Glen Parva (HM Prison)

Infobox HM Prison
name = HMP Glen Parva


size = 200px
caption =
opened = 1974
type = Young Offenders Institution
figures = 808 (December 2005)
location = Leicester, Leicestershire
governor = Nigel Smith
prisonid = 391

HM Prison Glen Parva is a prison in Leicester, UK

HMYOI & RC Glen Parva was constructed in the early 1970s as a borstal and has always held young offenders. Since its opening in 1974 the establishment has seen considerable expansion and change and now serves a catchment area of over 100 courts, holding a mixture of sentenced, unsentenced, and remand prisoners.

Reception criteria

Glen Parva is a closed YOI and Remand Centre. All new prisoners arriving at Glen Parva spend their first 6 nights in a dedicated Induction Unit. They complete a comprehensive induction programme before moving to other units appropriate for their status, e.g. remand / sentenced. However due to prison overcrowding it is not uncommon for prisoners to stay on the induction unit (unit 15) for up to 2 weeks.

Regime

The Last Chance project

The Last Chance! project is Glen Parva's local crime prevention initiative targeted at young people identified at high risk of a future custodial sentence. It enables young people via referral, to come into a prison setting, experience the reality of prison life and talk to selected prisoners.

The Last Chance! project is also delivered in outreach format to extend it's availability to other groups unable or unsuitable to attend the prison, with Prison Officers and risk assessed prisoners visiting local schools and colleges to deliver presentations. In 2004 over 70 presentations were delivered in the community. The project is run in partnership with Nottinghamshire Community Safety Trust and close links have been developed with Youth Offending Teams, local schools, colleges and youth organisations.

On February 4th 2005 a new partnership known as Last Chance Plus was launched with Leicester's Braunstone Community Association, which will see the Braunstone community receive tailored access to the programme.

Residential Organisation

The Residential function is organised into 2 separate groups functioning as a Training Prison (convicted prisoners) and as a Local Prisoners (remand, unsentenced and short term prisoners) that are run as separate prisons within a prison to enable a greater degree of specialisation according to prisoner needs.

The Training Prison consists of 6 long-term units for sentenced prisoners including a Resettlement Unit, plus the Segregation Unit. The Local Prison consists of 4 residential units including Unit 15 which is a dedicated Induction Unit.

Sentence Management

Glen Parva works with the Probation Service in utilising OASYs to identify and classify offending related needs. The information in OASYs is useful to tackle the specific issues that drive a prisoners offending behaviour, and is closely worked around the social exclusion order. It provides a structured risk assessment, which is used to highlight a prisoner's suitability for offending behaviour programmes, education and employment training, and links closely with a prisoner's individual learning plan. All prisoners are assessed by the OASYs team at Glen Parva to ensure their specific needs can be met.

Learning and Skills

Glen Parva provides an integrated regime with a variety of interventions all focussed on addressing the underlying causes of social exclusion. Education and training provision is delivered through a range of skills academies geared to providing life and employment related skills. ‘Learning for life' is the underlying principle and all education and training provision is delivered within 6 Learning Academies. Allocation to work and education places is driven by Individual Learning Plans (ILP's) which link with a prisoners OASys assessment, and the process is controlled by the Labour Board.

Glen Parva is committed to reducing re-offending and, along with other programmes, has a team dedicated to the resettlement of Young Offenders. The team provides practical advice and assistance with employment and housing issues. Members of the team interview all new arrivals at Glen Parva and can help resolve some of the problems associated with imprisonment. Glen Parva has been working closely with organisations such as The Prince's Trust, Age Concern and National Grid Transco to provide courses that promote the opportunity of a settled lifestyle for Young Offenders on release and improved employability.

Independent Monitoring Board (IMB)

Every prison has an IMB made up of volunteers, who are appointed by the Home Secretary. The board members are independent of the Prison Service and carry out a watchdog role, on behalf of the public, in the prison. There are 18 board members at Glen Parva. They monitor the day to day life in prison and visit regularly unannounced in order to inspect certain areas and talk to prisoner and staff. Members monitor the state of the prison; hear the requests or applications of prisoners and report concerns if necessary. The board members have monthly board meeting at the prison and the Governor attends for part of the meeting. If something serious happens, board members as may be called into the prison at any time, day or night to monitor the situation and observe how it is dealt with. In addition the board submits an annual report to the Home Secretary which is published.

Glen Parva's achievements – 2006/7

Glen Parva's library has been involved in several initiatives as part of the BBC RAW (Reading at Work) programme. These have been featured on local radio.

September 2006, Glen Parva hosted an exhibition: Escape to Safety looking at issues faced by refugees. This was done as part of the PAR (Parva Against Racism) scheme run in the prison.

November 2006, the Resettlement Team received the Arts Council Partnership Innovation Award at the Prince's Trust East Midlands Regional Awards ceremony for the work they have done placing young offenders with the Prince's Trust.

Healthcare

Care and support is provided at HMYOI Glen Parva by a multidisciplinary Healthcare team in our type 3 Healthcare Centre, having 14 inpatient beds with 24 hour nursing cover. Patients with healthcare needs, which cannot be met by the Glen Parva Healthcare Team are referred or transferred to the NHS for either emergency or elective treatment. Leicester Partnership Trust provide care for patients with enhanced Mental Health needs along with our Forensic Psychiatric team who make appropriate assessment and referral to secure services if this is required. South Leicestershire Primary Care Trust assumed commissioning responsibility for the provision of Healthcare at HMYOI Glen Parva on 1st April 2005.

Psychology

The Psychology department provides interventions for prisoners to enable them to address their offending behaviour. Enhanced Thinking Skills (ETS) is a 20 session programme that helps develop skills such as problem solving, management of emotions, and communication skills, which in turn can help to reduce re-offending. A new programme called CALM (Controlling Anger and Learning to Manage it) is being introduced. This is 24 sessions long and teaches prisoners how to control their emotions more effectively, particularly in relation to offending behaviour.

In addition, support is provided to help prisoners cope whilst they are in prison with difficulties such as self harm and anger management. The department is involved in a wide range of areas, and has recently been closely involved in the development of the violence reduction strategy. Other interventions are also being developed, one in particular, to increase levels of motivation to address offending related difficulties.

Suicide Prevention

Glen Parva as an establishment is committed to the provision of resources to identify and support prisoners in crisis. Reflecting national policy, we use the ACCT system to identify and support those prisoners currently at risk of suicide or self - harm. The support offered is tailored to meet the needs of individual prisoners and involves all disciplines and agencies within the establishment, as well as peer - group support. The latter is provided by Listeners, who are specially selected prisoners trained and supervised by The Samaritans, as well as The Insiders, who are trained by prison staff. This policy is continually updated and reviewed with the aim of ensuring that prisoners have access to care and support equivalent to that available in the community.

Drugs Strategy

All prisoners are assessed by Health Care and Drug Support Services staff on reception. If a drug related problem is identified there are provisions for:

Detoxification One to one counselling CARATs Group Work Short Duration Drugs Programme (for short sentence prisoners) P-ASRO (accredited drugs programme) Motivational Drug TestingGlen Parva employs full time drug workers co-ordinated by a full time Drug Support Manager, who support prisoners throughout their sentence and liaise with external agencies to ensure that support is available for prisoners upon release.

There is provision for 300 prisoners on the motivational testing programme and all prisoners on the enhanced level of the Incentives and Earned Privileges scheme or in key work place positions are subject to Compliance Drug Testing compacts.

External links

* [http://www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk/prisoninformation/locateaprison/prison.asp?id=391,15,2,15,391,0 Glen Parva] , HM Prison Service profile