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A PRISON officer at Full Sutton is to receive a national award for his voluntary work with staff who have been through traumatic experiences.

Rex Wood, a senior officer at the top-security jail, near York, is to be presented with the Butler Trust's Paul Mason Certificate Award for Staff Care, by Princess Anne, at Buckingham Palace on Monday.

Mr Wood combines his day job as programmes manager for sex offenders and enhanced thinking skills programmes with many hours' voluntary work as a member of the staff care team.

For the past 15 years he has supported staff who have been involved in riots, deaths in custody, assaults, domestic difficulties and some who have even been taken hostage by prisoners.

Mr Wood said: "It was an honour to have received a nomination for a Butler Trust Award and doubly so to be chosen to receive one of the awards.

"I am, however, only one member of a team who provide staff support here at Full Sutton and fortunate that I currently work within a very supportive offending behaviour programmes team.

"I also believe that I am lucky to work at Full Sutton Prison, where many staff of all grades actively support each other on a day-to-day basis in a job which can at times be both difficult and challenging."

The award to Mr Wood is one of several to be presented by the Princess Royal on behalf of the Butler Trust, a charity whose annual award scheme seeks to identify and promote excellence and innovation by people who work with offenders in the UK.

A spokeswoman for the trust said: "Rex is highly respected for the tangible and sustained care which he provides to colleagues in crisis and his outstanding work over a prolonged period."

The award will be one of 42 being presented this year to prison and probation staff throughout the UK.

Sir Trevor Brooking, chairman of the Butler Trust, said: "The Butler Trust is delighted to be able to draw attention to and reward some of the wonderful and innovative ways in which prison and probation staff help offenders.

"Much of what these talented people do is challenging and often goes unseen by the general public. However, they play a crucial role in reducing re-offending rates across the UK.

"I would like to extend my personal thanks to each and every one of them."

2:41pm Friday 29th February 2008                view more news            view the topic            view the article

Traditionally prison medical officers came from diverse backgrounds. But new rules introduced over the last five years dictate that all new prison doctors must be GP trained – and I am one of the new breed.

I was persuaded to work in our local prison in 2000. A senior colleague had run out of willing colleagues from other local practices to help him. This situation reflects the challenges which the prison environment presents.

My background was that of a salaried GP working in local projects for the homeless. I had a keen interest in treating alcohol and drug users, vulnerable patients and the mentally ill.

Going to gaol seemed like a natural progression from the chaos of homelessness!

Many prisons have an arrangement with a local practice, where partners provide surgeries in the prison well as seeing their own practice populations.

Some prisons have dedicated full time medical officers, others have hybrid arrangements. Out of hours cover varies hugely - from private arrangements with individual GPs or their practices to PCT commissioned care provided by GP co-operatives or private out of hours providers.

There is no set pathway to becoming a prison medical officer. Nor are there any specific qualifications or on-going professional requirements, other than GMC registration and annual appraisal.

But attaining the RCGP certificates in substance misuse is definitely useful, as is being approved under Section 12 of the Mental Health Act.

State run prisons have recently evolved so that their heath care departments and staff are organised by the host PCT.

Private prisons, which operate under contract to the Home Office, often have different arrangements and continue to commission care themselves.

Curiously all prescribing in prisons by prison medical officers is undertaken on a private basis.

In many ways prisons remain a backwater of primary care. There are huge amounts of unmet health needs existing in prisoners.

They include addiction, mental illness, and the consequences of trauma and infection, particularly blood borne viruses.

The prevalence of hepatitis C infection in the prison population is huge.

The defining nature of offending correlates closely with sociopathic personality disorder, recidivism and social exclusion. Yet the ‘inverse care law’ applies as much to prisons as to other parts of society – if not more so.

Again the prison estate is only just starting to invest in computer technology, standard equipment for most practices over the last two decades.

More recent innovations such as choose and book, NPfit and practice based commissioning are far off most prison doctors’ radar. Standards of care and models of care vary greatly.

But recent innovations which must be welcomed include the Integrated Drug Treatment Strategy (IDTS) introduced by Prison Health to improve the care and reduce harm in drug using prisoners.

Another problem in prison is communication. Foreign nationals make up a significant percentage of those detained in gaol and present unique challenges in terms of pathology and communication. This all adds to the challenge of the work.

Security is paramount in prison. There are approximately 81,000 prisoners detained in 143 prisons in England and Wales at the present time. The male estate accounts for 95% of the population in prisons ranked Category A (maximum security) to Category D (open).

Some prisons are known as Local Prisons accommodating remand, recently detained and recently sentenced prisoners.

There are also training prisons housing sentenced prisoners as well as specialist sex offender prisons and therapeutic communities.

The female estate is organised differently.

Young offender institutions house males under the age of 21, Secure children’s homes run by local authorities house children.

Refuge centres accommodate illegal immigrants. All of these secure environments need GPs to provide detainees with primary care services.

I have worked in five different prisons as a medical officer and as part of an out of hours rota over the last seven years.

It is during this seven year period that I have been medical lead at HMP Lowdham Grange. I have also cared for a child offender in a local secure children’s home and have provided primary care to forensic psychiatric inpatients on a secure ward.

Each establishment is unique in how it is organised both from a health care and security perspective.

However there are many common challenges The practical problem of arranging surgeries and enabling incarcerated patients to attend is well recognised.

The security implications of escorting a patient to hospital for planned or urgent care is a recurring issue.

Patient demand for opiate analgesia, benzodiazepines and Z drugs can frequently lead to difficult consultations.

Verbal and physical abuse of clinicians does occur though I have been lucky in avoiding personal injury. Most prison doctors will receive a challenging letter from a prisoners solicitor or an unfounded complaint to the GMC at some stage.

There are very few established prison medics who have avoided a coroners court following a death in custody.

I have had one GMC enquiry having declined to prescribe a heroin using prisoner both tramadol and dihydrocodeine.

I have also appeared twice in front of the coroner in the last seven years following hangings. These are definitely downsides to the job!

So why do it?

There are many reasons. Secure settings have afforded me the opportunity to develop my skills in working with society’s most challenging individuals. This has been a natural evolution from homelessness and forensic psychiatry.

I am fascinated by my patients psychopathology. I believe that by not being intimidated by this client group, nor the institution in which they are detained, I am able to optimise the treatment which they receive.

I am able to develop my special interest in addiction. I enjoy working with a wide multidisciplinary team of nurses, physios, dentists ,opticians ,chiropodists , drugs workers, acupuncturists, psychologists, GU and liver specialists and psychiatrists.

The majority of these people have a fantastic sense of humour. Close working with non-medical colleagues such as Imans, priests, prison officers, independent monitors and governors, many from military backgrounds, all adds to the appeal of working in a well run gaol.

The pay could be worse - though it will never match that earned in a leafy dispensing practice.

I am excited at addressing the inequalities in health which exist among offenders. I am also stimulated by supporting local and national initiatives to help offenders lead healthy and ideally law abiding lives

Dr Marcus Bicknell is prison medical lead, HMP Lowdham Grange, and vice chair of the RCGP secure environments group

ABOUT THE WORK
• All new prison doctors must be GP trained

• No specific qualification required

• However, RCGP certificate in substance misuse very useful

• Also being approved under section 12 of the Mental Health Act

• Communication with prisoners can be a problem

• Many unmet health needs exist among prisoners

• Verbal and physical abuse of physicians can occur

• Having to attending a coroner’s court following a death in custody quite common

• Being subject to a GMC enquiry a distinct possibility

• Challenge to clinical and interpersonal skills very stimulating

• Working with diverse and talented group of professionals most rewarding

                 PULSE TODAY .CO.UK

29 February 2008                view more news                       view the article              view the thread!

'There is no punishment at Guantanamo … and this is not a prison'
Steven Edwards, Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, February 07, 2008

U.S. NAVAL BASE, GUANTANAMO, Cuba -- Should it be briefs or boxers? The U.S. military has made briefs standard issue again for the terrorist suspects Washington has locked up here as the "worst of the worst." With three suicides by hanging at the camps in 2006 and another in 2007, the Pentagon had banned underwear with wide elastics and handed out boxers made of less stress-resistant fabric.

But white briefs are among the "basic" and "comfort" items camp officers display on a bed for Pentagon-authorized media tours.

None of the officers leading the tour knew when the switch back had been made, or why.

"It's a constant evolution of trying to find items that will provide the basic needs for the detainees and ensure the force [and inmate] protection," said one, who like all who work at the prison did not release his name for print.

He suggested the new briefs may be of looser elastic.

We were in Camp 4 of Guantanamo's Delta Camp series. Tours such as this are part of the U.S. military's continuing bid to overcome the infamous reputation Guantanamo has in many parts of the world.

The re-education effort even involves encouraging a less-oppressive sounding lexicon.

Those locked up are not "prisoners," but "detainees." There are no "interrogations," rather detainees are given "reservations." Documents are "redacted," not "censored."

About 275 detainees remain of the 775 brought to Guantanamo since Camp X-Ray - now abandoned - became the first of the detention camps in 2002 after the 9/11 attacks.

"There is no punishment at Guantanamo ... and this is not a prison," said a second officer.

"A prison is about punishment and rehabilitation; we do neither one here. We are about removing you from the battlefield and then keeping you from the battlefield in the [most] safe and humane way we possibly can."

A Guantanamo detainee faces progressively more onerous security conditions for infractions. With camps 1, 2 and 3 no longer in use, Camp 4 houses the most co-operative detainees. The tour continues to the higher security camps of 5 and 6.

But the public relations effort stops short of showing the final facility in the series: Camp 7.

As senior as the tour officers were, all insisted they had no idea where it is.

"I don't ask and it's not my duty," said the executive administration officer for Camps 4-6.

The mystery camp is the enforced home of at least the 14 U.S.-designated "high-value detainees" who President George W. Bush acknowledged had been held in a secret Central Intelligence Agency program.

Transferred to Guantanamo in 2006, they include Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged 9/11 mastermind; Abu Zubaydah, allegedly a former high-ranking al-Qaeda member and close associate of Osama bin Laden; and senior al-Qaeda leader Ramzi Binalshibh.

There aren't many places to put a detention facility in the 72 square kilometres that make up the naval base. Since construction of a new facility would likely have been noticed by at least some of the thousands of civilian ancillary workers, speculation has risen it is housed in an existing building.

Public knowledge of the camp emerged at the end of last year, when government security officials inadvertently left a reference to it in notes taken by a detainee's lawyers.

The officials had been censoring the notes in accordance with an agreement with the lawyers that bars them from disclosing information from their clients before it is cleared for declassification.

Until recently, the official government line was that Camp 6, a modern maximum-security building, was the most recent centre constructed.

Only five of those held at Guantanamo have ever been charged, among them Canadian-born Omar Khadr, 21.

Deemed "highly co-operative," he is housed in Camp 4, where all detainees wear white tunics to designate their security classification.

Privileges for the compliant include toilet paper by the roll, prayer beads and a mattress. Camp 4 detainees can visit one another on their mini blocks, and have access to recreation yards where they can spend at least two hours a day. Soccer and basketball are popular, say the guards.

February 07, 2008                 view more news            view the topic            view the article

IN THE 20 YEARS I'VE been writing reviews on crime and punishment and in the 25 I've served as a prisoner, this is the first time I have ever come across anything from the hand of a prison officer.
From The Times
February 22, 2008 Peter Wayne
I'm not sure whether this says more about their literary prowess (or lack of it), or the restraints under which they work. At any rate, Ronnie Thompson has chosen to publish this uncompromisingly forthright memoir pseudonymously, leaving me to muse over his identity and the possible repercussions of an archly critical appraisal should he turn out to be the man who unlocks my cell door every morning or even the fellow in the office downstairs about to compile my parole papers.

But to hell with that. I'm here to do my job, just like the author. If he decides to enter the public arena in such an outspoken manner (and Screwed will create controversy) then he will have to live with the consequences on both sides of the prison gate. That said, whether you agree with his take on the prison service or not, his views cannot be ignored. First, though, a warning. Thompson does not deal in euphemisms. We all remember the kerfuffle when James Kelman won the Booker with How Late It Was, How Late. His 5,000-plus permutations of the F-word pale beside Thompson's obscene vocabulary. Alas for middle-class sensibilities, this is what prison amounts to. He calls a spade a spade in the meanest Anglo- Saxon terms. If you like your penology served up with footnotes, better consult the Howard Journal of Criminal Justice or the Law Quarterly Review. What we have here is plain-speaking gospel according to Ronnie, lifted straight from the landings he pounds.

Buy the book          

“I was well excited. It seemed awesome,” the wide-eyed Thompson enthuses as he tries on his smart new uniform the night before he's due to report for duty. It doesn't take long for the novelty to wear off. Within a month the harsh reality of the place - as well as the stench - begins to take its toll on young Ronnie, sending him scurrying in the direction of the one place your reviewer has never been able to penetrate, viz The Officers Club, “a dark []and smoky bar with a pool table, Sky Sports, jam-packed with loads of screws ordering pints with large brandies between shifts.”

You get the picture. Thompson, you see, is a proper Jack the Lad. He reads Zoo and Nuts. He's 27 and drinks Red Bull and double vodka. He's cocky, chauvinistic and belligerent. Which makes it all the more infuriating for me to admit that so much of what he sees and comments upon is, to use his turn of phrase, “bang on the nail”.

Prisoners are given many privileges, Thompson observes, “but no matter how much you conceded to most of these scroats, it's never enough”. Constructive or purposeful activity (ostensibly the reason for allowing men out of their cells during the day) means “cons kicking the fuck out of each other, officers getting attacked, and smack and crack being dealt”. I have to agree with him that: “this daily scenario, dangerous for screws and cons alike, is just an ill-considered exercise carried out merely to satisfy the requirements of prison audits.”

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Illegal bug uncovered
in second UK prison
The Times
February 5, 2008

Bugging devices planted in a prison telephone were illegally used to record privileged conversations between an inmate and his solicitor, The Times has learnt.

Defence lawyers said last night that the breach confirms long-held suspicions that the recording of legal visits is widespread. Security experts told The Times that they believed that dozens of prisoners are routinely the subject of covert surveillance.

The revelation comes days after it emerged that an MP’s meeting with a jailed constituent had been recorded. However the taping of legal meetings is considered far more serious because it may breach a defendant’s rights and has the potential to collapse criminal trials.

The full transcripts of the taped conversations with a 71-year-old man who is serving life for murder only came to light because they were disclosed to Simon Creighton, the solicitor who was caught up in the surveillance.

The revelation will bring demands for Jack Straw to widen the official inquiry into the bugging of Sadiq Khan, a Muslim MP visiting a terror suspect, to investigate the extent of covert surveillance in Britain’s prisons.

Mr Straw, the Justice Secretary, told MPs yesterday that Sir Christopher Rose, the Chief Surveillance Commissioner, is to head an inquiry into the bugging of a conversation involving Mr Khan and Babar Ahmad when the MP visited him in Woodhill jail.

Mr Creighton’s case involves Harry Roberts, who was convicted of the murder of three police officers in Shepherd’s Bush, West London, in 1966. Last night the solicitor said: “If they are prepared to go to these lengths in this case, it makes one wonder what they are prepared to do with other prisoners, particularly those convicted of serious offences.”

Roberts, currently in Littlehey prison in Cambridgeshire, is involved in a long battle to be released on parole. His 30-year minimum term expired 11 years ago.

His parole hearings have been held in secret but in documents sent to his solicitor, a government-appointed lawyer included transcripts of bugged telephone conversations. Two transcripts of discussions betweeen Mr Creighton and Roberts when he was in Channings Wood jail were found with other legal documents.

The transcripts of calls made in 2005 and 2006 include every word spoken from the moment that a receptionist at Mr Creighton’s firm answers the phone to Roberts and he asks: “Can I speak to Simon”.

February 5, 2008                view more news            view the topic            view the article

Future of huge 'Titan jails' in doubt as Brown and Straw retreat
By JAMES SLACK

Last updated at 23:36pm on 30th January 2008

Jack Straw was accused of a U-turn yesterday after going into retreat over plans to build 2,500-place jails.

The Justice Secretary said the so-called Titan prisons - the centrepiece of Labour's strategy to end overcrowding - are not "definitely going to go ahead".

The dramatic change of direction came only one month after the £2.3billion policy was announced.

Prison officers have voiced fears the Titan prisons are too big and could result in riots

An embarrassed Gordon Brown later tried to clear up the confusion by saying up to three of the jails would still be built.

But his remarks only added to the disarray when he stressed this would be "subject to consultation".

Opposition MPs ridiculed the Government's dithering.

Tory justice spokesman Nick Herbert said: "The public remains in the dark about whether Titan prisons will go ahead or how much they will cost.

"The Government shows a complete lack of grip on criminal justice policy."

Liberal Democrat spokesman David Heath said: "It is exactly this sort of indecisiveness and lack of strategy that has caused the current crisis in our prison system.

"The reality is that ministers are not going to be able to build their way out of this crisis."

In December Mr Straw told MPs that one Titan jail would definitely be built by 2014, and a further two could also be constructed.

He even produced sketches of how the jails would look, and said Ministers would be prepared to bulldoze through planning permission if there were any local opposition.

But he has been beaten back by a storm of criticism. The Prison Governors Association warned that the size of the jails could lead to rioting.

Paul Tidball, president of the PGA, said: "The danger of loss of control in a large institution is real, whatever the layout."

He said previous inquiries had warned against large jails, and that inmates could react badly.

"If there is deep-seated resentment that they are products in a cynical warehousing operation, the danger that lack of engagement will tilt into resistance and disorder is a real one."

Yesterday Anne Owers, the chief inspector of prisons, echoed these concerns. She said larger prisons were less successful in stopping inmates from re-offending.

In a blistering annual report, she also accused the Government of having no "coherent" prisons strategy, and failing to predict the current overcrowding crisis.

Responding to Mrs Owers' concern, Mr Straw told BBC Radio Four's Today programme: "We haven't got planning permission for these places.

"We are not definitely going to go ahead - that is the default setting - but I also want to hear what people say.

"We're not going to have large warehouses as they have in the United States and indeed France."

He also repeatedly refused to rule out more early releases of inmates.

Officials will confirm today that more than 16,000 criminals have been released 18 days before reaching the halfway point of their sentence to ease overcrowding.

Pressed on whether more early release schemes will be implemented, Mr Straw would only say: "I sincerely hope not. You can never ever completely rule these things out."

Later Mr Brown, under pressure from MPs, said the Titans would be built - before adding the crucial "consultation" caveat.

With the key contributions to this consultation likely to come from prison governors and Mrs Owers, it leaves the door open for Titans to be ditched altogether.

The Government would then be forced to build a larger number of smaller jails, or re-think the promise to provide an extra 15,000 prison places by 2014.

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the governor of Lewes prison
Monday 11th February 2008
Eoin McLennan-Murray
This week an official report found that Lewes prison was dilapidated, with some cells "barely fit for habitation"- although on a positive note it said staff-prisoner relations were at an all-time high.

Governor Eoin McLennan-Murray, the man responsible, meets Lisa Frascarelli and talks about drugs, practical jokes and the worst day of his career

"From a personal point of view, if I murdered someone, I'd rather die than stay in prison for the rest of my life," says Eoin McLennan- Murray. "I'd be quite happy if the state was to execute me."

It's unlikely the governor of Lewes prison will ever find himself seriously confronting that prospect - unless, that is, he wasn't really joking with his reply to my question about what he does at weekends ("I commit crime"). But really, it's quite a shocking thing to say considering the words come from a man who, this year, will have spent three decades working in our prison system. It's also something for those people who think prisons are holiday camps - all TV and table tennis - to consider.

"It's true they have televisions and recreational facilities and gym facilities," he says. "But is it easy? For me, losing my liberty, having a regimented routine, being monitored, being controlled, having to ask who I can see in terms of visitors, not to have the full range of physical contact with my partner or friends - these restrictions I would find incredibly difficult to accept.

"Giving me a television and table tennis, to be honest, wouldn't really bother me. It's a bit superficial, but other people may see it differently." After my own tour of the prison, I have to say, Grade-II listed status aside, HMP Lewes is not my idea of a holiday camp. F Wing - the one described in the Chief Inspector's report as "barely fit for habitation" - is pretty grim. It's like a dank Victorian asylum. A prisoner with long, lank curls sweeps the long corridor under the glare of rows of strip lights. Another, who is preoccupied with getting qualifications so he can get himself "sorted out", lets me and the photographer into his cramped cell. I don't know what he's in for, but like the other 526 men who stay here for an average of six weeks before being moved to a more permanent prison it could be anything from murder to a road traffic offence.

McLennan-Murray says there is a problem with damp in the prison and that the plumbing is "very tired" - which must be unpleasant if you're a prisoner, as the average cell's toilet will be inches from your face if you're unfortunate enough to be bedding down on the bottom bunk. "It's clean but worn out," he says, adding that the wing will be getting refurbished in 2009/10. For those worried that the more modern wings are the height of luxury, the one I see reminds me of a dilapidated leisure centre. The prisoners seem in better spirits and have ensuite toilets, which is not as glamorous as it sounds - there is nothing glamorous about egg yolkyellow blankets and a toilet within spitting distance of your bed.

The walls of one cell are covered with cards from home and pictures of Gemma Atkinson, the Hollyoaks actress turned glamour model, grappling with her large and apparently wayward bosom. A man in a grey tracksuit tells me McLennan-Murray is the best, loudly, and then turns to him and says, "Can you sort me an early release for saying that, governor?"

According to his governor, the prison inspector's report and an independent survey, the relationship between staff and prisoners at HMP Lewes is extremely good.

"The prisoners say very positive things about this prison," McLennan-Murray says. "They say they feel cared for. That's an acid test when you think the prison is only run with about 150 prisoners to six staff. If they wanted to take the place over there are enough of them to outnumber us. "What stops them is they accept the position they find themselves in and they cooperate. If that balance is not right you have a very unstable prison."

In his grey suit and red tie, McLennan-Murray looks more like a teacher than a prison governor. Like a teacher, he has childlike drawings on his office wall, but the pencil etching of James Dean and the bird-filled garden scene aren't the work of school children, they're gifts from past prisoners. He's jolly but softly-spoken. He enjoys piloting microlights and disagrees with capital punishment - "because when you have a miscarriage of justice it's such a final thing". He studied Biological Sciences at Queen Mary College, London, and, until he flicked through the university careers booklet, he had planned on being a doctor.

"Like many people, I didn't grow up wanting to be a prison officer," he says before explaining his unusual reasons for joining the Prison Service in 1978. "I'm going to sound shallow, but I was getting married and the thing that caught my eye was the generous holiday allowance - 30 days plus bank holidays, and they gave you accommodation. Most of my friends were in squats and bedsits and I was in a four-bedroom house a stone's throw from the King's Road." But while McLennan-Murray thought he was onto a cushy number at Wandsworth prison, his wife disagreed. "She was angry with me," he says. "She told me I was joining a fascist organisation!"

At university McLennan-Murray was involved in student politics and it seems wild horses couldn't stop him knocking up a banner and marching in the name of everything from government grants to ousting Margaret Thatcher. "She was the education minister," he says, momentarily forgetting himself and chanting excitedly, "Thatcher, Thatcher, Thatcher. Out! Out! Out!" He composes himself and says he's always had "a morality". "I think it's important to do what's right, but it isn't always easy. Most prisoners know they have done something which is wrong."

During his 30-year career he has served in ten prisons. He arrived at Lewes in 2003 in the wake of a riot and an annual report that branded living conditions "Dickensian" and "inhumane". The report further revealed the prison had the worst suicide rate in the country (five inmates had killed themselves in 15 months) and also the worst drug problem (warder Andrew Hubbard was jailed for operating a "mini drugs supermarket" behind bars).

The following year Lewes earned the dubious title of Britain's most violent prison, but McLennan- Murray says this wasn't accurate and that prison staff had been over-zealous in recording assaults. "If I were to push you, that was counted as an assault. An assault to me is he thumps his hand. Now we are much better in terms of recording." The prison pulled its socks up - thnks to both McLennan-Murray and his predecessor Paul Carroll - but suicide, bullying and drugs problems were still flagged up in the latest inspector's report.

In the past 12 months there have been three suspected suicides, although one is now being treated as murder. Vulnerable prisoners are now quickly assessed because, as McLennan- Murray says, "If they are going to try and take their own lives they will do it at quite an early stage." There is now a wellstaffed first night centre to acclimatise new prisoners, a direct line to The Samaritans and the opportunity to talk to a Listener - a Samaritan- trained prisoner.

The prison has admitted drug importation is its biggest challenge. According to the report, 31 per cent of prisoners said it was easy to get hold of drugs in Lewes. Last October a police helicopter patrolled the perimeter walls after socks and tennis balls filled with crack cocaine found their way over the fence. An action plan has now been put in place, which appears to be working.

McLennon-Murray didn't arrive at Lewes without controversy. Over the years he has won admirers - and enemies - for his progressive approach to prisoners. He prefers to reward good behaviour rather than punish bad. At his former resettlement prison in Kent, Blantyre House (which he left in 2000), some prisoners were allowed out on work placements and had access to bank accounts, bank cards, cars and mobile phones. It was an approach that eventually led to him being removed from his position as governor.

On May 5, 2000, McLennan-Murray's then area manager, Tom Murtagh, informed him he was being relocated immediately. Just hours after he left his office, the prison was raided by 84 prison officers, who expected to find large amounts of contraband. They found a small quantity of cannabis, three Ecstasy pills, three unauthorised mobile phones and some unauthorised credit cards - less than might have been expected of a routine search. No one tested positive for drugs and no prisoners or staff were charged. The story hit the headlines and a Home Affairs select committee, which praised McLennan- Murray's style of governing, ruled, "The search was not a proportionate response to the intelligence used to justify it."

He says the incident was "devastating". Did he ever received a public apology? "The Prison Service didn't give me any kind of apology" The phone rings. "Saved by the bell," he announces - but not for long. The phone rings off. He says he did a "lot of soul-searching" at the time and considered leaving the Prison Service but made a "pragmatic" decision to stay, as he had a family to support. He spent 18 months on secondment to the Department for Education and Skills before being tempted back into the Prison Service when Mr Murtagh (who told his side of the story in his book The Blantyre House Affair - A Modern-day Witch Hunt) retired in April 2002.

McLennan-Murray says he "isn't bitter" and has long since drawn a line under the whole affair. The Prison Service has retained an embarrassed silence. One thing that strikes me, and probably anyone else who has had a few dealings with prisons, is the thought of convicts working out in the community. But McLennan-Murray points out that it is normal for prisoners at the end of their sentences to be re-integrated into society. "In Kent I had prisoners who were bus drivers, delivery drivers for Tesco, car salesmen, a tattooist and a deep-sea diver," he says. "You know, there were articles in the local Press after we had some men cleaning trains. They asked readers, Is it right prisoners should do this?' Some said yes and some said no."

McLennan-Murray didn't need the public's verdict on this question because he had the figures to show there was method in what some thought was his madness. When he was governor of Blantyre House, it had the lowest re-offending figures of any prison in Britain - eight per cent, well below the 58 per cent average for adult male prisoners. It was so successful that elements of the pioneering resettlement work have been replicated in other prisons. "I still get people writing and calling from Blantyre to let me know how they're getting on in life," he says. "Some have reoffended, the majority haven't." But even those who have kept out of trouble are often stigmatised.

McLennan-Murray was recently contacted by the solicitor of a former inmate at Blantyre for a character reference. The man was appealing to the courts after his application for a black cab licence was turned down. "I remembered him and I wrote a note back to the court," he says. " I said, This man has been out seven years and he's been working all that time. What does someone have to do to prove that they have changed? Really, do you want to deny this man the opportunity to prove he has changed?" They gave him the licence. McLennan-Murray believes people can and do change. He says he's seen it with his own eyes. I ask for examples and he says there are "many", before plumping for the armed robber ("your archetypal criminal") who is now a drugs counsellor.

There is also a former prisoner working in a very high-up and interesting place, but unfortunately he wanted to keep that one off the record. He says working for the Prison Service is not an easy job, but it can be a rewarding one. "A lot of people who come in have a number of major issues," he says. "Many have no qualifications. They may have substance abuse problems or often their relationships have been dysfunctional - they were abused as a child or witnessed violence in the home. "When the father or father figure drinks and abuses his partner and the children witness this, it becomes almost their norm. "Sometimes it's very difficult to fix these things, but if you don't fix things enough, they won't get a job and nothing is going to work out. It's a critical mass of things that you have to put right. It isn't easy. It takes time and resources and commitment. There is no simple answer and no quick fix."

In his years he has come across high-profile prisoners such as the Birmingham Six and Moors murderer Ian Brady. He corresponded with both Brady's mother and his supporter Lord Longford, but says that Brady was a very "solitary man" who obviously "wasn't right." Does he ever find it hard to get past some of the prisoners' crimes and get on with his job? "Of the very serious offenders I have met there were probably half-a-dozen that had nothing about them I liked," he says. "You know, you really kind of detest them. "But my attitude is no matter what they have done, even the really serious offences, you can sometimes find common experience. You have to build a relationship around that, and that distracts you from what they have done. You couldn't do this job otherwise. Their offence was dealt with by the court and my job is to rehabilitate them and keep the public safe." He says that people who "murder sadistically and pose a continuing risk" should not be released but points out that 80 per cent of murder cases are domestic. "It's maybe a dispute in the family," he says.

Monday 11th February 2008                 view more news            view the topic            view the article

Published Date: 17 January 2008
Source: EP Leeds First & County
Location: Leeds
Wakefield prison officer wins tribunal
By Debbie Leigh

A prison officer has won a case proving she was picked on after helping to expose bullying at the country's highest-security jail. Emma Howie was labelled a "grass" and sent grass and a wreath in the post after giving evidence in a high-profile Leeds employment tribunal which saw the Prison Service pay out almost £500,000 in compensation to whistleblower Carol Lingard.

Mrs Lingard was hounded out of a promising career when she reported rumours that one of her superiors had attempted to "fit up" a sex offender at Wakefield Prison.

Ms Howie, a married mum, had been a prison officer at Full Sutton jail near York but transferred to the Wakefield jail because of hostility towards her after her role as a witness.

The 34-year-old claimed she was blanked and ignored by staff at the Love Lane prison, despite changes that were supposed to have been brought in after Mrs Lingard's tribunal in 2005, to protect whistleblowers.

The Leeds tribunal brought against HM Prison Service by Ms Howie heard how prison officer Bob Rennison, branch secretary of the Prison Officers Association (POA), had given a copy of Ms Howie's interviews, detailing her allegations of bullying and intimidation by staff including management, to senior officer Adrian McInerney. They were confidential documents.

McInerney then disclosed the details to another third party – Carol Lingard – in a phone call and she told Ms Howie.

She rang McInerney and taped the conversation, in which he admitted Mr Rennison had given him the documents and even read extracts to her.

Investigating officer for the POA, Christopher Levitt, started inquiries into the leaked documents allegation in March 2005 but according to the tribunal panel, was "led a merry dance, both by PO Rennison and SO McInerney" so the investigation dragged on for 13 months.

The panel said both men were allowed to escape a proper inquiry and challenging questions, and neither was disciplined for the lies they told.

Rennison escaped entirely without punishment, for seriously unacceptable conduct, while Ms Howie received little support from the Prison Service.

In a reserved judgment, the tribunal concluded: "It is abundantly clear from all the detailed history of this matter that the POA, far from looking after the interests of the claimant, was hostile to her as a person who had caused substantial trouble for many of its members, who were severely criticised by the Lingard tribunal. The legitimate interests of the claimant were entirely ignored."

It also said David Thompson, Governing Governor of Wakefield Prison, "clearly took the side of PO Rennison".

It accused him of writing a "grovelling" letter to Rennison, thanking him for his co-operation.

A remedy hearing will be held on April 1 to determine compensation.

17 January 2008                 view more news            view the topic            view article

He claimed the officers, along with older men from other trades, could act as role models to troubled youngsters in an effort to cut the rising prison population.

Mr MacAskill argued the men could be more effective than social workers in steering young men away from a life of crime.

He said: "We are throwing more and more people into prison than, frankly, the prison service [has the ability] to cope with. They are very professional, the staff of the Scottish Prison Service, but they are having to contain and corral people and cannot work with people.

"I look forward to the day when the skills our prison officers have can actually be used outwith the prison, as well as in the prison."

He added: "When we are dealing with some hard-to-handle young men, in particular where the bulk of our offending comes from, the best [person] - and I don't mean this in any disparaging way - is not necessarily the best educated, with a social work qualification; it's actually an experienced prison officer."

Mr MacAskill also claimed that former prison officers would be ideally placed to act as mentors, as they "speak the lingo and know how to deal with these people".

04-Dec-07                 view the thread!           view the article           view more news