Her Majesty's Prison Service
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Her Majesty's Prison Service is the Executive Agency reporting to the Ministry of Justice tasked with managing most of the prisons within England and Wales (Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own Prison Services - the Scottish Prison Service and Northern Ireland Prison Service). The head of the prison service, the Director-General, currently Phil Wheatley, reports to the Home Secretary and also works closely with the Prisons Minister, a junior ministerial post within the Ministry of Justice.
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[edit] Operation of the Service
As of 2004, the Prison Service is responsible for 138 prisons and employs around 44,000 staff.
The Service's statement of purpose states "Her Majesty's Prison Service serves the public by keeping in custody those committed by the courts. Our duty is to look after them with humanity and help them lead law-abiding and useful lives in custody and after release." The Ministry of Justice's objective for prisons seeks "Effective execution of the sentences of the courts so as to reduce re-offending and protect the public".
Population statistics for the Service are published weekly. Statistics available for October 2007 showed the service housed 80,997 prisoners: 76,588 males and 4,409 females.
[edit] Reform
Early in 2004, it was announced that the Prison Service would be integrated into a new National Offender Management Service later in the year; to date this has not been followed through with action.
Rationalisation of the prison management system is currently underway with the advent of the Titan Prison concept.
[edit] Prison Officer ranks
Although the system is flexible in operation, most Prison Officers work in small teams, either assigned to a specific special duty, or providing one shift of staff for the supervision of a particular wing within a prison. Each such team is led by a Senior Prison Officer. Where several teams work together, such as the different staff shifts on an individual prison wing, there will be an overall supervisor with the rank of Principal Prison Officer. All uniformed prison staff were formerly under the supervision of a small number of very senior and experienced officers who held one of three Chief Officer ranks; however, modern reorganisation of the Service has seen these Chief Officer ranks abolished, and their role taken by junior grade prison Governors.
| Rank | Prison Officer | Senior Prison Officer | Principal Prison Officer | Chief Officer Grades |
| Insignia |  |
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These three grades have been abolished and replaced with junior Governor grades. (Previously the grades of Assistant Chief Officer, Chief Officer (II), and Chief Officer (I), wore uniform markings of three stars, crown, star & crown, respectively.) |
[edit] Private Prisons
The Prison Service does not manage all prisons within England and Wales. Currently there are seven prisons that have been designed, constructed, managed and financed (so-called DCMF prisons) privately. There are two further prisons that were built with public money but are managed privately. Two more DCMF prisons, in Bronzefield (HM Prison) at Ashford and Peterborough, have recently been opened. Private prisons are subject to scrutiny by the Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons in a similar manner to prisons run by the public Prison Service.
Every prison in England and Wales, even those run by the private sector, have allocated to them an Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), formerly known as a Board of Visitors. Members of the IMB are appointed by the Home Secretary and act as 'watchdogs' for both the Minister of Prisons and the general public.
[edit] Proposed legislation
On 6 January 2004, then Home Secretary David Blunkett announced that the Prison Service, together with the National Probation Service, is to be integrated into a new National Offender Management Service. The Service, Blunkett said, will be "a new body to provide end-to-end management of all offenders". The Prison Service will still have a Director General, who will report to the Chief Executive of the new agency. As of August 2005, the changes had yet to be introduced, with the relevant parliamentary bill having been abandoned due to the general election.[1]
In January, 2008, the Home Secretary announced that the government was to introduce legislation to remove the right for Prison Officers in England and Wales to take strike action.[2]
[edit] Independent Monitoring Board
Every prison and immigration removal centre has an Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), formerly known as a Board of Visitors. Members of the IMB, who are volunteers, are appointed by the Home Secretary and act as 'watchdogs' for both the Minister of Prisons and the general public, to ensure that proper standards of care and decency are maintained.[3]
[edit] References
[edit] See also
- Scottish Prison Service
- Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons
- United Kingdom prison population
- List of United Kingdom prisons
- Prison categories in the United Kingdom
- OASys
