Public Protection Manual

Public Protection Manual

Chapter 6

Harassment Procedures Apply (HPA)

Version4.0January 2009

CONTENTS

1. PRISONER COMMUNICATIONS (HPA)...... 4

1.1 OVERVIEW...... 4

1.2 OFFENCES WHICH CAN IDENTIFY PRISONERS SUBJECT TO (HPA)...... 4

2. POLICY AND OUTPUT ...... 5

3. MANDATORY ACTIONAND INFORMATION ...... 5

3.1 NOTIFICATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF PRISONERS COVERED BY (HPA)....5

3.2 ESCORT CONTRACTORS ...... 5

3.3 GOVERNORS MANDATORY ACTIONS ...... 5

3.4 (ISS) SYSTEM INFORMATION ...... 6

4. NOTIFICATION TO THE PROBATION SERVICE/CHILDRENS SERVICES ...... 6

4.1 MANDATORY ACTIONS ...... 6

4.2 INFORMATION ...... 6

5. SENTENCE PLANNING ...... 6

5.1 MANDATORY ACTIONS ...... 6

5.2 INFORMATION ...... 6

6. VICTIMS HELP LINE ...... 7

7. SEX OFFENDER TREATMENT PROGRAMME ...... 7

8. ATTEMPTS TO CONTACT VICTIMS THROUGH CORRESPONDENCE AND USE OF

THE PIN PHONE SYSTEM...... 8

8.1 MANDATORY ACTIONS ...... 8

8.2 CONVICTED AND/OR SENTENCEDPRISONERS ...... 8

8.3 UNCONVICTED PRISONERS ...... 8

8.4 ALL PRISONERS ...... 9

8.5 SURVEILLANCE INFORMATION ...... 9

8.6 REMOVAL FROM MONITORING ...... 9

8.7 VISITS ...... 10

8.8 GRANTING OF VISITING ORDERS FOR VICTIMS ...... 10

8.9 CONCERNS FOR VICTIMS...... 10

8.10 REQUEST FOR CONTACT BY VICTIMS ...... 10

8.11 EXCEPTIONS ...... 10

8.12 FURTHER ACTS OF HARASSMENT INFORMATION ...... 11

9. BREACHES OR ATTEMPTED BREACHES OF RESTRAINING ORDERS OR

INJUNCTIONS ...... 11

9.1 MANDATORY ACTIONS ...... 11

9.2 INFORMATION ...... 11

10. REQUEST MADE FOR CONTACTBY PRISONER ...... 12

11. RELEASE OF PRISONERSON TEMPORARY LICENCE ...... 12

11.1 INFORMATION...... 12

11.2 MANDATORY ACTIONS ...... 12

11.3 DISCHARGE ...... 12

11.4 HARASSMENT FLOWCHART ...... 13

ANNEX’S

ANNEX A / PROTECTION FROM HARASSMENT ACT1997...... 14

ANNEX B / IMPLEMENTATION OF PROVISIONS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CRIME

AND VICTIMS ACT 2004 / NON-MOLESTATION ORDERS ...... 16

ANNEX C / NOTIFICATION OF RECEPTION OF A PRISONER CONVICTED OF

HARASSMENT OFFENCES ...... 18

ANNEX D / PRISONER NOTIFICATION OF IDENTIFICATION AS BEING SUBJECT

TO RESTRICTIONS...... 20

ANNEX E / PRISONERS SUBJECT TO HARASSMENT PROCEDURES ...... 22

ANNEX F / PRISONERS ESCORT RECORD FORM (PER)...... 23

ANNEX G / CROWN & MAGISTRATES COURTS / MANAGERS INSTRUCTION ...... 25

Public Protection Manual

Harassment Procedures Apply

(HPA)

1. PRISONER COMMUNICATIONS (HPA)

1.1OVERVIEW

The HPA procedures in this chapter sets out a range of measures designed to promote inter-agency co-operation and sharing of information and to prevent prisoners convicted of, or charged with,current offences, court orders and other situations to harass their victims from within prison establishments. This chapter of the Public Protection Manual replaces PSO 4400 Chapter 2, The Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

1.2 OFFENCES WHICH CAN IDENTIFY PRISONERS SUBJECT TO (HPA)

The list below identifies offences, court orders and other situations for which a prisoner in custody would be subject to the Harassment Procedures Apply (HPA)process. These are described collectively throughout the rest of this chapter as harassment offences.

Offences, Court Orders and Other Situations Subject to Harassment Procedures
No Contact Request / Request made by member of the Public
Contact Order / Request by Civil Court / Contact Order
Harassment / Intimidation of Witnesses / Prisoners identified of Harassment towards Witnessesof court cases.
The Protection form Harassment Act 1997 / Prisoners convicted of, or charged with , offences under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997
Public Order Act 1986 / (4 A) Intentional Harassment, Alarm or Distress
(5) Harassment, Alarm or Distress
Criminal Justice and
Public Order Act 1994 / 154Offence of causing intentional harassment, alarm or distress which made amendments to the Public Order Act 1986
Crime and DisorderAct 1998 / Section 31Racially-aggravated public order (1,b,c)offencesand 32Racially-aggravated harassment (1a,b) etc
Family Law Act 1996 Non- Molestation Orders / Part 4 Section (42) Non-Molestation Orders
Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act2004 / Part 1 Domestic Violence etc
Amendments to Part 4 of the Family Law Act 19961 Breach of Non – Molestation Order to be a criminal offence
For further information relating to the Acts use the Hyperlink to the Office of Public Sector Information / Actsof theUK Parliament

2. POLICY AND OUTPUT

Because of the inherent risk of further harassment (which may constitute a criminal offence) by prisoners remanded in custody for, or convicted of, current harassment offences or court ordersappropriate procedures for dealing with or preventing further harassment must be implemented. Requests from a member of the public for no contact from a prisoner must also be taken into account. The Harassment Procedures Apply (HPA) procedures makes it mandatory to identify such prisoners and for the communications of these prisoners (save official or legally privileged calls/correspondence or those to the CCRC or Samaritans) to be routinely monitored.

3. MANDATORY ACTION AND INFORMATION

3.1 NOTIFICATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF PRISONERS COVERED BY (HPA)

Notification of prisoners who are convicted of, or remanded in custody for, harassment offences or other situations will be forwarded to establishments using the (PER) (Annex F) Prisoners Escort RecordFormwith details of the address and telephone number of the victim(s).Where the police are not in court it will be the responsibility of the court to notify the Prison Service of details of any restraining orders or injunctions issued. See (Annex G)Court Instruction which is published on her majesty’s court services (HMCS) Intranet.

In the case of young people who are under 18 and/or sentenced to the Detention and Training Order (here after referred to simply as “young people”), this information may also be passed, using the (Secure Escort Folder)procedure, from the court Youth Court Team, either direct or via the Youth Justice Boards Placements Section. Also refer to Youth Justice Services (National Standards 7)

3.2 ESCORT CONTRACTORS

The (PER) Prisoners Escort Record and (Secure Escort Folder)will travel from the court to the establishment with the prisoner, in the possession of the officer in charge of the escort. Upon arrival, the officer in charge should hand the form directly to the reception staff for processing. The security department or other appropriate departmentmust also be informed so that the routine monitoring of telephone calls and correspondence may be instigated.

3.3 GOVERNORS MANDATORY ACTIONS

• Identify all prisoners who are convicted of, or remanded in custody for, harassment offences, or are subject to a restraining or injunction orders(Annex A)

• Put harassment procedures in place when informed by the courts when prisoners are subject to Non-Molestation Orders(Annex B)

• Record this information on their local Inmate Information System (IIS) and on the prisoners public protection record / F2050

• Put harassment procedures in place when a member of the public requests to have no contact with a prisoner in custody or request from civil court for a no contact order

• Where a prisoner is received into custody without a relevant PER(AnnexF) or Secure Escort Folder, but it appears from the warrants that he or she has been remanded for or convicted of current harassment offences, or is subject to an injunction or restraining order, governors must consult the police within 24 hours of reception on weekdays (or within the next working day of reception at weekends) to obtain further information

• Issue Prisoner Notification of identification as being subject to restrictions (Annex D)

3.4 (ISS) SYSTEM INFORMATION

In recording this information on the IIS system, establishments must use the flag system to identify prisoners subject to harassment offences. So it will be possible to produce a summary report locally of those prisoners subject to harassment procedures. This report can be obtained by the use of the flag reports menu. The flags are available to view through F7- Prisoner Enquiry. To alert the user that one or more flags are set a “flags” status is displayed on the prisoner header information. This status replaces the visits closed indicator, which has been removed from the header and made available with the other flags. The flags alert is only displayed if one or more flags are set on. The key below shows the code used.

HPA = Harassment Procedures Apply (LIDS Code HSMTPA) may set Y/N

4. NOTIFICATION TO THE PROBATION SERVICE/CHILDRENS SERVICES

4.1 MANDATORY ACTIONS

When a prisoner has been identified as having committed or is charged with an offence or court order listed in(Para 1.2) then the following procedure covered by (HPA), notification must be sent on reception to the offender manager in the prisoner’s discharge area using the notification form at (Annex C). This needs to be completed by the relevant department such as Public Protection Unit or Offender Manager Unit (OMU).

For young people the notification form must be sent to the relevant youth offending team (YOT), who would then consult with social services/children’s services.

4.2 INFORMATION

Because of the different statutory release arrangements for prisoners which may be affected by additional days awarded (and home detention curfew), the Probation Service has asked for the process to be carried out on reception procedures rather than discharge to ensure that all prisoners are identified. Whilst individual probation services will often already be aware of those prisoners serving more than 12 months,(Annex C)must still be sent. However, for prisoners remanded for harassment offences, (Annex C) is not required, as information on these prisoners will be sent by the court based probationstaff to the relevant probation area.

5. SENTENCE PLANNING

5.1 MANDATORY ACTIONS

Sentence management (OASys) and planning procedures must fully address the unusual nature of harassment offences and the risk posed by these prisoners and relevant documentation clearly note, in addition to the offence, details of any restraining or injunction orders and Non-molestation orders.

5.2 INFORMATION

The analysis of a prisoner’s offence and the risks posed is central to sentence planning. This process will automatically require the detailed examination of those convicted, remanded or subject to Harassment Procedures.In particular:

• ICA documentsshould clearly note the nature of the offence

• Assessments at the ACR/DCR1 stage or equivalent review procedures for young people and subsequent reviews should address the issue in detail

• Young people training plan forms(T1A/T1P)to include relevant information

• Sentence planning documents should include a note of restraining orders and injunction

• Sentence planning documents should include a note of any Non-Molestation Orders

• Pre-discharge and discharge reports should include reference to specific issues raised by the offence

In undertaking the risk assessment for sentence planning, attention should be given to past as well as current convictions for harassment offences.

6. VICTIMS HELP LINE

In some cases, the victim(s) of a prisoner convicted/chargedwithharassment offences, court orders or requestsfor no contact with a prisoner may have contacted the Prison Service Victim Helpline to report harassment or voice concerns about possible further harassment. Theprimary task of the victim’s helpline is to prevent any unwanted contact with victims. Where this has taken place, governors should take it into account and reflect it in the sentence planning and OASys process.

N.O.M.S. Victims Help Line, operates 09.00 to 16.00 hrs Monday to Friday
A 24 hour answer machine is available at all other times
Phone Number / 0845 7585 112
Hyperlink / Victims HelpLineWeb Page
Address / National Offender Management Service Victim Helpline
P.O Box 4278
Birmingham
B15 1SA

7. SEX OFFENDER TREATMENT PROGRAMME

7.1 INFORMATION

Where a prisoner is convicted of harassment offenceswhere there are previous sexual offences or the harassment took the form of sexual harassment and he/she is sentenced to over 3 years imprisonment, the governor may wish to consider, where appropriate, obtaining an assessment of the prisoner’s suitability for the Sex Offender Treatment Programme. This will need to be obtained from a chartered forensic or clinical psychologist or a consultant forensic psychiatrist who is familiar with the programme. Where a prisoner is deemed suitable, completion of the programme should become a sentence planning target.

8.ATTEMPTS TO CONTACT VICTIMS THROUGH CORRESPONDENCE AND USE OF THE PIN PHONE SYSTEM

8.1 MANDATORY ACTIONS

8.2 CONVICTED AND / OR SENTENCED PRISONERS

This section must be read in conjunction with the following documents listed below:

• PSO4411 Prisoners Communications Correspondence

• PSO4400 Chapter 4 Prisoner Communications Prisoners Use of Telephones

• PSO4410 Prisoners Communications Visits

• National Security Framework (Function 4)

Prisoners convicted of harassment offences, must, from the beginning of any period of custody, be subject to the routine monitoring of all outgoing mail and telephone calls except for those listed in PSOs 4400 Chapter 4 and 4411 like legal advisers, courts and other official organisations who have been granted confidential access (e.g. CCRC or Samaritans)

The procedures must be explained to all prisoners on remand or convicted of current harassment offences.We should however acknowledge that it is possible that a victim might work for one of these organisations and receive mail marked Rule 39 or Confidential Access. The Prison Rule states that correspondence to which this rule applies may only be opened read and stopped if the Governor has reasonable cause to believe its contents endanger prison security or the safety of others or are otherwise of a criminal nature (PR39/Par/3).

All prisoners who have been identified as being subject to harassment offences, court orders or other situations must have the procedure read and verbally explained to them and sign 2 notification forms of being subject to restrictions(see AnnexD).If English is not the prisoners first language the establishment must arrange for it to be translatedby an approved translator so that it is fully understood by the prisoner.

This may be in addition to the usual pin phone compact (see PSO 4400 Chapter 4). The prisoner will be given a copy and the other will be filed in his public protection file.If the prisoner refuses to sign, the enquiring officer must make a note to that effect and file it in the prisoner’s public protection record.

This must continue until a review of the risk assessment is completed and Governor is satisfied that such monitoring is no longer necessary in the interests of protecting the public. Monitoring must continue if a restraining order, injunction or Non-Molestation Orderis in force.

Note: Staff must be aware of any literacy or communication difficulties the prisoner may have and in such cases must read over the document to the individual concerned and then endorse and sign to the effect that this has taken place. This should ensure that, if necessary, the member of staff can be subsequently identified.

8.3 UNCONVICTED PRISONERS

Prisoners charged with harassment offences must be subject to the monitoring procedures set out aboveat the beginning of any period of custody and must remain in force until the prisoner’s trial.

8.4 ALL PRISONERS

Whilst routine monitoring and readingare in force, all outgoing correspondence for these prisoners must be routinely recorded (see PSO 4411) all members of staff working with prisoners in the establishment must be made aware of prisoners subject to Harassment Procedures see (Annex E).

8.5 SURVEILLANCE INFORMATION

The surveillance of correspondence (PSO4411) and telephone calls (PSO4400 Chapter 4 Prisoners use of the Pinphone telephones)has replaced all parts of Standing Order 5. Governors will need to take appropriate steps to safeguard against abuse of the Pinphone system, and correspondence regulations by instituting such arrangements as are necessary, e.g. Prisoners must sign a form agreeing to the terms and conditions of use of the Pinphone system, before they are issued with their pin number (Access to Pin Phone System is a Privilege).This will make clear that the use of a pin other than that allocated to them and calling unauthorised numbers will lead to the prisoner being charged with an offence against discipline. Prisoners not prepared to sign the form will not be allowed to use the system. The pinphone system offers two types of telephone services-call enabling and call barring. Call enabling means that a prisoner can only call those numbers they have submitted and have been approved by the Prison. Call barring means that the prisoner can call any number except those specifically barred by the Prison.

Allowed and Barred Numbers

Numbers can be allowed or barred at three levels:

• Globally (Estate Level)
• Prison Level
• Individual Prisoners

Pinphone technology permits an unlimited number of individual numbers to be barred. Telephones can be programmed globally or locally to bar numbers to which prisoners should not be given access. Globally barred numbers can only be entered centrally; establishments will be responsible for inserting locally barred numbers.

A call enablingregime will operate for prisoners identified as being subject to harassment procedures.Establishments are also reminded of current arrangements for the random monitoring of correspondence, and telephone calls to ensure that the requirements of (PSO4400 Chapter 4 and PSO4411) are generally being observed within the prison.Each department will be expected to provide a response for the Interdepartmental Risk Management Team, which will be responsible for the approval of all victim requests made by prisoners, to prevent further harassment of victims and abuse of the pin phone system.

8.6 REMOVAL FROM MONITORING

Because of the obsessive nature ofthe behaviour covered by harassment offences governors must be fully satisfied, particularly in the short term, that prisoners no longer pose a risk to their victim(s) before removing the mandatory monitoring requirements. It is for this reason that monitoring processes are mandatory for all unconvicted prisoners until the time of their trial. Where there is any doubt, governors should retain monitoring restrictions. But each case must be considered in the light of all the known circumstances and it may be possible, for example with individual long-term prisoners who may have made sufficient progress in prison, to justify the removal of routine monitoring. All such decisions must be supported by the local Interdepartmental Risk Management Team (IRMT) and have fully comprehensive risk assessments completed which must be recorded in the prisoners public protection record.

8.7VISITS

A breach or attempted breach of a Restraining Order or Civil injunction, Non-Molestation Order without reasonable excuse is a Criminal Offence

It has become apparent that despite the fact that a restraining order or civil injunction is in place victims of harassment are visiting the perpetrators of such offences in establishments.

8.8GRANTING OF VISITING ORDERS FOR VICTIMS

This practice causes a number of concerns both for the integrity of the service which could be seen to be assisting a breach of the requirement of the court, and concerns which exist around the safety of both the victim and the perpetrator. In allowing such visits to take place, the service is providing the encouragement and facilities for a breach of the courts instructions.