The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is facing criticism for plans to spend £115,000 on hiring actors to play the roles of deceased inmates' relatives in training scenarios for family liaison officers (FLOs). The initiative aims to allow FLOs to practice delivering news of a prisoner's death to families in a simulated, realistic environment.
The contract, advertised for organizations to supply two professional actors for a series of two-day sessions, has drawn sharp rebukes from critics who deem it a wasteful expenditure of taxpayer money. The five-year cost of the scheme is nearly equivalent to the annual salaries of three prison officers. According to the MoJ tender, actors will be briefed on their fictional roles, including their relationship to the prisoner, key emotions to portray, and background details, to