gerontology, this seminar: identifies links between criminological and gerontological perspectives, including lived experience and strengths based approaches facilitate debate about how ageist attitudes in society can lead to double discrimination of those on probation caseloads, like attitudes towards employment for older people looks at the suitability of reducing re-offending pathways, supporting individualised approaches to sentence planning and engagement, and national and local responses including training and support for probation staff.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required.
Sharon White, National Specialist Lead for Violence, HMPPS Interventions Services, explores the bio-psycho-social underpinnings of violent offending.
This event looks at the potential role of trauma, and how practitioners can use this understanding to support people to desist from violent behaviour.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required.
Vikki Gill, HMPPS’s Interventions Services National Specialist Lead for Group Affiliation.
Vikki explores: current evidence about why people join gangs and what works to support their disengagement from gangs; and conversations practitioners can have to enable people review their relationship with their gang.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required
Hosted by the HMPPS Women's Team this event showcases the new 1:1 toolkit – First Steps to Change - for working with women for Probation Practitioners.
Staff will gain an understanding into the journey of its development, its intended purpose and benefits alongside hearing about experiences of using the toolkit from those involved in its creation.
Please select subtitles/closed captions when viewing if required
