Report of the Inquiry into the circumstances of the Death of Bernard ...

14.41 The inquiry asked whether there were any problems encountered at Manchester
that impact on the Listener service. The organisers spoke positively of the relationship
with prison staff generally and the Safer Custody team in particular but said there were
some logistical problems.
It appears to take a long time for security/probation to clear and check potential
Listeners for Samaritan selection. This delays training. It is important to train new
Listeners to maintain sufficient numbers as experienced Listeners are transferred
or released.
Sometimes there will be five Listeners on one wing and no Listeners on another
which may mean that a Listener cannot be provided when required as it is difficult
to transfer a Listener, especially during the night period.
Samaritans telephones are handed out when requested but as most cells have
double occupancy prisoners cannot speak to the Samaritans branch
confidentially.
14.42 The Safer Prisons Coordinator at Manchester Prison, Mr Dugdale, provided
information to the inquiry about the rigorous selection and training procedure for
Listeners. Coupled with the transient nature of the prisoner population at Manchester,
this presents challenges for maintaining a full complement of Listeners. For example,
qualification as a Listener cannot stand in the way of a progressive move to another
prison to assist rehabilitation and reduce risk to the public. Another factor was the
extensive security vetting required for members of the Samaritans prison team. This
currently took between six and 12 weeks. That had reduced the numbers of Samaritans
available so they had been able to run only one training course for Listeners in each of
the last two years, whereas previously they had been able to run two each year. Mr
Dugdale said that the prison and the Samaritans team were working together to try to
attract more Samaritans to the prisons team.
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