Reoffending rates
Disappointingly reoffending rates for black people remain the highest and the update provides very little by way of actions to address this issue. However, it is encouraging following a meeting between EQUAL and Dr Jo Farrar, Chief Executive of HMPPS, that further work has been planned to take place with Hannah Meyer, Executive Director, Reducing Reoffending, to explore ways of involving BAME/Muslim communities and businesses in the reducing reoffending through employment and engagement.
Incentive forums
The Lammy Review recommendation 24 stated that each prison governor should ensure that there is an Incentives forum with both BAME and white prisoners represented. Currently black and mixed prisoners have the highest number on basic and lowest number on enhanced incentives. We are aware that age plays a significant role in incentives, given that the younger you are the more likely you are to be on basic incentives, which indirectly disproportionately impacts on BAME people.
HMPPS should gather data to show that the prisons Incentive forums have BAME prisoner representation and that they have been supported to understand and comment on race disparities in the Incentives and Earned Privileges system. This 2020 update provides no evidence that this is happening. Research should also be undertaken to assess the significance of age in incentives and the indirect impact on particular groups.
PAVA incapacitant spray
EQUAL/BTEG, as a member of the HMPPS External Advice and Scrutiny Panel, has raised a number of issues with the current PAVA rollout in prisons. It seems that far more scrutiny of each prison’s use of force in relation to BAME prisoners is needed before a full-scale rollout goes ahead. The readiness assessments described in the update require development and a more in-depth analysis of how prisons are complying with the Equality Act’s public sector equality duty. It remains a concern that a disparity in PAVA use exists but has not been explained before its rollout.
Gypsy, Roma and Traveller
Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities have often been overlooked when discussing issues of racial disparity in the CJS. This was highlighted in the Lammy Review. It is encouraging to see how much work has been done in the last two years to help identify these groups and try to recognise the challenges that they may face. The introduction of GRT as a category in the 2021 census, the National Scrutiny Panel to consider hate crime against GRT communities and revisions to the Equal Treatment Bench Book are all positive steps towards ensuring equal treatment of GRT communities throughout the CJS.
We are keen to see how the use of new, more sophisticated data collection methods will impact on national action plans.