1. The Prison Service and its Mission Statement

Click below to view topics Description
The emergence of the prison service The long history of prisons and houses of correction in England and Wales is closely connected with the local administration of justice. This situation was transformed during the nineteenth century through a number of acts of parliament that had created a centrally controlled prison system by 1888.
The prison estate
 There are over 140 prisons spread throughout England and Wales serving the needs of male and female prisoners over the age of 15. Because they represent varying degrees of risk to the public and have different rehabilitative needs they can be sent to any one of a wide range of different types of prison.
The prison population In 1993 the average prison population was 44,566 but by January 2008 it had risen to 80,778.
The Prison Mission Statement or Statement of Purpose Her Majesty's Prison Service serves the public by keeping in custody those committed by the courts. Its duty is to look after them with humanity and help them lead law-abiding and useful lives in custody and after release.
Prison Service Instructions and Prison Service Orders The Prison Service Instructions (PSIs) and Prison Service Orders (PSOs) provide guidelines for managing prisons in pursuit of the prisons’ mission. Some of these documents have implications for the provision of education and training in prisons.
Monitoring the Work of Prisons The Board of Visitors at each establishment, the Prison and Probation Ombudsman and Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons are three ways in which the work of prisons is monitored. The Prison Service also has it’s own internal monitoring systems.
The National Offender Management Service (NOMS)

The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) brings together the prison and probation services into a single structure. It is responsible for managing offenders, whether in prison or the community, and reducing re-offending. It has the following aims:

  • Protect the public
  • Reduce re-offending
  • Punish offenders
  • Rehabilitate offenders
  • Ensure victims feel justice has been done
End-to-end offender management Operationally NOMS seeks to ensure that offenders are offered the best possible opportunity to change their offending behaviour by a new concept called end-to-end offender management. Local Offender Management teams help to design and support individual intervention programmes that will have the greatest chance of positively influencing offenders’ behaviour.
Offender Assessment System (OASys) The Offender Assessment System (OAYSys) is the tool used by the Prison & Probation Services to assess the prisoners’ risk of harm to themselves and others and inform their sentence plan. The tool is also used to look at the factors affecting social exclusion to identify needs and plan interventions that will help reduce re-offending.