James Duddridge, Member of Parliament for Rochford and Southend East, outlines changes to the Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) scheme which operates in every prison across the country following the scheme’s recent review.
Over recent months The Ministry of Justice have conducted a review and looked at the prison regime and how it can strengthen and support the efforts to rehabilitate prisoners and give the public greater confidence in the prison system.
The purpose of the Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) scheme will be changed so that not only are prisoners expected to behave well, but they will also be expected to work towards their own rehabilitation and help other prisoners or staff. Gaining additional privileges will require not, just the absence of negative behaviour, but also the demonstration of positive behaviour targeted at rehabilitation. Prisoners will not achieve Enhanced, the highest level of privileges, unless they demonstrate both an active commitment to their own rehabilitation and provide help or support to other prisoners and/or prison staff.
In addition, inappropriate items or activities which prisoners have been able to access will be removed, ensuring that prisons operate to a consistent standard when rewarding prisoners for positive behaviour and engaging with efforts to rehabilitate them.
The key features of the revised IEP scheme will be:
· Access to different levels of the scheme will be linked more closely to participation in rehabilitation
· There will be a single national list of the activities and items available at each level from which prison governors may choose what is appropriate to their prisons and prisoners
· There will be a new entry level of IEP for all prisoners where privileges, including access to their private cash, will be restricted for 14 days. During this period prisoners will be required to demonstrate good behaviour and those who have been convicted will be required to take the initial steps necessary to begin to address their offending behaviour
· Newly convicted adult male prisoners will wear prison clothing during the entry level period
· Any offender returned to prison for breaching licence conditions will be at this new entry level regardless of which level they had reached before release
· At the end of the entry level period, prisoners who demonstrate no willingness to cooperate with the prison regime or engage in rehabilitation will move to basic level and stay there until they do. In-cell TVs are not available at basic level. Those who do cooperate and engage will move to standard level
· Bad behaviour will lead to an IEP review with the presumption of a downgrade.
In addition:
· Subscription TV channels will be removed from the prison estate;
· Prisoners will not be allowed to possess or view 18-rated DVDs
· The regime in prisons will change so that convicted prisoners will be subject to a longer working day. Prisoners will not be allowed to watch TV when they should be working or engaged in purposeful activity; and
· To support the focus on rehabilitation, recreation will take place outside the working part of the day. Access to gyms beyond structured activity will be available only to prisoners who are actively engaged in work, education or rehabilitation.
James said
“The recent review of the Incentives and Earned Privileges Scheme has highlighted a number of positive changes. These changes, alongside a backdrop of prisoners spending more time working, taking part in education or engaged in efforts to rehabilitate them, rather than watching television and using the gym will provide them with an opportunity to turn their lives around.”