Prison and Probation Services

Prison and Probation Services

This article will cover both Prison and Probation Services in England and Wales as they are at present, and mention the slightly different systems in Scotland. The two services have been merged into a single National Offender Management Service (NOMS), which is part of the Ministry of Justice.

The Prison Service

Overview
The current prison population in England and Wales is more than 82,000, very close to the useable operational capacity. Most prisons (138) are publicly operated but 11 are private, and different prisons may also have different levels of security to accommodate various categories of prisoner. Prison capacity has increased by more than 23,000 places since 1997, and another 15,000 places are planned, expanding capacity to 96,000 places by 2014.

Prisons are categorised on the security level of prisoner they can accommodate. Adult and young (under 21) male prisoners are given a category, based on the chances they will try to escape, and the danger to the public if they succeed:

Category A – an escape would be highly dangerous to the public or national security
Category B – maximum security not required, but escape needs to be made very difficult
Category C – unlikely to try to escape but cannot be trusted in open conditions
Category D – trusted to wander freely but must attend daily roll calls.

Prison security categories for women are similar to those for males, while juveniles (aged 15 to 17) may be sent to:

young offender institutions
local authority child care establishments
Glenthorne Youth Training Centre.

Prison officers’ duties include security and patrolling, counselling, reception, assessment of offenders before sentencing, escorting and some instruction. They need to be fit and able to work with people; they need to help prisoners to develop the personal skills and self-confidence necessary to re-enter society. Instructors supervise and train inmates in a wide variety of skills, with many prisoners working towards NVQs and SVQs. Managers run and manage prisons and units within prisons, although newly appointed governors will look after a particular function like security or staff training. Many offenders arrive in prison with drug, mental health and/or educational problems. More than half of prisoners left school with no qualifications, and a third have literacy skills at or below the level of those expected of an 11 year old.

Prisons in the Services
The Military Corrective Training Centre at Colchester is the only military ‘prison’ in the UK, reserved primarily for people who the authorities believe could develop into good Servicemen and women despite their transgressions. Staff are drawn from all three Services and come from a wide variety of military backgrounds.

Service people thinking of working in the Prison Service are advised to attend a course that prepares them for the role and the selection process. Each prison is responsible for recruiting its own staff; there is no shortage of applicants and preparation is valuable.

Employment
Vacancies for prison officers in England and Wales are advertised on the HM Prison Service website (see ‘Key contacts’, below); in Scotland, the Scottish Prison Service recruits centrally. Applicants need to be aged between 18 and 62. They must also meet nationality regulations, be fit and healthy, have reasonable eyesight and be able to move house. They should not have a criminal record or be an undischarged bankrupt, and will undergo a security check.

Those who meet these requirements will be emailed a two-part online Prison Officer Selection Test (POST), and must complete the numerical element on their own within seven days. The language element will be taken at the next stage: the Recruitment Assessment Day (RAD). This is designed to measure skills and competencies for the prison officer role. It includes:

a number of short role-play simulations
a POST numeracy test (a shorter, paper-based version of the online numeracy test)
the POST language test
a medical
a fitness test.

In English and Welsh prisons most instructors are specialists while, in Scotland, there is more scope to combine custodial duties with instruction and training. People employed as instructors should have a recognised apprenticeship in their trade and about five years’ experience.

Prison managers are selected from principal prison officers and by open competition from external applicants. Individuals can enter the Prison Service and move into a Governor or Deputy Governor role after just two years of training and development. The Senior Prison Manager Programme is open to experienced managers outside the Prison Service as well as non-operational staff within.

Career progression
While junior prison officers and instructors can expect to stay in one place, more senior officers and managers will be posted to wherever they are needed and there are suitable vacancies. Promotion is by exam, interview, simulated work programmes and selection.

Salaries
Prison officers start at almost £18,000, rising to £28,000. Senior officers earn more than £30,000, and principal officers from £31,500 to £32,500. Shift allowances, London weighting and certain specialist skills pay are in addition. Instructors are on a similar scale. Managers’ salaries start at £23,500, rising to £80,000 for a senior manager.

AM I SUITED TO THE ROLE OF PRISON OFFICER?
Take the time to consider the following points, which may help you decide if becoming a Prison officer is the right career move for you.

Are you willing to work shifts, which may include early starts, late finishes, night shifts, weekends and bank holidays?
Occasionally, prisoners can be volatile – could you deal with conflict in an appropriate manner?
Can you work with a wide variety of people with diverse backgrounds and experiences?
Would you be able to refrain from judging people on the basis of the crimes they may have committed, and treat everyone in the same fair and objective manner?
Do you have the necessary interpersonal and communication skills to prevent and diffuse difficult situations and create a positive prison environment?
Do you have the necessary self-confidence to deal with all kinds of situations as and when they arise, sometimes in difficult circumstances?
Do you have the patience to deal with prisoners when faced with challenging behaviour?
Can you work in a team with other prison officers (it is crucial that you cooperate and provide constant support to one another during every shift)?
Are you willing to shoulder the considerable responsibility for maintaining a secure and safe environment?
Could you ensure that prisoners are in a safe environment, and treated with dignity and respect throughout their time in prison?

Source: based on www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk

The Probation Service

Overview
An offender on probation will be supervised and supported by a probation officer when:

given a community sentence
the Parole Board releases them early from jail
they are automatically released from prison after serving three-quarters of their sentence.

Offenders on probation must comply with the rules and requirements specified by court orders or release licences. If they break the rules they face disciplinary action, including the risk of being sent to prison. Other requirements may include:

completing community sentences successfully
completing alcohol and drug treatment
staying in a probation hostel
staying away from the area where a crime was committed.

Around 70% of the offenders currently on probation are serving community sentences, while 30% have been in prison and are now on probation as part of their sentence.

WHAT DOES A PROBATION OFFICER DO?
Probation officers supervise offenders. Their role is to:

protect the public
reduce re-offending
punish offenders
rehabilitate offenders
ensure that victims feel justice has been done.

There are 21,000 staff in the National Probation Service in England and Wales, working in 42 probation services (which form nine areas for selection and recruitment), commencing the supervision of some 175,000 offenders every year. They are involved with courts, supervise people placed on probation orders, and manage people sentenced to community service. Just over a quarter of offenders serving community sentences are aged between 16 and 20. Probation management is the responsibility of social workers in Scotland so there is no separate probation service.

Probation officers can also work in prisons, helping offenders and their families cope with sentences and prepare for release. They also work with non-offenders to provide social work support in such areas as the welfare of children in family proceedings. They have an average case load on any one day of more than 200,000 (90% male and 10% female), prepare almost 250,000 pre-sentence reports, 87,000 early release assessments, 50,000 risk assessments, 20,000 bail information reports, manage 100 approved probation hostels, and organise 8 million hours of community service each year.

AM I SUITED TO THE ROLE OF PROBATION OFFICER?

Probation officers work office hours but must expect to be called out outside those times and to share stand-by duties.
You will need to be flexible, have a sense of responsibility and clear judgement, and an ability to make objective appraisals.
You must be sympathetic to the pressures on offenders, but also able to establish control and trust, especially with hostile and resentful people.

Getting started
In England and Wales, the training of probation officers is currently under review and the present training programme has been suspended until final decisions are made about the form the new arrangements will take. (Your local Probation Training Consortium will not have any further information.) Once a decision has been made about the future of training, a notice will be posted on the National Probation Service website (see ‘Key contacts’, below). Should you wish to work for the Probation Service in any other capacity, vacancies will be advertised in the local press and Jobcentres.

In Scotland, social workers need an honours or postgraduate degree in social work and must register with the Scottish Social Services Council. Courses include practice learning, with the degree normally taking four years at university, and will usually take account of relevant qualifications and employment. People normally need an ordinary or honours degree to start the two-year, full-time postgraduate course.

Career progression
In England and Wales, appointments are made by employing boards within the probation area, or they will assist the individual to find an alternative position in another service. In Scotland, local authority social work departments are responsible for working with offenders.

Salaries
Probation officers’ pay starts at £26,000 per year, rising to £35,000. (Trainees earn from £17,000 to £19,000.) Unsocial hours payments and London allowance may be awarded on top of this. Salaries increase with experience, usually annually, to the top of the pay scale, although this depends on satisfactory performance. There is a separate pay structure covering more senior probation officer grades.

KEY CONTACTS

Anyone interested in joining the Prison Service in England and Wales should contact their local prison or Jobcentre for details. Details of job vacancies are posted on the Prison Service website at: www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk

National Offender Management Service (NOMS), Ministry of Justice, 102 Petty France, London SW1H 9AJ Tel: 020 7217 6000 Website: www.justice.gov.uk

Scottish Prison Service, Room 338, Calton House, 5 Redheughs Rigg, Edinburgh EH12 9HW Tel: 0131 244 8745 Website: www.sps.gov.uk

National Probation Service (NOMS Probation), 1st Floor Abell House, John Islip Street, London SW1P 4LH Website: www.probation.homeoffice.gov.uk

Scottish Social Services Council, Compass House, 11 Riverside Drive, Dundee DD1 4NY Tel: 0845 60 30 891 Website: www.sssc.uk.com

Probation Board for Northern Ireland, 80–90 North Street, Belfast BT1 1LD Tel: 02890 262400 Website: www.pbni.org.uk