Wednesday 12^th October 2011, Buxton

CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

Introduction

It is a pleasure to be here today in Buxton at the annual conference of the Prison Governors Association

I am delighted to have accepted your kind invitation and to have the opportunity of coming to beautiful Buxton

I’m only sorry my visit to the Peaks is so fleeting – to come to Buxton, and not “take the waters” from the mineral baths is, I’m told, a real shame

However, before I start my speech today, I would like to use this opportunity to pay testimony the work of the Prison Governors Association

And in particular to your hardworking executive team

Both Paddy and Eoin are providing fantastic leadership at this challenging time

I look forward to working closely with them both, with all of you, and indeed the Prison Officers Association too on the future of our prisons and on improved industrial relations over the coming months

In fact this is somewhat of a celebration for me – my twelve month anniversary as Shadow Secretary of State for Justice

During this time, I have met many organisations and campaigning groups, visited many prisons, Younger Offender Institutions and Secure Training Centres and heard a lot on the challenges we all face in ensuring our justice system is fit for purpose in the 21^st century

And, as many of you are no doubt aware, before I became an MP in 2005, my background was in the legal profession

I was a solicitor so I hope I already had a good grounding in how the system works

And during that time, I gained extensive experience of our courts and prisons system, victims and witnesses, and offenders

Today, I want to talk to you about the challenges being faced today in our justice system, but particularly in our prisons system

I want to highlight the areas in which I believe this government is pursuing mistaken policies, but I also want to touch on some of the challenges facing all policy makers, which the Labour Party is looking at in detail, as we begin the process of assembling a policy offer in the justice arena

Ken

I understand from Paddy that this time last year, Ken Clarke graced you with his presence

At that time, he was just a matter of months into his tenure as Lord Chancellor

He had made promising noises about how he wished to bring about a rehabilitation revolution in our justice system, bringing down levels of re-offending

And, I have to admit, it was refreshing to hear this from a Conservative

But twelve months later, I am bitterly disappointed

Ken Clarke has let down our justice system

Not only did he fall asleep on the job – quite literally – but he rolled over without a whimper to the Treasury when accepting a quarter cut to his budget

He even boasted of how he avoided becoming involved in a “macho contest” with other cabinet colleagues on who could have the smallest budget cut in the spending review

He – and Theresa May, who has also seen her department’s budget cut by nearly a quarter – has undermined our justice system as a result of his slashed budget

Thousands of dedicated and experienced prison and probation staff face uncertainty over their futures as a result

Cuts that are too far and too fast are compounded by a justice secretary not arguing his corner with the treasury

We would reduce the deficit

We would have made savings but not at this scale or pace

But there are other reasons he has let down our justice system

We shouldn’t forget his offensive remarks on rape

His proposals to raise the sentence reduction on early guilty pleas to 50%, widely opposed by the judiciary and victims groups

The cuts to prison budgets and probation trusts

And, most recently, we’ve seen the week-on-week record highs in our prison population

Prisons

If we are going to deliver a so-called rehabilitation revolution in our justice system, then prisons need to play a major role

And you are all at the coalface which is why I was so keen to be here today

It is you that understand first-hand the scale of the challenge, the kind of initiatives which work and the obstacles in the way of achieving reductions in re-offending

And you have told me a sure-fire way of undermining attempts at reducing re-offending is through a worsening of conditions in our prisons – more overcrowding, fewer new prisons places, shortages of skilled prison officers and not enough of the right kinds of dedicated intervention projects, supporting education, training and health

But this is precisely the circumstances our prisons are facing today

In recent weeks, we’ve seen the prison population reach record numbers – five weeks in a row!

Of course, the summer disturbances have played a key role in this spike, but prison numbers were on the rise anyway, and what we’ve all seen is a government totally unprepared for what has happened

Let’s look at their record since being elected in May 2010

They have cancelled the prison building programme

They’ve cut capital spending on the secure estate by 83%

They’ve closed down establishments resulting in a shrinking of the size of the secure estate

There’s uncertainty amongst prison staff I have met over their futures, as the spending cuts bite deep

And understandable concern about the potential safety of prison employees resulting from growing levels of overcrowding

Rehabilitation of offenders is a difficult enough challenge without increased amounts of overcrowding and a deteriorating prison estate

But that’s precisely what’s happening on this government’s watch

Most recently, Chief Inspector of Prison, Nick Hardwick, said he’d found no evidence of the rehabilitation revolution

And now we’re seeing prison numbers reach such high levels that the chances of Operation Safeguard being implemented are very real

Prisoners placed in court and police station cells

In facilities that are simply unsuitable for such use

A terrible indictment of just how quickly the wheels have come off this government’s prisons policy

I know that some will point the finger at Labour and accuse us of hypocrisy - criticising this government on the issue of Operation Safeguard when we used it when in office

But we sought to learn from our experiences

We initiated a major expansion of the prison building programme to avoid a repeat in the future

We asked Lord Carter of Coles in 2007 to look at the future of our prison estate

We acted on his recommendations, leading to further investment in extra capacity on the prison estate

We didn’t risk the safety of our justice system by cancelling prison expansion like this government

Prison Population

But I am also conscious that a large prison population should not necessarily be seen as a badge of honour

It should not be seen as a natural side-effect of an efficient justice system

In Ken Clarke’s early days as Justice Secretary he talked of bringing down our prison population

Sometimes this desire spilled over into an explicit target some 3,000 less than now

And while of course I would like to see a lower prison population, Ken and I differ in two important ways

Firstly, it’s my view that being prescriptive on the specific size of our prison population is a mistake

But, secondly, a lower prison population must come about as a result of falling crime, reduced re-offending and tough community sentences that garner public confidence

Ken Clarke’s method of reducing prison numbers is by introducing measures designed to send fewer people into custody as a means of simply cutting costs

We saw it with his proposals on the 50% sentence reduction, and on changes to bail

And by closing prisons and cancelling prison building, it’s as though Ken Clarke thinks he can shrink our prison population simply by reducing its capacity

But, as this summer’s disturbances show, this approach takes no account of levels of crime in our communities

And is doomed to fail

Reducing the prison population must occur by reducing crime, not by shrinking the size of the prison estate

What Ken Clarke and this government have done is put financial expediency ahead of what is in the best interests of our justice system

Risking the safety of our communities and the integrity of our justice system as a result

Rehab/Payment by Results/Prisoner Working

The key to reducing the size of our prison population is to stop people committing crime in the first place

But it’s also by reducing re-offending

I hold my hands up and admit that on Labour’s watch although crime went down the rates of re-offending fell too slowly

We need to do more in this area

But, this isn’t about being soft on crime – it’s about being tough on re-offending

Breaking the cycle in which many criminals go on to commit further offences, sometimes in and out of prison all of their lives

Our communities will be safer as a result, and there will be less call on the resources of the state to punish and reform criminals

Under Labour, we started the process of payment by results

We deliberately began a pilot of the scheme, enabling us to look at what works and what doesn’t work

Providing the opportunity of ironing out any teething problems, and building relationships with social capital providers

For Ken Clarke, payment by results has become his pet project – he sees it as the panacea for the challenges facing the justice system

But this government are pushing ahead and rolling out payment by results, pre-empting the outcomes of the pilot and this worries me

It worries me that we risk ignoring any lessons from the pilot, and that this government have simply latched on to payment by results as their perceived deliverer of savings, helping to fund the 23% Ministry of Justice budget cut

This is not the right way to construct a justice policy

Similarly, I have issues with Ken Clarke’s policies on prisoner working

I support moves to increase the amount of time prisoners spend working

It should form a central part of the punishment and reform regime

As the PGA have rightly pointed out in the past, increasing prisoner working requires extra resources

Not only are these not forthcoming, we are actually seeing shrinking resources

Creating meaningful employment opportunities in our prisons is a challenge at the best of times – but this government is currently incapable of creating jobs outside of prison, let alone in them

And how can we ensure that employment opportunities don’t come at the expense of those for the law abiding majority in these challenging times?

Tough on Crime, Tough on Crimes

Nevertheless, I remain committed to wanting to see fewer people in prison, fewer people in prison because there is less crime

Less crime because we have been tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime

Yes, Tony Blair’s mantra as relevant today as when he first uttered it in 1993

But this government have lost sight of how crucial it is in keeping our communities safe

Nowhere in Ken Clarke’s speech to Tory conference last week did he mention the prevent agenda

I’m not excusing criminality – I’m explaining some of the factors that help prevent it

The importance of investment in communities, seeking to eradicate inequality, as a means of rooting out the causes of crime

Housing, education, health, employment – all of the factors which will help to prevent individuals from drifting into a life of crime

Experienced probation officers and prison officers intervening – factors which help prevent individuals re-offending

And all areas in which this government is cutting spending

The impact on future levels of criminality is deeply worrying

But Ken Clarke also failed to mention the cuts to police numbers which his cabinet colleague, Theresa May, is pushing through

Fewer police risks more crime, and certainly risks a rise in the fear of crime in our communities

So, it’s a double whammy

Sentencing Policy

I also want to spend a few moments looking at this government’s approach to sentencing policy

Voters were promised before the election maximum and minimum sentencing – after the election this was ditched

Voters were promised before the election that anyone convicted of a knife crime would receive a custodial sentence – after the election this was ditched

Voters were promised before the election that the Conservatives would build the same number of additional prison places as we had planned – after the election, this was ditched

And, the proposed reform of indeterminate sentence of imprisonment for public protection – or IPPs – has failed to materialise

And I admit that while the intentions behind the introduction of IPPs was sound, the implementation of them was problematic, and their use did mushroom way beyond what was originally envisaged

I know that the Prison Governors Association have expressed opposition to IPPs in the past

And I share your concerns about their over-use in the past and the failure of the system to deal with those who have served beyond their minimum tariff

But Ken Clarke has got himself in a big mess on IPPs

At the time of the publication of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, he announced an urgent review into IPPs

This is despite having 13 months to look at the issue, a Green Paper and a public consultation

The Justice Secretary has no idea how to address the backlog of those on IPPs who have served their minimum tariff.

I believe that in the cases of the most serious and violent offenders, the motivations behind the original introduction of IPPs were correct

But I am clear that we will not support their total removal if that means that there is any watering down of the protection of the public

Abolishing IPPs to save money is taking risks with public safety

I also know that the PGA are concerned about the use of short custodial short sentences, and have in recent years expressed a desire to see their usage curtailed

This opens up an important debate about the motivations behind handing down custodial sentences

It is not Justice Secretaries – or even their shadows – who sentence offenders – it is judges and magistrates

But one of the major challenges is how to persuade the public – and, dare I say it, the media – that alternatives to custody are robust punishments

Equally when the government is cutting funding at record levels, how can we create community sentences that are meaningful punishments, but also play a constructive role in helping to reduce the chances of re-offending?

These are the kinds of issues we need to be grappling with

Conclusion

And this is partly why I launched a major justice policy review back in the spring

I have established a policy working group of experts from across the justice landscape, all of whom are candidly advising me on the direction of Labour’s future justice policy

And, today, I am launching a 12 week open consultation, seeking the views of individuals, stakeholders, experts, organisations and unions

I know that there is much out there which works

Initiatives and ideas that help to deliver an effective and efficient justice system

That will support reductions in re-offending

Which I why I am is listening mode

And I want to lay down the challenge to you here today

I want to hear from you how you think our prison estate can be run better

I am keen to hear your ideas on how – in financially restrained times – we can deliver a prison system which supports both punishment and reform?

What are the challenges in the payment by results model?

About how we ensure that those in custody are fully equipped with the skills and confidence needed for effective rehabilitation?

And how we can best address the challenges of mental health, drug and alcohol dependency in our prisons and outside our prisons?

But I’m also interested in how we can deliver more accountability into the system

How prison governors can be given a greater role in running their own operations, with more flexibility for innovation and the sharing best practice

These are some of the challenges to you

I hope that you will be able to respond to my consultation, and feed in your views

I have valued this opportunity to talk to you today

And I hope to hear your views and opinions on some of the things I touched upon

Let’s keep up this dialogue and work towards building a better prison system, more suited to the challenges of the future

Not only punishing offenders, but reforming them too

ENDS