Our Role in Prisons

All prisoners sentenced to 12 months or more serve a proportion of their sentence in custody and are released on Licence to be supervised in the community. The aims of post-release Licence supervision are to protect the public, prevent further offences and secure the rehabilitation of the offender.

The Probation and Prison Service work together in the supervision of an offender through the period of custodial sentence, so that dealing with the person's offending behaviour is tackled within the prison and also continues upon release on Licence supervised and enforced by the Probation Service.

The Probation Service makes a critical contribution to decisions about early release of prisoners through reports which combine assessment of an offender's risk and dangerousness with planned proposals for supervision in the community. These reports assist prison governors and lifer review boards in determining when to release a prisoner and on what terms and conditions. Probation has a statutory responsibility for bringing early released prisoners (serving sentences of more than one year) safely back into the community and for maintaining supervision throughout a specified time. Recall to prison follows a failure to comply with the terms of release of if the supervising Probation Officer thinks that the offender's behaviour is an unacceptable risk to the public.

Probation staff are involved in the planning of an offender's sentence from the day of sentence. The assessment of the risk posed by the offender and the identification of the factors which have contributed to the offending is the starting point for all work with offenders. Probation and Prison Services adopted the national Offender Assessment System (OASys) bringing a common approach and techniques to risk assessment.

Prisoners are allocated a community-based supervising Probation officer in their home area. This officer keeps in regular contact during the time spent in custody and, as release approaches, discusses plans with the prisoner: where to live, if a hostel place is needed, job or training needs etc. Prison- based Probation staff assess the prisoner, identifying any treatment or other needs, for example drug or alcohol related. Probation is responsible for recommending to a Prison Governor whether a post-release Licence should contain any extra conditions, such as to attend a community-based treatment programme or to stay away from certain places or people. All of this ensures that supervision is transferred seamlessly when an offender is released on licence to be resettled in the community.

In Lancashire, Probation staff are based in five prisons and the Young Offenders Institution. Our Area Service has a long-established tradition of co-working and jointly developing innovative schemes with the Prison Service, for example contributing to the bail scheme at Preston Prison so that those on a first remand into custody may be bailed with support in the community pending their trial. The Probation staff team manager at Lancaster Castle Prison has a dual role also serving as one of the prison's senior management team as head of resettlement.

In Lancashire at any one time we are contributing to the supervision of about 1,610 prisoners and supervising about 680 on post-release Licence in the community.

Please view our information to offenders about Licence supervision.