by Sgt Martin Steventon, Staffordshire IOM
Staffordshire IOM is now using ECINS to work even closer with ten prisons in the Midlands Region; these prisons manage around 85% of the 220 IOM Offenders who are part of the IOM Programme. The scheme manages 715 offenders.
Each IOM Offender sent to prison has an ECINS ‘Prison Log Report’ created which is used as a repository for all custody related information relating to that particular individual.
Information provided by the police at the point of sentence ensures that prisons are in possession of information to help them to manage the risk around that offender and any needs they might have.
The police will provide the latest information they have in respect of warnings, gang affiliations, domestic issues and any anxieties of the individuals together with any other information requested by the prison.
The prisons will update the ECINS ‘Prison Log Report’ with any information relating to the offenders progress in custody; this can include positive progress, courses etc. or attitude and behavioural issues that result in interventions or adjudications. Importantly this also includes changes to release dates.
This exchange of information ensures that there is a smooth transition from community to custody and that when offenders are released a bespoke approach to managing them can be adopted based on all the information available.
Any offender pathway needs, which are identified prior to release are addressed early and more speedily resolved by the appropriate partner agency. This helps to make sure offenders are not in crisis at point of release and are therefore less likely to re-offend.
Information exchange is enabled through a single ‘One Staffordshire Information Sharing Policy’ and ECINS supported by a simple Memorandum of Understanding that has been agreed between the IOM and individual ECINS System Administrators in each prison.
ECINS has significantly improved the exchange of information between the IOM and Prisons and subsequently improved the quality of risk management.
