New Prison Council projects at HMP Birmingham and HMYOI Aylesbury

In September, we began working in HMYOI Aylesbury, the first time our model has been delivered for young offenders. We are currently in the process of recruiting the party members before they undertake training in preparation for the elections.

We have also been commisioned by G4S to start up a new Prison Council in HMP Birmingham. As the first prison in the UK to have moved from the public to private sector, it will pose unique challenges. However, our model is flexible and we hope to emulate the success of our Prison Councils at HMPs Isle of Wight, Maidstone, Rye Hill and Wolds.

Watch this space for updates on these two new projects coming soon to our Councils page on the website.

MARK JOHNSON appointed new member of London Probation Trust Board

Mark Johnson has been appointed a member of the London Probation Trust board. The decision was approved by Secretary of State, Kenneth Clarke.

London Probation Trust is the largest Trust and probation services provider in the UK. The Trust supervises over 40,000 service users covering the 32 boroughs in the capital, which accounts for approximately 20 per cent of all supervised offenders in the UK.

"I am delighted to have been appointed and look forward to seeing what I can do for the community"
Mark Johnson, Founder and CEO of User Voice

AUGUST DISTURBANCES: YJB commission User Voice to run consultation with Young People

Much has already been said about the people involved and the underlying causes of the disturbances across the UK in August this year. This is not surprising: the events were frightening and resulted in five deaths, at least 16 injuries, the loss of people’s homes and businesses and damage totalling millions.

Police and court statistics provide some information about age breakdown and geographical spread. However many wider assumptions have been made – about previous criminality, the role of gang culture, race relations, policing, poverty and inequality – without detailed knowledge or talking to those involved.

It is in this context that the Youth Justice Board has asked User Voice to undertake a consultation with some of the young people who were involved in the August disturbances and who have since been sentenced to a community sentence or to custody for their role.

In addition the Youth Justice Board has asked User Voice to undertake consultation with young people who have a similar profile who did not get involved in areas which face similar pressures to those where disturbances occurred.

The Youth Justice Board’s purpose in doing this project is to:

• Bring the voice and experiences of these young people into the public debate;
• Provide evidence about the different characteristics and motivations of those young people who got involved;
• Explore whether there are identifiable reasons why trouble did not escalate elsewhere where similar issues and characteristics were present; and
• Inform the Youth Justice Board’s work going forward and the broader policy debate.

Taken as a whole, the project aims to provide information about:

• The young people’s thoughts on the disturbances in general;
• Details of the young people's involvement, including why they got involved, and who with;
• Contextual information (views and experience of family, education, training, employment, etc).

User Voice will work in partnership with Durham University, which will provide methodological advice and guidance. This area of the partnership working from the university side will be led by Professor Graham Towl, Deputy Warden at Durham University.

What's Your Story RE-LAUNCHED for 2011

It's BIGGER than last year!

What’s Your Story? 2011 is a new and inspirational young offender engagement project designed by User Voice, at the invitation of the Youth Justice Board.

Between now and the Annual Youth Justice Convention in November, User Voice will be working across England & Wales with 600 young people who have experience of the youth justice system.

50 of these young people, selected by their peers, will attend the Convention to discuss their issues and experiences with 50 leading representatives of the system.

Nothing like this has ever been done before on this scale!

See our dedicated MICROSITE for further information.

Alternatively email info@uservoice.org

or call 020 3137 7471.

London Probation Trust Service User Council Pilot

Our latest project is something never tried before!

It is an amazing and unique opportunity for users of probation services to have their voices heard.

London Probation Trust (LPT) has commissioned User Voice to develop service user councils in four London boroughs:
1. Greenwich
2. Haringey
3. Kingston & Richmond
4. Tower Hamlets

So if you are on Probation in one of these boroughs, click here for further information!

YOU are needed to help improve services!

HMP Maidstone Scores High in MQPL Survey

The objective of the Measuring the Quality of Prison Life Survey conducted by the National Offender Management Service is to explore prisoner perceptions of their quality of life.

The questionnaire consists of 128 statements such as
'This is a decent prison' or
'We spend too much time locked up'

and participants are given the following options:
1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Neither agree nor disagree
4. Agree
5. Strongly agree

The statements are divided into 21 themes.

Relative to other prisons, HMP Maidstone recorded a high score for the Personal Autonomy theme.

Extracts from the Findings in Context section from the draft report:

“The Governor explained that in conjunction with the charity organisation User Voice, substantial efforts had been made to introduce a democratically elected prisoner council which was in operation at the time of the survey and which afforded prisoners an avenue to air their views and to take part in identifying problems, suggesting solutions and thus being involved in the running of the prison.

“He described this as a successful exercise which directly involved a substantial proportion of the population, enabled staff and prisoners to work collaboratively, and addressed issues that affected all prisoners.

“Hence, he suggested, this was one of the significant explanations for prisoners at Maidstone having more positive than average perceptions of Personal Autonomy, referring to aspects such as
• 'I have no control over my day-to-day life here' and
• 'The regime in this prison allows me opportunities for me to think for myself'
(prisoners were relatively even more positive in response to 'You can keep your personality in this prison').

“He also suggested that this work was a major contribution to the high score for the Harmony dimensions, and if this were true for Personal Autonomy and Harmony then it could perhaps also apply to aspects of other dimensions such as Bureaucratic Legitimacy and Personal Development.”

User Voice keeps getting BIGGER....

User Voice are pleased to announce that our front-line team has expanded to keep pace with an increased demand for our services, including:

contracts to establish Prison Councils for G4S at HMP Rye Hill and HMP Wolds;

What's Your Story? 2011 involving 600 young people across the country; and

a contract from London Probation Trust to pilot our Council Model in a community setting.

We have therefore recruited 4 ex-offenders to help us deliver our current projects:

1 full-time Programme Manager based in Birmingham; and

3 part-time Assistant Programme Managers based in London.

Exciting times ahead....