Work programme 2

Social care in the criminal and civil justice system

Work programme 2 focuses on social care practice in prison, on release from prison and in the wider criminal and civil justice system.

Projects

Background

In light of rising numbers of older prisoners and longer sentences for all age groups, social care needs in prisons are increasing.

Since the introduction of the 2014 Care Act in April 2015, local authorities with prisons within their area have been responsible for identifying, assessing and meeting the eligible social care needs of adults in custody.

In addition, all authorities are responsible for the continuity of care and support of individuals with a package of care and support who move into their area on release from prison.

This legislation aimed to address concerns about the lack of social care for prisoners, support their rehabilitation, ensure continuity of care on release and impact on the likelihood of their reoffending.

Although release from prison is associated with high rates of mortality, homelessness, social isolation, unemployment and debt, most attention has been given to people in custody. We know little about the number of people released from prison with social care needs, the nature of these or how best to meet them.

There are also concerns about the release planning process, including insufficient notice, gaps in communication, problems establishing which authority is responsible for certain prisoners, and difficulties transferring assessments between authorities.

Our partners

Aims

We aim to provide local authorities and key partners with evidence to facilitate the delivery of better social care and support for people released from prison into the community.

This includes information on their social care needs and the strengths and weaknesses of the emerging models of support to meet them.

What we are doing

We are using a mixed methods approaches including literature reviews, national surveys of local authorities and prisons, interviews, and workshops with service users, carers, local authorities and prison staff to explore the practice implications of findings.

Our teams

  • Dr Katrina Forsyth – Research Fellow, Social Care and Society, SSCR Senior Fellow; Principal Investigator/Lead
  • Catherine Robinson – Professor of Social Care, Social Care and Society
  • Jenny Shaw – Professor of Forensic Psychiatry, Academic Lead Offender Health Research Network

Publications