Community service starts up again

Tuesday 02 June 2020

Offenders sentenced to a community service order in Guernsey can now return to their unpaid work, as the island moves out of lockdown.

The Probation Service has had to adapt over the past few months, with a brief pause on community service for safety reasons.

But, now that Guernsey has reached Phase Four of the lockdown exit strategy, the service can continue in line with Public Health guidance.

“We have now restarted community service through taking measures limiting the number of people for an individual work party, ensuring social distancing and having strict hygiene measures in place," said Chief Probation Officer, Anna Guilbert.

“Much like everyone else, the Probation Service had to quickly adapt to the changes work practices; that has meant embracing online platforms in order to carry out our vital work. For instance, we use video conferencing to hold meetings with prisoners to plan for release and enable our intervention work to continue.

Pictured: Offenders have still been sentenced in Guernsey's courts, despite lockdown restrictions.

“Our priority remains the offenders who present the greatest risk of harm to the community and we have set up a covid-19 safe interview space where we can see these individuals for both intervention to address factors linked to their likelihood of reoffending and risk of harm, and to monitor for increase in risks."

Despite the restrictions, the courts have continued sitting and Probation has continued to provide full risk assessment reports to help with sentencing.

“I am incredibly proud of the way my team have quickly embraced and adapted to these new ways of working, always keeping focused on the need to maintain public safety and that our service standards do not reduce," Mrs Guilbert added.

The service has also been working with other local agencies to deal with a rise in domestic abuse, partly caused by the lockdown measures.

“Unfortunately there have been increased reports of intimate partner violence and multi-agency conferencing to safeguard potential victims have continued via an online platform with input from us," Mrs Guilbert explained.

"We expect an increase in numbers of individuals requiring a risk assessment and intervention to reduce the likelihood of further domestic abuse incidents. Preparations are underway to consider the additional resourcing and delivery of this important work.”

"Probation will follow the unlock phases as set out by the States, but the priority will remain protecting the community."