Policy, Planning & Development Officer, Community Justice
Effective throughcare helps reintegrate those involved in the criminal justice system back into the community and to help tackle their (re)offending behaviour. Throughcare is essential as it is used to support individuals and their families, from the start of a sentence, during the sentence and on release.
Access to statutory throughcare is dependent upon the length of an individual’s sentence. Those sentenced to a long-term sentence (four years or more) are given statutory throughcare. Those sentenced to less than 4 years may be offered or request throughcare themselves on a voluntary basis whilst in custody. The high numbers of short-term prisoners coming in and out of prison outstrip the capacity of voluntary throughcare and limit the support available to individuals to successfully reintegrate into their communities.
In Glasgow the number of adult males in prison at the end of March 2021 was 1,373:
- approximately 19.3% of the total male prison population in Scotland;
- 384 of these males were serving a short-term sentence (28%);
- 365 on remand (26.6%).
Of the approximately 1,400 males liberated from a Glasgow postcode over 2020-2021 (see Figure 1), 59% were serving short-term sentences (less than 4 years) or returning from remand 35.8% (Local Authority monthly statistics supplied to Community Justice Partnerships).
Figure 1
Short sentences can be “perceived as pointless, serving neither to rehabilitate nor punish offender’s, and so not serving to address the causes of continued offending.” ‘What Works to Reduce Reoffending (2015)’ (pg. 11).
Community Justice Glasgow has many examples of Data Sharing, and in future we hope to progress and report on many more.
CLICK THE LINK TO ACCESS THE RESEARCH:
Research on short-term sentences suggests that the high volume of individuals serving short sentences and the high throughout in most prisons hampers the ability of the Scottish Prison Service to fully deal with individuals’ complex needs.
Glasgow not only has a substantial proportion of individuals convicted in Scotland, it also contributes significantly to the Scottish Reconviction rate, 26.9% reconvicted within 1 year (2017/18) – an improving picture (see Figure 2). The average number of reconvictions per offender in 2017/18 in Glasgow is also still higher than the Scottish Average (38 and 37.2 respectively) this is an improving picture when compared the high of 47.9 for Glasgow for the 2007 cohort.
Figure 2
It is estimated that reoffending directly costs the public purse £580 million in Glasgow and £3 billion in Scotland. Effective approaches to throughcare can be an asset used to reduce this cost, helping individuals to return to their communities and reducing the likelihood of them reoffending when released from prison.
The value of throughcare lies in the support offered to mitigate some of the impact of incarceration on the individual by providing assistance, advocacy and empowerment in navigating services, and re-establishing connections to community supports, including housing, education and health services. Additionally, throughcare offers the opportunity to build on purposeful interventions within the prison and co-ordinate with similar services within the community. With effective case-management for all prisoners leaving the SPS estate along with integrated supports and responses from key agencies and organisations (e.g. SPS, Health, Social Work, Housing, DWP, and third sector providers) throughcare can provide coordinated and coherent transition between the SPS estate and communities.
The benefits of throughcare have been recognised by the ‘Reducing Reoffending Change Fund’. Through investment by the Scottish Government, 7 new projects called ‘Public Social Partnerships’ (PSPs) were established, which support throughcare through collaborative working. Independent evaluation of the PSPs has suggested a positive impact from this focussed approach to Throughcare.
CLICK THE LINK TO ACCESS THE EVALUATION:
