Homelessness on release increases risk
Yesterday (18 July 2024) Adrian Usher, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) published the second Learning Lessons Bulletin in the post-release deaths series, highlighting the detrimental effect on prison leavers being released homeless. The PPO carries out investigations into the deaths of prisoners, young people in detention, approved premises’ residents and individuals detained under immigration powers. They also investigate any death (except homicide) where the individual dies within 14 days of release from prison into the community.
The PPO’s first bulletin on post-release deaths published in January 2023, highlighted the acute vulnerability of those being released from prison. This second bulletin in this series adds to these findings, stressing that more needs to be done to ensure that prisoners are released with suitable accommodation and support measures.
The investigations
This learning lessons bulletin covers investigations started between 6 September 2021 and 31 December 2023. During this time, the PPO started investigations into 137 post-release deaths and has to date published reports on 105 of these tragic events. Most (125) investigations were into the death of men.
In 86% of cases the individual’s ethnicity was reported as ‘White-British’. 3% (4) were ‘Black or Black British – other’ and 2% (3) were ‘White – other’. 77% of the people who died were aged between 30 and 50. Just over a quarter (26%) were aged between 40 and 45 years old.
Nearly two thirds (89) of these 137 deaths were classified as “non-natural” with 83 of these related to drugs. Twenty one people took their own lives and 20 people died from natural causes.
Horrifically, more than half of the people who died passed away within the first four days of release with nearly three quarters (72%) of these deaths drug-related.
Drug-related deaths
The Ombudsman sets out a number of key lessons to be learned to try to reduce the number of people dying from drug-related causes. These include the importance of offering post-release support from a drug treatment service on release. In many cases this had not been arranged because while the individual had undergone detoxification in prison, they were not engaged with treatment services inside at the point of release.
The importance of offering a naloxone kit was also emphasised, including for people who were released early or on short notice. Incredibly, naloxone provision remains determined by local policy and there is no national position on this. The Ombudsman urges HMPPS and NHS England to develop a national policy on the provision of naloxone for prison leavers.
The role of homelessness
Homelessness was identified as a considerable issue in the PPO’s post-release death investigation reports. 32% of individuals who died within two weeks of release were released homeless. This is a high proportion when framed in the context of MOJ data suggesting that the proportion of persons released from custody without housing is around 14%.
On reviewing the 105 post-release death reports investigators repeatedly saw that being released homeless has a detrimental impact on the individuals involved. Those who are the most vulnerable due to suffering from mental health and substance misuse issues made up many of those released homeless.
There is, of course, a clear link between substance misuse and homelessness. PPO investigations showed that multiple prisoners who had substance misuse issues stated that if they were released homeless, they would most likely return to drugs and/or alcohol on release. This was despite the fact they had enrolled in and completed a detoxification programme in prison. On a few occasions, where an individual was released homeless, they stayed with friends or family members who were also drug users and they struggled to remain drug-free in this environment.
As well as the link between substance misuse and homelessness, some individuals were worried about being released into accommodation that might lead them back to substance misuse, such as approved premises (Community Accommodation Services Tier 1), due to their reputation for heavy drug use.
The accommodation status of the 105 people where the PPO has published reports is shown in the graphic I have reproduced from the bulletin below.
Release planning failures
The proximity between release and death, along with the link between drug use and homelessness, means it is critical that prisoners are released to safe and suitable accommodation with early access to and engagement with substance misuse services. The release planning carried out by HMPPS and community service providers is key to this.
PPO investigations found instances where staff did not make the correct referrals, made the referrals too late or did not communicate key information to the prisoner about their accommodation.
The Ombudsman sets out exactly why homelessness on release from prison is a significant and complex challenge that cannot be addressed by HMPPS alone. Investigations showed that in some cases, there was a lack of urgency in the probation practitioner’s referral or within community services when responding to queries or referrals from HMPPS.
Instead of locating suitable accommodation in advance of release, often local authorities required the prisoner to report to the housing officer on the day of their release, in the hope they could be given emergency housing. This meant prisoners were released homeless with the uncertainty of where they would live.
Conclusion
The PPO’s relatively recent requirement to investigate deaths that take place in the first two weeks was an important step. We must now hope that the presentation of many of the same recurrent failings result in renewed action under the leadership of the new Prisons Minister.
Thanks to Andy Aitchison for kind permission to use the header image in this post. You can see Andy’s work here
