Niacro

NIACRO works to reduce crime and its impact on people and communities

NIACRO’S RESPONSE TO THE NIPS CONSULTATION ON

MANAGEMENT OF FOREIGN NATIONAL PRISONERS

DECEMBER 2006

1.        INTRODUCTION

1.1       NIACRO, the Northern Ireland Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders, is a voluntary organisation, working for 35 years to reduce crime and its impact on people and communities.  NIACRO provides services under the headings of: working in communities; working with children and young people who offend; working with offenders and ex-prisoners; working with prisoners, their families and children; influencing policy and practice; and applying resources effectively.

1.2NIACRO’s Vision is to be acknowledged as making a unique contribution to the development of a society in which the rights of everyone, including offenders, are equally respected.

1.3NIACRO’s Mission Statement is, “working to reduce crime and its impact on people and communities.

1.4NIACRO welcomes the opportunity to respond to this draft guide for staff with respect to the Management of Foreign National Prisoners as the organisation’s services are available to all in the Criminal Justice System.

1.5NIACRO is aware that the NI Prison Service is planning for an increase in the prison population, it is therefore likely that the foreign national prisoners population will also increase.

1.6Although it is beyond the remit of this paper NIACRO would wish to reinforce the view that sentenced foreign nationals be given the opportunity, should they desire, to serve their sentences in their country of origin.

1.7NIACRO would wish to make the following points:

2.RESPONSE

2.1Given the likely increase in the foreign national prisoner population NIACRO believes that there should be a requirement that a “rolling audit” be carried out to establish specifically how many foreign nationals are actually on remand as well as sentenced and specify the country of origin.

2.2With respect to Foreign National Liaison Officers (FNLOs) NIACRO would argue that the Maghaberry post be made permanent with immediate effect.and that these posts should not have other duties included.  To do so would be to dilute the services and resources available to foreign national prisoners.  The draft document outlines some of the functions of the FNLOs.  These duties are likely to increase as the population increases and the FNLOs would be central not only to providing developing services outlined to date but also it is likely that these posts could be central to the delivery of training to prison and other associated staff personnel.

2.3We are unsure as to what the difference is between FNLOs and Equality and Diversity Officers.

2.4We would make the point that whilst “E&D Officers” can advise on the use of Language Line the significant issues are likely to be around the subsequent use of interpreters.

2.5The paper examines the notion of foreign national befrienders. NIACRO would recommend the introduction of internal and external befriending/mentoring.  As stated in the paper internal befriending could be provided by existing prisoners however external befriending should be encouraged particularly as a cultural imbalance is likely to occur in relation to the numbers of prisoners appropriate to match.  Equity issues will need to be taken into account e.g. if there were significant numbers of Polish prisoners they may receive better services than a prisoner who has no cultural connections within or beyond the establishment.

2.6Consideration should be given to strengthening contacts and services from organisations such as Multi-Cultural Resource Centre, NICEM as well as the Law Centre.  Two of these organisations have been referenced in the paper. 

2.7With respect to Foreign National Prisoner Networks much work has been carried out in an international context.  The paper as presented focuses on very localised services and it may be appropriate to identify and link into networks beyond the jurisdiction of Northern Ireland.

2.8Reference has been made to possible payments to prisoners for their assistance.  This is to be welcomed and requires further discussion not least what the rate of these payments would be.

2.9In terms of existing and developing more services there are resource issues and again the draft paper notes this and it is clear that discussions with NIPS Procurement will determine the level of resourcing.  NIACRO would note that face to face interpreting is more expensive than the initial, short, telephone interpreting provided by Lifeline.  The Prison Service should also take account of cultural differences within language e.g. NIACRO recently had a DVD translated from English to Latvian however the translator was Russian – a fact that was picked up and commented on negatively for grammatical as well as political reasons!

2.10Annex G – need to specify how many languages in which leaflets will be produced.

2.11No mention is made of the potential to offer English language classes to those foreign national prisoners who desire it.  These could probably be offered through prisoner education.

2.12Any CD ROM produced will probably need to have a budget to allow for including other languages as and when appropriate i.e. anticipate that the foreign national population will diversify and the response in terms of information provision would need to be rapid.

2.13The draft paper refers to access to reading material however whilst this is to be welcomed NIACRO would argue that in addition online newspapers should be made available – this would have the advantage of being more cost effective as well as being more immediate.

2.14Family contact has been referred to with particular reference to maintaining links.  Much research has been carried out into the difficulties experienced by those (both prisoners and families of prisoners) who are separated from their loved ones.  In the light of experience – particularly within and beyond the jurisdiction of Northern Ireland in the past 35 years consideration should be given to the facilitation of visits particularly for families who have no or little income who are from other jurisdictions. This could potentially be situated with an NGO or NGO collective working in conjunction with the Prison Service.

2.15More definition is required with respect to how soon foreign national prisoners may make a phone call after committal.

2.16With respect to isolated prisoners there are a range of organisations who may be interested in providing services – especially visitors for isolated prisoners.  It would be useful to link this into the mentoring/befriending services referred to above.

2.17The draft paper discusses the role of Equality and Diversity Officers.  Again NIACRO would make a point that it is perhaps expecting too much of the E& D Officers to provide all of these services particularly if they are an adjunct to existing duties.

2.18NIACRO would support the principle that training needs to be provided to all those coming into contact with foreign national prisoners.  Staff being trained for such contact need to be screened in relation to any prior history of prejudicial behaviour/remarks.

2.19All matters pertaining to management of foreign national prisoners should be subject to a six monthly review and this review should involve the three establishments and be located at a senior management level of the NI Prison Service.