- Governors have greater freedom to offer the incentives which
work best for their particular cohort of prisoners
- Those who don’t follow the rules will have privileges removed
and face swifter punishment through our new adjudications process
- The move is intended to help break the cycle of reoffending
and put prisoners on the right path
Prison governors will today be able to have their say on a new
approach to incentives which encourages prisoners to take
responsibility for their own rehabilitation.
A consultation is being launched on the new Incentives and Earned
Privileges policy, which would empower governors to design their
own programme of incentives tailored to the specific challenges
in their prison.
Those who behave well and engage in meaningful activities such as
education and employment programmes could receive privileges such
as more time in the gym or additional visits.
Crucially, governors will be able to tackle poor behaviour by
taking away privileges – returning people to a more basic regime
and living conditions – and will have greater freedom to decide
how prisoners move up or down privilege levels.
Prisons Minister said:
Prisons must be places of safety, decency and purposeful
activity to turn around the lives of those in custody.
This new framework will give governors the tools to set clear
behavioural standards for offenders under their watch, and the
consequences should these not be met.
Research on behaviour change shows positive reinforcement is much
more effective at shaping behaviour than punishment and, while
sometimes necessary, punishment alone does not effectively change
behaviour.
Many consider that the incentives system is not currently as
effective as it could be, with governors having too little
flexibility to establish incentives that their particular cohort
of prisoners value.
We are therefore providing governors with more freedom to design
their incentive scheme to take account of the local needs of
their prison population and the facilities available in their
prison. This means a prison with a good gym, or a wing with a
kitchen area, could better use these in its IEP system in future.
Governors could also choose to increase the amount of time out of
cell an individual prisoner receives to engage in recreational
activities or exercise alongside education and work programmes.
And to better assist them in preparing for life back in the
community, governors could choose to incentivise prisoners by
offering additional visits from family and friends, with more
flexible timings.
We will retain sensible limitations on governors’ freedoms, so
that, for example, no paid for TV channels or other inappropriate
incentives are permitted.
And for those who don’t follow the rules, a strict system of
adjudications and punishments will ensure that governors are able
to deal swiftly with those who refuse to engage. Punishments
range from the removal of privileges to harsher measures such as
prosecution and additional prison time.
Notes to editors
- The consultation will launch today (3 September) and will run
for a period of 28 days.
- The new system will retain 3 privilege levels: basic,
standard and enhanced, but remove ‘entry level’ which Governors
tell us is bureaucratic and penalises prisoners who are new,
setting up an adversarial relationship with staff from the
outset.
