NPM Bulletin – October 2024
Welcome
It has been an eventful start to Autumn, with diverse activities happening across the UK NPM, which our team have endeavoured to capture in the October bulletin.
Last month, I attended a Council of Europe NPM Forum focused on substance abuse disorders in prisons. I was pleased to be able to discuss best practices and the UK context at the forum. Earlier this week, we interviewed several qualified candidates for the role of NPM Support Officer and hope to have news about a new team member soon. The NPM Central Team are now planning the 2025 Annual Conference which will take place in Scotland from 30 April to 1 May. Jane has been hard at work drafting the NPM Annual Report 2023-24, and we are grateful for all the submissions and comments that have been sent so far. Chelsea was pleased to represent the NPM at an event at the Queen Elizabeth House offices, where she promoted the work of the NPM and our latest reports and guidance to civil servants.
Looking ahead, NPM Chair Sherry Ralph and I will meet for preliminary discussions on the NPM’s 2025-26 Strategic Business Plan next week. On World Menopause Day, 18 October, look out for a new Menopause in Custody toolkit which will be published on the NPM website. The toolkit was spearheaded by the Sussex Independent Custody Visiting team and co-developed by ICVA and the NPM to support monitoring of risk factors and impacts of menopause, perimenopause and post-menopause in detention.
As always, we invite you to please cascade this bulletin to your staff and volunteers so that they can stay current on the latest NPM news. If you have received a forwarded copy of this bulletin and would like to be added to the subscription list, please reply to this email.
Thank you for reading.
Sam Gluckstein, Head of UK NPM
National Subgroups
The Scotland Subgroup’s quarterly meeting on 22 August focused its efforts on the groups two key issues:
- Statutory data collection on the time it takes for detainees recommended for transfer to a mental health facility to be transferred
- Deaths in prison custody
The subgroup also re-elected SHRC as Chair of the subgroup, and welcomed the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland as an associate member, meaning a representative from CYPCS will now attend and contribute to the subgroup meetings in a non-voting capacity.
The Northern Ireland Subgroup held its quarterly meeting on 17 September, which was attended by representatives from CJI, RQIA, the NIPB IVCS and the IMBs as well as Sam and Jane, and we were delighted to welcome the NPM’s new Chair to our meeting. The group selected two key issues of focus:
- Information sharing on deaths and serious incidents
- Management of personality disorders in detention
Representatives of the NI Subgroup also met with the single points of contact for the Departments of Justice and Health to raise awareness of the OPCAT and NPM in the UK and Northern Ireland as well as discuss issues on the subgroup workplan and the role of the government in supporting the NPM.
Blog: Protecting human rights while preventing violent extremism and radicalisation
In this month’s blog, Jacqui Durkin, Chief Inspector, Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland and Louise Falshaw, CEO Independent Monitoring Boards and Lay Observers, share their reflections and takeaways from a UN training they attended on behalf of the NPM on “Detention monitoring and the protection of human rights while preventing and countering violent extremism and radicalization to terrorism in prisons”.Read the blog to hear what they have to say.
Spotlight reports
IMB thematic – How property loss impacts prisoners
On 25 September, the IMB published a thematic report on the impact of property loss on prisoners. As the causes of property loss have been so well evidenced by local IMBs over the years, this thematic monitoring report focuses much less on the process and failures (although there are many) and far more on the poor outcomes for prisoners.
Please read the full report How property loss impacts prisoners, and contact Sammy Patrick in the IMB policy team if you have any questions.
OFSTED and HMIP thematic – A decade of declining education in YOIs
OFSTED and HMIP have released a joint thematic report on education in YOIs which finds that over the past decade, young offender institutions (YOIs) have seen a reduction in the quality and quantity of education, that they are struggling to manage challenging behaviour, which is seeing children increasingly kept in isolation, and that some children are allowed as little as half an hour a day outside their cell.
Please Read the press release, and the full report, entitled A decade of declining quality of education in young offender institutions: the systemic shortcomings that fail children.
SHRC and CYPCS – Map of human rights advice
The Scottish Human Rights Commission and Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland have jointly published a map of Human Rights Advice and Advocacy Services in Scotland as part of their Access to Justice Spotlight Project.
Latest news from NPM bodies
- The Care Inspectorate is currently reviewing their quality framework for secure accommodation services in Scotland. They have recently published:
- Criminal Justice Inspectorate NI have several updates:
- CJI are finalising reports for inspections of Hydebank Wood Secure College and Women’s Prison (undertaken in conjunction with HMIP and RQIA).
- The role of Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice at CJI has been advertised.
- CJI, RQIA and the NIPB Human Rights Advisor are undertaking a follow-up review of the 2020 Police Custody inspection. Fieldwork will take place in October and CJI have consulted with a group of ICVs in preparation for this.CJI and NIPB ICVS are developing A0 protocol to prevent sanctions in police custody.
- Jacqui Durkin, Chief Inspector met with Janis Adair, Chief Inspector of the Office of the Inspectorate, Department of Corrections, New Zealand to discuss prison issues (see photo below)
- HM Inspectorate of Prisons have released several publications, including:
- HMIP Annual Report 2023-24
- Blog: Children’s custody: a decade of missed opportunities and decline
- Progress review: Separation of children in young offender institution
- Thematic report: Purposeful prisons: time out of cell
- Inspection reports: HMP Hull, HMP Brixton, HMP Swaleside, HMP Belmarsh, HMP/YOI Hindley, HMP Woodhill and HMP/YOI Erlestoke
- HMIP and OFSTED have released a thematic report: A decade of declining quality of education in young offender institutions: the systemic shortcomings that fail children
- HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland has launched a new HMICS website, and has published its Annual Report 2023-24, which calls for police officers in Scotland who abuse their position to face a misconduct criminal charge.
- The IMB have published a new report How property loss impacts prisoners
- Independent Custody Visiting Scotland have published their Annual Report 2023-24, highlighting that during 2023-24 ICVs raised no OPCAT concerns, and that 85% of issues raised by ICVs were resolved by Police Scotland during the course of the visit. Challenges remain, such as children being held in custody, access to washing facilities, medical provision, access to specialist services for people with mental health vulnerabilities, and facility conditions in the custody estate.
- The Mental Welfare Commission of Scotland published inspection reports from secure mental health hospitals including The State Hospital and Rowanbank Clinic.
- OFSTED have published an inspection report for Aldine House Secure Children’s Home
- The Scottish Human Rights Commission has published a statement on their disappointment at the Scottish Human Rights bill being abandoned by the Scottish Government,
- SHRC and Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland have jointly published a map of Human Rights Advice and Advocacy Services in Scotland.
If we missed anything, or if you have a report, blog post or news story you would like to share in the next bulletin, please send us an email.
Training and external reports of interest
This month we would like to highlight two excellent training resources on the Nelson Mandela rules:
- UNODC offers a free, comprehensive e-learning on the Nelson Mandela Rules.
- ODIHR has published a training guide for organisations to run an in-person training course on the Nelson Mandela Rules.
The Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) also offers several free training resources in their online campus that will be of interest to detention monitors.
Upcoming events and activities
18 Oct World Menopause Day – ICVA and NPM will launch Menopause in Detention Toolkit, Online
14 Nov NPM Scotland Subgroup meeting, Edinburgh
25 Nov NPM Steering Group meeting, London
26 Nov NPM Central Team strategy day, London
Thank you for reading!
This bulletin is compiled each month by the NPM Central Team. If you have any news you would like to share, please let us know.