Conference Report
Secretary’s notes
Tuesday October 2nd
Introduction
Andy Cooke PrLG Chairman welcomed delegates and spoke of key messages which staff in prison libraries should be aware of this year which is the National Year of Reading. Encouraging people to read and make use of public libraries should be an aim for prison libraries as well as public and new relationships could be forged as a result. Enjoyment of reading is a key factor we should never lose sight of. This years conferences is looking at the theme of change and looks at the many changes we have to face especially in Government but also importantly to become involved in making changes yourself by using the national initiatives as a vehicle to bring about changes you want to see in your work place.
Speaker: Jenny Talbot Programme Manager for ‘No one knows’ Prison Reform Trust project
‘No one knows’ is a 2½ year project to look at offenders with learning disabilities and difficulties.
Jenny wanted to look at the changes, challenges and opportunities inside. Jenny explained that the Prison Reform Trust (PRT) is an independent organization which works to help people who are in prison and works to help them avoid re-offending. They are involved in lobbying of government and advising departments about best practice. She stressed that prison library staff need to be creative in order to attract prisoners to use the library as they often do not use libraries on the outside. Librarians can work with other partners within the prison to work towards the seven pathways:
1. Education training and employment
2. Accommodation
3. Health
4. Drugs and alcohol
5. Finances, benefits and debt
6. Children and families
7. Attitudes thinking and behaviour
Libraries can help with many if not all of these pathways but that is not always realised by prison staff.
Overcrowding can impact on the library as fewer officers are available to escort prisoners to the library; one prisoner was heard to say ' it is easier to get drugs on my wing than get a library book!' Jenny wanted to see an end to silo working and wanted the prisoner's sentence plan is looked at by all agencies within the establishment to see where he can gain most. The library can play a key role in the normalization process where they are treated with respect and this can encourage carrying on using libraries on release.
Opportunities:
1. Hub for information- across the prison
2. Haven – prison is a grim place to be but the library can often be a place to feel safe
3. Easy read
4. Encouraging literacy
5. Work with families
6. Outreach work
7. Captive audience – get them hooked
8. End to end – link books to community outside, work with resettlement
www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk
Francis Masserick Senior Governor/Inspectorate Team
A veteran of 35 years in the Prison Service shared his experiences of Inspection team work. He acknowledged the huge changes in the service over the years but felt these were in the main for the better and was not nostalgic for the old days when a prison library was judged by whether it had an Evelyn Waugh book on the shelf!
Francis spoke of the 4 expectations in the Inspectorate booklet; this is what Inspectors will want to see in place to benchmark the prison library. One of the questions in the survey is, ‘Do you visit the prison library once a week?’ your prison will be compared to other similar prisons for this question and will show if you reach the national average.
The Inspectorate is a small body with 42 full time staff, each prison is inspected every 5 years, these can be announced or unannounced and a list of recommendations is put in the report, when the team returns most of the recommendations have been implemented.
For a prison to be 'healthy' there are 4 tests:
1. Is it safe?
2. Is it respectful?
3. Is there purposeful activity
4. Is there effective resettlement procedures
The team look at the prison's strengths and weaknesses, a survey is carried out and results of this is published in the report. They also talk to a selected group of prisoners to gauge their opinion, talk to IMB and check data including complaints forms.
There are no KPTs for Libraries at present but Library staff can help other departments achieve their targets for purposeful activity and he suggested capitalising on strategic partnerships to achieve better access for prisoners to the library and achieve KPTs.
Group work followed where 6 groups looked at what they would do differently after listening to the 2 speakers and to list 3 things they would do back in their work place.
www.inspectorates.homeoffice.gov.uk
Tony Hassell Area Manager Yorkshire and Humberside
Changes and Challenges
Tony spoke of pockets of goodness in areas of negativity and he has found Libraries to be good places where prisoners can be engaged.
Prison Service has 3 main aims
Ø Public protection – actively managing risks
Ø Reducing re-offending – helping offenders tackling offending behaviour
Ø Decency – treating offenders with respect, valuing and celebrating diversity, caring for vulnerable
There have been many changes in the Prison Service mainly in commissioning of services.
Challenges which face the Prison Service include:
Ø Population – prison capacity, pressures cause problems
Ø Resources – financial cuts 3% over 3 years
Ø Industrial Relations – may be some further unrest
These challenges will affect libraries in some ways if there are not enough officers to escort prisoners to the library, the core day may also change with possible closure on Friday pm.
Dave Mc Donnell Director HMP The Wolds
Contracted Sector Prisons – Changes and challenges
Dave pointed out that contracted out prison do the same work as state sector but aims are achieved differently.
Library visits are built in to the regime, there is a contract in place of a SLA so there would be breach of contract if the service was not delivered.
Dave suggested that when Governors visit the Library it is the opportunity for the Librarian to talk about any problems and tell the Governor what is wrong.
There have been changes over the years and he feels that these include improvements in staffing and services offered in prison libraries today, the prison library should reflect the public library in the community. Other changes include, Human Rights Act, Adjudication process, Prison Ombudsman, Learmont Report, Fresh Start, HM Inspectorate, sentencing rules. Dave recognizes that his work is constantly changing and challenging but he feels that one measure of success is that people of many different cultures and backgrounds live in harmony for 90% of the time.
Future:
Ø High prison population – still rising so something drastic may have to be done
Ø Very high re-offending rate 75% - how can we change this?
We can look at other European countries models to get ideas about making further changes; Dave feels that more money should be spent on families at risk in the community to try to stop cycle of crime, there should be clearer sentencing from courts and all agencies need to work together to reduce recidivism.
Ian Snowley CILIP President gave a short address at the Conference dinner to stress the value of the work done in prison libraries despite the difficulties of operating a service within a service.
Check out Ian's blog about the conference!
Wednesday 3rd October
John Vincent/Tricia Kings/Natasha Innocent
On the Out – Making the ex-con welcome in their public library
John spoke of the valuable work being done in prison libraries, for many prisoners it is the first time they have come to terms with emotional literacy.
Feeling welcome in any library is important and we need to build on the work being done day to day.
The National Year of Reading 2008 runs Jan – Dec with a launch in April 2008.
There are specific target audiences for the Year including:
Ø Adults with low literacy levels
Ø Fathers
Ø To increase library membership
How can we support prisoners and their families? We can use the campaign to have a national library welcome pack showing what’s on offer in public libraries.
We need to develop an infrastructure between public libraries, prison libraries and NOMs.
Develop a steering group to include: PrLG/SCL/ASCEL/MLA/NOMs/PRT/ others?
Take project forward with launch in April 2008
There is a need for:
Ø Develop a network to link prison libraries, probation and public library services .
Ø Develop a briefing pack for all partners to enable skills sharing
Ø Develop content of pack, who should produce, level? Audience?
Tricia Kings spoke about the Six Book Challenge and how this could be used in prison libraries to encourage and motivate emergent readers. She also offered free training sessions up until Dec 2007 for Big Book Share type projects. Contact: tricia.kings@readingagency.org.uk
Gill Lewis/Deborah Sheppard Librarian HMP Nottingham Big Book Share
Description of BBS in Nottingham and how family visit days are organized and how strong links with public library are made.
Sue Wilkinson HMP Birmingham
Got kids Get reading
Sue told us about her use of the book bus, Words on Wheels to bring childrens’ books in to the prison engaging prisoners families and also uniformed staff in reading books to their children. She also used the Family Man course to encourage storytelling/writing. These projects have enabled family reading to be embedded in all library work.
Group work – groups were give 6 outcomes from the proposal for NYR and asked to formulate actions and how they would be carried out.
Summing up John Vincent noted the strong role of librarians in prisons, the value of working with families, already good projects happening in the field. He also felt that there was a wake up call to public libraries to provide a positive welcome for ex offenders and their families in libraries with front line staff being fully aware and understanding of needs. Notes form the workshop groups will be posted as soon as they are available.