Hargreaves Claire, Roberts Amy, Taylor Wendy, Forsyth Katrina, Robinson Catherine, Shaw Jennifer, Tucker Susan
Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK.
University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
Health Justice. 2024 Nov 29;12(1):47. doi: 10.1186/s40352-024-00304-6.
The provision of social care for people in prison in England has historically been lacking. Seeking to address this, the 2014 Care Act clarified that local authorities are responsible for identifying, assessing and meeting prisoners' social care needs. Against this background, in 2020 we undertook a survey to explore the emerging services for this group. Eighty-six (57%) local authorities responded. A mixed methods approach was taken. Numerical data were analysed through descriptive statistics with comparisons made to the previous survey. An inductive approach to thematic analysis was used to analyse the free text responses. The findings revealed some improvements since the 2015/16 surveys, including the wider introduction of self-referral systems, the success of peer supporters in identifying people in need of social care and greater multi-disciplinary working. However, other issues remained stubbornly persistent, including a dearth of systematic processes to identify those needing social care on release from prison, a lack of timely information sharing and disputes over the sending and receiving authorities' responsibilities. There were also particular concerns about the shortage of appropriate accommodation for people leaving prison. Perhaps the most striking finding, however, was how little most authorities knew about this population. Building on discussions in previous papers, we explore three ways in which arrangements could be strengthened for this group: the collection of better data, the wider use of release on temporary licence and the greater employment of technology in planning people's release.
在英国，为监狱中的人员提供社会关怀的情况长期以来一直存在欠缺。为解决这一问题，2014年的《照护法案》明确规定，地方当局有责任识别、评估并满足囚犯的社会关怀需求。在此背景下，2020年我们开展了一项调查，以探索针对这一群体的新兴服务。86个（57%）地方当局做出了回应。我们采用了混合方法。通过描述性统计分析数值数据，并与之前的调查进行比较。采用归纳法进行主题分析，以分析自由文本回复。研究结果显示，自2015/16年调查以来有了一些改善，包括更广泛地引入自我推荐系统、同伴支持者成功识别出需要社会关怀的人员以及更多的多学科合作。然而，其他问题仍然顽固地存在，包括缺乏系统的程序来识别刑满释放人员中需要社会关怀的人、缺乏及时的信息共享以及发送和接收当局在责任方面存在争议。对于刑满释放人员来说，合适住所短缺的问题也尤为令人担忧。然而，或许最引人注目的发现是，大多数当局对这一群体的了解非常少。基于之前论文中的讨论，我们探讨了三种可以加强针对这一群体安排的方法：收集更好的数据、更广泛地使用临时许可证释放以及在规划人员释放时更多地运用技术。
