VISION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IN CUSTODY Using the time a young person spends in custody to enable them to prepare for a positive future

Transcription

1 UNLOCKING POTENTIAL TRANSFORMING LIVES SCOTTISH PRISON SERVICE VISION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IN CUSTODY Using the time a young person spends in custody to enable them to prepare for a positive future

2 VISION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IN CUSTODY 02 INTRODUCTION This paper describes a long-term vision for all young men and young women who are in custody in Scotland. It explains how the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), with partners, will set out to achieve the following aim: TO USE THE TIME A YOUNG PERSON SPENDS IN CUSTODY TO ENABLE THEM TO PREPARE FOR A POSITIVE FUTURE. The vision comes from a belief that young people who have offended have the potential to contribute positively to their communities and that it is the responsibility of SPS and partners to do all they can to help them to achieve this. The vision has been developed through discussions with young people, staff, partners and researchers. It is based upon what we know about young people s development and factors which can reduce the impact of exclusion and support their desistance from offending. It recognises that ultimately it is each young person s own decisions that will determine his or her future path but that their particular strengths, circumstances and vulnerabilities will affect their capacity to adopt and sustain a positive lifestyle, whatever their best intentions may be. It restates and reprioritises the purposes, principles and outcomes of Curriculum for Excellence for this particular context. The approach echoes the new vision and values of the SPS and builds upon the SPS Strategy Framework for the Management of Young People in Custody and the Strategy for Women in Custody. It builds upon current work and plans, with Education Scotland, to establish HMYOI Polmont as a Learning Environment. These developments emphasise making every contact an opportunity to learn. There is a strong foundation to build upon. Steps being implemented in Polmont include improving assessment and extending planning and support through Personal Officers, reviewing the daily regime so that more young people are able and motivated to participate in learning activities, involving young people in planning services, extending provision to include, for example, parenting, business enterprise, music and drama, and increasing opportunities for peer mentoring and community access. There are strong contributions from partners both within the establishment and in the community after a young person leaves custody. Staff training is underway and the learning facilities are being improved. HMYOI Grampian has been taking account of the Vision for Young People in Custody in its plans for young people. For young women, there are discussions to ensure that the expectations of the Vision for Young People in Custody are put into practice and embedded within the Women s Strategy. SOME FACTS AND FIGURES ABOUT YOUNG PEOPLE IN CUSTODY IN SCOTLAND The vision recognises that for some of the young people their time in custody may represent a chance - a rare chance - for them to engage in education or find someone who can help to point them to a better future. In addition, it recognises that the very fact of custody can adversely affect a young person s personal development and mental health, their relationships, their education or training, their work and their housing. The approach seeks to mitigate the negative aspects of custody and, importantly, to use the period of custody to prepare actively for a positive future. By adopting this fundamental purpose in Scotland we will be at the forefront internationally of evidence-based practice in youth justice. The intentions are ultimately for all young people who are in custody in Scotland, as far as is practicable: young men and young women, from age 16 to 21, on remand or sentenced, across all establishments where young people are in custody, and whether their sentence is long or short. BACKGROUND The vision recognises the potential of young people as well as their particular vulnerabilities and needs. It is aligned with international conventions and the Scottish Government s priorities and strategies for children and justice, including Getting it Right for Every Child, the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, the Whole System Approach, Reducing Reoffending (2), reintegration and throughcare, the National Youth Work Strategy and developments in employability and post- 16 education and training including the Employability Skills Pipeline. Annually there are of the order of 1,000 admissions to custody of young people who have been sentenced. There has been a reduction in the numbers of young people admitted to custody in Scotland, and markedly fewer children of 16 and 17 years old. At 17th November 2014 there were: Boys Young men Girls Young women In custody in Scotland: total 464 Sentences range from less than 3 months to life (there has been a reduction in sentences of less than 6 months): ~7% less than 6 months 19% from 6 months to one year 22% one to two years 25% two to four years 27% more than four years. On average around 33% of the young people in custody are on remand. 37% are serving a custodial sentence for the first time. Around 34% have been in care. Almost 90% had been excluded from school. A study found that young men in custody had experienced an average of 5 bereavements each, a high proportion of these being traumatic. Of young men, 68% were under the influence of alcohol at the time of their offence (compared with 43% of adult men). 70% of the young men said that they enjoyed school some or most of the time. Just over 40% of those who are assessed are at or below level 3 (~ Standard Grade Foundation level) in literacy and numeracy. Reconviction rates have been falling. In the one-year reconviction rate for young offenders leaving custody was 47.5.

3 VISION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IN CUSTODY 03 VISION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IN CUSTODY: THE PROPOSED APPROACH The aim is to use the time the young person spends in custody to enable them to prepare for a positive future by providing, in a safe and secure learning environment, experiences which will build their knowledge, skills and employability and promote their successful reintegration to their communities and desistance from offending. With our partners, SPS will seek to achieve this through: The diagram sets out the range of experiences from which each young person s own plan will be built, taking account of individual strengths, prior learning, circumstances (including the time the young person will spend in custody) and needs. PREPARING FOR A POSITIVE FUTURE: FOUR STRANDS OF LEARNING Confident individual Responsible Ccitizen 1. FROM THE OUTSET, DEVELOPING WITH EACH YOUNG PERSON A PHASED, INDIVIDUAL PLAN FOR THEIR TIME IN CUSTODY AND REINTEGRATION INTO THE COMMUNITY, AND CARRYING IT THROUGH WITH THEM: > Having a period of introduction, assessment and planning based on each young person s strengths, circumstances and needs (including any learning difficulty or disability), leading to a range of phased activities designed to enable them to progress as described in point 2 below and prepare to return successfully to their community. > Building inside-outside links with work, learning and pro-social relationships and addressing the potential trauma of liberation through phased, supported experiences of daily life and work where appropriate. > Ensuring that arrangements are in place for successful reintegration: housing, family and community relationships, health, finance, work/placement/further learning, access to information, advice and personal support. > Identifying those who are best suited to support the young person across the different aspects of the plan and having a designated individual who will coordinate the various contributions both inside and outside. > Maintaining or establishing at least one positive relationship which will continue for some time once the young person returns to the community. 2. PROVIDING EXPERIENCES BASED ON THE YOUNG PERSON S INDIVIDUAL PLAN THAT WILL ENABLE THEM TO PROGRESS AND ACHIEVE OUTCOMES ACROSS FOUR STRANDS OF LEARNING: Building mental, emotional and social health and wellbeing Addressing separation and trauma Sustaining and building positive family relationships Addressing needs such as alcohol and substance misuse, relationships and attitudes Improving physical health and fitness Developing skills for living independently and for employment Building resilience and motivation Successful learner Gaining and applying relevant skills such as communication and language, literacy, numeracy, IT and problem solving Addressing any barriers to learning Extending knowledge and understanding Building skills to be able to reflect and plan Increasing motivation for further learning Gaining qualifications and building a CV Having experience of a workplace Participating in decision making Engaging in issues-based work such as antiviolence programmes Developing skills to change and applying these skills to make positive choices Understanding consequences; empathy, victim awareness Addressing ethical, social and environmental matters Effective contributor Parenting Mentoring Contributing to others wellbeing Engaging in restorative practices Volunteering, fundraising Working with animals Repairing things Working on tasks in partnership and as part of a team > Confident Individual: health, wellbeing, relationships, personal development, employability > Responsible Citizen: learning about and practising citizenship > Successful Learner: developing skills and knowledge for life, work and further learning > Effective Contributor: contributing to the wellbeing of others. All aspects of the life of the establishment will provide opportunities for young people to learn. In this learning environment they will be able to engage and learn in different ways: crucially, through day-to-day interactions and relationships, and also through workplace activities, youth work, structured programmes and courses, sport and recreational activities, the arts, peer learning, projects and one-to-one support.

4 VISION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IN CUSTODY ESTABLISHING THE CONDITIONS THAT WILL MAXIMISE THE LIKELIHOOD OF POSITIVE CHANGE AND MINIMISE THE DAMAGING EFFECTS OF EXCLUSION. FACTORS INCLUDE: > The values, culture (including vocabulary), regime, services and environment that the young people experience > Staff commitment, specialist knowledge and skills for engaging and working with young people, including use of youth work approaches > Relationships and engagement between staff and young people, including young people s active involvement in decisions about their time in custody > The modelling of behaviours and values in day-to-day activities, interactions and relationships > Enabling young people to have positive links with family, community and employers and to sustain these when they return to the community or transfer to another establishment > Healthcare arrangements, providing specialist services and health promotion from induction throughout the time in custody and beyond > The arrangements for collaboration by all those who are involved in supporting the young person, including communication, information transfer, contributions to planning and reviewing progress and enabling continuity and progression during transitions > Being clear about the intended outcomes of each activity, using approaches that are known, from evidence, to work, and evaluating continuously. The approach is summarised in the diagram below. Establishing the necessary conditions VALUES AND PRINCIPLES Work with young people in custody should reflect and reinforce the values of: belief; respect; integrity; openness; courage; and humility. The values and the following principles will be used to guide thinking as the vision is put into practice. The practical detail of what each principle means for individuals and for practices and plans (the which means below) will be developed through discussions with staff and young people. The aim of this will be to help to increase and deepen understanding of what the vision means in practice. 1. Engagement not intervention/delivery/remediation, which means 2. Hope and aspiration, which means 3. Responsibility and choice, which means 4. Partnership, which means 5. Relevance, starting with interests and strengths, which means 6. Progression and recognition of achievement, which means 7. Connection, which means 8. Consistency, continuity and sustainability, which means 9. Influencing and leading by example, which means 10. Learning and reflecting, which means CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VISION IN PRACTICE Values, culture, regime, services, environment Staff commitment, knowledge, skills Relationships and behaviours Involvement of young people in decisions Facilitating links with families, community and employers Health provision and services Collaboration between partners Using proven approaches, assessing outcomes, evaluation Assessment, planning and support Involving young people actively in induction, assessment and planning Identifying strengths, assets and needs Developing plans for the time in custody and beyond and putting these into action Having one person who will maintain a positive relationship with the young person during and after custody Tailored opportunities for learning and development Motivating young people to engage Using the entire life and work of the establishment for learning and development Enabling each young person to progress across the four strands of learning Developing insideoutside links and experiences Planned support in the community Housing Family/friends Health and support for addictions Finance Information and advice Mentoring and support Progressing into and sustaining work/ volunteering/learning Leisure If we are being successful, the environment will display certain characteristics. Some examples are: 1. All young people are welcomed into the establishment. They engage in an introductory phase which identifies strengths, assets (including relationships) and interests as well as needs. They take part in a healthcare induction which emphasises health promotion. 2. Young people play an active part in developing individual, phased plans for how they will use their time during their sentence, initially to address their needs and wellbeing and then to progress across all four strands of learning and prepare for liberation and beyond. 3. Staff act as role models for positive relationships and actively seek opportunities that may act as hooks for change in a young person s life. They are consistent in their expectations and interactions. Young people are positive about their relationships with staff. 4. Young people have opportunities and support to enable them to exercise both choice and responsibility. They are involved in planning and providing learning activities to their peers. 5. Young people are motivated to learn. They actively engage for as full a working day as practicable in activities which enable them to address their needs and make progress in the skills, attitudes and knowledge they need for successful reintegration to their communities. As far as possible their progress is recognised through appropriate qualifications.

5 VISION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IN CUSTODY The culture, environment, food and range of services provided promote health and wellbeing. The Prison Healthcare service develops and adapts to support the ethos and vision and meet the needs of young people in custody. This includes supporting young people s plans, offering interventions focussed on their individual needs and making referrals to services in the community. 7. Systems for incentives, rewards and sanctions reflect and support the values and intentions of the vision. 8. Planned outside-inside contacts involving family, community, work and learning help to maintain existing positive relationships and develop new ones. Appropriately-phased activities (such as access to the community and supervised work placements) help successful reintegration or transition. 9. Each young person is supported back into the community through a programme for reintegration, based on their strengths and their needs, including accommodation, health (with referrals made as necessary), family, friends and community relationships, finance, continued learning, work/placement. Those who are progressing to adult prisons have plans to support them through the transition and ensure continuity in their learning and development. 10. All partners work closely together and play their parts in achieving the intended outcomes (providing comprehensive records, taking part in joint planning, support and review, making connections with the community, and supporting reintegration). 11. All of those who work with the young people understand their role. They have the qualities, specialist skills, knowledge and motivation to support young people s development and change. Their continuing professional development enables them to extend their expertise. 12. Everyone involved takes part in evaluation of the quality of service and outcomes, and appropriate performance measures are used to review and improve practice. In the next stage of implementation of the vision these characteristics will be further developed to produce Standards for Young People in custody in Scotland. In the meantime, they are reflected in the outline logic model at the end of this paper. The outline logic model offers some preliminary examples of short-, medium- and long-term outcomes. These will be developed further in the next stage, taking account of the need to make careful, not over-elaborate, use of data. During custody, evidence might be gained from: > evaluations of culture and relationships; > evaluations of the range and quality of learning experiences; > feedback from young people about, for example, the value of activities and what they learned from them; > information on progression in attitudes, learning and skills; > information on qualifications and awards from CVs/records of achievement; and > figures such as numbers engaging with planning for their time in custody and reintegration, participation in activities, time out of cell, and contacts with family. After a young person leaves custody: > information on participation in planned support and reintegration activities and achievement of goals; > information on transitions into appropriate accommodation, learning, work or placement, and how young people sustain these; and > evidence from independent interviews showing to what extent the time spent in custody and support afterwards have supported reintegration and desistance. More broadly: > Evidence of how well Community Planning Partnerships or other relevant partnership groupings and bodies monitor and support the reintegration of young offenders. HOW WILL WE KNOW? OUTCOMES AND INDICATORS OF SUCCESS Reoffending/reconviction rates will remain a very important indicator of success, but they are influenced by many factors and do not provide an adequate picture on their own. To understand the impact, strengths and weaknesses of the different aspects of the approach, and so improve it, SPS and partners will need: information on how consistently and how well the intended processes are taking place; qualitative and quantitative evidence of young people s assessed needs and progress; findings from longitudinal research on patterns of employment and relationships; and young people s reflections on what made (or might have made) a difference to reoffending.

6 VISION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IN CUSTODY 06 TO SUM UP The fundamentals of the vision are engaging, motivating and moving on. Engaging Individuals who commit to changing their lives often say that their turning point came when someone listened to them and made them feel that they mattered. Involving young people in planning and decision making helps them to have some control of their lives and learn to make good choices. Motivating Helping young people to believe that they can have a different life may encourage them to do things that will help them towards that future. Moving on Preparing from the outset for reintegration offers a better chance of coming successfully through the period after release to a positive future. NEXT STEPS The vision has major implications for young people in custody, individual staff members, establishments, SPS and its partners and national policy. Local development plans are already addressing many of the implications. In addition, the plans for implementation include: > ensuring that everyone who works with young people in custody or has responsibilities for them understands the vision and their contributions to achieving it; > engaging with young people, staff and partners to develop the principles and characteristics into Standards for Young People in Custody. These will eventually be used for self-evaluation, to ensure that we continue to develop and improve how we provide for and support young people; > implementing arrangements to meet the requirements of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014; > establishing comprehensive professional development for all staff who work with young people in custody to enable them to develop and apply the knowledge, understanding, skills and attributes they will need, including youth work approaches; and > ensuring that arrangements for performance management, commissioning and other relevant processes support the implementation of the vision, and that necessary infrastructure is in place to support it. SPS December 2014

7 VISION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IN CUSTODY 07 USING THE TIME A YOUNG PERSON SPENDS IN CUSTODY TO PREPARE FOR A POSITIVE FUTURE OUTLINE LOGIC MODEL (TO BE FURTHER DEVELOPED COLLABORATIVELY AS PART OF THE NEXT STAGE OF IMPLEMENTATION) Inputs Outputs Examples of possible shared outcomes Young people themselves, including as mentors Staff Families Time Money Buildings and facilities Staff training and development Range of appropriate, targeted activities and resources to support these Range of styles of activity in different settings, using methods designed to engage and motivate individual young people Statutory partners working collaboratively: health, social work, education, housing, Skills Development Scotland, Department for Work and Pensions Third sector partners providing services and supporting learning and reintegration Employers and training providers Evidence and feedback Systems of accountability Activities Participation Short term Medium term Long term Induction, assessment of strengths, assets and needs Consistent constructive dayto-day interaction between staff and young people Phased, tailored plans of activities to address individual wellbeing and needs Phased activities to further develop strengths and enable progression across the four strands of learning, including peer mentoring Plans and activities to prepare for successful reintegration Tailored support and activity following return to community All young people Peer mentors Family members Young people in custody feel they get on well with staff More are motivated to participate in relevant activities Their attitudes to their behaviour and aspirations change They make progress in their skills and attitudes and their achievements are recognised formally or informally More have throughcare arrangements and comprehensive plans in place for their return to the community Staff are aware of the implications of the vision for young people in custody for their role More young people in custody participate in assessment, planning and review processes, with families involved where possible More engage in planned activities to address needs and build their skills across the four strands of learning More demonstrate improved levels of skill in communication, literacy, numeracy and IT More demonstrate change their behaviour and aspirations They have records of their achievements including qualifications where appropriate More young people on remand participate in activities There are fewer disruptive events Staff knowledge and skills in working with young people develop further and are valued Satisfaction levels (young people and staff) improve The quality and extent of engagement with families is increased where possible Health and wellbeing of young people in custody improve More experience full working days of activity More have supported contact with work and the community during their sentence More have someone who will support them throughout their sentence and beyond More have success in securing and sustaining employment and/or volunteering More take up and sustain college/training places There are enhanced relationships within communities Reduced re/offending

8 Scottish Prison Service Headquarters Calton House 5 Redheughs Rigg South Gyle Edinburgh EH12 9HW This document is also available from our website Produced on behalf of the Scottish Prison Services by APS Group, December 2014