| answer text |
<p>Discipline procedures are central to the maintenance of a safe, decent and rehabilitative
custodial environment. They require adjudications to be conducted lawfully, fairly
and justly. Only Independent Adjudicators, who are District Judges or Deputy District
Judges can, in cases deemed to be sufficiently serious, make an award of additional
days. Additional days cannot extend the totality of the sentence imposed by the court
but, they will have the effect of extending a person’s custodial time left to serve.
The most serious offences are referred to the police.</p><p> </p><p>Information on
the number of individual prisoners who were subject to punishments for disciplinary
misconduct is not routinely extracted from the adjudications database as the primary
purpose is to report on the volume of punishments imposed. In order to collect this
specific information on prisoners, a matching exercise using prison population and
adjudication databases would be required to identify each individual prisoner who
was sanctioned under the Prison Rules, as a result of which the data could only be
obtained at disproportionate cost. Information on the number of occasions additional
days were awarded to prisoners between 2011 and 2016 is publicly available and is
published as part of the Offender Management Statistics bulletin.</p><p> </p><p>Table
1 below provides an extract from the published statistics, outlining the number of
occasions additional days were awarded by offence during 2011-2016.</p><table><tbody><tr><td
colspan="5"><p>Table 1: Awards of additional days by offence 2011 - 2016, England
and Wales</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>
</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>
</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>2011</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2012</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2013</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2014</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2015</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2016</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>
</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>
</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>
</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>
</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Offence </strong></p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>8,690</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>9,537</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>9,125</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>10,265</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>13,000</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>16,756</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>
</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>
</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Disobedience/Disrespect</p></td><td><p>
</p></td><td><p>1,393</p></td><td><p>1,455</p></td><td><p>1,401</p></td><td><p>1,457</p></td><td><p>1,731</p></td><td><p>2,268</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Escape/Abscond</p></td><td><p>
</p></td><td><p>25</p></td><td><p>20</p></td><td><p>7</p></td><td><p>4</p></td><td><p>6</p></td><td><p>4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Unauthorised
transactions</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>5,111</p></td><td><p>5,668</p></td><td><p>5,284</p></td><td><p>6,186</p></td><td><p>7,738</p></td><td><p>9,594</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Violence</p></td><td><p>
</p></td><td><p>1,124</p></td><td><p>1,232</p></td><td><p>1,210</p></td><td><p>1,412</p></td><td><p>1,688</p></td><td><p>2,295</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Wilful
damage</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>536</p></td><td><p>611</p></td><td><p>646</p></td><td><p>471</p></td><td><p>635</p></td><td><p>740</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Other
offences</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>501</p></td><td><p>551</p></td><td><p>577</p></td><td><p>735</p></td><td><p>1,202</p></td><td><p>1,855</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>
</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>
</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>
</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>
</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="7"><p>(1) Adjudications are the procedure whereby offences
against the Prison or Young Offender Institution Rules are alleged to have been committed
by prisoners or young offenders (YOs). Under the Prison Rules, Governors may delegate
the conduct of adjudications to any other officer of the prison or Young Offender
Institution, who has passed the relevant authorised training course, has suitable
operational experience and has been certified by the Governor as competent to carry
out adjudication duties.</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="7"><p>(2)
The number of offences refers to the number of adjudications for which one or more
punishments may be imposed onto an offender.</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td
colspan="7"><p>(3) The number of punishments refers to all proven adjudications and
excludes all those that have been dismissed or not proceeded with.</p></td><td><p>
</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="7"><p> </p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The majority
of punishments of added days are for unauthorised transactions, which concern illicit
economies within prisons, such as possession and selling of forbidden items. We are
working closely with the police and the Crown Prosecution Service to improve the response
to crime in prisons and to ensure that wherever possible and appropriate those who
commit serious crimes in prison are punished through the courts rather than by the
internal disciplinary system. We are also reviewing and sharing best practice from
prisons who have built up excellent relationships with their local police forces.</p><p>
</p><p>We are also reviewing the Adjudications policy set out in Prison Service Instruction
47/2011 as part of our ongoing Prison Reform Programme. The review incorporates a
study to examine the impact of disciplinary adjudication punishments on custodial
misconduct and provide a better understanding of ‘what works’ in terms of behaviour
change.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
|
|
