New statistics released today reveal that just 55% of prison
leavers were recorded as having settled accommodation after
release, compared to 89% in 2011.
This is despite the Government’s admission earlier this week that
“prison leavers without a stable home around 50 per cent more
likely to reoffend”.
, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Prisons and
Probation, said:
“This is a double tragedy. A decade of Conservative cuts and
privatisation in prisons and probation means former offenders are
being abandoned without the chance to turn their lives around and
our communities are left more vulnerable to crime.
“Ministers need to understand the depth of this issue and produce
a long-term strategy to fix it. Underfunded pilot projects in
just a few areas of the country won’t meet the real needs of
people leaving prison and won’t protect our communities by
stopping reoffending.”
Ends
Notes to Editors
- The figure of 55% is in Table ACC08, the percentage of known
outcomes which involved settled accommodation. This figure
represents a continued fall in the proportion of prison leavers
in settled accommodation, from 57% in 2019/20 and 58% in 2018/19.
- The 89% figure for 2011 is from National Offender Management
Service Annual Report 2011/12: Management Information Addendum,
Table 15.
- The Government has set an 80% settled accommodation target,
along with a target of 90% of prison leavers to be in some form
of accommodation, however insecure and unsuitable, which were
published in the Duty to Refer Policy Framework on 8 April 2021.
- The Government has said that people who leave prison homeless
are around 50% more likely to reoffend.
- The £13m of funding for local authorities announced yesterday
would amount to just £244 each for the 53,253 prison leavers who
were released from custody last year. In the areas where prison
leaver homelessness is highest, such as London and the
South-East, this could cover just a single week’s rent.
