Northern Ireland Prison Service Corporate Governance ... - cjini

what went wrong and how it could be
prevented in the future. Although it
should be noted that the Prison
Governors’ Association (PGA) were in
dispute with prison service management
at the time.
The issue may be one of poor
communication but there was the
perception that Headquarters had not
always supported the establishments and
this was seen as a loss of confidence in
establishment staff. In the context of
the issues discussed later around
the Prison Officers’ Association this
undermined the effectiveness of local
management.
2.38 In contrast, to the assertion of micromanagement
and central control,
Headquarters held the opinion that the
establishments did not always act
corporately and therefore needed to be
controlled. For instance, at Board level
it was mentioned that Local
Implementation Teams (LITs) in the
various establishments, had individual
ways to achieve savings without giving
consideration to the longer-term or the
potential Service-wide benefits, or the
possibility that their actions could create
inconsistencies in practices and regimes
across the establishments.
2.39 An example of the disconnect between
Headquarters and the establishments
could be seen in the area of discipline.
An internal Prison Service Human
Resources Strategy Review seen by
Inspectors articulated a number of
problems with the Prison Service
disciplinary system, including a belief
among staff that poor behaviour or
neglect of duty was unlikely to result in
serious disciplinary consequences,
and the leniency of some penalties
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awarded. It also identified the failure of
Governors to be held accountable to
the Board for some of their decisions as
a serious matter. However, at corporate
level, whilst a log of disciplinary
outcomes was submitted, there was no
mechanism or ability to compare across
the establishments to highlight issues,
identify poor practice or malpractice,
monitor trends, consistency or hold
Governors to account. The result
being inconsistent, and perhaps unfair,
outcomes for staff and prisoners.
A robust disciplinary system should
shape expectations among staff about
how they should behave, any lack of
enforcement or the absence of credible
sanctions only reinforces negative
aspects of the occupational culture
and inappropriate behaviours.
2.40 The more senior staff at establishment
level provided examples of good
practice and consultation with officers
in and across the establishments
responsible for the formulation and
implementation of specific policies.
In the women’s prison a policy maker
was co-located with the Governor
and staff at Hydebank Wood Young
Offenders Centre (YOC) to see the
operational issues at first hand.
Examples were also given to Inspectors
of Headquarters supporting local
initiatives, for example an initiative to
support prisoners’ families on visits.
2.41 The Northern Ireland Prison Service
has made the case that it has a relatively
small Headquarters which has to
perform a similar range of functions as
the Prison Service in England and Wales,
and has insufficient capacity to progress
operation policy development. This was
supported during the fieldwork with the
perception expressed among many at