An Insight on Remand Prisoners - Prison Help!
- Steve Newell - Prison Help!
- Nov 24, 2015
- 5 min read
Prison Help! founder Steve Newell – believes that the current system of criminal justice creates special challenges for remand prisoners. Remand Prisoners are incompatible with the present regime for dealing with convicted prisoners, and they appear to have no place in future planned developments for the sector. Based on their observations as recently released ex – offenders, they believe there are ways of tackling the many problems faced by prisoners on remand.
Firstly, remand prisoners who are charged with an offence (or remanded into prisons) are governed by rules set out in The Bail Act and the Courts and Prisons Service. A recent report on remand prisoners (HMCIP, 2012) showed that “The proportion of those attending Crown Courts charged with offences, who were remanded into custody was 62% (n = 42,795) of all defendants remanded, and over a third (38%, n = 26, 610) were remanded at Magistrates Courts. Nearly three-quarters (74%) of defendants remanded into custody at the Crown Court went on to receive an immediate custodial sentence. By contrast, less than a third (32%) of those remanded in custody by Magistrates’ Courts received an immediate custodial sentence.”
From Prison Help's perspective, there are certain changes that could be made in order to improve the level of services delivered to prisoners on remand. These are achievable steps that do not require either a significant increase in funding, or radical a transformation of the current prison regime. They include the following:
Remand prisoners should be allowed to work, and their re-settlement needs carefully addressed to solve practical and social issues.
Remand prisoners who run their own businesses should be able to continue whilst in prison.
Prisons should not be able to “pay a fine” for non-compliance with the provision of facilities and accommodation – they should HAVE to implement agreed standards.
Remand prisoners need to have the equivalent of a “Sentence Plan” to structure their time in prison, and also to prepare them for release.
A review of the IEP programme should be considered as it is largely irrelevant for remand prisoners.
Better handling of remand prisoners is required and an improved understanding of who they are.
Increase the awareness of the dedicated services offered to remand prisoners.
The PMU (Prisons Management Unit) must look at the location of remand prisoners to ease re-integration services.
Handling of deportation cases should be kept separate.
Unlike convicted prisoners, remand prisoners have some rights which they can supposedly enjoy. Some of these are outlined below:
Remand prisoners are to be kept out of contact with convicted prisoners, unless they have chosen to share accommodation or participate in any activity with a convicted prisoner (Rule 7(2)).
Remand prisoners may receive medical treatment from a medical practitioner of their choosing and at their own expense. This is with the prison governor’s approval, and unless the Secretary of State directs otherwise (Rule 2013).
An unconvinced prisoner shall be able to work, if he or she desires to.
A remand prisoner can wear his or her own clothing as long as it is appropriate and may arrange to receive supplies outside prisons, unless there is a serious risk of an escape attempt and, if successful, the prisoner can post a serious danger to the public (Rule 23 (1))
Furthermore, prison rules PS0 4600 states that unconvicted prisoners should be allowed to:
Seek release on bail, and preserve their accommodation and employment.
Prepare for trial, and maintain contact with relatives and friends.
Pursue legitimate business and social interests, and obtain help with personal problems.
Additionally, PS0 4600 also draws together provisions in other PSOs and SOs relating to remand prisoners and states that they are entitled to:
Receive items from family and friends as well as purchase them with their own money or pay (SO 4(31)).
Carry out business activities (SO1c (28)).
Take part in the IEP (Incentives Earned Privileges Scheme), entering at standard level. Movement to basic level should be based on behaviour only (PSO 4000) which is vital if remand prisoners need to get better privileges in the scheme.
Have two statutory letters at public expense per week (SO 5b (8)).
Have in possession a greater quantity of smoking materials, and bring in tobacco and cigarettes on reception, or have them sent in by friends (S0 4).
Have the opportunity to spend at least an hour in open air daily, depending on the weather and the needs of good order and discipline (PSO 4275).
Steve Newell, Prison Help's Managing Director and founder has had personal experience of the various differing types of remand prisoners. These include genuine remand prisoners, prisoners convicted of one offence (and facing charges related to another offence), prisoners at the end of their sentences awaiting deportation (often not confirmed by UKBA for many months) and prisoners at the end of sentences awaiting a second charge.
Due to the current system, proper assessment of individual cases is vital. Treating innocent remand prisoners similarly to convicted offenders is wholly inappropriate, and can lead to negative outcomes.
A recent article in the Guardian on prisoners wrongly convicted or sent to prison on suspicion of an offence, talked about how vital support is for prisoners in this situation. Furthermore, it discussed how important it was for them to understand their rights and privileges as remand prisoners. Although, the article talked mainly about wrongly convicted prisoners, it echoes some of the similar issues that remand prisoners face in terms of being negatively affected by the current standardised way of running prisons for all types of prisoners.
The Guardian (17th April, 2014, p.1) stated that “Understandably the prison experience is often worse for those who are not guilty. Prisoners are often not able to access courses and support without first admitting guilt, something miscarriage of justice victims cannot and will not do.
On release, although wronged individuals may be free, their lives have too often been changed irrevocably and far too many are left with nothing.”
Based on Steve Newell’s personal experiences, and on the issues mentioned earlier, Prison Help! believe that:
Current prison regimes require all prisoners to participate in purposeful activities or lose all rights and privileges which does not work for remand prisoners who may not want to work; leading to longer lock up times in prison. Prison officers often cannot differentiate sensibly between prisoners of different types which makes operations less effective.
Remand prisoners are held in local prisons and as a result receive less time out of cells compared to others. Also, the amount of people going out of local prisons for exercise three or four times a week has dropped.
Remand prisoners’ rights cannot be met by local facilities due to the current condition of the prison estate. Remand prisoners are supposed to be treated as though they are not guilty and shouldn’t be held in the worst and/or overcrowded conditions.
Again, remand prisoners should be able to get the support they need and be able to continue their jobs or businesses while on remand (as long as it is legal).
Although remand prisoners can receive private NHS treatment if they wish to, this is still a far-fetched idea and not practiced in every prison setting.
Internal prison functions (“Offender Management Unit”) are not available to remand prisoners, whilst offender management and sentence planning changes mean that some prisoners receive more resources. However, for remand prisoners, staff time has been diverted to people who qualify for offender management.
The release process also has many issues and – one of many – is the lack of support when leaving prison. A prisoner on remand can be found guilty at court and receive a sentence, but can find that they have spent this time already whilst on remand. If their sentence is 14 days or over, they should be entitled to get a discharge grant (£46) and travel warrant from the escort staff in court.
In conclusion, the current standardised prison regime simply does not work for many remand prisoners, and developmental steps should be considered to implement policies that are more relevant and effective for remand prisoners.
Other sources:
Prison Reform Trust: http://ow.ly/Bn4De
Offenders Families Helpline: http://ow.ly/Bn4JX
UK Government Website: http://ow.ly/Bn4QS
Inside Time: http://ow.ly/Bn4Z0
HMCIP Report: http://ow.ly/Bn53q
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