Incentives and Earned Privileges – May 2013

The Incentives and Earned Privileges system has been around since 1995. It supports an ‘exchange’. The idea is that people in prison behave more responsibly; on the understanding that they will earn benefits. The prisons minster Jeremy Wright has said that he wants to ensure that the public have confidence in the prison system. As part of this he has asked NOMS to conduct a review of the policy on the incentives and earned privileges scheme for prisoners.

We have made a number of suggestions for the review. Firstly, we believe that some services and opportunities – such as visits, education and resettlement should not be determined by IEP status. We know that having a supportive family outside can reduce reoffending. Basic regimes that reduce the number of visits punish the families and children of prisoners too. Resettlement opportunities should not just be for prisoners who are compliant. This can mean that the people most at risk of reoffending don’t get the support they need.

Being on basic regime is usually experienced by prisoners as a punishment. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman found that the number of prisoners who have committed suicide and were on the basic regime was a higher proportion than those on other levels. IEP schemes should be required to assess the impact of the regime on the prisoner. One evaluation of the IEP scheme found that increasing the number of people on basic could undermine staff prisoner relationships. People who value having more time out of cell and higher pay are aware that this could decrease if they cause conflict. A well run IEP scheme contributes to reducing violence and safer prisons. One reason that televisions were introduced into cells was because there was so little activity available to prisoners.

The Ministry of Justice Race Review in 2008 found that black prisoners were more likely to be on the basic regime. Owing to a lack of available information we don’t know whether people with a learning disability might be over represented on basic. We are concerned that the system could be disadvantaging people who can not achieve as much owing to a disability. It is important that effort, as well as achievement, is recognised. We believe that prison staff should review more updated guidance and training in how to run the IEP scheme, so that all groups are treated fairly. We would also like to see a commitment to fair distribution of the benefits earned on the IEP scheme. This would mean monitoring ethnicity, disability, age and any other diversity information in relation to privilege levels.

from insidetime issue May 2013