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Sexual harassment, racism and bullying have become “normalised” in jails and probation offices across England and Wales, the prisons minister has warned, as he announced a plan to overhaul a “toxic culture of cover-up” among senior staff.
James Timpson said one in eight of HM Prison and Probation Service’s (HMPPS) 65,000 staff say they have been bullied. Sexual assaults on female staff have led to arrests while black and Asian staff have faced repeated racist comments amid a “vacuum of pastoral care”.
After a review by the department’s non-executive director, Jennifer Rademaker, recommended wholesale changes to how HMPPS deals with complaints, Lord Timpson announced a “seismic shift” to improve professional standards.
“Unacceptable behaviour, language, attitude and action have become normalised, tolerated and accepted over time, and as Jennifer’s report shows, bullying, intimidation and harassment in HMPPS has gone unchecked for far too long,” he said.
A new, independent unit will investigate and respond to allegations of bullying, harassment and discrimination, he said, because until now, complaints had been submitted to line managers.
“Imagine making complaints knowing, full well, it will be investigated by a senior manager who is friends [with the alleged perpetrator], and they socialise together outside of work too.
Timpson, speaking at the launch of the review at HMP High Down, Surrey, pointed to a survey that found “one in eight HMPPS staff said that they’ve been bullied or harassed”.
“Many said they didn’t feel as though they could come forward or that they would be punished,” he said, adding there were “too many” examples of racism within HMPPS.
“Colleagues have been repeatedly subjected to racist remarks but keep quiet because they think nothing will change,” he said.
Misogyny and sexual harassment incidents inflicted upon prison officers must be exposed, he said, telling the story of one woman officer who was sexually assaulted while on duty.
A more senior male officer “forced his tongue into her mouth” after harassing her, including asking her bra size.
The woman initially did not report the officer even though he had “a reputation” for such behaviour but finally plucked up the courage, leading to his sacking and prosecution for sexual assault.
“His actions were clearly despicable,” said Timpson. “But her story begs the question, why did it take an assault for this man to finally be called out? Why, when he already had a reputation, was he not exposed sooner?”
He contrasted the behaviour of the perpetrator with the bravery of staff responding to help prison officers attacked last month by the Manchester bomb attack plotter at HMP Frankland.
The review made a series of recommendations, which senior HMPPS leaders have confirmed they are going to implement in full.
Reacting to the report, the general secretary of the national association of probation officers, Ian Lawrence, said: “Unfortunately this long awaited report makes for grim reading. It will bring no comfort to our members working in probation within what is often described as a soulless and seriously mismanaged prison-centric organisation.
“We want more to be done to expose the reality of racism, sexism and corruption within HMPPS that our members tell us about.”
