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The Regime is changing
Colnbook IRC is a 408 capacity Immigration Removal centre run by Serco. It’s just across the road from one of the main runways of Heathrow airport and it houses men awaiting deportation from the UK. Some are there after they have finished a prison sentence, some because they have overstayed their visa. A few are released back into the UK, however most leave the country.
They have to be housed, securely and humanely. They must be looked after and their personal needs attended to. This is all part of the contract. They are securely held, but they are not offenders. The length of time they will be held can vary, however it is not usually that long. So what do they fill there time with? I went to speak with Jim Geen, the Assistant Director of Regimes to find out.
 Jim’s career has been, as a recruitment specialist once described ‘interesting and varied! He started his working life as a farmer, then a chef, before going to Theological collage where he studied and became a vicar. After some years in that role he became involved with prisons as a ‘locum Chaplain’. He would be called in to cover the spiritual needs of the inmates when the prison Chaplain was away. He found the work enjoyable and signed on as a prison Chaplain when a role as a deputy Chaplain became available at HMP Durham. It was the breadth of work, the multi faith aspects and the challenge of the range of problems and situations. Also the challenge of a ‘congregation’ who did not necessarily agree with him and who would readily question the core of his beliefs. He found in a prison that the dog collar was not the protection from confrontation it usually is in a leafy country parish! After 18 months he moved to YOI Lancaster Farms when Governor David Waplington opened it and stayed for the following 3 years. Then four years at HMP Long Lartin before moving to HMP Blakenhurst where he stayed for 3 years. The Governor and Deputy Governor at Long Lartin encouraged him to take up a broader remit which included safer custody. This gave him the experience and drive for his next post joining Serco at HMP Kilmarnock to do a similar role as Head of Pastoral Care, which included education. It was here that he ceased being a Chaplain when the Assistant Director left and he took over regimes as A.D. and three years later the job at Colnbrook IRC came up. It offered a broader multicultural dimension and the chance to be involved in the revamping of the diversity and regime set up. He has now in post for eight months. He describes himself as a big picture person and likes to be involved in the whole care programme.
Custodial Review Here at Colnbrook the regime has changed, how much, from where and into what?
Jim Geen It has changed enormously, To give you some background, when the detention centres were first opened the perceived wisdom was that people would only be here for a few weeks, months at most. Now the clientele has changed and we have a large group of ex-foreign national prisoners who stay for much longer in some cases. Added to that the actions of the courts in delaying removals means we now have people staying a lot longer. When the education areas were originally set up they were really only crèches. They were there to keep people engaged and occupied; the education content of the time spent was minimal. We are now moving into areas where we are not just trying to keep them happy, we are now trying to teach them skills.
Custodial Review So you are moving towards the prison model of regimes and education?
Jim Geen Yes we are, however the problem we have that the prisons don’t have is the knowledge of how long someone will be with us. Another part of this is that there are unique pressures on our residents. They do not know how long they will be here, and are unsure where they will be going when they leave. They are also unsure about their cases and developments. This causes unique stresses to build up. Frustration levels can become very high. We found that we were offering the same activates morning noon and night, 365 days a year. Not a problem if someone was staying for only a couple of weeks, but a real problem if they were staying months.
The first thing weinstigated was to introduce some variety into the regime. Then we brought in skills that would be useful whatever the destination of the resident once they leave here. This illustrates the difference between us and a prison very well. From here a resident may be released to live in London, or Somalia or just about anywhere in the world.
Custodial Review What did you offer that was considered so repetitive? And what is there available now that is so much more engaging?
Jim Geen Originally there was internet access and ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) the gym and basic computer skills, art and a small music room. Now we have those plus a larger range of computer courses and internet usage instruction. We have an instructor who can teach up to 12 people at a time. In the internet room we have 14 computers, and the firewall only works to limit access to social sites and other obviously ‘undesirable’ information sources. We do permit email. The tutor can check what each person is looking at as the pupil’s screen is repeated on the tutors in real time. We have a new upgraded music room that has been totally re-equipped. Here the Music in Detention scheme will be operating. We have an instructor who comes in and teaches the skill of making radio programmes. So a resident can learn all the techniques and skill that ware needed to put a radio programme together. This includes interviewing techniques and cutting/ editing to make a professional job. We also offer horticulture and basic carpentry skills
Custodial Review What is the take up on courses like that?
Jim Geen The radio course, internet, photography and computer courses are very popular, for reasons of education and research as well as helping to pass the time. A lot of the people are not interested in the academic work; they need activities that engage them mentally. Topics and activities that can be put down and then picked up again when they want or need to. In a prison people know they are going to be released into the UK. Here that is very different, so educational topics that would be relevant in the UK are not as popular as they would be inside a jail. 70% of our population is ex foreign national prisoners, so they will have spent some time in this country, possibly since childhood. Some will have spent varying lengths of time in the UK prison system. They are not necessarily looking forward to going to a country they may have little knowledge or affinity for. A small amount will have been picked up for overstaying their visa or because they have entered the country illegally. There is an element in any incarceration situation of making time fly more quickly, and that is no different here. What we try to do is channel that wish into constructive use of the time.
The Radio workshop, photography and music are a few good examples of two things we are trying to achieve, there is a lot of talent in the people we hold to do with the arts. Whether it be painting, dance, music, sculpture etc. This gives a big topic of interest and you will see that many of the corridors have been decorated in imaginative ways. The radio course helps them pass the time however it does also give them a skill that could be used on repatriation or in the UK should they be released here. Let’s not forget that if they are released into the UK its essential for this country for them to be economically productive.
Custodial Review What range of skills do these impart, and how useful is it on the outside?
Jim Geen A good grasp of the basics, one that would let them move on to college courses, this is something we also help them with. If they are going aboard it gives them a skill set that may be seen as quite high because the local radio development, for instance, is not as progressed as it is here. The music course isn’t just restricted to performing and writing. We also have the technology to teach them editing, recording and mixing. All of this uses computers so they are learning those additional skills too. For the ones who don’t want to do a computer course this is ideal, they are learning excellent computer skills almost by default.
Custodial Review What made this change in the ethos happen, why did you move to a system of teaching from a policy of ‘keeping occupied?’
Jim Geen Firstly there is an understanding from UK Border Agency that we seek to deliver more accredited courses that will give people skills they can use here and in other countries. We have to recognise that a lot of people do come here as economic migrants. One of their problems is how will they earn their living in another country. They may not have had the opportunity to do much schooling or have a particularly attractive skill set. So if we can give them a set of skills that will be useful in making a living in their own community then they are less likely to need to return to the UK. It also gives a better opinion of the UK. It’s similar to the work to prevent reoffending in prisons. . Where a significant amount will want to follow an academic course there are a large number to whom school was not a good experience and anything that smacks of academia is an automatic turn off. We have to get these people engaged in learning these skills that are now essential. Its not best done by repeating the system that they did not engage with in the first place. So we chose these because we discovered they look as little like school as is possible yet they can deliver the requisite set of skills. A teacher in one of the prisons I first worked in taught inmate’s maths using betting odds, card games and a dart board. It worked and his maths classes were very popular. Once they are engaged the interest can be built upon. Most of the people we work with are interested in music, so they have the basic drive, they need the other skills such as numeracy and literacy in order to develop their interestsandso they pick them up without realising it.
Custodial Review How are the costs of this met? Musical equipment, computers and camera kit are not cheap.
Jim Geen We put a business case and were given a budget. That has been the case since the start. However, it has all been provided at no extra cost to UKBA, or the taxpayer – we’re simply using our resources wisely. We then purchased the equipment and started the course. The equipment has a greater value to us then the purchase price. It’s the old ‘no brainer’ question that goes along the lines of ‘do we allow someone a 10p phone call or do we let them smash up their cell?’ The answer is an obvious one. It’s far more beneficial, in pure monetary terms, to keep someone occupied and engaged rather than bored and enraged. Its value for money; even before you get to the benefits of preventing the person from wanting to enter the country illegally again. On a more humane consideration people should be treated decently and keeping them engaged and occupied is part of it. It is better for the staff if residents are engaged and happier and it also helps build relationships with the staff, so if a resident is in need of help they will more readily come to us before things gets out of hand.
Custodial Review Once you had decided to bring these courses in what were the time spans involved and the processes you had to go through to get them up and running?
Jim Geen The big advantage we have as a private company is the speed of decision making and the ability to think out of the box and try something quickly. In this sort of situation not being weighed down by tradition can be a bit benefit. There are times where tradition is a huge asset, but this is not one of them. Because we stand on our own then the changes could be made, the kit purchased and the job advertised when given the go ahead. Once the Director and Deputy Director decided they wanted it to proceed they didn’t have to apply for funding or gain approval elsewhere. So within 8 months from the idea being proven that we needed to change our courses we were able to do just that.
Custodial Review The private sector has been criticised for putting profit ahead of humanity. Having worked on both sides of the discussion what is your opinion?
Jim Geen I suppose the private sector has a huge interest in profit, it has shareholders and investors. However profit and quality of care are not opposed to one another. If we don’t provide the quality then we will not get the contracts. It’s also true that a well run, safe and secure establishment with a good and interesting regime is cheaper to run that one without those attributes. Residents are happier and staff are too. We are constantly looking at ways of working better. For instance staffing groups and methods of operating. We are not bound by thoughts of ‘this is the way it’s always been done’ and ‘we tried that once and it didn’t work’. There is a lack of traditional inertia. I’m here in this position because of the innovative Governors and Deputy Governors that work in the state sector. In some of the places I have worked some of them have refused to be bound by tradition, despite pressures to the contrary.
Custodial Review What were the additional staffing requirements to bring in these new courses?
Jim Geen We have delivered them with more or less the establishment staff we had already. Where we have been very fortunate in that we have found a tutor from Westminster University who is a freelance photographer and lecturer. She heard of us via work we had done with music in detention and her time is given free.
Custodial Review You get quite a lot of residents that arrive straight from detention in prison. They have been on courses within the establishment. Does any of your courses link into the prison ones?
Jim Geen No they don’t, because until fairly recently there has not been any requirement to run accredited courses and there is a large amount of uncertainty about how long someone will be here. So it was almost impossible to plan as one does with sentenced prisoners. We don’t run offender behaviour programmes because we have residents, not offenders. What we can and have started to do is run modules on basic electricity, plumbing etc. These can then be good life skills or perhaps be built on at a later stage. The accredited courses we do at the moment are the computer based ones, the ESOL and Toe by Toe, which has come from the prison service and is a form of peer mentoring. The photography is also a recognised course.
Thank you for talking to the Review.
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