As experienced Prison Practitioners, we are no stranger to drug and alcohol challenges. If you have worked around any of the 141 prisons that span the length and breadth of the UK you will appreciate the enormity of the challenge facing substance misuse specialists, in controlling an almost endemic issue of supply, demand and reliance. For Prison Officers, this means working night and day to control the supply of narcotics through the prison gate, an often thankless task, made even more thankless by the ever challenging staffing numbers, increased workloads through a more reliant and challenging prison population and population pressures in terms of overcrowded and ageing accommodation. We know the problems, we have been here for some time.
What we may not be so familiar with however, is the mirroring of challenges in the industries Prisons rely on so heavily to offer opportunity and progression for Offenders following their release. The correct approach to further opportunities for prisoners is finally beginning to take shape. The implementation of Prison Employment Leads, is a vital and welcome addition to the rehabilitation armory that prisons can now call upon. Their work in making vital relationships with employment beyond the wall is crucial to increasing the key 6 week reoffending rates, and the role they currently play in providing rehabilitative programs into the education, learning and skills space is having a profound impact. My experience of those in this role is also a strong win on the part of the MOJ. PEL's are passionate, dedicated and experienced in both the justice and the wider business world. The obvious calculation then, is that we will begin to see an uplift in both 6 week reoffending results and permanent employment, so what's missing?
I visited three large construction sites this week, and in the main all three were similar in working structure, makeup and facing the usual summer challenges the industry faces year on year. A shortage of competent management oversight on the part of the main contractors, rising costs of materials, equipment and labour, client demands on program and a very typical contractor population within the workforce. We have documented previously the now very well published statistics of the current construction workforce with a near 98% males to female ratio. Not to far away from the 96% ratio of the same comparison in our prison system.
The first site I visited had conducted 10 random drug tests the previous day, this both ensures the compliance of safety critical activities on site such as the operation of heavy machinery or work at height risks. This pro active approach to reducing risk and protecting workforce has been adopted across several major projects in the UK and has a profound effect on reducing accidents against the top 5, with number 1 being...falls from height! Out of the 10 drug tests conducted on site, a return of 50% failure was returned. This meant two things: 1. A potentially fatal accident was prevented and 2. 5 contractors lost their employment. The history of those young men is unknown, however I can be pretty sure it does not reflect too well on their immediate future.
My reflection on several years of construction leadership, is that these are not isolated cases. 40/50% substance misuse returns most certainly do not shock me, although potentially raise an eyebrow of others outside of the industry. In the same breath, I am sure Prison staff would not be surprised by similar failure rates in relation to mandatory drug testing in our prison system. Where a societal issue exists and transpires within the prison system, without great cause and effort, it will persist in the community. I will say, there is absolutely no evidence that any of those cases this week, ever had a history of incarceration, however society reflects our prison system, and in a concerted effort to push prison leavers into the construction industry, we too begin to create the same reflection on the industry we release into.
I spent almost two decades of service, advocating for suicide and self harm awareness across the MOJ. I was fortunate to be trained and to train staff throughout the UK to assess and manage those at risk, and we know very well some of the risks and triggers for people at risk of self harm and suicide include substance misuse, withdrawal and many more of the by products of these hazards including bullying, debt and emotional and physical breakdown. Drug and Alcohol misuse has a very close relationship with the kind of societal challenges we read about every day in every newspaper, social and political blog and mentioned in near every party political push before a general election. The 5 young men leaving my construction site on Monday will be back into the grind of looking for work, money and potentially criminal engagement.
The PEL's working their socks off to create opportunity are having a massive impact on prisoners lives, and therefore the lives of the society they represent, we have to be very careful and clear on the strategy of engagement with the industries we release into. Pre release engagement is absolutely vital across the key risk management deliverables we speak about so often, this is nothing new, OASys has measured these risks for many years now and by tailoring and specialising offender behaviour pre release preparation we will see real change and hope. Not just for employment upon release, but for long term success.
More substance to our rehabilitative culture, less substance in the workplace!
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