Introduction
We know that alcohol misuse and offending are linked. Victims of
violent crime are regularly asked in the England and Wales Crime Survey
what part do they think alcohol played in the offense they suffered
and in the most recent published survey in 47% of these cases the
victim believed the offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol.
Offenders
themselves recognize alcohol to be an issue for them; 37% of male
prisoners and 46% of women prisoners perceive their drinking to be a big
problem . And they know that drinking makes their offending worse; 72%
of men and 58% of women say that drinking contributed to their offending
behavior.
Unfortunately the good work that prisons do in helping
offenders address their drinking problems lead to little behaviour
change when offenders are released, or at least lead little to improved
recidivism rates. Those with a significant pre custody alcohol drink
problem who participate in custodial detoxification programmes,
accredited alcohol programmes (whether in or out of prison) or other
alcohol interventions have the same recidivism rates as non participants
with the same alcohol problems.
Offenders who enter prison with
alcohol dependency may leave physically detoxified but the good
intentions they may have on leaving (possibly even briefly) cannot
withstand it seems the pull of their own impulses and the peer pressure
to which they may be subjected. However what we also know is that even
recidivist offenders want to stop. When asked in the survey referred to
in footnote 4 97% said that they wanted to give up offending.
What
may assist offenders bridge the gap between the routine, discipline and
sobriety brought to them in prison and the freedom they have to make
bad decisions on release is an extrinsic motivator that helps them hold
onto good habits and resist anti social behaviour and anti social
accomplices.
The Potential Benefits of Alcohol Monitoring Offenders
on completing a sentence that lasts for several months or years need to
become reacclimatised to world into which they are to be released.
Moving from dependency to freedom, albeit under licence tests their
decision making and their ability to make good life choices. They also
need to get reacquainted with their families. Release on Temporary
Licence (RoTL) offers prisoners an opportunity to reintegrate with the
world in which they will soon be free.
While on temporary
licence they have to abstain from alcohol and drugs, just as if they
were still inside the prison. Whether or not they abide by these
instructions is not really known. If they were to return intoxicated, of
course the prison would know, but otherwise not.
The public
disquiet that arose in the summer of 2014 in the case of Michael
Wheatley, an offender who absconded while on temporary licence, has led
the Ministry of Justice to evaluate a number of alterations to the RoTL
regime. A programme that tests the ability of RoTL prisoners to comply
with their licence conditions which also gives the Prison service better
information about an offender’s propensity to go off track could add
considerably to our knowledge of what could work long term in reducing
reoffending.
As well as offering intelligence benefits to the
Prison Service it offers prisoners benefits as well. Those that can
demonstrate compliance and sobriety can be rewarded with further RoTLs.
They can also start to build a “sobriety CV”, which could help in Family
Court and Child Custody proceedings if their drinking is a matter that
leads to safeguarding concerns. If it keeps them sober it can also help
them begin to develop pro social habits and help them stay away from
people and places that get them into trouble. The likelihood that
breaches of their licence will lead to swift and certain negative
consequences may have the effect of deterring them from breaching their
licence. Two prominent findings from criminological research are that
punishment certainty is far more consistently found to deter crime than
punishment severity , and furthermore that the speed at which the
punishment is meted out also contributes to its deterrent effect . This
scheme will lead to certainty and speed of detection
The Sure Start In HOM BreathalyserThis
is a portable breathalyser that is connected to the mains, is
programmed to store breath sample data and while receiving the breath
samples to take a photograph of the donor. The data provided by the
donor (breath sample and photograph) is stored in the device and on
return to the device’s base ( in this case the prisons) is downloaded,
analysed and produced in PDF format as a report within a few hours.
The
report will tell the recipient whether the prisoner has provided the
samples required , what the alcohol reading is for each sample and will
provide the accompanying photograph for each supplied sample. This data
will give the prisons enough information to be certain as to whether
the RoTL prisoners complied with their licence.
The PilotFor
a period of 6 months Brixton and Send prisons will identify 10 RoTL
prisoners each week and will supply them with a Sure Start portable
breathalyser. These will only be supplied to those who are away from the
prison for at least one night. They will be instructed to take the
device to their home, plug it in and provide say three breath samples a
day at times determined by the Governors. The devices will be programmed
to this effect. On return to the Prison they will bring the devices
back and the data will be downloaded. The numbers of prisoners in the
pilot will quickly enable deductions to be drawn as to its
effectiveness, and progress can be planned.
Practical IssuesThere are a number of practical issues for the prisons to work through
- RAPT
have expressed enthusiasm in being involved in this pilot. There may be
additional workload for them in the event of a high failure rate. (In
fact the US experience of offenders using these devices , albeit in a
different regime , is that compliance is high)
- Some criteria for selection need to be drawn up and ideally some lessons learned from success and failure.
- The
consequence of failed tests, non tests and marginal failures will need
to be worked through and a documented approach developed.
Other Issues
- The
devices on arriving in the UK will need to be calibrated ; a gas sample
with a known alcohol concentration needs to be passed through the
devices to make sure that they provide an accurate reading.
- A camera (built into the Smart Start device) is a B list object and needs authorization to be brought into a prison.
- A
photograph is personal data and as the analysis and downloading of the
data will require it to be emailed to Sure Starts Servers, which are in
the USA. Principle 8 (6) of the Data Protection Act 1998 (sending
personal data outside the European Economic Area) requires Smart Start
to certify that they have signed up to the US Department of Commerce
Safe Harbor Scheme?
- To download the data, access to internet is
required. This could be done in one of a number of ways depending on
internet availability in the prison.
- o The devices could be downloaded directly in the prisons – provided there is internet access
- o
The data could be downloaded at the prisons onto a laptop and the lap
top taken from the prison, and then connected to the internet
- o
The devices could be collected from the prisons and taken to an internet
enabled site and the data downloaded before returning the devices to
the prison
- The devices are not normally used in the way proposed
– namely multiple donors using them in series with small gaps between
usages. Generally they are used for several weeks by one offender and
are programmed individually with the offender’s name and with bespoke
requirements as to when a sample is required. This would be too staff
intensive for this pilot and therefore expensive. So in this instance
the devices will all be programmed to receive samples at the same time
and will be known as device 1 device 2 and so on. The prisons will have
to keep a register of which device is allocated to which prisoner and
triangulate their data with the analysis data. There will also be a
photograph as well which should help confirm who was using it.
- Some prison staff may have to receive some training in explaining the devices and assisting with data collection.