The Ministry of Justice has decided
that, following a series of problems, the national offender tracking
system will only be used by the Prison Service

Prisons minister David Hanson has confirmed
that a national computer system to track offenders in prison or on
probation will not be installed in the Probation Service. Instead the
system, known as C-Nomis, will be rolled out across the Prison Service,
replacing its existing case management system.

Arrangements to allow the two criminal
justice organisations to share information will be made through a
separate system which will give read only access to core case
information on offenders.

In a statement to GC News
on 9 January 2008, Hanson said that a newly revised National Offender
Management Service Information Technology programme will improve the
sharing of vital information between public prisons and probation
areas, and will enable the replacement of outdated IT systems.

“The new IT programme will support
practitioners working with offenders both in prison and the community,
improve the sharing of information and enable more efficient and
effective operational management of offenders,” he said.

The minister also announced that
improvements will be made to OASys, a system to assess the risks and
needs of prisoners. OAsys will be redeveloped as a single national
system across probation and prisons.

Crams, the case management system in use in
most probation areas, will be reviewed, taking into account its
obsolete software and hardware and compliance with the requirements of
the Disability Discrimination Act.

Victor Almeida, senior analyst at Kable,
commented: “This is unsurprising. It was very clear there was going to
be a change of direction in the programme, as it was under heavy
criticism because of major cost overruns and delays.”

The MoJ halted the roll out of C-Nomis in
August 2007, amid fears of costs escalating above the original estimate
of £234m. The system was intended to enabled prison and probation
officers to share information in real time, to manage the risk posed by
offenders, and improve rehabilitation and efficiency. It should have
been fully operational this year.

The first release of C-Nomis took place at
HM Prison Albany on the Isle of Wight on 2006, but further roll out was
delayed because of technical failures. Unions claimed that a
significant cause of problems was that the government underestimated
the volume of traffic that the system needed to cope with.

“Offender management teams were using it
twice as much as intended,” said Harry Fletcher, assistant general
secretary of Napo, the probation officers' union, “Plus government did
not factor in having to pay VAT on the contract to EDS.”

(source)

What's the betting that having failed with C-Nomis, EDS will be given the over-expensive taxpayer funded job of redeveloping the OAsys system.

This fine article from Hazel Stone at The Line is Here, shows clearly why the UK policy of banning everything is just so wrong.

These countries that ban ownership of firearms are learning a hard truth: criminals don’t need guns to commit crimes…

Henry Webster, 16, was punched, kicked
and hit repeatedly on the head on a tennis court at Ridgeway School in
Wroughton, Wiltshire, in 2007.

“He was knocked to the ground, he was kicked, punched and repeatedly hit over the head with a hammer.”

Henry has three separate skull fractures and a “brain injury.” The
lack of firearms didn’t seem to prevent this thuggery, now did it?
Shall we also ban hammers now?

Looks like knives are already on the agenda for removal. Whatever will you use to cut your steaks now?

But what’s this?? The state of Michigan issues a record number of concealed-carry permits and voiolent crime has decreased?

More than 155,000 Michiganders — about one in every 65 —
are now authorized to carry loaded guns as they go about their everyday
affairs, according to Michigan State Police records.

How can that be possible, when just the mere fact of owning a gun
makes you a crazy killer-type person? (Yes, that was sarcasm.)  Can it
actually be that having so many armed citizens makes for a more polite
populace…and a more circumspect criminal element?  I know I’d think
fifth (instead of twice, you see) about accosting someone if I knew
there was a good possibility they could revoke my birth certificate.

Ted and I often wonder what happened to Britain. There was a time when the sun never set on British soil
(not that I’m advocating colonialism, mind you…unless we’re speaking of
the Moon and Mars), this was a people made of iron, forged in centuries
of conflict. We can only assume that the rest of Europe (I’m talking to
you France and Belgium) has worn them down to the nubbins they are
today.

Come back, Britain! We need you!

Hazel, there are many of us here in Britain that hear you!! Looking to make sensible and common sense changes through the political system.

The British government is changing the rules on parking fines in England writes Wonko's World.

The Northern Irish Secretary of State for Transport, Ruth Kelly, and
her 3 Ministers for Transport (two of which are Scottish of course) are
introducing changes to the rules in England so that variable rates of
parking fines can be implemented and to remove the requirement for
traffic wardens to physically attach a ticket to a vehicle
meaning that
tickets can be written out and issued after the offence has occurred or
from CCTV images.

The problem with this is that it could take a couple of weeks for a
parking ticket to eventually arrive and can you remember where you were
at, say, 9.38 in the morning a week last Saturday?  I have trouble
remembering what I did yesterday, let alone a fortnight ago, so how do
you defend yourself?

And this still doesn’t address the core problem with the parking
fines system which is that summary justice is illegal in England.  The
Bill of Rights says that “and promise of fine or forfeiture before
conviction is illegal and void”.

Traffic wardens and “parking attendants” are not judges, the street
is not a court of law and neither is a CCTV control centre.  Parking
fines are only legal if the accused has been convicted in a court of
law.  We need the legal system to protect our constitutional rights,
not to make it easier for companies and local authorities to issue
illegal and unconstitutional on-the-spot fines.

When will the judiciary stand up and state that these 'common laws' are unconstitutional.