Chris Grayling’s disastrous probation privatisation experiment is over – now it’s time for change

Lives have been wasted and new victims harmed in this broken system. After privatisation and austerity, we need to rebuild a nationalised probation service that protects

During the height of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, more than 1,000 people were released from prison with nowhere to go. Hundreds began sleeping rough despite the lockdown, risking their own health and public health, plus shattering any hope for a new and positive future. For 27 per cent of those released between 23 March and 30 April, the government had no idea where they were planning to live.

It isn’t clear why the Ministry of Justice failed to implement the same “Everyone In” policy that was put in place by councils across the country. As Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation has confirmed in a recent report, homelessness for prison leavers is a disaster for rehabilitation. The inspectorate found that the proportion of prison leavers back in custody a year later was 35 per cent for those released to a secure home. That figure is unacceptably high, but for those who were released homeless it’s almost twice as high, at 63 per cent.

The same report contains so many powerful stories of vulnerable prison leavers who so clearly need support if they’re going to stay safe and not reoffend. Even prison can feel safer than the freezing and dangerous streets. One man described how he “kept reoffending to get put back inside as [he] couldn’t get accommodation”. In his case, that cycle went on for seven years. One woman felt she had no choice but to return to an abusive partner’s home. Lives are wasted and new victims are harmed while the system remains broken.

Labour wants a justice system that really tackles reoffending. A service that protects our communities by ensuring those who have made mistakes get the support needed to lead law-abiding, productive lives.

We must rebuild and rejuvenate the National Probation Service and invest in its staff. They are overlooked public servants who have endured impossible caseloads, chaotic management and severe underinvestment for most of the last decade of austerity.

Currently, probation services are fragmented and neglected, hindered from realising their highest ideals, despite the commitment and dedication of probation workers. Reoffending rates after one year remain unacceptably high and are generally highest for crimes like theft, at 52 per cent, which is closely linked to chaotic lives.

As Chris Grayling’s catalogue of disastrous changes to the probation service from his time as justice secretary are unpicked, the government must make homes for prison leavers a priority. However, homelessness is far from the only cause of reoffending that must be tackled at scale. Other major causes of reoffending include poverty, mental health issues, alcohol and drug dependency, broken family relationships, and a lack of skills.

We also know that black, Asian and minority ethnic communities are disproportionately represented in a justice system that still fails to address its own bias effectively. David Lammy’s 2017 report for the government still hasn’t been fully implemented, and there is far more to do besides.

The solution to fixing probation services is consistent, joined-up support through strong partnerships with health services, local authorities, education and social care services. It means working with charities and community groups to create and share information and plans with people before they leave prison.

Probation services need to have local links to charity and public service partners so that they can immediately begin to build relationships to turn lives around. The successful support of offenders away from criminal activity could prevent huge amounts of trauma for victims of crime, enabling our communities to heal.

It is time for a national strategy to join up mental and physical healthcare, drug and alcohol support, education, training, and employment. The alternative is grim, but all too familiar. When people are lost in the system their second chance is lost too, and a lapse back to crime can take just days. We owe it to victims of crime, and to our communities, to rebuild a probation service that protects them by stopping the endless cycle of reoffending.

Lyn Brown is Labour MP for West Ham and shadow minister for justice