In this month's edition...
Integrated Care Strategies – DHSC Publications
The DHSC has published four documents on the Integrated Care Strategy to be produced, the Integrated Care Strategy Guidance, the statement of expected ways of working between ICPs and adult social care providers, the health and wellbeing board guidance, and the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committees. These documents will provide crucial details and key insights as to the ways in which ICSs will operate and how best to engage with them moving forward across Integrated Care Boards, Integrated Care Partnerships, Local Authorities and the NHS. As the country’s health and care system continues to transition to ICSs, these documents will provide essential material for those working in health and justice and provide guidance on how best to pursue this work moving forward.
Treatment of Black, Asian and minoritised women in prison
Agenda’s Chief Executive, Indy Cross, recently spoke to ITV News and Monifa Bob-Simon about the racist treatment of Black, Asian and minoritised women in the criminal justice system. As part of a feature, ITV News also spoke to poet Brenda Birungi (also known as Lady Unchained) about her experience in prison, and Nina Champion, Director of the Criminal Justice Alliance. Commenting on the issue, Indy called for urgent and collaborative action: “Let’s co-produce, co-design interventions with Black women, Asian women, minoritised women. Let’s ensure we’re recruiting Black, Asian, minoritised women into the prison system. That’s the only way we can tackle it. We need to act on this now.” View the interview and learn more by clicking here
Update to the 10 year drugs plan – new consequences for drug possession
The Home Office has published an update to their 10 year drugs plan, published last month. The update focuses on reducing the demand for drugs by introducing new consequences for possession of recreational drugs. The update sets out a new three-tier framework which will apply to all individuals found in possession of drugs, except where they have drug dependence and treatment is the most relevant intervention. Under tier three, where a person would likely be charged, a new civil court order could be applied for which would enable the court to impose the following conditions: an exclusion order for up to 12 months; drug tagging for up to four months, or passport confiscation or driving licence disqualification from 3-24 months.
Allocated funding for substance misuse services targeted at people in and leaving prison
The government have announced funding of £120 million to introduce several new measures aimed at reducing substance use in prison. These include opening up to 18 abstinence-led “drug recovery wings” and 100 “incentivised substance-free living units” - up from 25 currently - by 2025. The funding will also cover recruitment of 50 health and justice partnership co-ordinators to work between prisons, probation and treatment providers, the piloting of substance misuse problem-solving courts and up to 50 drug strategy leads in all Category C and women’s prisons.
Impact of imprisonment on children, a call for initiatives or examples
As part of the Prison Strategy White Paper, published in December 2021, the government made a commitment to improve the data quality of prisoners with caring responsibilities and of our understanding of the scale of children affected by parental imprisonment. The Ministry of Justice is interested in hearing about examples of effective, local initiatives being delivered for children impacted by parental imprisonment, as well as examples of local data sharing on this issue. The initiative must be supporting the child rather than the prisoner in this instance. If you work with children impacted by parental imprisonment, please contact harriet.mills@justice.gov.uk
ONS report annual drug related deaths highest in recorded history
Annual figures published this month by the Office for National Statistics, show that there were nearly 5000 drug related deaths registered in England and Wales in 2021, with two thirds attributed to substance misuse. Among males, there were 115.1 drug poisoning deaths registered per million in 2021 (3,275 deaths), compared with 54.1 deaths per million among females (1,584 deaths), Rates of drug misuse death continue to be elevated among those born in the 1970s, with the highest rate in those aged 45 to 49 years. The North East of England continues to have the highest rate of deaths relating to drug poisoning and drug misuse and London had the lowest rate for drug poisonings; the East of England had the lowest rate for drug misuse.
Health and Justice Network Meeting
Join Clinks for the next health and justice network meeting [27th of September, online, free]. This meeting is for organisations that deliver health services to people in contact with the criminal justice system, including mental and physical health services, substance misuse services, pregnancy and maternity services, services for older people, and services relating to learning disabilities. These meetings discuss health needs and inequalities facing people in the criminal justice system and how voluntary sector services address them. Information gathered at these meetings can be used to inform Clinks’ policy work. Book your place here
Service user involvement
Clinks is running a service user involvement event [23rd September, online, free], to equip participants to make meaningful service user involvement a reality in their organisations. There will be the opportunity to meet others committed to involving service users, discuss the challenges you face, and understand more about embedding service user involvement into your work. As experts by experience, service users play a vital role in helping to develop, deliver and oversee our members’ services and work to influence policies and practice in the criminal justice system. Please note that the service user involvement events are only open to Clinks’ members. If you are not a current Clinks member and wish to attend, join clinks here. Book your place here
Neurodiversity awareness
New Beginnings North CIC is pleased to offer Neurodiversity Awareness Training: Regulate.Communicate.Navigate [various dates, in-person, £75], for individuals and organisations working within the criminal justice system in the North East. The full day training is delivered face-to-face at their Hearts & Minds Hub, Easington Lane, Sunderland. Upon completion of the training, you will receive a resource pack filled with items that will support you personally, and those you work with, and a Certificate of Attendance. Available dates are: 23 September, 30 September, 03 October and 31 October. The cost of £75 per person is an introductory offer. From December the price will be £125 per person. To find out more and book your place, please contact Joanne at jvance@newbeginningsnorth.org
Rethink Mental Illness Event
Rethink Mental Illness would like to invite you to join them for an online celebration of the work they have been involved with in supporting community mental health transformation sites across England. They have been hearing a desire to share good practice and to discuss how to overcome shared challenges within this space. This event will also serve as the first public outing of their new research which explores the progress of the rollout of the Community Mental Health Framework thus far, highlighting early successes, current barriers and innovative ways of overcoming these challenges. They will also have a session looking at community approaches to supporting people with severe mental illness and will be announcing the latest in their series of webinars on key themes emerging as part of community mental health transformation. Sign up here
Resettlement of children after custody
Criminologist and social policy analyst Professor Neal Hazel, looks at the considerable body of evidence regarding effective resettlement support for children being released from custody in the latest edition to Clinks' evidence library. It shares policy and practice guidance as well as how to implement it effectively. In recent decades, policymakers have become increasingly aware that children being released from custody need effective professional support if they are to live a crime-free life. However, research and inspections of youth offending services have consistently shown that meeting children’s resettlement needs is challenging, which often leaves them without the necessary help and leads to poor outcomes. Nevertheless, there is now a considerable body of evidence for what effective resettlement support looks like and policy and practice guidance for how to implement it. Read the report here
Healthcare for women in prison
The Nuffield Trust has published a new report titled: Inequality on the inside, which uses hospital data to understand the key health care issues for women in prison. They find that women in prison face a series of challenges and risks due to barriers to accessing health and care services. Key findings include that pregnant women in prison are more likely to experience preterm labour than women in the general population, there is no official data on the number of women in prison who have children, and hospital data highlights the complex needs of women in prison, particularly around trauma and substance misuse. The report makes four key recommendations, one of which is to ensure women have access to good-quality, understandable and targeted healthcare information.
The health and wellbeing of prison governors
Research conducted by the University of Lincoln has evaluated the health and wellbeing of prison governors, revealing that many felt disenchanted and disengaged from their work due to a difficult working environment. Key findings included that many felt there was a ‘macho culture’ in prison environments, a lack of autonomy with increasing responsibility, and difficulty accessing support. Many also described heavy workloads and high expectations leading to stress both in the workplace as well as having a direct effect on their social and family lives leading to poor mental and physical health. Watch more about the research here
Probation staff experiences of working with people at risk of suicide and/or self-harm
HM Inspectorate of Probation has published a report exploring the experiences of probation staff as it relates to the increased risk of suicide for those they work with on probation. Key findings indicate that people in probation are disproportionately affected by suicidal ideation, self-harm, attempted suicide and suicide in general with key risks being identified as alcohol use, mental illness, and feelings of isolation. Staff indicated that people on probation, faced many barriers to using NHS services, including long waiting lists, insufficient services, difficulties for people leading chaotic lives in accessing mainstream services, and a tendency for such services to be ill-equipped to respond to the complex needs with which many people on probation present.
The experience of neurodivergent children in custody
Russell Webster summarises research by Anne-Marie Day looking at the experiences and challenges facing imprisoned, neurodivergent children in the education and youth justice systems in England. The research estimates that one in three people in contact with the criminal justice system may be neurodivergent, and that this rate is even higher for children in custody. The research revealed several themes from interviews with 19 children either in custody or recently released, including labelling and disabling; isolation and segregation; and surviving custody. The research concludes that neurodivergent children are often disproportionately labelled and disabled by the systems that are supposed to help them. The research author advocates for the proper implementation of the Child First approach; the official Youth Justice Board policy. Read the blog here
''Building a rebel alliance': How the voluntary and sector can work together to improve community mental health services'
David Woodhead from the Centre for Mental Health has written a blog discussing the five key learning points that they determined from a workshop; discussing how to build alliances and influence local commissioning, what is getting in the way, what is local and what is contextual and what can be generalised. The workshop generated key findings indicating that ICBs provide new and renewed opportunities for voluntary organisations, that patience and determination are key, trust and willingness to collaborate are essential, context in decision making is crucial, coproduction takes time and patience, and that tackling systemic discrimination, including racism, is a key priority. Read the blog here
About Clinks Health and Justice bulletin
This regular bulletin provides Clinks members with the latest news for voluntary organisations involved in the health and care of people in the criminal justice system. To submit content, or have comments or ideas about how this ebulletin could be improved, please email spencer.bundschuh@clinks.org
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