Bridging the gap between prison and the community

The Phoenix Project, in partnership with Servol Community Services and Commonweal Housing, will pilot a new scheme designed to support male prison leavers with serious mental illness.

Ahead of the project, Gaynor Brooke, Director of Services at Servol, discusses the significance of stable housing for this group and the support that the project will offer. This interview is featured in Commonweal's latest annual review entitled Building Together, which summarises our activity over the last twelve months. You can read the review here.

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From your experience, how does the disconnect between the health and criminal justice systems impact individuals with serious mental illness (SMI)?

When transferring from prison to the community, individuals often experience a disruption in their mental healthcare. Without this, they are more likely to reoffend and return to prison.

The separation between the health and the criminal justice systems often results in fragmented services. There is a risk that people are viewed primarily as offenders, rather than someone in need of medical care, and this can restrict their access to appropriate services. Legal barriers – including privacy and confidentiality laws – often prevent effective collaboration between the two systems.

What barriers do individuals with SMI face upon their release from prison?

Numerous factors can significantly impact reintegration. These include:

• Housing instability, as homelessness is a common issue

• No continuity with mental health care in the community

• Stigma and discrimination, which can increase isolation and may lead to mental health relapse

• Challenges finding employment and managing debt

• Estrangement from family and friends

• Legal constraints may make reintegration into society difficult.

How does your model aim to bridge the gap between prison and the community?

Our project will provide specialist support and housing for adult ex-offenders who have identified enduring and complex mental health problems. This includes those with a dual diagnosis – individuals with both a mental health disorder and a substance use disorder.

We have extensive experience providing crisis management for individuals living with mental health problems, including schizophrenia, bipolar and schizoaffective disorders. We expect individuals to stay in the support model for 12 months, with 3 to 6 months in-house, followed by outreach support in the community.

How does the project aim to reduce reoffending rates for this group?

On release from prison, people face challenges finding accommodation, work and maintaining relationships. For those living with SMI, these barriers are heightened, leading to cases of individuals reoffending intentionally to return to prison as they perceive it as a safe place.

We aim to reduce reoffending by providing safe and stable interim accommodation to allow individuals time to transition from prison to the community. Our structured support programme is co-produced with service users, their families, caregivers, and mental health and criminal justice professionals to address clients identified needs.

A key objective is to identify sustainable long-term accommodation and ensure individuals have the skills to sustain this accommodation and re-integrate into their local community. We will also support clients to access employment opportunities and offer tailored assistance to navigate legal and administrative hurdles, including lack of ID, employment gaps, employer discrimination and limited digital literacy.

What other desired impacts do you hope this project will achieve?

By providing specialist support to ensure continuity with mental health care on release from prison, we aim to reduce instances of mental health relapse, which often lead to offending behaviour.

Our project will help clients develop skills for managing their mental health in the long term, enabling them to pursue goals such as education and employment.