Access to chaplaincy and faith services

The right to practice religion or spirituality is a fundamental human right for people in custody. It is enshrined in various international standards and rules – for example Standard G(48) of the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty and Rules 65 and 66 of the United Nations Standard Minimum …

Limited monitoring of standards yields superficial understanding of chaplaincy While formal reporting requirements are clearly stated in each contract, in practice it was often informal, incomplete, or inconsistent, and overall ineffective in meeting contractual requirements. Consequently, services have not been adequately evaluated for efficiency or effectiveness for the life of either contract. Partial and inaccurate …

With retendering of the Department of Justice’s religious and faith services contract imminent, and Serco Acacia due to retender within the next two years, there is much work to be done to ensure future chaplaincy models provide multi-faith services that are consistently monitored for effectiveness and equity. To continue with the model currently in place …

Recommendation 1 The Department and Serco Acacia review all contractual requirements for purpose, achievability, clarity, and alignment between service level requirements and on-site processes. Recommendation 2 The Department and Serco Acacia review current recruitment, training, and development practices and progress to ensure all meet with agreed contractual requirements and on-site role requirements. Recommendation 3 The …