Post-release death investigations reveal homelessness on release is a considerable issue

In our second Learning Lessons Bulletin on post-release deaths, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman highlight how acutely vulnerable prison leavers are as we found that homelessness on release is a considerable issue.

The first Learning Lessons Bulletin on post-release deaths was published in January 2023. The 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.

KEY FINDINGS TO NOTE:

Between 6 September 2021 and 31 December 2023, we started investigations into 137 post-release deaths where we found:

• Just over 50% of the individuals died within the first four days of release.
  • 72% of these deaths were drug-related.
  • Of the 83 drug-related deaths, 20 occurred within one day of release meaning that more drug-related deaths occurred within the first day of release than any other day.

As part of our research, we did a further thematic analysis of 105 cases where the initial or final report was issued, and these findings highlighted:

• Homelessness was identified as a considerable issue in our research as 32% of the individuals who died within two weeks of their release were released homeless. When framed in the context of other Ministry of Justice research, it seems that prisoners who are released homeless may be overrepresented in our post-release death investigations.
  • Those who are the most vulnerable due to experiencing mental health and substance misuse issues made up many of those released homeless.
    • Our cases showed that some individuals were worried about being released into accommodation that might lead them back to substance misuse.

“We know that prison leavers often have multiple risk factors” said Ombudsman Adrian Usher.

“However, more must be done by HMPPS and community service providers to ensure that vulnerable prisoners have the right support in place so they are released with suitable accommodation and to protect them from substance misuse on release”.

Some of the learning considerations for HMPPS and community services include:

• Release planning should start as early as possible. Prisoners must be released with suitable accommodation and that support measures are in place and available.
• It is important to have processes in place for healthcare to identify prisoners being released early, or at short notice, to ensure they are offered naloxone on release, where appropriate.

For more information, click here to read the bulletin

Click here to read the press release

Click here to read the first post-release deaths learning lessons bulletin