Prisons minister vows to finish ‘toxic’ cover-up tradition in England and Wales

Sexual harassment, racism and bullying have develop into “normalised” in jails and probation places of work throughout England and Wales, the prisons minister has warned, as he introduced a plan to overtake a “toxic culture of cover-up” amongst senior group of workers.

James Timpson mentioned one in 8 of HM Prison and Probation Service’s (HMPPS) 65,000 group of workers say they’ve been bullied. Sexual attacks on feminine group of workers have ended in arrests whilst black and Asian group of workers have confronted repeated racist feedback amid a “vacuum of pastoral care”.

After a evaluation by way of the dept’s non-executive director, Jennifer Rademaker, really helpful wholesale adjustments to how HMPPS offers with proceedings, Lord Timpson introduced a “seismic shift” to give a boost to skilled requirements.

“Unacceptable behaviour, language, attitude and action have become normalised, tolerated and accepted over time, and as Jennifer’s report shows, bullying, intimidation and harassment in HMPPS has gone unchecked for far too long,” he mentioned.

A brand new, impartial unit will examine and reply to allegations of bullying, harassment and discrimination, he mentioned, as a result of till now, proceedings were submitted to line managers.

“Imagine making complaints knowing, full well, it will be investigated by a senior manager who is friends [with the alleged perpetrator], and they socialise together outside of work too.

Timpson, speaking at the launch of the review at HMP High Down, Surrey, pointed to a survey that found “one in eight HMPPS staff said that they’ve been bullied or harassed”.

“Many said they didn’t feel as though they could come forward or that they would be punished,” he mentioned, including there have been “too many” examples of racism inside HMPPS.

“Colleagues have been repeatedly subjected to racist remarks but keep quiet because they think nothing will change,” he mentioned.

Misogyny and sexual harassment incidents inflicted upon jail officials will have to be uncovered, he mentioned, telling the tale of 1 lady officer who used to be sexually assaulted whilst on accountability.

A extra senior male officer “forced his tongue into her mouth” after harassing her, together with asking her bra measurement.

The lady to start with didn’t record the officer even supposing he had “a reputation” for such behaviour however in the end plucked up the braveness, resulting in his sacking and prosecution for sexual attack.

“His actions were clearly despicable,” mentioned Timpson. “But her story begs the question, why did it take an assault for this man to finally be called out? Why, when he already had a reputation, was he not exposed sooner?”

He contrasted the behaviour of the wrongdoer with the bravery of group of workers responding to assist jail officials attacked closing month by way of the Manchester bomb assault plotter at HMP Frankland.

The evaluation made a sequence of suggestions, which senior HMPPS leaders have showed they’re going to enforce in complete.

Reacting to the record, the overall secretary of the nationwide affiliation of probation officials, Ian Lawrence, mentioned: “Unfortunately this long awaited report makes for grim reading. It will bring no comfort to our members working in probation within what is often described as a soulless and seriously mismanaged prison-centric organisation.

“We want more to be done to expose the reality of racism, sexism and corruption within HMPPS that our members tell us about.”