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Leeds Prison: Interview with new Deputy Governor
Racism, drugs and murders. Leeds Prison has had its fair share of controversies and bosses working to improve conditions have a tough job. Jo Francisco met the new Deputy Governor
It's been a life-changing year for Claire Vilarrubi.
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The 37-year-old has been on maternity leave after having her baby daughter eight months ago.
And after enjoying the first flush of motherhood, she returned to work in May ready to sink her teeth into a new role.
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Yet this isn't just any new role and this isn't just any old job.
Claire is the Deputy Governor of Leeds Prison which has 650 staff and up to 1,154 criminals who are serving sentences or awaiting court appearances, but she is nothing like the stereotypical image of a hard-faced prison boss thundering through the corridors.
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The current Governor Rob Kellet is set to leave this summer and Claire is gearing up to be acting governor temporarily.
She says she does have ambitions to be governor one day but wants to get more experience as a deputy first.
"I love my job and I love being a mum and you do your best to fit it all in. Being a mum is hard work for anyone in a senior management role; you're juggling so many balls."
Claire, who is married to a factory manager, says she was "a bit nervous" about being interviewed for the Yorkshire Evening Post but when it comes to prison talk she is matter-of-fact and relaxed.
So how did she cope when she led a sex offender's treatment programme or when she first walked through prison wings full of male criminals?
"It's never been an issue," she said. "The vast majority of prisoners treat you with respect and are polite."
Claire's role heading up a tough male prison in Leeds is a far cry from
her days as a youngster growing up in Harrow, Middlesex.
As a teenager she took up a psychology degree at Brunel University which saw her gaining work experience at the Prison Service HQ in Westminster.
"It was completely new. I had never thought about the prison service but the university had links so I thought I'd give it a go."
Psychology
Claire did work placements in both forensic psychology and occupational psychology and found her calling.
"I absolutely loved it. Both were really fascinating and it got me hooked."
After graduating, Claire joined the prison service as a trainee forensic psychologist in 1996, assessing and treating offenders.
She then became a psychology manager and then area psychologist for all the women's prisons in the country.
"When you start in the prison service it would be unnatural if you were not affected by a number of issues you are faced with. The obvious one is about the offences people have committed and you have your own normal reactions to that. "There's also the stark realities of prison in that people do self-harm and sometimes people kill themselves.
"When I was first a psychologist I ran a sex offender's treatment programme and as part of that you read through victim statements and you cannot help but be touched by that.
"It's a really stark reminder of what you are trying to do – which is to prevent future victims. It's part of the programme to challenge the offender's beliefs and getting them to change their thought processes.
"I think it works, research backs up that. I think the problem is that it doesn't in all cases so you need good assessments and measures in place to make sure that if the risk has not reduced we are still protecting the public."
Women's prisons are also notoriously tough – some say more than men's.
"Women's prisons are different: in some ways they're better. The nature of women's prisons are there's a higher prevalence of mental health issues and definitely higher self-harm and suicide.
"The flip side is that staff are doing some hugely positive things in terms of intervention and how they work with women and some really good ideas have come out of women's prisons.
"I don't have a strong preference of working in either men's or women's prisons. Each have their challenges and positives."
It is this close contact with, and understanding of prisoners, that Claire believes will help her in her new role as Deputy Governor.
"I got to a point where I was doing more and more management responsibilities and I thought a few times about crossing into governing. It's a bit more hands on.
"I love the prison service, I love the prisons and I wanted to shape more and have more input into it generally not just in psychology. My role is quite strategic so I am involved in planning for the future."
But Leeds Prison has been hit with criticism over the last few years after its inadequate assessments led to two prisoners killing their cellmates and
Claire arrived in 2007 just after a prison watchdog report made nearly 200 recommendations for improvements in the jail.
"The report highlighted areas for improvement that I had direct control over so I spent the next three years working on those," said Claire who was promoted to Deputy Governor this year.
Peter McCann, 28, killed Dewsbury dad-of-two Shahid Aziz, 30, less than half an hour after they were locked up together in 2004.
After a five-week inquest, a jury found that the cell sharing risk assessments (CSRA) carried out on violent McCann when he arrived at the jail was 'inadequate in identifying risk.'
The jail was then criticised for a second time this year when a jury
inquest ruled that a remand prisoner was unlawfully killed by his cellmate. It found that Upton man Michael Clegg was forced into a noose by Neil Preece-Smith after being placed in a cell with him in May 2006.
West Yorkshire Coroner David Hinchliff said he intended to repeat to prison service bosses the recommendations he made at Mr Aziz's inquest that the CSRA procedures at Leeds be reviewed to ensure they "are as robust as they possibly can be."
Claire said: "There is a history at Leeds where there are areas that need tackling and need improving."
"We have a very hands-on managerial approach to that; to look at each issue, tackle them and set systems and procedures in place."
And there are results.
The latest prison watchdog report revealed an improvement in previous weak areas after a surprise inspection.
It said there was a "Noticeable improvement in staff-prisoner relationships and considerable management attention to aspects of diversity, in particular race."
There has also been improvements in staff training for cell sharing risk assessments as well as in tackling racism – an area which is looked at independently by a scrutiny board.
But the prison still has problems with drugs.
Claire points to an aerial map of the prison and shows key hotspots where outsiders literally catapult bundles of drugs over the wall.
"It's a key priority for us. As a local prison we are vulnerable to
drugs being brought in but we can do things to tackle it.
"I absolutely recognise that Leeds has been criticised and we have needed to make improvements. Everything that we do is aimed at protecting the public and reducing reoffending.
"Coming to prison is punishment. It's not our role as staff to punish people when they are in here. It's giving them skills to become law-abiding citizens. I love the variety and the fact it's working with people and I love the fact we can make a difference."
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Weather for Leeds
Thursday 24 May 2012
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