Transaction Search Form: please type in any of the fields below.
Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 3:55 am
Time: 3:55 am
Results for life sentencing
1 results foundAuthor: Great Britain. Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Probation Title: A joint inspection of Life Sentence Prisoners Summary: Although life sentenced prisoners have committed the most serious crimes, most will be released at some point. The public, therefore, have a right to expect that this will not happen unless they can be safely managed within the community and that they will be effectively supervised and monitored. Being sentenced to an indeterminate period of imprisonment brings a unique dimension to incarceration, since it removes the certainty of release on a given date in the future. One of the key transitional phases in the life sentence is the move from the confines of closed prison to the relative freedom of open conditions. It is the stepping stone that leads towards an eventual return to the community. This inspection focused on that crucial period, given its huge importance for the prisoner, along with the equally significant release on life licence. We were interested in how well life sentence prisoners were supported in moving to open prison, preparing for release, reducing risk of harm and likelihood of reoffending, maintaining family and community links and resettling into society. Perhaps because of the length of time already spent in prison, assumptions were often made that life sentence prisoners knew all about 'the system'. This led to an underestimation in the amount of help and advice they needed, for example to prepare for moves to open prison or for Parole Board hearings. They tended to be treated very much the same as other prisoners, with little attention being given to their particular circumstances or to the importance of retaining family ties in order to support their eventual rehabilitation. As a result, some life sentence prisoners were able to serve their sentence with relatively little challenge to their attitudes and behaviour. Once in open conditions, preparation for release relied heavily upon release on temporary licence. The quality of offender assessments left room for improvement, particularly those completed in custody, and confusion abounded about who was responsible for completing these assessments at key times in the life sentence. Sentence planning was weak, in both prison and the community, and offender managers struggled to design meaningful objectives for those who appeared to have done all required work in custody. Nonetheless, the vast majority of those on life licence formed positive relationships with their offender managers, did not reoffend and, despite the stigma of the life sentence, were able to lead useful and productive lives after release. This inspection highlights the importance of both the work undertaken with the prisoner throughout their sentence to address their behaviour and the need for effective joint work between the prison and community to plan and prepare for safe release. This complementary balance is essential for rehabilitation and should inform the successful implementation of Transforming Rehabilitation. This report contains a number of recommendations to achieve this end. Details: London: Criminal Justice Joint Inspection, 2013. 73p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 2, 2015 at: http://socialwelfare.bl.uk/subject-areas/services-client-groups/adult-offenders/criminaljusticejointinspection/158393life-sentence-prisoners.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://socialwelfare.bl.uk/subject-areas/services-client-groups/adult-offenders/criminaljusticejointinspection/158393life-sentence-prisoners.pdf Shelf Number: 129971 Keywords: Life ImprisonmentLife SentencingPrisonersRehabilitation |