Rehabilitation

• 48% of prisoners reoffend within a year of release
• 64% if prisoners who have served a sentence under 12 months reoffend within a year
• 6789 prisoners were recalled to prison for breaching their probation in 2019
• Short sentences are one reason for failure since nearly half of all sentences are 6 months or less
• Not enough time to deal with issues that cause offending, like mental health issues or addiction
• Even for prisoners with longer sentences, there are few opportunities to deal with the causes of offending and prepare them for a crime free life
• Only 1/4 of prisoners have a job to go to on release
• This is due to them lacking the education and skills necessary
• Opportunities for education, vocational or meaningful work are limited
• Release on temporary license can allow prisoners out on day release to attend work or training and improve their future job prospects, but fewer than 400 a month get this opportunity
• There’s a shortage of places on courses that address offending behaviour, such as anger management programmes
• Many prisoners on indeterminate ’public protection’ sentences remain in prison due to a lack of programmes that could address their violent behaviour