'Chaotic' probation system puts people at risk of being called back to prison

Ex-offenders risk either losing income or being recalled to prison as London's probation offices fail to give them adequate support, ITV London's Kaf Okpattah reports

An overstretched probation system is creating logistical nightmares for ex-offenders and putting them at risk of being sent back to prison.

There are only six probation offices covering the capital, meaning many former prisoners having to spend hours travelling to their appointments.

This is putting some in a bind, where they either have to forgo work and lose potential income or risk being late to probation meetings and potentially be recalled to prison as a result.

ITV London's Kaf Okpattah spoke to one ex-offender, who is now out on licence having spent six years in prison, who once every week spends nearly two hours driving to his probation meeting.

He spoke of one recent journey, where he faced being 10 minutes late to an appointment because he had to leave work to get there.

In the end, the meeting was cancelled as he was late, meaning he missed a day of work and risked a prison recall.

He told ITV London: "In having the two clash with each other, it causes high levels of anxiety because in your head you're thinking, can you get recalled?

"Can I afford a day off work? If I'm not consistent in attending work are they still going to offer me the jobs at the rate of other people?

"Anything good that's happened that's been on licence, probation has paid no part in. It's actually been a hinderance."

This is by no means an isolated case, with ITV London hearing similar stories from other ex-offenders, which could be reflective of a broken probation system.

Out of the six probation offices in London, four were found by the probation inspectorate last year to be "inadequate", while the other two were rated as "requires improvement".

One probation worker, who asked to remain anonymous, described the system as "absolute chaos", describing the service as "offender supervision, not rehabilitation".

Reflecting on the issues faced by the system, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: "What we have is a combination of revolving doors when it comes to our prisons and young offenders institutions, but also a lack of support for those who may have committed a criminal offence and want to do right."

A Probation Service spokesperson said: “We have taken significant action to improve the Probation Service, investing an extra £155 million a year to recruit thousands more frontline staff to keep the public safe – with an uptick in the proportion of ex-offenders in stable accommodation and drug treatment as a result.”

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