I've been working as part of the RSA Transitions team at HMP Everthorpe in East Riding. The objective of the project is simple: to reduce re-offending in those leaving prison, but of course its a complex area that is stubbornly resistant to policy initiatives. The recent Government proposal in this area is the reconfiguring and privatisation of probation services. Some of the changes make a lot of sense but the subtitle (a revolution in the way we manage offenders) hints at other problems. The paper acknowledges some of the potential pitfalls of wholesale privatisation and payment by results and proposes ways to deal with them, but changing both what is delivered and how it is delivered throws all the balls up in the air, so I don't believe anyone really knows how they will land. Its a new context for us to engage with, though and provides a potential for social enterprises to deliver these services, as well as commercial contractors.
Last week we tested out my 'consultation toolkit' which some of the prisoners helped to build in the prison workshops. It takes the form of a game, using a lightbox and various models to explore different concepts for how Transitions will work on the site. It seems to work well and next week we'll be consulting in the prison with prisoners and prison staff, then out in the community and with local businesses and public sector organisations.
Last week we tested out my 'consultation toolkit' which some of the prisoners helped to build in the prison workshops. It takes the form of a game, using a lightbox and various models to explore different concepts for how Transitions will work on the site. It seems to work well and next week we'll be consulting in the prison with prisoners and prison staff, then out in the community and with local businesses and public sector organisations.
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