HMPPS Insights22 Festival

“Staff from HMPPS were able to talk to

our investigators about some of the challenges

faced by operational staff and why it can

sometimes be difficult to make the changes we recommend.”

 

The Ministry of Justice organises an annual ‘Insights’ event to enable colleagues across the criminal justice system to develop a deeper understanding of the work of other teams. We felt this year offered an excellent opportunity to increase awareness of our work and so we welcomed 30 members of staff from across the criminal justice system to our offices on 10th May.

We are an objective and independent investigatory service. However, our aims can often be best served by working in collaboration and partnership with both prisoners and prison staff. It is important that we are known by, and accessible to, the people who are affected by our service and our Insights Day event presented the perfect opportunity for guests to come and see how we work.

Delegates took part in a number of interactive workshops relating to both complaints and fatal incidents to give them a taste of the work we do. For example, delegates took part in simulated investigations into a death in custody from natural causes, a complaint relating to the use of force and a complaint relating to the provision of Kosher food, for a prisoner who self-identified as Jewish. This helped to raise awareness of both the breadth and depth of the work we do, and enabled us to have a useful conversation with our guests about the challenges faced on both sides. For their part, staff from HMPPS were able to talk to our investigators about some of the challenges faced by operational staff and why it can sometimes be difficult to make the changes we recommend.

Guests also heard from speakers on topics such as the role of the PPO’s Family Liaison Officer and the impact of our Learning Lessons team and, valuably, they also heard video testimony from both prisoners and prison staff about the positive impact that the PPO has had on them. The highlight of the day was a Q&A session with the Ombudsman and the Complaints Deputy Ombudsman which gave guests the opportunity to discuss the issues that were of most interest to them.

We received fantastic, and overwhelmingly positive feedback from those who attended with many guests telling us that they were going to back to their teams to share what they had learned and to recommend that their colleagues visit us, so we look forward to welcoming many more of you to our offices in the future!

It is also equally as important to us that prisoners get the opportunity to interact with us too and we are running a number of discussion groups in prisons over the course of the year to ensure we are as accessible to prisoners as we are to staff.

Author: Mike Chinnick-Hughes, Assistant Ombudsman, Complaints