NCJ Number
174012
Date Published
1995
Length
243 pages
Annotation
Based on a literature review and the author's empirical data, this book reports on the housing needs of those released from British prisons, as well as how the prison service and its satellites help or hinder their chances of obtaining satisfactory housing.
Abstract
In order to promote understanding of the significance of homelessness in relation to ex-offenders, the first chapter explores the issue in general, with occasional reference to prisoner-related issues. This involves setting the problems encountered by people about to leave prison in the context of recent developments in British housing policy. The second chapter examines the relevant literature and research material on the accommodation needs of ex-offenders. The picture that emerges is one in which the housing system is generally inappropriate to the needs of ex-prisoners. The contrast between the majority of ex-prisoners who wish for independent, self-contained housing and the minority who obtain it suggests that the housing system is generally insensitive or indifferent to the needs of ex-inmates. In the third chapter, Lord Justice Woolf's Report, which was commissioned after the Strangeways prison riot and other disturbances in jails throughout Great Britain, serves as the background against which the prison service and the housing needs of inmates are examined. Drawing on the historical record and interviews with prison officers conducted during this project, the chapter examines the policy that social work should be shared between prison and probation officers and discusses prerelease training. Chapter Four begins with an historical review of the probation service's attempts to address homelessness among its clients, followed by a discussion of aftercare and the future of the probation service as detailed in legislation. Remaining chapters discuss housing strategies of the probation service; review the findings of a study of the housing needs of 82 ex- offenders; and propose possible changes in probation practice and in social and penal policy, as well as further research in this area of study. Appended definition of "homelessness," Home Office Circular 35/1988 (criteria for funding projects), and a 468-item bibliography