Housing's role in the integration of people leaving prison

The time now seems right for housing and the prison service in Scotland to join forces to examine how a wider partnership approach to reintegrating people leaving prison could yield positives results. To kick start discussions, a few weeks ago the Scottish Prison Service hosted a day seminar for a joint audience of prison staff and housing leaders, to discuss shared challenges and also how shared ambitions could be taken forward. The event was developed in conjunction with Shelter Scotland, ALACHO and CIH Scotland. Shelter already runs the successful, Big Lottery funded, Supporting Prisoners Advice Network (SPAN) project in three prisons, and outlined positives outcomes from this approach.

Coming together to tackle the housing elements of reoffending makes sense for housing and for the prison service. Scottish Government statistics for 2014/15 show repeat homelessness for those leaving prison as 21%. A recent Scottish Prison Service survey of all prisoners showed that almost one third of those responding did not know where they would be living on release.

It can cost a local authority upwards of £15,000 for handling a typical homeless case, with costs in the region of £83,000 arising from a more complex case. Overall, the economic and social costs of reoffending to the Scottish economy are immense. In 2012 Audit Scotland estimated that reoffending cost around £3 billion a year.

Research shows that stable accommodation can make a difference in terms of reduction in reconviction. Some prisoners will even reoffend in order to return to the ‘secure’ accommodation which prison offers them.

Finding and sustaining accommodation can be problematic for anyone leaving prison, but evidence has highlighted four groups that face particular barriers:

• remand prisoners and those on very short-term sentences
• women
• young people
• those who were homeless on entering prison

In Scotland we have some of the most progressive homelessness legislation in Europe. We also have an increasingly well-developed housing options approach to housing information and advice. Nonetheless, a key finding of the 2015 Scottish Government research into housing and reoffending, for people serving short term sentences, found that there “was no consistent pattern or level of housing-related service provision across Scotland, with gaps in availability and consistency of services: on imprisonment; during a sentence and approaching release; and on, and following release.”

The joint seminar mentioned earlier generated an enthusiastic discussion and a willingness to improve pathways and outcomes for people living prison. The housing partner agencies along with the Scottish Prison Service must now decide on how these aspirations become tangible.