Prisons

• Philosophy


  HMPPS is responsible for UK prisons. It describes its purpose as "preventing victims by changing the lives of offenders".
• Aims and objectives


  1. To protect the public from harm.

  2. To help people who have been convicted of offences to rehabilitate so they can contribute positively to society.

  3. To hold prisoners securely and implement the sentences and order of the courts.
• Funding


  Prisons are funded by the government with money from general taxation. In 2018 the budget was approximately £3b - 16% lower than in 2010 resulting in staff cuts - 15% fall in the number of prison officers between 2010 and 2018. In 2018, 1/3 of prison officers had less than 2 years experience. According to HMPPS a cost for a prisoner in 2017-18 was £37.543.
• Working practices


  In 2019 there were 122 prisons which held over 82k prisoners. 108 of them were public sector and 14 private sector run by 3 companies - Sodexo, G4S and Serco. In April 2019 a decision was taken that HMP Birmingham would be returned to the public sector after G4S failings including the riot in 2016.
• Types of criminality


  High risk offenders who are deemed unsafe to serve their sentence in community.
• National and local reach

  Prisons are nationally organised. When the offenders are put in local prison and given a security classification.
• Attempted escapes


  Prisoners who attempted to escape must wear handcuffs and bright yellow clothing when being traferred. They must also change cells frequently and have their clothes and some personal property removed before being locked for the night.
• Prison activities and routines

  Prisons have been criticised for lack of opportunities for education, training and work experience. In 2018 the chief inspector of prisons said that half the prisons ispected had too few useful programmes. Only 2/5 were assessed as delivering "good" or "reasonably good" activities, compared with 2/3 in 2009-10.
• Incentives and earned priveleges

  There are 3 IEP levels - basic, standard and enchanced. Initially, inamtes are being put on basic and they have only the minimum that the law says they can have. Good behaviour will take them to higher levels with more privileges.