Ever since I left Probation, I have had the honour of returning to support the interpreters with their training. To be a little more specific, the local not-for-profit organisation concerned is also a mini college where people are able to train for their Diploma in Public Service Interpreting and each year I continue to assist.
It is actually quite good fun. For the students to learn a little more about the criminal justice system and, in particular the Probation part of it, I walk them through what happens when someone commits a serious crime. To add a bit of fun, it is the Interpreter’s Manager who commits the the offence. The offence is wearing odd socks (a socks offender, if you like). The general view is this is a very grave matter where a lengthy prison sentence is required and this is ideal for me to walk them through the system.
Normally the group is 20-30 students but this year it was a little less. The students represented a variety of languages from Europe and further afield. I believe quite strongly that a society which welcomes and “invests” in residents from overseas will be a more cohesive and well rounded society. Furthermore, if we are ever judged on our humanity, how do we support those who are disadvantaged, perhaps refugees or those who are ill, desperate and who need to interact with public services or are caught up in the justice system?
And then, someone asked a serious question
I was asked about the Probation reforms and whether they had worked.
What a question!
I checked with the interpreter’s manager it was okay for me to speak freely on this, after all, I am retired and no longer need to toe the corporate line. So this is roughly what I said….
The reforms were called Transforming Rehabilitation and the Rt Hon Chris Grayling MP had driven these reforms through. They have always been incredibly controversial and risky. The driving force was the need to address the ever rising prison population, the stubbornly high reoffending rates and to try and save some money at the same time.
Grayling’s solution was to rip the Probation Service in two. Previously the Service was well respected in the UK and indeed many other countries had modelled their own system on ours. One half of the Service (the smaller half) was to remain in the public sector. The other half was privatised.
It is worth remembering that Grayling knew virtually nothing about Justice before a certain cabinet reshuffle took place. His predecessor was Rt Hon Ken Clarke MP who was an excellent Secretary of State / Lord Chancellor and understood justice and what the Probation Service was doing.
Closer to home I started writing to my MP to protest about the reforms and how unfair they were. My MP is Andrew Selous who courteously wrote back to me saying he knew little of the reforms and what I was talking about. As a good constituency MP (to give him some credit) he did follow up my concerns with the Minister concerned and sent me an answer to my worries. Shortly afterwards, Andrew Selous became the Minister responsible and supported the reforms. This was somewhat ironic how weeks before he knew nothing about them and yet was prepared to support Grayling in spite of the entire profession saying how disastrous the reforms would be.
He wouldn’t listen to anyone. I suggested the problems could be solved through minimum sentencing i.e. stop sending people to prison for a few weeks. Only more serious offenders should ever be in prison and I suggested 12 months as the minimum. This would reduce the prison population in a dramatic way, in fact you could close a few prisons quite quickly and the money saved could be invested in Probation which always did a better job at rehabilitating offenders.
The reforms took place and once I had seen how dreadful the new owners were I became very unsettled but I continued to do the job to the best of my ability. The new owners were motivated by wanting to make money for the benefit of their shareholders, not the benefit of the local communities and the offenders who were often presenting a number of deeply rooted and complicated needs. The owners couldn’t have cared less about local partnerships which had been nurtured over many years and gave the Probation Trust excellent returns. Instead I saw our work come crashing down at the click of a mouse. By the skin of my teeth I survived a savage staff reduction programme but then decided to resign as a matter of conscience. During this difficult period I was close to the CEO and I felt truly sorry for him; he was a decent man in an impossible situation.
And now a few years later, guess what?
The reforms aren’t working. Reoffending rates remain high, inspection reports are damning, the Ministry of Justice has had to pump millions in to prop up the new companies, Courts have lost confidence in Probation, the contracts are being fore-shortened and, the latest news, is one company has gone into administration i.e. bankrupt. No surprise with any of that.
Further more, minimum sentences are finally being discussed having recognised short prison sentences don’t rehabilitate people. Instead prisons are overcrowded, squalid, violent places and they are costly (average cost of a prisoner each year = £35-40k).
What happened was one privatisation too far. Often the Government appears to be in such a weak situation and gradually succumb to the wining and dining moves by the private sector in the belief they can do a better job. Whitehall is due for an overhaul. It has far too much power with some Ministers and some senior civil servants pontificating on what the rest of us need, regardless of what we say or believe.
The reforms were also an example of Grayling, arguably the worst ever Secretary of State, moving from Department to Department and trying to make a name for himself. Selous, a sincere and well meaning constituency MP had a go at climbing the greasy pole on the back of (by his own admission) knowing nothing at all about justice and naively supported the reforms.
A sorry tale. As a footnote to all of this, I find myself becoming more outspoken now I am retired. Hopefully I am reasonably measured as I do this and with a bit of God’s grace I can find the right words. In my career I saw some dreadful decisions taking place, Transforming Rehabilitation was the worst.
There, I’ve said it. And thank you to the person who asked me the question at the interpreter’s training session.