Prisons - new material (41)
01 June 2000
Governing prisons: an analysis of who is governing prisons and the competencies which they require to govern effectively, S Bryans. Howard Journal of Criminal Justice Vol 39 no I (February) 2000 pp11-29. Prison Governors have received little attention from researchers. This article explores the characteristics of prison Governors as a group and by identifying the competencies which they require to govern effectively. The response to a questionnaire sent to all Governors reveals that the typical Governor is a white male, aged 50 who has been a Governor for the last six years of his 24 years Prison Service career and joined the Prison Service as a second career without a degree. The article goes on to argue that, to be effective, Governors need to be competent in four areas: general management, incident management, public sector management and prison management. In addition, they must demonstrate certain behaviours which are identified in the Prison Service Core Competency Framework.
Women's imprisonment at the Millennium, Pat Carlin. Criminal Justice Matters no 38 (Winter) 1999/2000, pp20-21. Views the prison scandals of the 1990s (suicides at Cornton Vale, "filthy" conditions at Holloway, manacled mothers and degrading drugs testing methods) in light of the establishment of a Women's Policy Unit in 1997. The author concludes that "there are grounds for being at least cautiously optimistic about the future of women's imprisonment."
Therapeutic communities in prisons, B Rawlings. Prison Service Journal no 129 (May) 2000, ppl9-22. This paper is based on a review of therapeutic communities carried out for the Prison Service in 1998 It provides a general description of treatment approaches used and an outline of evaluative research into treatment outcome.
After Lawrence: race and prisons, Dennis Valentine. Runnymede Bulletin no 232 (June) 2000, pp3-5. Assesses how the criminal justice agencies measure up to the recommendations of the Macpherson report into the racist killing of Stephen Lawrence.
Prison Report Issue 51 (June) 2000, pp27. This issue focuses on "Justice for Women", with articles on young women in the prison system; justice for women and the need for a radical revision of the criminal justice system and counting the cost of imprisoning women offenders ("something like ?118 million every year"). Also contains pieces on the recent Special Branch raid on the Blantyre House resettlement prison in Kent and the Prison Service's "progress" in the decade since the Woolf report into the uprisings in Strangeways and twenty other prisons. Available from: Prison Reform Trust, 15 Northburgh Street, London EC1V OJR. Tel 020 7251 5070.