Kainos (Hansard, 23 November 2001)

§ Beverley Hughes

In May 1999, the trustees of the Christian organisation, Kainos, sought the Prison Service's agreement to its continuing the operation of Kainos communities in the wings of four prisons. This followed financial and other difficulties with a predecessor organisation, Kairos-Apac. The Prison Service management board agreed in September 1999 that these communities should be permitted to continue, without any commitment of public funds and for a limited period, while they were evaluated for their impact, and in particular their claim to contribute to reducing reoffending. The evaluation was to be done by independent researchers and paid for by Kainos. The board would reach a decision on the future of the programme in the light of the evaluation.

The independent evaluation was completed in September 2001. The Kainos trustees provided the board with a copy of the evaluation report and asked the board to take an early decision on the future of the programme because Kainos' own funding for the programme ceased at the end of 2001.

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Among other matters, the evaluation examined the one year reconviction rates of prisoners who had been through the Kainos programme and a comparison group of nearly 14,000 prisoners with similar sentence lengths and from similar prisons. The evaluation report found that there was no basis for concluding that Kainos community prisoners have reconviction rates that are significantly lower than would be expected for similar released prisoners as a whole. This contrasts with other Prison Service programmes designed to reduce reoffending which typically show reductions of 10 per cent. in future reoffending against expected rates.

In the light of this finding, the board decided that the Kainos community should no longer continue to operate in prisons when its present programmes came to an end. The board also had concerns about exposing prisoners to intensive religiously based interventions in prison by any faith group. The board has made it clear that it respects the commitment of the Kainos trustees, and of the staff and volunteers who gave their time to the programmes, but it is determined that effort and scarce resources in prisons are devoted only to offender treatment programmes which can demonstrate their effectiveness, and which contribute to the Government's crime reduction agenda.

The evaluation report remains the property of the Kainos trustees. Kainos has given permission for the executive summary to be placed on the Home Office

Table 1. Number of persons sentenced by courts in England and Wales to immediate custody for offences of (a) possessing and (b) supplying heroin, by sentencing, 1995–99
Length of sentence	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Possession
Up to and including one month	147	240	335	434	509
Over one month up to three months	127	252	344	561	589
Over three months up to six months	113	187	266	347	383
Over six months up to one year	61	89	135	194	173
Over one year up to two years	19	21	29	39	45
Over two years up to five years	16	25	25	39	31
Sub-total—up to five years	483	814	1,134	1,614	1,730
Over five years up to seven years	3	1	2	3	2
Over seven years	0	0	0	0	0
Total	486	815	1,136	1,617	1,732
Supply
Up to and including one month	4	2	3	2	1
Over one month up to three months	8	16	14	15	14
Over three months up to six months	13	17	39	39	59
Over six months up to one year	25	65	75	107	127
Over one year up to two years	73	95	208	371	406
Over two years up to five years	224	327	722	980	1,427
Sub-totalߞup to five years	347	522	1,061	1,514	2,034
Over five years up to seven years	29	66	143	107	123
Over seven years	9	21	33	34	45
Total	385	609	1,237	1,655	2,202

Source:

Home Office Drugs and Alcohol Research Unit