March 1, 2006: Probation Union On "Mismanagement" Claims

Responding to the publication of the report into the murder of John Monckton, Harry Fletcher, Assistant General Secretary of Probation Union Napo, said:

“The murder was a terrible tragedy and all steps must be taken to minimise the possibility of further serious offences being committed by individuals on prison licence. However, the Probation Service must be properly resourced in order to carry out its duties efficiently.”

“During 2004, when this tragedy occurred, the London Probation Service was in financial chaos and facing an overspend, was undergoing reorganisation and was experiencing a recruitment freeze. Staff were not allowed to carry out routine prison visits and individual boroughs had up to 25% probation officer vacancies. During 2004, 1,478 licensees came under the supervision of the Probation Service, where the risk to the public was considered very high; and a further 11,280, where the risk was described as high. In all, 1,374 of this caseload were recalled to custody, and 79 (0.6%) of the total were charged with a further serious offence.”

“In addition staff had been instructed to work with a new IT assessment system known as the Offender Assessment System (OASys), and were finding that it was poorly designed, that screens crashed or froze frequently and that the prime purpose of the system appeared to be producing data for the Home Office, rather than analysing the behaviour of offenders.”

“The situation London Probation is still chronic. There are 160 probation officer vacancies and up to 300 prisoners, serving 4 years or more, have not been allocated. It is, however, encouraging that London’s performance is much improved since 2004. The service has the potential to do much better with adequate resourcing.”