§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
In what prisons the Kainos Community is allowed to operate, under what contractual or other arrangements and at what cost to the Prison Service; whether they intend to measure the recidivism rates of prisoners who have been through courses run by the Kainos Community; and, if so, with what control groups such prisoners will be compared. [HL1285]
§ Lord Bassam of BrightonThe Kainos Community is currently operating in three establishments, The Verne, Swaleside, and Highpoint, in order to enable an independent evaluation to take place of the programme. The Kainos Trust and the Prison Service are drawing up a joint memorandum of understanding for the period of this evaluation. The Prison Service is providing no funding for the programme. As with any voluntary group that operates in a prison, there are some minimal costs in providing facilities.
The measurement of the recidivism rates of prisoners who have been through the programme will be part of the evaluation of the Kainos programme. The evaluation will include an assessment of the extent to which those rates vary from the normal rate for such offenders. It will be for the researchers to propose the 164WA best way of doing this—for example, by a control group or by comparison of actual and predicted rates.