First New Probation Hostel for 30 years

 

Eden House, a 26-bed probation hostel for women opened its doors this week in Bristol. So-called “Approved Premises” (AP) or half way houses don’t enjoy universal support from reformers but if properly used they can play an important role in supervising remanded or convicted people outside prison. Good luck to all the staff and residents involved in the project.  

I was astonished to read that Eden House is the first new AP to open for 30 years. It’s hard to believe that no new hostels have been built since the fall of the Soviet Union.

During that period, by my calculation, 19 new prisons have been built, providing well over 18,000 new places. In addition, there’s been enormous expansion of capacity within many existing custodial establishments. Some of the existing 100 hostels may have increased their capacity too but the 2,300 odd beds they provide have been increasingly dwarfed by the burgeoning prison estate.

A long overdue Approved Premise Expansion Programme is aiming to deliver 200 additional places, but with plans for a further 18,000 prison places over the next few years, there’s a case for a much more ambitious increase in half way houses. Prison monitors not infrequently mention paroled prisoners waiting for an AP place to become available and the Probation Inspectorate concluded in 2017 that “were extra beds and hostels provided, those places could easily be filled, and this would also enable some prisoners to be released earlier”.

Twenty years ago, a major review of sentencing recommended a review of the “intermediate estate” for accommodating and managing offenders in the community, with the aim of developing a strategic plan for its future use, staffing, management, and development. The review should embrace all types of accommodation, whether owned by the prison or probation services, or the independent and voluntary sectors, and whether used for prisoners on temporary release; prisoners on conditional release; offenders serving community sentences; or ex-offenders receiving support voluntarily”.

I can’t recall whether such a review was ever done, but it’s time for a thorough independent examination of the adequacy of community-based arrangements in the penal system.

Perhaps it’s something for the new team at the Ministry of Justice to commission.