SERVICES
INSIDE OUT
F
When delivering recovery services
to prisoners, demonstrating
impact is a complex but vital
process, says Carwyn Gravell
orward’s range of structured, abstinence-based treatment
programmes (which we refer to as the ‘RAPt’ programmes) have
supported thousands of people into lasting recovery. Our range
and type of programmes have grown and diversified since we
first began helping people from a portacabin in HMP Downview
in the early ’90s. So too have the tools we use to measure their impact. Our
recently launched annual Impact report includes a summary of the research
on the impact of these programmes.
The first published study into the RAPt programmes was Drug treatment in
prison: an evaluation of the RAPt treatment programme by Player and Martin
of Kings College London in 2000. This gave the first evidence of our successful
impact in reducing reoffending – a one-year rate of 25 per cent amongst the
274 completers of our programme, compared with 38 per cent for non-
graduates. A second study, Effectiveness of the rehabilitation for addicted
prisoners trust (RAPt) programme, published in 2014 and using data from the
Police National Computer (PNC) database, showed a 31 per cent reconviction
rate for graduates of our programmes in male prisons, an 18 per cent drop in
reconviction rates and a 65 per cent reduction in the volume of re-offending.
The establishment of the
Justice Data Lab (JDL) in 2013
has provided us with a national
framework to evaluate the success
of all our interventions in reducing
reoffending. We have so far
submitted two cohorts of data for
analysis by the JDL, with our most
recent results being published in
October of this year. A JDL study
into our Women’s Substance
Dependence Treatment Programme
(WSDTP) showed that women
who completed the programmes
reported a one-year re-offending
rate of just 18 per cent, while a similar study into our less intensive Alcohol
Treatment Programme reported a reoffending rate of 37 per cent.
Just how positive is this impact? There are methodological limitations
in estimating the likely reoffending rate for a comparison group of drug or
We have seen a
decline of 58 per
cent in the number
of people starting
programmes over
the last three years
20 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • DEC 2019-JAN 2020
alcohol dependent
offenders who do
not access these
programmes. For
example, the Justice
Data Lab comparison
groups (with re-offending
rates of between 35 and 40 per cent) are based on a criteria of frequent drug/
alcohol use, rather than dependence, leading to significant underestimates.
Other estimates of the reoffending rates of drug/alcohol dependent offenders
range between 58 per cent (participants of all accredited drug/alcohol
programmes in prison, according to an MoJ Analytical Series study from 2013)
and 76 per cent for ex-prisoners who reported using class A drugs post-release
(in the same study). Taking this upper-end estimate as a comparison, RAPt
programmes could potentially reduce reoffending by nearly 60 per cent.
Yet despite this significant impact, we have seen a decline both in the
number of people starting programmes (a reduction of 58 per cent over the
last three years) and in programme quality. The increasingly challenging
prison environment (an aggressive prison drug market, lack of space on
dedicated ‘recovery wings’ to run group programmes, prison ‘lock-downs’
preventing programme delivery, and placing of inappropriate referrals onto
programmes) is part of the reason. That being said, we have also realised,
through consultation with staff and service users, that we need to improve
the way we prepare applicants for the intensity of our programmes.
The development of our Stepping Stones courses (a shorter intervention
that gives people a taster of the kinds of things covered in more intensive
treatment) has helped. For example, at HMP Send –where we run WSDTP –
the introduction of this stepped model has led to a 25 per cent increase in
programme completion.
The process of quantifying the impact of our work is not always
straightforward. Maintaining programme integrity in a hostile prison
environment – and designing accurate research methodologies – remains a
challenge. But it is worth it. Because proving that our work can – and has –
helped thousands of people to turn their lives around is essential to building
a reliable evidence base for this sector.
Carwyn Gravell is divisional director of business development at The
Forward Trust
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