Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 44
44
Accepted
Publish details of work ensuring continuity of care for women from prison to release.
Recommendation
Continuity of care for women on short and longer sentences is fundamental to successful resettlement. The MoJ and HMPPS should set out what work they are doing to ensure that women experience continuity of care from prison through to release. (Paragraph 226) 82 Women in Prison
Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation, outlining a new resettlement approach with embedded pre-release teams in women's prisons, enhanced collaboration between Probation Practitioners and other services, and new specialist support for accommodation, finance, and debt for women by autumn.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
We accept this recommendation. Under the resettlement approach, all women’s prisons will have an embedded pre-release team based in the prison. The embedded pre-release teams will provide pre-release support not currently available via Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS) including Finance, Benefit and Debt services to the people in prison. Probation Practitioners will work with Women in Prison, Prison Offender Managers (POMs), Pre-Release teams and CRS providers to assess need and support continuity of care. They will build on progress made in prison and support engagement post release with services. A Mentoring service is available via CRS women’s services for those who struggle to maintain engagement in the community. This includes engagement with personal well-being and health services. The RECONNECT service supports those who have engaged with treatment in prison to continue treatment post release in the community. In the pre-release phase, CRS providers will deliver resettlement and pre-release interventions to support sentence management activities completed by the Probation Practitioner and pre-release staff in the prison. The CRS contracts are designed to support sentenced women and those subject to Probation supervision in the community to address the needs linked to their offending and to achieve the stability they need to do so. Those services which are delivered pre-release, the Accommodation, Personal Wellbeing (mentoring through the gate) and Women’s contracts, will continue post-release and attendance at appointments with CRS Suppliers will be part of mandatory Licence appointments. This continuity of support is a key element of the CRS provision. All eligible cases will receive support prior to release and for accommodation this will be delivered by suppliers based in the areas to which they will return. CRS Accommodation Suppliers will be based in the women’s prisons within the geographical area they cover. For people being released to areas outside this geography, this support will be delivered via visits or by phone/video rather than by staff based in the prison. Women on remand are supported to meet their immediate resettlement needs and prepare for release by Probation pre-release staff in prisons. We have committed to supplementing the existing support from Probation staff with access to specialist accommodation support, which will include help to address tenancy issues; and finance and debt support for all women on remand or sentenced in custody. We aim to have commenced this additional provision by the autumn of this year.