Retired probation officer Margaret Locklan writes in to the Newcastle Journal to detail the awful state of the probation service since it was partly privatized. “Most of the community rehabilitation companies are huge international companies with no experience of the justice system, such as Sodexo, which is failing to control one of the first privatized prisons - HMP Northumberland. The Probation Service, until privatization, was the only public service which had achieved a gold standard award for the quality of work. Since the changes, huge numbers of probation staff have lost their jobs, with a reduced intake replacing them in many cases, with unqualified and inexperienced staff, on lower wages, many on short term agency contracts. Offices have been sold and replaced by unfit-for-purpose buildings, open plan, shared with other organizations, no privacy for interview, no protection of staff and public; IT systems have been changed and are not working properly. Court reports are becoming increasingly oral and no longer have the detail required for magistrates to impose appropriate sentences. It is more difficult to assess domestic abuse, and perpetrators are often allowed to return to the abused family.” [Newcastle Journal, 14 June 2017]