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11 How. J. Penology & Crime Prevention 1 (1962-1965)

handle is hein.journals/hjcj11 and id is 1 raw text is: NOTES OF THE YEAR After-Care The Home Secretary's Advisory Council on the Treatment of Offenders is now drawing up its proposals for a new structure of the after-care service in England and Wales. If the Council recommends that the after-care of discharged prisoners and borstal trainees should be organised by the probation service (using voluntary bodies or referring to the mental health service in appropriate cases), then it is important that those who are responsible for the preparation for discharge should have the same training and speak the same language as probation officers. Indeed, there is a good deal to be said for their being seconded probation officers or, at least, for those concerned with preparations for discharged and those concerned with after- care itself being members of one and the same service. This would imply that the present piison welfare officers, where they have the necessary qualifications, could be regarde4 as seconded members of the probation seivice. (Their title, incidentally, has a 19th century ring about it. They are, or should be, social workers. Why not call them prison social workers?) Social workers of similar qualifications should also be employed in borstals. For it is an anachronism to have social workers in prison and in detention centres but not in borstals. But their installation in borstals would be a delicate operation because some Assistant Governors Class II woiking in borstals might perhaps resent such appointment. Nevertheless, the employ- ment of social workers in all penal institutions seems a logical development, in line with the gradual extension of the employment of other specialists. A.G. IIs are really budding A.G. Is who, in turn, are budding Governors, that is to say, managers. If they are too firmly involved in social work roles (and learn too little about management techniques) they may find it hard to give up their initial preoccupations. In any case, A.G. IIs can never have the genuinely permissive role of social workers since they must accept custodial responsibilities. Two further points are worth considering. One is that all social workers in penal institutions should be paid out of Central Government funds and not, as probation officers are, out of Local Government funds. For Local Govern- ment may be very reluctant to provide funds for a service that is, in effect, part and parcel of a treatment team in penal institutions which come under Central Government control. The other point is that social work in such institutions is in many ways more difficult and less rewarding than social work in free society outside. One of the attractions of probation work is precisely the degree of freedom and the possibilities for experimentation that probation officers enjoy. Therefore, if it is desired to attract well-qualified social workers into penal institutions, it may be necessary to pay a special allowance. Nurses-another profession in short supply-already receive such an allowance if they work in prison. There are other advantages in having an inter-linking system of social work in penal institutions and of after-care. Secondments to and from the probation service, for periods of three years or more, offer a change of work and of 1

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